I had a few things to get done before Joe and Corinne Bartel arrived from Arizona early Tuesday afternoon. I’d arranged a ride to pick up my now fixed van with enough time to get home to change vehicles before heading to the airport.  Just enough time.  So you know what happened, right?  Sure, you do!

A post to VIBIRDS announced that Geoffrey Newell had just found a Least Flycatcher in Uplands Park.  This is a species that rarely sticks around, although one on Welch Road did just that for more than a week last year. I couldn’t take a chance. I quickly rearranged the van pickup and headed to Uplands Park–just about as far away from me as you can be and still be considered in Victoria. Okay, Sooke is farther, but you know what I mean.  It was an hour after Geoffrey reported the bird when I arrived. I scoured the area with a sense of deja vu, recalling the Lazuli Bunting I didn’t find there earlier in the year.  After about 90 minutes of no luck, it was time to head to the airport and hopefully some better luck with the species Joe and Corinne wanted to see.   To the best of my knowledge, the bird was never refound.

Meeting up with Joe and Corinne, the first (expected) stop was at the airport to look and listen for Sky Larks.  We got a few sound bites, but nothing truly satisfying.  We headed off to the Central Saanich Road field that has been pretty reliable for me.  We were quickly rewarded with a couple of displaying males and fly-bys of several other individuals.  Yay!

The two other birds on their wish list were Marbled Murrelet and Sooty Grouse.  We went next to Island View Beach, but there were very few birds and the waves were a little high for murrelet searches.  We tried again at Esquimalt Lagoon, but the waves were even higher.  There were 40 Great Blue Herons hunting in the lagoon, though. Quite the spectacle!

Of course, the next stop was Goldstream Heights on the Malahat, the most reliable spot for Sooty Grouse this year.  Several had been seen in the last week, so optimism ran high.  Apparently, too high, as we couldn’t roust a grouse.  I heard a very faint one some distance away, too far to count.  Giving up, we headed to Mill Bay to try again for a murrelet and to have dinner.

We tried again for the grouse early the next morning without success.  However, that day’s trip to Mill Bay turned up an excellent look at a Marbled Murrelet on flat waters. Two down, one to go.

The rest of the week went like that, too.  Several trips to Goldstream Heights, but not a grouse to be seen.

In between, though, there was a day of adventure.  Friday morning, I decided to go to Port Alberni to build up my Alberni-Clayoquot list.  I had stopped at Little Mountain for a look-see when a text message came in. Northern Mockingbird at Wickaninnish Beach!  I was on my way!

 

I was still a couple of hours away,  but I was two hours ahead of where I would have been otherwise.  This looked good for finding this bird, the first mockingbird reported this year.

The beach was beautiful, but deserted–no people, no mockingbird.

 

I walked the beach and parking lot pishing and twitching for the next three hours.  No mockingbird, but I did see a couple of interesting things.

 
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I also ran into a couple from Britain who had been birding with Rick Schortinghuis in Victoria earlier in the week.  Even with their help, no mockingbird.

Just as I was about to leave at around 5 o’clock, I heard an email alert on my phone.  The mockingbird had been seen at the airport around 11 am.  Sigh…. Either there were two mockingbirds or I had been searching in the wrong place the whole time.  I called Adrian Dorst to get more details and headed to the airport. I searched for an hour before throwing in the towel and heading home.  A close look at a Red-tailed Hawk on my way out was the consolation prize.

 

The rest of the week was filled up with wanderings to Fishboat Bay to see Cathy Carlson, getting RPBO’s trailer ready for the upcoming migration season, and of course more trips up to Goldstream Heights in search of the grouse.  We did see something I’d never seen before–a huge flock of Violet-green Swallows sunbathing on the heated rocks.  They’d roll on the rocks, spread their body and wing feathers, mouths gaping the whole time.  It was very curious behaviour.

We never did find any grouse but I did get some photos to share over the course of the week.

Tomorrow, the quest of the year.  I am heading to Mt. Cain to look for White-tailed Ptarmigan.  Wish me luck!