Then they would be easy to identify!  And far less controversial than some other species–more on that later.

Thousands and thousands of gulls, a virtual sea of grey, white and black.  And to add just an extra level of difficulty, let’s add…. fog!

Although it was foggy in Nanoose when I woke up, by the time I had reached Qualicum Beach, the sun was shining and things were looking up.

 

Except that a Harris’s Sparrow had been reported at Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo and I felt like I was torn between two important choices.  Fortunately, I have friends in all the right places, and Dave Baird set out from his home in Nanaimo to check on the Harris’s Sparrow.  He wanted to see one of those, too, and we had missed it together at Nanaimo River Estuary last month.

While Dave worked the marsh with several other birders, I continued north to the Little Qualicum River Estuary only to be met by a rolling cloud of fog where there should have been a massive scoter flock to poke through.  I could hear them, but there was no way to see them.  Fog moves, though, and I was optimistic that it might lift.  And so was a foggy photographer down the beach.

It wasn’t until we both had pretty much given up on this spot that I realized the photographer was none other than Mike Yip! We swapped a few bird stories before parting company, looking for brighter opportunities.

There had been a decent collection of birds at Qualicum Bay on Sunday, so that was my next destination.  The birds were there.  Unfortunately, so was the fog, but not as close or as thick as it it had been at the estuary.  Scoping the raft of birds, I got a pleasant surprise: at least 3 Orcas swiming by quite far away, but still easy to make out despite the fog.

The tide was falling, so I was able to walk slowly out onto the cobble beach to get even closer to the birds.

If you’ve never experienced a herring spawn, you might wonder just what it is that brings all of these birds together.  On the beach, I was able to find a sample.

Click on the photo to get a closer look at the herring roe, apparently just about the tastiest thing in the world!

There were three kinds of scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Ducks, Buffleheads, and lots of other birds you’d expect off Qualicum in March, but nothing that you wouldn’t.  There was a carload of birders, headed by Sandy McCruer, also checking out the area.

And the gulls did include a good number of easy to identify adult Californias.  I love those gulls!  Mews are good too!

 

About the time that the fog rolled in closer and the ducks swam out farther, Dave called.  Nobody had seen the sparrow, and he and Guy Monty were checking out the birds at Little Qualicum Estuary.  I headed south to meet up with them.

By now, the fog had lifted quite a bit at the estuary, and we were able to see that we couldn’t see anything unusual. After a couple of hours there, the fog started coming back in to shore and our thoughts were turned to bumping up my regional list.  A Snow Goose and two Greater White-fronted Geese had been at the Parksville Community Centre for weeks!

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These guys were drive-bys. We didn’t even have to get out of the car to tick them.  Nice change from the ordinary!

By this time, it was time for us to part ways again.  Surely the fog would lift by morning…

Or not.

On Monday, the fog in Parksville was thicker than ever.

 

Not wanting to waste my paid-for night in Parksville, I decided to go west to the other coast to see what I could see.  Just then, the phone rang.  Ted Ardley had been reading the posts on the Birding in BC site where there was a photograph of a Long-eared Owl taken in Victoria the day before.  Ergh….   This is a species that I had identified as a specific target for my year.  I think this is a vastly under-reported bird due to their incredibly cryptic behaviour, and I really wanted one.  Do I essentially throw away the money I spent to be mid-island and go home, or do I make a trip to the west coast anyway and hope that the owl could be relocated after I got back? Decisions, decisions, decisions…..

Remembering my regret at not going for the Great Gray Owl immediately on hearing about its resighting (you remember that, don’t you?), I decided to head south, but not before notifying a few people who I thought would help relocate the bird.  The chase for the Long-eared was on!

And now for the gull controversy. Later in the day, as I was checking my email, I started to get notes from people disagreeing with the identification of the Glaucous, and fewer people disagreeing with the identification of the Iceland Gull.   Oh, for them all to be California Gulls!

The Glaucous was scrutinized at close range, but not the best lighting conditions. We were satisfied that it was good for all the characteristics except the bill seemed too dark.  It did indeed have a clearly delineated tip, but it also had smudging between the tip and the pink base.  We discussed this at length while we were looking at the bird and referred to variations mentioned in Howell/Dunn’s Gulls of the Americas.  The line, on page 245: Pure Glaucous Gulls can have dull bills when young…” Given all of the other characteristics, we felt okay about the ID as a Glaucous, recognizing that most gulls on the west coast aren’t “pure” anything.

The Iceland Gull was a harder call, but the bird satisfied the requirements by spending about ten minutes preening in front of us to display all of the bits and pieces needed for an ID.  I grabbed my superzoom camera to try to get closer photos, but it was gone by the time I returned from the car.

So now I have experts satisfied with the IDs, and I have experts not satifisfied with the IDs.  The only constant here is that I do not claim to be an expert on gull IDs.  I will continue to look for less controversial individuals, but for now I will flag these (and other controversial birds in my species list) as “dirty birds” and invite anyone who cares to do so to deduct them from my total and comment on their ID and/or provenance.  This year is about me becoming a better birder, among other goals, so please feel free to send me your thoughts or post them in the comments of the blog.  I will also defer heavily on the records committees’ decisions where they exist.

At the end of the year, if I haven’t cleaned up the “dirty birds” I will make a call on whether to leave them on or take them off for the final count.  Of course, regardless of what I decide, you are free to make your own call on my “final” number, dirty birds or not.