For better or worse, there haven’t been a lot of rarities reported on Vancouver Island in 2015. Many of the birds I have been chasing have simply been out of season, so are likely to get on the list sooner or later–but I’d prefer sooner. But the only way to find any uncommon or rare birds is to get out birding, and I’m trying to do that pretty much every day.
After the Great Gray Owl (grrr..), the Harris’s Sparrow is my next most-desired known bird, so I headed back to the Nanaimo River Estuary Saturday morning. I made a quick run through all of the spots in Duncan where the Sandhill Crane had been seen, hoping to get a quick tick (if you consider a third try a quick tick), but could not find the bird. I found several flocks of swans throughout the area, but they wouldn’t tell me where the crane was. I wasn’t particularly concerned as I intended to search more thoroughly on the way home in the afternoon. On to the Harris’s Sparrow. As I approached Nanaimo, I got a call from Derrick Marven. The crane was resighted–in exactly the first spot I’d looked for it!
It wasn’t raining in Nanaimo, and for once there was no fog. The Nanaimo River was at near flood stage, though, and I learned that the road had been underwater on Friday. The Rough-legged Hawk was still conspicuous, and although the trails were submerged in several places, it was a good day to be birding in the estuary. Walking the length of the hedgerow where the bird has most frequently been seen, I came across a few birds, but not the one I was looking for. When I walked back to the main trail, there was a good-sized flock of sparrows–mostly juncos–in the blackberry bushes and in the big Garry oak. For a brief moment, I thought I saw the Harris’s, but it flew off and I couldn’t relocate it. Sadly, not good enough for a tick. While I was looking, Mike and Wendy Woodworth arrived and checked out the area as well. Despite the decent weather, there were more dog walkers than birders in the area on Saturday. The juncos returned a couple of times, but the rest of the flock was apparently abducted by aliens. After a two and a half hour search, I decided to cut my losses and head back for the Sandhill Crane.
A Sandhill Crane is a large bird. One you really shouldn’t be able to miss, especially in the midst of dozens of swans. Yet, somehow, I had missed this bird several times. I was determined to stay in Duncan until I got this one! When I arrived at Bench Rd, there were about four times as many swans on the field as there had been in the morning. Derrick had spotted the bird way across the field, but that was about four hours earlier. I scanned iwth my binoculars. I scanned with my scope. No crane. I tried from a different angle. Nope. So I went back to my original spot and tried again. Before I could even raise my bins, there it was. Here’s a photo. Can you see it?
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Fortunately, there was a road just beyond these swans (and crane), so I drove around behind them to try to get some better pictures.
It was a great relief to finally pick up a new bird for my year list, now at 135.
This week, I am going birding in a couple of new places. No known birds to find there. Just a day or two to explore.