This last week involved a lot of travelling—and that is continuing as I write. Despite my best intentions to get a blog written before my departure, I’m writing on the plane to Houston!
Fall migration has the potential to make or break my goal of 275. I will admit that although it is mathematically possible, as each day passes without a new species, the likelihood of reaching that target drops. The number was somewhat arbitrary, though, so not reaching it will not be any kind of failure. I am absolutely happy with the adventures I have had this year.
On Tuesday, I headed towards the Chemainus estuary, one of the most underbirded areas on the south island. I made it as far as the refueling station in Duncan (yes, Tim Hortons) but hadn’t even gotten out of the car when my phone rang. It was Aziza Cooper, and she was looking at a Rusty Blackbird behind the Red Barn Market on West Saanich Rd—10 minutes from my house. She asked me to post it on the BCVIBIRDS Yahoo group, which I did, then grabbed a tea and headed back to Victoria. Two hours of driving, and twice over the Malahat to find a bird that was just a hop, skip and a jump from my home. Thankfully, several of the Tuesday morning birders’ group were still there, and within a few minutes, I had bird number 262 for my list. This was an important pickup as I had missed the Rusty Blackbird at Swan Lake in January and the one at Martindale Flats in October. Some years, they stay put for months, but as with many species this year, this bird moved on within a day of being spotted.
I really wanted a whole day for the estuary, so I had to revise my day plans. A quick stop on Observatory Hill didn’t turn up the bluebirds, but a call from Colin Franks got me to go to Swan Lake where I saw an American Bittern flying around and Mallard building their pair bond (thanks, David Bird!) well before little ducklings were on the horizon.
After that, I headed out to Sooke instead, to explore an area I hadn’t visited before.
Most birders in Victoria have made many trips to Whiffin Spit. This year, with the Black-throated Sparrow on hand, I’ve made many more than usual, but I have rarely ventured beyond the spit. However, during one of the offshore searches for the Brown Booby, I noticed some very steep cliffs west of the spit, and our skipper said that there was a park along the bluff. It was time to check it out! By turning right on Deerlepe before you get to the spit, you head into a fairly new residential area, and the promised cliff-top park. There are also stairs to the beach below, but I opted to take the high road for this trip. The cliffs overlook a major kelp bed and provide views across the strait. Surely if there was a booby out there, I should be able to see it from these cliffs! Lots of cormorants and gulls were sitting on the kelp, but nothing new for my list. The neighbourhood, with its proximity to Whiffin Spit and well-maintained exotic gardens shows a lot of potential for winter rarities. I’ll be back!
Wednesday started out with drizzle, but the radar image suggested that it should clear within an hour, so I headed towards the Chemainus estuary again. Dave Baird had mentioned a park near Crofton that I hadn’t visited, so I headed towards town to check it out. The road to Shoal Island takes you to Mill Point Park, providing great views out to the open Georgia Strait, while also giving good looks of the sheltered waters of the estuary. There was a great variety of ducks and a few shorebirds in the area. The shrubbery turned up sparrows, quail and a Red-breasted Sapsucker. After spending a while at Mill Point, I headed to Swallowfield Rd and the entrance to the estuary trails. It was very birdy, but as usual, almost devoid of people. In the seven hours I spent at the estuary, I think I saw only about 8 people and even more surprising, not a single Canada Goose. With 40 species at Mill Point and 45 at Swallowfield, I think I finished the day with about 60 for the area, but no new ones for my list.
During the last couple of months of months of my big year, I really need to try to get out birding every day to increase the chances of stumbling across something new. I may need to change the focus to more residential areas where rarities might be coming to feeders. For now, though, I’m still checking out new spots, even though some of them are fairly close to home. I headed west on Thursday to explore more beach accesses in Sooke. Heading to the water from Ella Rd, there were plenty of seabirds close to shore.
I had hoped to scramble to the spit behind the marina on Westcoast Rd. I was warned off by several danger and no trespassing signs. Heading back towards Whiffin Spit, the beach was not an easy walk. It’s a true cobblestone beach, and must sound incredible during storms, but it’s not ideal for making good headway. There were old campfire remains, so the beach must get its share of visitors, but there were none that day besides me. I thought there might be a trail up towards the sewage treatment plant, and indeed I found an entrance to a good dirt road at an outfall sign. Although the sign said it was a private road, I decided to chance a quick walk back to the highway. I was making my way discretely along the road when a dog on a neighbouring farm objected to my passing and sounded the alarm. Thankfully, no one came to chase me away. I wonder, though, if this might actually be a gazetted road, which would mean that it should be open for public access.
The mist had turned to drizzle with occasional showers, so I decided it would be a good time to head back to town. Sooke is in a state of transportation confusion right now with several road construction projects and detours. I headed inland which took me along a congested road near a school.
Several people have told me that they are living vicariously through my big year adventures, but on Thursday, I had one adventure that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. As I made my way down the street, opposing most of the traffic from the school, suddenly a skateboarder came out between two vehicles and was directly in front of me, just about a car length away. I hit the brakes hard as I could at which point he turned to see me coming straight at him. There was no way for us to avoid a collision. He had almost made it across the street, but our paths intersected and he slid up on the hood of my car, hitting the windshield and putting a fist-sized break in the corner. He went out of my sight for just a second, then popped up saying he was fine, as if to wave me on. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. The next hour was spent with police, ambulance and lots of people. The happy outcome was that other than a bruise on the back of the boy’s hand and my broken windshield, no harm was done. I think we both were pretty lucky in that regard. Take this as a reminder that school and park zone speed limits are wise to obey and that in heavy traffic, it is really not a good idea to stop and let kids cross the streets away from the crosswalks (as the driver on the other side of the road apparently did.)
Occasionally it discharge down blood clots with dramatic cramps, soft tabs viagra http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482460671_ij_file.pdf which is easily mistaken for renal and ureteral stones. It is suitable for all those ladies levitra 40 mg icks.org who feel sensuality is not for them. Neither using any cheesy and oily stuff cost of sildenafil nor using any grapes contained stuff. At present, horny goat weed extracts comes sale of viagra in market in the form of capsules. Friday one of the few days this year that I really didn’t do any concerted birding. In preparation for my trip, there were a number of things I had to get out of the way. I skipped the weekly jaunt to Maber, but still caught up with Kim Beardmore and Michael Simmons for coffee, Kim and I made a quick stop in Brentwood to try to see the Red-naped Sapsucker.
The wind was coming up, though, and it did not put in an appearance. Then it was off to a good-bye lunch for RPBO intern Jeff Costa who was leaving town early Saturday. I had a few errands to run, but still managed to stop by Clover and Cattle Points, but the wind was keeping the birds and the birders away.
A planned trip to Chemainus with the VNHS Saturday birders was washed out by heavy rains, giving me a chance to do some more RPBO stuff, then head out to Kemp Lake for a scan before heading to Rocky point for owl banding. I kept hoping for Redhead, but my best bird was a late Osprey, the third one I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks. A brief stop at Whiffin Spit gave good looks a a lot of gulls working the surf close in, but no Black-throated Sparrow or other rarities.
October 31 was the last night of our owl season, and it was an on and off affair as the rains and wind made trouble. At one point, my text messages came in (cell reception is lousy at Rocky Point), and it turns out there was a Willet in town! Marie O’Shaughnessy spotted it with other shorebirds off the Oak Bay Golf Course.
First thing Sunday morning, Mary Robichaud and I were on the golf course trying to refind the bird. There were hundreds of shorebirds, mostly Black-bellied Plovers, on Little Trial Island and some of the other small islands off of Oak Bay. The distance was long and the lighting was bad–not really ideal locations for quickly finding the Willet. I was short on time as we were shutting down the banding stations for the season and most of the gear comes home with me. I had to be at Rocky Point at 9:30. I was grateful for the “rollback” of daylight savings time, but it sure didn’t feel like an extra hour of sleep that night. After two hours of looking, I had to be on my way, but I went back later in the afternoon. The late shift included Kathleen Ward and Marie O’Shaughnessy, but we did not find the Willet. We did witness life red in tooth and claw, though. Well, beak and claw.
A Bald Eagle grabbed one of the many gulls in the area and brought it to an island right in front of us. Although it was very clear that the gull didn’t have a chance, it wasn’t going down without a fight. With the eagle’s talons firmly grasping it by the breast, the gull bit and pecked at the eagle’s leg for several minutes. The eagle flew up and bashed the gull against the rocks several times eventually making the kill. It was impressive how long the gull fought, considering there was never really any chance it was going to get away.
On Monday, I took a considered risk by heading south to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. This is one of two events that I identified right at the beginning of the year that would take me away from the island. In my humble opinion, this is the best birding festival that I have attended, and this year, Mary Robichaud, Daniel Donnecke, Megan Lyden, and Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart have joined in. It’s going to be an awesome week.
Of course, Big Year protocol would dictate that the birder not leave their count area, especially during migration. Who knows what you might miss?? Last year, while I was in Texas, both the Acorn Woodpecker and Cattle Egret showed up in Victoria. But I weighed my options. I could miss a couple of birds in the week that I was away, and that could make or break my 275 goal. Or I could miss the festival and potentially pick up a couple of birds, but miss a fantastic time with people who are important in my life. I thought about how I’d feel about the outcomes either way. In the end, I decided that I would regret missing the opportunity to spend time with my friends more than I would regret missing a couple of species for my list. I can hope that anything that does show up in my absence will stick around until I get back.
So here I am in Texas. I won’t report birds I see here on this blog, so as not to confuse which birds I saw on or off the island, but I will submit a few reports on Facebook and eBird. I’ll also turn my SPOT on in case anyone is following the “Where’s Ann” link and is curious about where I am on this trip.
PS: By the time I added the photos, I found out that two new “year” birds (Snow Bunting and Blue-grey Gnatcatcher) were spotted on Vancouver Island while I was travelling to Houston. I have asked that they be invited to stay around until after I return! Let’s hope that’s it for the week!