Not at all!  And for that matter, neither is the bird of the day, week, month and in all likelihood, my whole big year!

Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s original site was chosen for migration monitoring for a number of reasons, chief among them, the number and diversity of birds that pass through the DND property. Alan MacLeod first brought this to the attention of the Canadian Wildlife Service in the early 1990s and since that time more than 300 species have been seen at Rocky Point and/or the surrounding waters.  Today, a new species was added to that list.

I was responsible for doing the census this morning.  This is a 90 minute survey along exactly the same route at the same time each day in relation to sunrise.  Starting at the station one hour after sunrise, the route winds its way through the net lanes and along the roads at Rocky Point.  I got about 100m along the route this morning and realized I’d left my camera back at the station.  I was torn–do I break the routine and get the camera, or just carry on. I made the decision to run back and get my camera–thank goodness.

About 20 minutes into the route, there are a couple of ponds. These are usually good for waterfowl, warblers, flycatchers and sometimes shorebirds.  Blackbirds, swallows and sparrows also make good use of the area.  As I approached the ponds, I saw a medium-sized dark bird fly from the grassy fields into the pond.  When I put up my binoculars, I realized that I didn’t know what it was.  Smaller than a blackbird, it was clinging to a cattail, making a metallic chip note, and flicking its tail to the side.  Weird.

My camera was at the ready on my hip, and I started shooting.  It doesn’t have a powerful zoom, but the image quality is good, so I can usually zoom in on the image. I even remembered to put the camera into movie mode to record the sound the bird was making (which was remarkably similar to White-crowned Sparrow chips.)

The census route is timed and I had to move on.  I didn’t even have time to look at the photos.  That would have to wait. It was a pretty birdy census today.  Migration is definitely on!

When I got back to the station, bander-in-charge Brian Pomfret and I sat down and took a first look at the photos.  Neither of us knew what it was, but Brian said he had a feeling it was going to be something good.  We thumbed through a field guide to try to find a likely candidate.  The closest seemed to be a Blue Grosbeak, but that was pretty unlikely, given its normal range.

 
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Cell phone reception is spotty at best, but a couple of text and email messages were sent out  to try to get confirmation from someone who was familiar with the species.

We returned to where the bird had last been seen, but there was no sign of it.  Whatever it turned out to be, I was pretty sure it would be #240 for my big year list!

By the end of our shift, we were pretty sure that it was, indeed, a Blue Grosbeak.  Not blue, because it is young, or female, or young and female.

Interestingly, once we reached civilization, we found that it was not the first Blue Grosbeak to be reported in BC this week.  A birder on Bowen Island had a bird coming to his feeder which was initially identified as a Blue Grosbeak, but eventually re-identified as a molting Purple Finch.  It turns out that the Rocky Point bird is the first Blue Grosbeak documented on Vancouver Island, the third for BC, and the first in the province since 1991!  Brian was right.  It did turn out to be something good!

 

 

As the likely additions to my year list dwindle, there is one area still with good potential.  I have to get out on boats and go after the marine birds!

With that in mind, I headed to Tofino on Tuesday morning in advance of a Thursday morning pelagic trip.  Before I even got out of town, an alert came in from Rocky Point: They had an Eastern Kingbird near the banding station!  I have no kingbirds on my list yet–something I desperately want to change.  But…. access to Rocky Point is restricted and since I had no legitimate (i.e. allowed under our permit) reason to go out there, I sadly had to leave that species unchecked.  This was, in fact, the second Eastern Kingbird seen there this year.  Or the same one in both the spring and fall.  We’ll never know. Of course, by the time that I did have a reason to go to Rocky Point a few days later, the bird was long gone.

There was a consolation prize to be had, though, if I could get there in time.  Passing by several Tim’s en route, I got to Chesterman’s Beach in Tofino in the late afternoon. Adrian Dorst had found a Franklin’s Gull there two days earlier, the first he’d seen in Tofino in 31 years.  It had still been there in the morning.

The beaches around Tofino are well worth a visit any time.

 

With very specific information on its favourite hangout, I made my way down the beach and…

Yes!  Franklin’s Gull for species 237!

Also in the puddle that held the Franklin’s were several Bonaparte’s Gulls and a few hundred shorebirds including two Short-billed Dowitchers.

 

While watching the gull, my phone rang. It was Lyndsey from the Whale Centre with a heads up that things weren’t looking too good for Thursday.  The winds were coming up and the forecast was looking pretty ugly.  But these things can change, so you never know!

Wednesday morning, I explored the beaches near Green Point while waiting to see if I could get a campsite for another night.

A Wandering Tattler flew in and posed for photos right in front of me!

Mark  Yunker arrived in Tofino on Wednesday afternoon and Jody Wells on Wednesday evening, all set to join a group of about ten for the 40 km offshore trip.  Mark and I spent the afternoon looking for birds, but the Franklin’s Gull was now AWOL. However, a trip to Wickaninnish Beach gave us great looks at Wandering Tattlers and Spotted Sandpipers foraging in the fresh vegetation left by a descending tide.

We met at the Whale Centre at 6:45 am on Thursday  with high hopes but expecting the worst.  Two to three metre seas at eight second intervals, with impending gale force winds may technically not be the “worst”, but it was sufficient to cancel the trip.  Pelagic list additions would have to wait. I hadn’t been to Amphritite Point yet this year, so we went to the lighthouse for a seawatch.  Among the birds were distant Sooty Shearwaters enjoying the conditions that would have made it a rough day for me and others.

I took a side trip on my way home to check out Deep Bay north of Qualicum where Guy Monty had seen a Common Tern earlier in the week, but I couldn’t relocate it.

 

Friday was a local day with stops at Maber Flats, Cattle Point and the Oak Bay Marina (Turkey Head).  My plan along the water was to look for a Red Knot, and bird that had been eluding me since the spring.  Many Black-bellied Plovers had been seen along the waterfront and I had it on good authority that knots would sometimes hang out with them.  When I got to the marina  in the early evening and scoped the offshore yellow (due to lichens) rock, there were thirty-seven plovers.  And one smaller, redder, sleeping shorebird!  Could it be?  I was maxed out on my scope, but I could see that it had a medium long bill.  Daniel Donnecke was kayaking somewhere out there, but I couldn’t see him.  I called Marie O’Shaugnessy.  She lives very close to the marina and has a long telephoto lens. Could we make this bird out to be a knot?
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While Marie and I were discussing the possibilities, Daniel came into view.  Marie thought it might be a dowitcher.  I didn’t think they would hang out on rocks like that. Daniel could get close enough to ID the bird–if only we could get his attention!   He carries a marine radio for safety, and I carry a cell phone.  Unfortunately, the two can’t communicate, so we had to rely on analogue techniques–me, jumping, waving  and yelling from shore! Eventually, Daniel did get to the islet, saw the bird and got some photos.  Sadly, when I caught up with him later, he confirmed the bird’s ID: Short-billed Dowitcher.  Curses!

 

The sea is my best shot for new species right now, so about two weeks ago, I took the online Pleasure Craft Operator’s Card course.  It takes about three hours followed by a pretty easy 50 question multiple choice test.  I passed, but that doesn’t mean that I can actually operate a boat.  It seems kind of weird to me that you have to do so much to get a car license, but you can legally take a boat out after very little “classroom” learning and absolutely no practical experience. Saturday, Daniel, Liam Singh, Sharon Godkin and I rented a boat at Pedder Bay for my first boat driving lesson–and of course, to look for some birds!

The sea was beautiful on Saturday, almost flat calm.  The birds were few and far between.  We ended up spending about 3 1/2 hours on the water with nothing unusual to report.  Is Pedder Bay the only place on the south island (or anywhere on the island, for that matter) where you can rent a small boat?  I can’t find any others.  Lots of charters for fishing–not many options for birding!

 

Saturday was also the day that Ian Cruickshank returned to Victoria, and in true Ian style, he had a rare bird within minutes of arriving home, I think. While heading to Tod Flats to try to see a Green Heron that had been found earlier, Ian called to say he had a Common Tern in view. At Oak Bay Marina.  On the rock that I’d stared at for three hours on Friday night.  At the same time of the day that I had been there. <roll eyes here>   The only good thing that I can say about that is that we visually scoured that rock on Friday evening, so I am certain that the tern was not there then.  I rounded up the folks at the Red Barn and two carloads headed to the marina to be the first people to see the last people who saw the tern.

On Ian’s advice, Liam and I went back to the marina for sunrise.  Mary Robichaud and Aziza Cooper also came to look for the bird. There was a beautiful sunrise. Smoke from the Washington State fires made it possible to look at the red sun in such detail you could see sun spots.

Sometime under cover of darkness, the tern had made its escape!  I was leading a field trip on a boat four hours later, so intended just to bird around the area. Our group split up.  Within minutes, Aziza called to say that Geoffrey and David Newell had found a Red Knot at the foot of Bowker, just a couple of kilometres away.  Off we went!  I was surprised when I got there that there were no recognizable cars, and no people.  Was I hallucinating??  I set up the scope and was working my way through the Black-bellied Plovers when the phone rang again. It was Aziza asking where I was.  Turns out I’m probably the only birder in Victoria that didn’t know that the “foot of Bowker” doesn’t mean the foot of Bowker, but rather a small lane one block south.  Same general spot on the beach, but a much better view from there. When I got there, Mary had the bird in her scope, so I took my look for the “tick” (238) and then set my scope up to savour the look.  I had just found it when again my phone rang.

 

Jody Wells had a Yellow-headed Blackbird at Saanichton Spit.  He was pretty excited and this was a bird I definitely needed.  I had just enough time–if the bird was cooperative–to get out back out to Saanichton (where I live) and then return to Oak Bay for the field trip. A potential fly in the ointment, though, was a major cycling event that would be travelling many of the streets throughout the region.  It felt kind of like I was in a video game maze, trying to pick the clearest paths to get to the goal.

When I got to the spit, Jody was perched staring into some tall sedges and used his phone to steer me in the right direction.  He had sat there watching the grasses moving as the bird wandered through them so he’d know where the bird was when I arrived.  Talk about dedicated friends!  The bird popped up almost immediately, then flew down again.  Then up and into a shrub, very badly backlit, but with a view sufficient to make it out as a young male.  Carefully moving around the shrub, we were both able to get some decent shots.  Not even 9 a.m, and I had two species for my list!

 

I managed to get back to Oak Bay and find a parking spot without getting held up by the cyclists.  A group of twelve headed out for a two-hour tour around the Oak Bay islands.  All eyes were watching for the tern, but it was not relocated.  It was a very pleasant trip on the water, though, with fantastic looks at Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets up close.  An afternoon trip had similar results.

 

Ian and Daniel were also on the water, but in a kayak.  They spent several hours poking around Chatham and Discovery and the area. And yes, they did find a tern–a different one than the one Ian saw the day before–and a Tufted Puffin!

 

Remember that time when I drove all the way to Tofino and searched for a Northern Mockingbird at Wickaninnish Beach while it was really at the Long Beach Airport?  Well, Sunday was like deja vu all over again.

I had been deciding whether to head to Sidney Island to pick up some local birds (on my list for the year, but not the Capital Region) or to restart the quest for a Red Knot off Oak Bay when an eBird alert came in.  Someone had seen a Northern Mockingbird at Whiffin Spit in Sooke at 7 am.  Problem was that it was now after 2 pm and I was still an hour away.  I headed out as quickly as I could, not feeling particularly optimistic about finding it.  Cathy Carlson joined me and we walked the length of the spit without finding many birds at all, and no mockingbird.

Mary Robichaud arrived and called from the parking lot.  We discussed strategy when she mentioned the poster’s reference to camping and a ferry landing.  I’d missed that, as I hadn’t looked at the checklist comment, just the bird description.  Analyzing the description, we concluded that he couldn’t have meant Whiffin Spit.  Maybe Sidney Spit? Wherever he meant, it clearly wasn’t Whiffin.  Sadly, we all went home empty handed.  Later in the evening, he changed the location to Port Renfrew.  We were only 70 km off!  Of course, at the same time,  a Common Tern was seen at Deep Bay and a Franklin’s Gull was at Long Beach.  I missed them all! Things are definitely heating up.

You can see the species I’ve seen and ones I haven’t on my Species List page at any time, but I’ve been thinking it’s about time for a “short list” of missing birds.  Of course, rarities are rare and I definitely want to know about them.  The following list, though, shows the birds that are uncommon but regularly seen on the island.  They are still missing from my Big Year list and I’d appreciate any help in changing that.

Redhead	Red-naped Sapsucker
White-tailed Ptarmigan	Least Flycatcher
Clark’s Grebe	Tropical Kingbird
Leach’s Storm-Petrel	Western Kingbird
Brown Pelican	Eastern Kingbird
Snowy Egret	Horned Lark
Cattle Egret	White-breasted Nuthatch
Broad-winged Hawk	Rock Wren
Swainson’s Hawk	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Golden-Plover	Northern Mockingbird
Red Knot	Red-throated Pipit
Red Phalarope	Snow Bunting
South Polar Skua	Northern Waterthrush
Pomarine Jaeger	Nashville Warbler
Parasitic Jaeger	American Tree Sparrow
Long-tailed Jaeger	Clay-colored Sparrow
Franklin’s Gull	Vesper Sparrow
Slaty-backed Gull	Harris’s Sparrow
Glaucous Gull	Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Common Tern	Yellow-headed Blackbird
Snowy Owl	Rusty Blackbird
Long-eared Owl	Brambling
Lewis’s Woodpecker	Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

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I hope to get a few of these on a pelagic trip from Tofino this week.

No new birds, but here are a some photos from this week’s searches:

 

One of the surprises to me this year has been just how difficult it is to find reported birds.  Normally, I’m not much of a bird chaser, in part because my “find” record is not that great.  I typically am not willing to put in the time or energy required tp relocate the bird and often leave without the sighting.  This year, though, I’ve brought much more focus to my bird chasing, getting to the spot as quickly as possible, and staying as long as necessary (or as long as I can) to try to find the bird.  Even with that, I come up empty more times than I succeed.  Of course, there are the “big” misses like the Crested Caracara in Nanaimo, the Northern Mockingbird at Long Beach and the legendary Great Gray Owl on Quadra Island, but there are many smaller chases that have been equally unrewarding.  This week, that included several trips to Swan Lake looking for a Bank Swallow, a Great Egret chase at Esquimalt Lagoon, and  rushing out to Pedder Bay in search of a Nashville Warbler sighted by Robin Robinson.

There were lots of swallows around, and some were gracious enough to sit on the railing for me, but not Bank Swallows. Young Tree Swallows can sometimes have a faint breast band, which can get a big year birder pretty excited, but fail to deliver that official “tick”.

Then there are the misses because I didn’t learn about the bird until too late.  Last Wednesday, two birders regaled me with photos of a Western Kingbird they had seen just ten minutes from my home on Tuesday.  I’m still 0 for 3 on kingbirds for the year.  If you see a kingbird, ANY kingbird, please give me a call!  🙂

My sister, Esther, and her husband, Bruce, almost did the “late” report thing to me during their visit when they casually, but sincerely, mentioned that they had seen a “Blue Jay” —- ten hours earlier.  When I suggested that they probably meant “Steller’s Jay”, they said that the jay they were looking at had a white belly, blue back and a crest.   The location at Pat Bay was less than 500 m from where I had seen a Blue Jay in Victoria eight years ago. Esther tells me I actually blanched.  I believe her!  Thankfully, in getting a more detailed description of the bird’s location and behaviour, it became clear that they had been looking at a Belted Kingfisher.  That’s probably for the best in keeping family relationships positive!

Bad luck, late reports, and mis-ids were all forgotten though, on Sunday when Heather Tronsden reported a small tern  hanging out with Bonaparte’s Gulls near Whiffen Spit.  Although I’d just returned  to town from Pedder Bay, I turned right around and headed to Sooke. While en route, the tern was tentatively identified as a Common Tern.  Elegant Terns have been reported recently near the mouth of the Columbia River, and I wanted to keep my mind open for that possibility.  Either way, the bird  had the potential to be species #236 for my year list.  I would arrive about two hours after the sighting.  What were the chances the bird would still be there?

I left a message for Heather asking for more details, and the answers were in my phone when I reached the spit.  The bird had been feeding on the inside of the spit,  and with a quick scan, I could see it!  It was a long way away, though, and I couldn’t see it well enough to ID it.   After firing off a few quick shots with my camera, I packed up and headed to the public wharf behind the Best Western Hotel to try to get a better look. There were plenty of seals and fisherman, but no tern, so I went back out the spit.

 

Aziza Cooper had arrived in my absence and had been watching the bird close to shore while I was at the dock.  By the time I got back to the spit, it was back where I’d originally seen it.  Of course.  Patience was a virtue in this case as about every fifteen minutes or so, the tern would come close to the spit and fish, well within camera range.  Between the two of us, I suspect we took about 200 photos, certainly enough for an ID.  Terns are quick, though, and the majority of the photos were blurry.  However, we were able to see enough of the wing pattern to be pretty sure it was an Arctic Tern, not a Common as first thought.

I could never have imagined that I would be even a tiny bit disappointed in seeing an Arctic Tern in Victoria. It’s a good bird, and a nice addition to my regional (county) list, but I already had it for the island this year.  A successful search, but still stuck at 235.

Even on days when I’m not chasing, I’m still birding.  I’ve been doing census at both the Rocky Point and Pedder Bay migration monitoring sites, and stopping at a lot of hotspots between other commitments. Sometimes the birds aren’t unusual, but there are often opportunities to get some interesting photos.

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While shopping with my sister and niece, I got a call from Marie O’Shaughnessy.  She and Mike Ashbee  were looking at a Great Egret at Saanichton Spit.  Even though I’ve already got one for my list, it’s always worth a trip to see another one!  We headed to the spit and saw it flying around the lagoon.  Jody Wells got there just after us and kept an eye on it for other birders heading to the site.

 

The week turned up some non-bird subjects as well.

Not all interesting items were even natural.

I just have one question.  Can I count Snowbird as a Big  Year species?

And last, but not least, another early morning text from Chris Saunders, and another scramble to Swan Lake, and finally, a Bank Swallow for species 236!

We followed this bird for several minutes as it flew over and behind vegetation, did an aerial manoeuvre with a Barn Swallow, zipped here, there and everywhere.   Its flight pattern was noticeably different than the other swallows in the crowd, and finally it crossed over us close enough for a distant photo.  I have to say, this is one I’m really glad to have checked off, but I’d still like a better look.  Maybe now it will sit on the railing for me!

 

We’re still having fun!  (See what I did there?)

I think Bank Swallows must be in cahoots with Great Gray Owls.  There have been a few sightings in the past week at Swan Lake, but despite spending several sunsets and a couple of early mornings there, I have yet to see (or hear) one well enough to be sure I wasn’t looking at something else.  Swallows have been gathering in great numbers around Victoria, prepping for their trip south.  When you’re immersed in flocks of hundreds of Barn Swallows, it’s hard to believe that this species is on the threatened list in Canada.  It is still common, but therein lies the problem.  When we see large flocks or see individuals every day, we miss the fact that this population has declined 76% between the 1970s and 2009.  That’s huge and worrisome!

Rare bird reports have picked up a little this week, so I’ve been doing a fair amount of chasing.  After getting the Wandering Tattler at Long Beach, Mary Robichaud found one closer to home at the Ogden Point Breakwater.  It took me two trips to refind it (I was there on the wrong tide the first time), but I can now show you much nicer photos of a Wandering Tattler.

There were also about two dozen Black Turnstones feeding, resting and bathing along the inside wall of the breakwater.

A Rock Wren was reported at Stocking Creek in Ladysmith. I’ve seen a few Rock Wrens, and the location at a creek was suspicious.  Normally these wrens are in bare or sparsely vegetated habitats. In Victoria, I’ve seen them on Christmas Hill, Island View Beach, and Harling Point.  The Island View bird was first reported by Stuart Clarke. I received a very cool gift from Stu this week.  He is a wildlife photographer and has just put out what I’m calling a “big year” mug.  He said that my big year was an inspiration for the mug, so he gave me one!  Thanks, Stu!

The description of the Rock Wren that was posted to eBird included seeing the bird doing “knee bends” which is something a Rock Wren definitely does.  But so does an American Dipper.  I’d never been to Stocking Creek, though, so it was worth a trip.

Dave Baird joined me and we walked the trails of this 13-acre park, just a little off the TransCanada Highway south of Ladysmith.  It’s a very pretty spot with a sandstone-bottomed creek and a small waterfall. Sure enough, we found an American Dipper not too far from the waterfall.

I headed to Rocky Point to do a census on Friday. Each day, we walk the same route starting an hour after sunrise, and count all of the birds we see and hear.  Sometimes a rarity or two turns up.  Not this week. I did manage a couple of interesting photos, though.
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Most of my other chases this week were for the Bank Swallow–until yesterday.  I was just about out the door to go to a surprise birthday party for my friend Tammy Ruffolo, when Geoffrey and David Newell posted that they had found a Stilt Sandpiper at Witty’s Lagoon.  The good news was that it wasn’t far from where the birthday party was being held.  The bad news — surprise!– was that I wasn’t going to be there for Tammy’s grand entrance.

I admit to being directionally challenged, so when the report read that the bird was at the north side of the Lagoon Trail, that meant nothing to me.  I knew how to get onto the Lagoon Trail and so I did–apparently at the south end.  The crew from the RPBO banding site at Witty’s Lagoon were making their trek up the long hill with the gear.  I urged them all to join me in the quest, but only Cheryl Hoyle took me up on it.  Eventually, we found Mary Robichaud along the trail and after making our way to the north side, met up with the Newells and Daniel Donnecke.  All of us got great looks at the Stilt Sandpiper, the first one I’ve seen here in about ten years.  A great addition to the list.  Before we left, the flock of peeps with the Stilt Sandpiper in tow, headed across the lagoon–right to where I had started out.

I got to the birthday party in time for cake.  Happy Early Birthday to Tammy, and to her mom, Penny, whose birthday in a couple of days was the ruse that kept Tammy in the dark about her surprise party.

I ended the day with another trip to Swan Lake.  It’s beautiful there, even without Bank Swallows.

Here are some bonus shots from my week.