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:
