Northern Vancouver Island gets a lot of rain, but apparently not as much as it used to. You couldn’t really tell that today. Fortunately, it came in intermittent showers, which meant I could get some birding done. Unfortunately, the rain was joined by wind later in the day.
I awoke to the sound of Varied Thrushes and American Robins, the same songsters from the night before. However a walk around the campground revealed many other birds, especially active when the rain would stop for a few minutes. Golden-crowned Sparrows were abundant and very much in breeding condition.
There were a couple of songs that I was struggling with. They were familiar, but not. I followed one around (and around and around) and found it coming from my first Yellow Warbler of the year. I am struck by how different the song dialects are between the south and north ends of the island. The second song also forced me to get a look at the bird, even though there were several singing the same tune. Wilson’s Warbler. Another year bird for me, but yet another that doesn’t sing the same as at home.
By the end of the morning, I had only heard one do our typical ch-ch-ch-ch-ch song. Townsend’s Warblers were singing a little more like I’m used to, but with a hint of a Malcolm Island accent.
The biggest surprise of the morning was a Ruffed Grouse, flushed from the edge of the river where it must have been either drinking or bathing. I’m not sure how surprised he was, but I sure jumped when he flew up in front of me. Pink Fawn Lilies were the most abundant wildflower in the area. We don’t get this at all in Victoria, and I know of only a few small patches elsewhere. Here, they were everywhere.
With the rain coming and going, I was trying to think of how to write a blog post but not miss birding opportunities. Fortunately, there was a picnic shelter at the campground, so I grabbed my computer and binoculars, and wrote the post outside.
By 11:30, I was ready to check out and head to the town of Port Hardy. The Quatse estuary had been recommended, so that was my first stop. Definitely a place that needs more birding! There were thousands of shorebirds. The tide was low, though, so they were quite far away. I still managed to find Least and Western Sandpipers, Dunlin, Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Short-billed Dowitchers and two Marbled Godwits! I’m sure if I could have gotten closer, I might have turned up a few others as well.
I toured the waterfront parks a bit, picking up Black Scoter among other species, and then headed into town for some food and gas before hitting the road to Winter Harbour. As much as I was enjoying the birding, the wind had really picked up and it wasn’t particularly pleasant. Although I’ve never been to Port Hardy before, it’s easy to see that this town has suffered a significant economic downturn. The malls have more closed stores than open ones, and there’s just a general sense of malaise in the demeanor of most of the people you see. Resource industry jobs pay well when times are good, but when the resources fall off, people are often financially overextended and really lose out. I hope that the northern communities do better in the summer than they appear to be doing right now.
The road to Winter Harbour is an active logging road which means many things. Firstly, there are big trucks. Really big trucks. I had planned to wait until 6 when the logging shuts down for the night, but given the weather, I was anxious to be on my way. Secondly, there are potholes. Really big potholes! I was seriously hoping there wouldn’t be a confluence of these two things. As it happened, I only came across three logging trucks coming my way. There were probably about 15 other vehicles, but there was plenty of room on the road for us. Surprisingly (and to my delight), there were no other vehicles going my way—at least not any faster than I was going. I didn’t have to pull over at all to let someone by. Driving the van feels like driving a big truck. In fact, my volunteer owl project in Boardman where they sometimes lend us a company truck probably was good training for today’s run. I bounced and weaved my way to Holberg in time for dinner at the Scarlet Ibis.
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This restaurant is somewhat legendary as it is the gathering place for people on their way to and from the Cape Scott trail. I had heard several stories about what a fun place it was. I like fun! Today, however, there was only one couple and me in the restaurant. They didn’t make eye contact with me, so I was on my own for fun. Holberg used to be known for its floating homes. Now the only homes there are decidedly land-locked, a big change for those who visited many years ago, or even for new visitors like me that had a mental picture of what the town would be like.
There was a small glitch in my plan for Winter Harbour. One of the bridges on the road was damaged, so a detour was necessary. I was confused, though, when I got to the detour sign and it pointed to a parking lot full of big trucks. I stopped and asked a mechanic that was working on the equipment, and it turned out that the detour was about 100m before the sign.
It was along more active logging roads, but thankfully, by the time I was going, there were no trucks. In fact, there were no cars. From Holberg to Winter Harbour, I saw no one on the road. A good thing about travelling in the van is that if I was to have a minor incident, I’d be fine just staying put and waiting on the side of the road. The bad thing about this particular road is that I have no idea how long I’d have to wait for help!
When I pulled into Winter Harbour, there was a campground right there that had been recommended. I drove in, but there was no one there. The sign said to check in at the office, but none of the buildings was labelled as an office. The ground looked pretty wet, so I’m not sure it would have been a good idea to drive on the sites. No matter, I’d just go into “town” and figure out where to go from there. That was about two blocks. I found the general store, which is apparently owned by the same people who own the campground. Perfect! Except…. Shades of Saturna! The general store is only open from 4 pm to 7 pm from Tuesday to Saturday. I arrived around 6:30 pm on Monday.
Well, the general store has a nice flat parking lot….
There was still lots of time for birding, so out I went. There weren’t a lot of individuals around but in 90 minutes I managed to see or hear 31 species including singing Hermit Thrushes. A big surprise was a small flock of peeps in a parking lot including this particularly reddish Least Sandpiper. I tried to turn it into something rarer, but with no luck.
It also took 90 minutes to see my first human. Arthur and Pamela Bowman from Calgary have a vacation property here. I’ll use the word “vacation” loosely here, as they were hard at work doing repairs and maintenance. The wind and the rain take their toll on structures in Winter Harbour. Other than the three of us, it seemed like there was nobody here! It was a ghost town. I guess Winter Harbour is actually all about summer these days! It used to be a booming fishing town, but no longer. It seems the primary industry now is tourism, and not at the end of April.
The highlight for me, though, wasn’t a bird or a human. I saw six Sea Otters. They were a long way away, and I wouldn’t have seen them if I didn’t have my scope, but there they were. The first I have ever seen on Vancouver Island. I am told that they may come closer to the docks in the morning. I can hardly wait!