I am writing this in the dark of French Beach Provincial Park, listening to the surf on the cobble beach, and the (thankfully) quiet music of the campers a few sites away from me.  I guess I can’t complain given that I am using my preferred form of electronic entertainment as well.  It’s been a great few days with several additions to my year list. More importantly, there was a spectacle on Wednesday morning that I won’t soon forget!

I had promised myself that I could sleep in on Monday after RPBO’s intense bird banding workshop weekend, but that was not to be.  One of the participants, Kyran Power, had come all the way from Newfoundland for the workshop, and his flight home wasn’t until 7 pm.  Rick Schortinghuis had offered to show him some of the favourite birding sites around town, and Michael Simmons and I joined in.

To begin, a tour of the waterfront was in order, starting at Esquimalt Lagoon and working our way around town.  We visited Ogden Point, Clover Point, Turkey Head and Cattle Point picking up several lifer seabirds for Kyran and a few opportunities for photos for me! A Great Blue Heron was particularly photogenic at Ogden Point.

A brief walk along the breakwater revealed Pigeon Guillemots nesting in the openings under the cruise ship dock. This has been a regular nesting place for them for several years.

At Cattle Point we ran into the Reader-Lee family, who were out doing a little Big Day.  They got a few birds on Monday that I was still missing for my list!

Inside the vernal pool enclosure at Cattle Point, I was both happy and saddened to see a killdeer on her nest, with her mate standing by just in case he had to lure anyone away from his family. The fence kept all of the humans at enough distance to keep the bird safe, but still get some decent photos.  The male  didn’t need to distract us today, but I’m afraid that he is going to be very busy in the near future.  The fencing around those pools is a staging area for crows heading to roost.  This does not bode well if they should come in while mom is off the nest or when the young first hatch.

Heading to Central Saanich for Sky Lark, I managed to add one new species to my list.  Among the fliers over the field on Central Saanich Rd were swallows, and among the swallows was my first Barn Swallow for the year.

At that point, Michael had to return home.  From Michael’s  deck, Kyran got his lifer Barrow’s Goldeneye among the boats moored in Brentwood Bay.

Now down to three sets of eyes, we headed to Goldstream—where we dipped on the American Dipper.  Rick found two old nests under the bridge but there was no sign of recent activity.

After taking the scenic route along Humpback Rd and past the Latoria gravel pit, it was time for Kyran to get to the airport for his long flight home. A great long weekend for him with about 30 lifers!

Tuesday started a little later, but more vertical.  House Wrens had been reported on Observatory Hill, so up I went. Rick’s truck was in the lower parking lot when a non-birding friend and I arrived for the walk up, but a quick phone call revealed that he was already at the top and starting back down.  He had seen four House Wrens.  I only got two, but that was one more than I needed for another new species!

Although I already had Chipping Sparrow for my list, thanks to an out-of-season bird earlier in the year, it was nice to see one out in the open along the road edge.

Returning down the hill via the wooded path, we found a Barred Owl lurking in the woods. Let’s hope that he didn’t find and dispose of the Pygmy Owl heard on a previous trip!

From the mountain to the flats. I got dropped off near Maber Flats to check it out on my way home. There are perfect shorebird mudflats there right now. But unfortunately, no shorebirds to speak of—a killdeer or two, and the occasional Greater Yellowlegs. Then Rick called—he was looking at an odd duck at Viaduct. Lesson to be learned here. I was now without a vehicle, and the fastest I could get home and get my car was half an hour. That’s not too bad, but I’ll need to keep this in mind for future chases, especially during the peak of migration.

Rick still had the bird in his scope when I arrived. The bird was the size and shape of a female Hooded Merganser, certainly a member of the merganser family. Some years ago, Rick and RPBO’s bander in charge, Brian Pomfret had found a European duck, and this one bore some resemblance to that. This one had two white lines from the yellow eye down towards the neck.

I posted the information to BCVIBIRDS (Yahoo group) and it wasn’t long before an answer was revealed.  Jeremy Gatten identified the duck as a first winter male just going into breeding plumage. I don’t know if it was just wishful thinking for something exotic, but it had sure baffled Rick and me!

By this point, I saw a message that Mike and Barb McGrenere had seen a Townsend’s Solitaire on Mt. Doug.  I need one of those!  Thankfully, it was after noon, so I was able to drive to the top. The mountain is closed to automobiles in the morning, meaning that only the fit and free, with sufficient energy and time can bird there in the mornings. Of course, birding is generally better in the mornings, and by the time I arrived, the bird was gone. Vultures were soaring over the Blenkinsop Valley, providing some interesting photo opportunities.

I had planned to go west to Jordan River on Tuesday afternoon, but with all this running around, I missed the chance to empty my van’s holding tank. I opted instead for an early night at home and a very early trek up the Malahat in the hopes of finding Sooty Grouse and maybe Townsend’s Solitaire.

My alarm went off at 4 a.m. and I was out of the house by 4:30.  It was still dark when I reached the end of Goldstream Heights. Warren Drinnan had told me that you could hear Sooty Grouse hooting up there at the right time of the season.  The robins were going full bore when I arrived.  White-crowned Sparrows and Common Yellowthroats joined in.  I was surprised to hear the winnowing of Wilson’s Snipe, but later saw that there was a boggy area under the powerlines, so it made sense.  Then I heard it. I think.

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Or was it just the creek?  Or a tree?  No, I was pretty sure.  Listen between the Orange-crowned Warbler trills.  Then I heard the clucks of a female Sooty Grouse.  Check!

I knew that the nearby street had some amazing eastern views, so I decided to head up there to get some photos of the sunrise.  I was barely around the corner when I saw something on the road.  A raccoon?  A cat?  No!  It was a male Sooty Grouse in full on display mode!  I grabbed my camera for a few really bad pictures—in the dark, through the windshield.

I shut of the car and let him pass in peace, then parked and tried to get some better shots.  The light was still so low that everything was blurred, but I could hear another male hooting less than 100m away.

Then I saw one fly and land in a tree. It was the subject of their desire, a Sooty Grouse hen.  I was able to get close enough to her to get some decent shots in the rising sun.

Eventually, she made her choice.  Male number 1 was the winner, and she flew over to the tree he was sitting in. Needless to say, that got him pretty excited!

 

In all, I heard at least seven Sooty Grouse, more than I have ever heard in one place.  Hooting continued until after 9 a.m. There were dozens of Orange-crowned Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows, many Yellow-rumped Warblers and lots of other birds around as well.

 

 

I didn’t really want to leave, but eventually I pulled myself away. There were some dirty birds to be had in Duncan!

This was my second attempt to find Western Bluebirds where they had been seen going to nest boxes.  On Wednesday, they were exceptionally cooperative!

Are these “dirty” birds or not?  Western Bluebirds used to breed on southern Vancouver Island, but had been exterpated years ago. The Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team (GOERT) has been reintroducing this species in the Cowichan Valley for the last few years, bringing birds from Washington to Duncan.  The birds and their offspring are all colour-banded, so can be identified as individuals. So who is this happy couple?

Jemma Green of GOERT provided the following information.

The female fledged last August from a nest on the property across from/just past Henderson Rd. Her parents were translocated in April and released on the property, where they had two successful nests (they are back again this year, nesting in their former box). 

The male hatched on a property next to the NCC’s Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve in 2013. He returned last year but due to the biased sex ratio never found a mate.  

Both birds were conceived and hatched in the Cowichan Valley.  The male has returned for the past two years. By American Birding Association Rules, these birds are countable:

Per Recording Rule 3.B(vi), an individual of one of these species may be counted only if the population it belonged to had successfully hatched young in the wild prior to the encounter.

I know, though, that there are birders on the island that would not count these birds as their parents were physically brought to the area. For now, I’ll flag them as “dirty”, but I think they will be okay to count.

What a great day!  I swung by Cowichan Bay on the way home in case there were any surprised.  A Greater Yellowlegs strolled close to shore, but no other shorebirds were in sight.

Back in Victoria, I changed vehicles and headed west in the van for my next adventure.