There is so much about doing this big year that is making me happy!  I no longer wonder if I can fit birding into my day.  I get up and wonder where I’m going birding rather than if I’m going birding.  I am roaming Vancouver Island running into people I know on almost a daily basis.  AND I’m getting to visit so many places I’ve never been, all within a traveller’s stone’s throw from home.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of an invitation from Daniel Donnecke to join his family and friends on Hornby Island, a three-hour drive and two little ferry rides from Victoria.  It almost didn’t happen because he came down with a cold, but he is stoic and away we went.  Daniel’s wife, Susan, and kids, Sonia and Leo were already on Hornby, thanks to spring break, so dinner was waiting for us when we arrived. The home belongs to Susan’s brother and our host, John Gelland, and friends Peter Johnson and Faroe Des Roches rounded out the group to turn the gathering into quite the social event!

Like many homes on Hornby Island, John’s was designed as a summer cottage with no attic, so you didn’t need to look out the window to know it was raining as the sun came up on Saturday morning. We waited for it to settle down a bit before we headed out around the neighbourhood to look for birds.  We got a decent list, but it wasn’t the birds that blew me away–it was the geology! A mishmash of sandstone, rocks with cracks and scars, rocks with holes, glacial erratics,  natural sculptures and some of the most amazing conglomerate I’ve ever seen form the  platform for this island, tucked in amongst other islands between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island. It was stunning in its chaos, almost as if all of the leftover rocks had been sent here.

We did find birds, but not as many as we hoped.  The gulls that had been plentiful in the area a few weeks ago appeared to have moved on.  We figured we knew where they went!

The rain had stopped and I was treated to a tour of great spots around the island. We met up with Bev Bullen near her home at Whaling Station Bay.  Her property lost several feet of earth during last winter’s storms, an issue for anyone with waterfront property during this climate changing times.  In front of her home is this incredible bench of natural conglomerate rock.

Bev decided to join us on our 5 km walk around the Helliwell Park Trail, and we met up with Faroe at the trailhead.  Helliwell is on a forested peninsula extending out into the strait, with wet areas, exposed cliffs and  a great diversity of habitats in a relatively small area.  The trail is fairly level and easy for people of all fitness levels to manage.

Easily hiked in about 90 minutes, if you travel at a birder’s pace, it’s a good idea to leave twice as long!  Daniel predicted we should get around 35 to 40 species of birds, and he was absolutely right.  We ended the walk with 39.  The birds weren’t the highlight of the trip though.

While on the east side of the park, we had spotted an elephant seal a fair distance out.  We continued our walk, checking out a number of interesting events and locations, including ravens and a young eagle battling over the remains of a harbour seal.  There was enough to go around, but apparently ravens don’t like to share with other species.  One bird in particular set about to harass the eagle.  He approached from the rear and started pulling on the eagle’s tail.  After about five tugs, the eagle had had enough and flew off.  Mission accomplished!

 

Hornby Island is quite far north, but the geology of the area allows the west side of the park to be unexpectedly warm and dry.  So much so that prickly pear cactus grows along the cliffs.

While I was taking pictures of the cactus, who should appear in the background but the elephant seal!  He came up into a shallow bay directly below us.

The proboscis of an elephant seal is really just a flap of skin that he can voluntarily inflate.  I don’t know if he had love or war on his mind, but we sure enjoyed the chance to have such a great look at him.

After Helliwell park, we headed for “Squeaky Bay”, named for the sound of the Harlequin Ducks that hang out there.  Although the number of birds wasn’t as high as expected, Daniel, Susan, and I witnessed an amazing spectacle!  When herring are forced to the surface by predators from below, the predators from above take advantage.  Usually these are loons (and there were more than 100 Pacific Loons doing just that), gulls and alcids.  But on Saturday, the avian predators were eagles!  I counted 62 Bald Eagles at one time, and there were probably half that number again sitting in trees around the bay.  They swirled around like gulls, dipping their talons into the water to pick up herring.  I’m surprised a loon or two didn’t find themselves hooked on the feet of an eagle, but we didn’t see them get any birds, just fish.
What he spent a little more time talking about was the conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the way it makes the person free form the issue. purchase cheap levitra djpaulkom.tv What is commander cialis male erection problem? This is very important to resolve the problem at the earliest and does not really lets you face it for the time period you have consumed it. Regular massage therapy will help your therapist to find out particular muscle groups and work specific tissues and the chance of you having heard of them is very likely. viagra brand 100mg http://djpaulkom.tv/watch-dj-paul-kom-x-drumma-boy-ft-jellyroll-cocaine-official-video/ is a medicine that everyone has a soul mate. Be in control and responsible for your situation, because only you have order cialis no prescription allowed yourself to get into it.

Josie Fletcher, local artist and our host shared wine and tea with us before we were on our way home for supper. Daniel and I had discussed the possibility of exploring Denman Island on Sunday, but he was still under the weather, and I had another option in the area.

The Victoria Natural History Society had a field trip to Parksville and Qualicum scheduled for Sunday.  Hmmm…. maybe a dozen pairs of eyes could help me find a “better” Glaucous Gull.

Sunday morning, I left Hornby Island fairly early and caught up with the field trip in Parksville.  The storms of the last week had shifted the herring roe–and the birds that eat it and most had built up in the areas north of French Creek.  Stopping at several spots along the way, we had great looks at Brant, and probably tens of thousands of gulls and scoters.  We even ran into Sandy McCruer at the Qualicum viewing platform, and then again at two other spots along the way.  I bet he thought we were tailing them!

Everyone was scouring the flocks for something unusual, but no true rarities popped out.  Herring roe was piled up on the shore in a few places, but nowhere as much as it was off of Surfside Rd. in Qualicum. Billions of potential herring fry were now just waiting to be consumed by others in the food chain.

Click on the picture to see an enlargement.  Those are all eggs!

We saw a few new birds for the day list here, including Yellow-rumped Warblers.

 

Apparently, they saw us, too!

There was time for one final stop at the Little Qualicum River fish hatchery.  This has been a long-time reliable site for nesting American Dippers. There is a tunnel under the road and the birds build their nest on top of the light housings under the bridge.  We got there only 10 minutes before closing, but sometimes (heh) birds can cooperate, and Dave Lynn spotted the pair going about their business of catching caddisfly larvae.  Dippers are songbirds, but they think they are ducks.  They swim underwater to catch their prey.  They sometimes swim on the surface as well, making quite an unusual scene.

Just as it was time for the gates to close, the skies opened.  With more than 70 species on their day list, the VNHS group headed south, and I headed back to Qualicum for one more look at gulls.  I really need to study these more and spend some more days with them before the roe is gone and the gulls head to their breeding grounds!

But rumor has it that there was a Say’s Phoebe on Saturna Island on the weekend…