I’m writing this post from my laptop while I’m overnighting in Port McNeill in anticipation of a rare bird on Wednesday–more about that later.

This is significant in that I do not have all the photos I took last week with me, but I do have a couple.  I will be updating this post with new photos when I get home. Come back later to see them!

Last Thursday, Ben van Drimmelin took Daniel Donnecke and me for a ride in his sailboat off the Victoria waterfront.

Almost immediately, we started seeing feeding frenzies on the water.  Chasing after them, we saw incredible numbers of gulls, phalaropes and murres, gathering and moving around as the food availability switched from place to place.

What really knocked our socks off, though, were the number of jaegers, especially Pomarines. Every time we turn around, there was another jaeger–or three.  Neither of us had ever seen so many in a single day–or for that matter, in a year.  Dark ones, light ones. some in molt.  One of our biggest challenges for the day  was to come up with a realistic–and believable number.

Jaegers feed by a technique called kleptoparisitism. In essence, this means that they chase a bird that has recently eaten around until it gives up its meal.  Yes,  until it vomits.  Then the jaeger eats the tasty treat.  Yum! We noticed that the jaegers seem to pick on younger gulls. Perhaps they are more difficult to stress when they are older.

In the end, we estimated between 15,000 and 20, 000 gulls, 4000 Common Murres, and 700 Red-necked Phalaropes, and 16 jaegers, among many other birds.  It was a spectacle!  I didn’t add any new species for the day, but it was one of the most awesome days of my year!

The weekend had spectacles of its own.  The last weekend of September is typically near the peak of raptor migration on the southern part of Vancouver Island.  Mid-week precipitation and winds coming from the southwest combined perfectly for clearing on the weekend and one of the better hawkwatch weekends in my memory.

On Saturday morning, nearly 70 people, including many excellent birders ascended the viewpoint in East Sooke Park to see what might fly by.  The BC Field Ornithologists had a field trip to the island, VNHS had a group, CRD Parks put on an event and members of the general public all knew that this would be a good one.

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The vultures need to gain good altitude to make the crossing to the US.  They will circle higher and higher until they think they have enough lift beneath them, then straighten out and make an attempt to cross the strait.  As they pass over the cool air over the water, they lose altitude at which point they must make a decision.  Should they stay or should they go?  We saw several aborted crossing with birds returning to the circling kettle.  Neat to watch, but difficult to count!  Over the course of the day, we saw several hundred Turkey Vultures, and good numbers of Red-tailed, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks.  Bald Eagles, a single Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, and even three Sandhill Cranes added to the day.  But no Swainson’s Hawk, one I had really hoped to see.

Sunday was just as beautiful as Saturday, but the lookout couldn’t have been more different.  Guy and Donna Monty, and Dave Baird made the trek to Victoria to get in on the hawkwatching action.  When we got to the top, Dave Manning was already there, and we were soon joined by a Northern Goshawk and a Broad-winged Hawk, the first of three we’d see for the day.  Red-tails in all sorts of weird plumage passed over during the morning, and again, several hundred vultures kept us entertained.  The highlight came at around 1 pm.  Finally, a Swainson’s Hawk for species 253!

There was another special event on Sunday.  Saturday marked my 60th (!) birthday, and many of my birding friends thought this was a great excuse for a potluck dinner.  I was tied up with birding events from dawn to night on Saturday, so we got together Sunday evening.  I don’t normally celebrate birthdays, and I hate to think about aging, so this was  a real stretch for me, but it was a great event and I am thankful for so many wonderful friends in my life.  May we all stay forever young!

On Monday, Ivan Dubinsky, lightkeeper at Scarlett Point on Balaklava Island north of Port Hardy, posted some beautiful photos of a female Orchard Oriole near his home.  I headed out early in the morning, stopping in the Parksville area to do a bit of birding with Donna and Guy Monty.  I am now in Port McNeill, hoping the oriole has stayed one more day and that the weather cooperates to get me to the island.  Stay tuned!

Here are a few more photos from my week:

 

 

I had the best of intentions to get out of the house early Saturday morning for the trip to Tofino.  By the time that I had everything packed and I had tended to some pressing emails, it was 11 before I was on the road.  Everything (I hoped) that needed to be transferred from car to van was aboard and I was on my way.  I’m definitely getting more comfortable with driving the van. I know that you can make it from Victoria to Tofino in 4 1/2 hours, but it usually takes me at least an hour longer, and that’s without birding.

When I reached the T-junction on Hwy 4, I stopped at the Visitor Centre to check email and messages.  Cell service is spotty at best on the west coast there.  I had a message from Daniel Donnecke that a Northern Mockingbird had been seen near his niece’s place in Ucluelet.  I decided I’d better check in at the park before heading there, but here was another chance for that jinxy species! Back at home, Mike McGrenere had found a Rusty Blackbird at Martindale Flats, just 10 minutes from my place.  The good news is that Rusty Blackbirds tend to stick around.  The bad news is that it was in a flock of several hundred birds.

When I got to Green Point, there was at least a 30-minute wait to register so I turned around and headed to Ukee.  And promptly got behind the slowest driver in that neck of the woods.  The car ahead was sporting  an “N” (new driver tag) and rarely made it within 10 kph of the speed limit.  Most of the time, it was going 20 kph below the limit.  As the cars built up behind me, no doubt thinking I was the problem, the situation was getting potentially dangerous.  Cars passing me discovered they had to pass a second unexpected vehicle ahead.  Finally, we got to a spot where I had enough clear road ahead and a dashed line and I made my move.  I was just pulling back into my lane when the red and blue lights of a police car parked on the opposite side of the road came on and he made a quick u-turn.   I pulled over. Yep, he was after me!

He was very courteous and asked if I knew why he’d pulled me over.  I told him I didn’t.  He said that I had passed on a solid line.  I knew I hadn’t, but how do you politely argue about such things? This is only the second time I’d been pulled over in more than 40 years of driving. Cutting a long story short, he went back and checked and saw that I had started my pass legally.  He still said I’d broken the law by returning to my lane after my dashed line ended, but he’d let it go this time. Whew!  The more I thought about it, though, the less sense it made, though.   How is a driver to know how much dashed line is there when they start to pass (assuming it is dashed as far as they can see)?  When I got home, I checked the rules and apparently I was not breaking any laws. You are allowed to complete your pass, even across a solid double line.

I continued on to Ucluelet, but couldn’t find any birders and the rain had started again in earnest.  Back to the campground for an early night.

The next morning, I went back to Ucluelet for the Wild Research Pelagic trip aboard the Frances Barclay.

 

This ship could handle the 3 metre seas that were promised.  There were about 100 people on board.

I was well-prepared with rain gear (much needed), food, and a new seasickness regime.  I’d been taking meclizine (bought in the US) for a few days, put on a scopalamine patch a day before (taped it on this time so it wouldn’t fall off), and had Gravol liquid gelcaps on hand in case I felt queasy.  I also had roll of doggy-doo-doo bags to use rather than making the desperate run to the stern of the boat if push came to shove. All of these things individually have not stopped me from getting seasick.  We were yet to see how the combo worked.

It was a rough and wet ride out to the continental shelf.  The rain started and stopped, sometimes drizzled, sometimes poured, but I stayed out on the deck (a really good idea if you are prone to seasickness).  We were treated to a fantastic fulmar show, with an estimated 120 seen during the trip.

Pink-footed Shearwaters outnumbered Sooties, and several Black-footed Albatrosses came close to the ship.

There was enough rocking and rolling to require at least one and sometimes two hands on the railing, so I didn’t get a lot of photos. I was lamenting at one point how none of the species I had hoped to get for my list had been seen, only to find out that they had.  They were either quick fly-bys or in the case of one South Polar Skua, reasonably well seen by a few, but not called out loudly enough for the word to get around. Thankfully, John Reynolds got me on a Buller’s Shearwater and  Parasitic Jaeger to add two birds to my list.  The official trip list can be seen here. The significant bird I missed was South Polar Skua, which will be difficult to add now. No one reported Leach’s Storm Petrel (although I hear rumor of a probable) or Long-tailed Jaeger, two other birds I had hoped to add.

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About half-way into the trip, I was feeling not so good.  Time to bring out the Gravol.  I took one of the capsules, ate some food and drank some water. Within minutes, all was good and I didn’t feel queasy for the rest of the trip! Woo hoo!

While on board, Eric Tull advised me that he had seen a Ruff the evening before at the Long Beach Golf Course.  Now I had to make a decision–go for the mockingbird or the Ruff.  I opted for the Ruff and as soon as the boat landed, I headed to the golf course.  Eric and friends arrived as well, and we found the Pectoral Sandpipers he’d seen with the Ruff, but no luck.  Peter Candido, who is doing a BC big year, also was looking for the bird.

That evening was all about friends.  I was invited to dinner with Dave  Fraser and Leah Ramsay,  Randy Dzenkiw, Andy and Amy Teucher, and Paul Chytyk and David Schnell.  It was a great evening of stories and food and a wonderful way to end an adventurous day.

The next morning, I headed to the beach at Green Point where I found a banded Black Oystercatcher.  The black on white colour band indicates that the bird was banded nearby.

 

Birdband sightings and recoveries can be reported at http://reportband.gov.

I met up with Randy to go looking for the Northern Mockingbird.  This species has definitely ben a jinx this year, with untimely reports and sometimes locations given that were up to 70 km from where the bird really was.  Just after we arrived at the target neighbourhood, I got a call from Peter.  The bird had been seen about half an hour earlier by Logan Lalonde, Isaac Nelson and others, pretty much where we parked. Over the next three hours, we scoured the area, with other birders coming and going and even a bear joining in for a while, but no luck. (Only Randy got to see the bear, which was standing right where Randy had been just a few minutes earlier.) I had to wonder if this was the same bird that had been seen at Wickininnish Beach and the Tofino Airport a couple of months ago.  One of the homeowners in the area told us he had a “gray robin” at his feeder over the summer.

Dave, Leah,  Andy and Amy came by about noon to drop off Randy’s backpack as he was going to stay with the search and go back to Victoria with me. Shortly after everyone but Randy and me had left, we split up to search in the opposite direction of our morning search.  I took the high road and Randy took the low.  Within five minutes, my phone buzzed with the text message “Got it!”.  I ran around the block and got a quick and bad look at the bird.  It was a legit tick (#252), but I wanted more!  I wanted a good look!  Thankfully, it obliged.

I gave Peter a call and tried to keep my eye on the mockingbird.  I lost it briefly while Andy was trying to see it, so he missed it, but it was back in plain view when Peter and Gloria arrived and they got the bird, too!

Randy and I checked out a few more spots in the area, including another run at the Ruff, but didn’t add any new birds to the list. It wasn’t until the next evening that I learned that there had been an Ovenbird sighted just 20 minutes from the mockingbird while we were in the area.  If there’s one lesson I’m learning from this year, it’s to report “good” birds promptly, with detailed directions on the place last seen.  I promise I will do that for all future big year or annual listers.

We got back to Victoria late Monday night,  where I hoped a Rusty Blackbird would be waiting for me in the morning.

 

 

 

One thing that has been more important than just about anything else this year is my phone.  It’s more than a phone–it’s my trip lists, emails, contact list,  text messages, reference guide, backup camera, etc.  I use it so much, I generally have to charge it at least twice a day. I carry backup batteries which are often seen dangling from the phone when I’m out chasing birds. Last week, it wouldn’t charge.  I squeezed in a quick trip to buy a new battery, so I was set.  I thought.  The new battery wouldn’t charge either.  It wasn’t the battery, it was the phone! Thankfully, I had an external battery charger, so I was able to charge it, but that meant my phone was out of commission while charging.  My stress level definitely increased!  I was about to buy a second battery when I remembered that I had been paying for phone insurance.  Maybe I could get a new phone!

I took my phone to the Best Buy Geek Squad, and they said that they’d need to do a factory reset and test the phone themselves before replacing it.  That meant I’d have to back everything up from my phone before leaving it with them. And I was only three hours away from getting on a ferry.

As I mentioned in my last post, last week included a trip off the island.  This wasn’t all bad news, though, as it meant I’d get out on the Juan de Fuca Strait and have a chance at some seabirds. I downloaded the software and attempted a backup, but as often is the case when you are rushed, it didn’t work.  Too bad, as that would have been the perfect time to drop the phone off.  I have a US phone for when I’m in the states, so could live without my Canadian one for a day.  Moving on to Plan B, I grabbed everything I could think of and carry and headed for the Coho.  Thankfully, friends in James Bay let me park at their place, but I got a pretty good workout carrying  birding and computer gear along with a travel case and backpack down to the ferry.  I think I looked like a homeless birder!

On the ferry, I set up at the bow of the ship. Matt Cameron had reported a possible Thick-billed Murre off Beechy Head a few days earlier, so it was my plan to concentrate on the murres. One of the tricks about crossing the strait is that partway across you move from Canadian to American waters. If I got any new birds,  I had to hope they’d be on the Canadian side of the line.

There were plenty of murres to inspect and photograph, but none that showed the characteristics of a Thick-billed. If I could find one, it would not only be a year bird, but a lifer!  As I was going through my photos, I came across this:

No Thick-billed Murres, but that dark bird flying over them is a Pomarine Jaeger, a bird I needed for my year list!  Now I had a dilemma.  I had obviously seen the bird–I photographed it.  But it hadn’t registered at the time. Should I count or not count?  I’d discussed this very thing with other birders earlier in the year, and most, but not all, said they’d count it. Hmmmm….

The other issue, of course, was did I see it in Canadian waters, within my Big Year boundary.  That was easily solved, though.  As I was noting birds in BirdLog as I crossed the strait, I used the “mark this location” feature to “pin” the sightings.  When I got to Port Angeles, I verified that the birds were indeed inside the border.

The other birds of interest during the crossing were Red-necked Phalaropes. I estimated about 180 of these aquatic shorebirds on the crossing.  Despite my best efforts, though, I couldn’t turn one into a Red Phalarope.  Maybe a little later in the year.

In Port Angeles, I met up with good friends Shawneen Finnegan, Dave Irons, and Liz and Jeff Gordon for the American Birding Association Rally on the Olympic Peninsula.  There were about 40 participants from all over the US here to see the wonders of the Pacific Northwest. That first night, I managed to back up my phone onto my laptop. Whew!

Starting with gray skies and rain. The early morning trip to Hurricane Ridge was postponed and instead we hit some birding hotspots along the way to Port Townsend.  A boat trip out to Protection Island was a highlight.  The skies cleared, the water was calm, and plenty of birds were seen.  (I’m not naming them in order to avoid confusion with birds countable for my year.)  Back in Victoria, there were no reports of birds making me regret my decision to leave the island.

That evening, I was the guest speaker for the rally, and gave a presentation on owls, always a popular topic.  In the morning, I headed home while the rest of the group headed to Hurricane Ridge and then to Ocean Shores.

My Pomarine Jaeger dilemma ended on the way back to Victoria when once back in Canadian waters, another cruised by the ferry-the first jaeger I have ever seen and recognized without someone else’s assistance.  Most of the time, I think I just see a dark gull and look the other way.  That obviously has to change!

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After Tim’s, my next stop was Best Buy.  They needed an hour or so to test the phone, and I needed to get some groceries, so it worked out just fine.  Ninety minutes later, I was out the door with a newer version of my broken phone.  When I got home, I restored the data and all seemed good.

Friday night was the Metchosin Talk and Walk (my third presentation that week–so much for keeping commitments down). I was talking about  vultures and owls.  It was a packed house!  That’s the first time I’ve had a standing room only audience.  After the talk, about a dozen people headed to our Pedder Bay site to see if we caught any owls. The weather wasn’t the best, but withing about an hour, those who waited it out got to see their first Northern Saw-whet Owl!

At the end of a long day, I went home to get ready for the trip to Tofino.  Although the Saturday boat trip was cancelled, there was one on Sunday on a much bigger vessel that was still likely to go. And if you’ve ever bought a new phone, you know that there’s a lot of work to be done to really restore it. Apps have to be reloaded, passwords re-entered, blah, blah, blah.

With all of this administrivia going on, you may wonder if I got out birding last week.  I did!  There were trips to Martindale Flats, Saanichton Spit and Tower Point, among others.  Here are some photos from my week.

 

 

 

Such has been my plea this year, and Matt Cameron came through!  More on that a bit later in this post.

After 12 hours of searching for the Magnolia Warbler at Pedder Bay, the logical thing to do was… go back again!  On Wednesday, I decided to be strategic about it.  The warbler had been caught twice between 11 and 12, and twice in the same part of RPBO’s net array.  At about 10:30 am,  I went up to the ridge behind the banding site and took up a perch well above the tree tops.  For 45 minutes, there were very few birds, then without warning, a small flock of passerines appeared. To my left was a Yellow Warbler, and to my right, in the top of a Maple, a warbler!  Grey from above and behind, nothing remarkable, until it flew down to the next tree.  In that moment, a lovely yellow rump was exposed, not as bright as a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but yellow. Liam Singh raced below the tree and heard two chip notes consistent with Magnolia.

I had been watching for wing bars and the diagnostic white band across the tail, but didn’t see either of those. I was grateful, though, when Jim Danzenbaker confirmed that the warblers with yellow rumps were limited to Yellow-rumped, Cape May and Magnolia.  I could rule out the first two, leaving Magnolia-the bird I had been looking for!  I got about a one-second look after 15 hours of effort, but that was enough for a big year tick (247)!

Throughout the year, I have been pleading with people to call me when they see an interesting (or even potentially interesting) bird.  Matt and Court Cameron have been very good about this, alerting me to good birds throughout the year and even providing updates on resightings of birds that have been eluding me.  On Thursday morning, I got a text and call from Matt. He was at Fort Rodd Hill looking at a Rock Wren. This was not a “gimme” bird for the year, so I was out of the house like a shot.

By the time I got to the heritage site about 40 minutes later,  Matt hadn’t seen the bird for a while, but we both knew that it was likely in the area.  Splitting up to search the area better, I went east and Matt went west.  Within minutes, I found the wren, heading back  along the cliffs in Matt’s direction.  Rock Wren (248)!

Matt told me that he called me even before he called Court to let her know!  So everyone else out there.  Be like Matt!  Call me!  (250-514-6450.) This big year would be much smaller without the help and support of others.

The radar has been off the map this week.  I’ve never seen so much migration in such a short period of time.  Sadly, though, groundtruthing hasn’t been as successful as I’d hoped.  Although the skies have been filled with birds, it can be quite challenging to figure out what they were.  I have seen a lot more American Pipits and Savannah Sparrows this week. And of course, ducks and geese are definitely on their way. Overal, though, it hasn’t been very birdy in any of the places I’ve gone this week.

I’ve still gotten out birding at least a bit every day.  Here are some photos from the week.

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Most days, I have been out from early morning until after sunset.  Next week holds more than a few challenges.  I am giving a number of presentations to a wide variety of groups, including the American Birding Association Rally in Port Angeles.  That means I’m leaving the island again.  How many good birds do you think will turn up on the day I’m away?

 

Wow, fall migration is definitely in full swing, and if you don’t believe me, just check out the University of Washington’s weather radar!

Yes, those are all birds!  The night of September 7 was amazing.  If you are interesed in seeing some of these kinds of tools in action, I’m giving a presentation on migration for the Victoria Natural History Society’s Birders’ Night on Wednesday, September 23.  Everyone is welcome!

I had hardly finished my last post when I got a call from Ed Pellizzon, from high up on Observatory Hill.  He had a bird in the grass that he hadn’t quite identified.  That was good enough for me!  I was on my way.  En route, my car was pelted with rain so heavy that I had to put my wipers on full speed. How could he even see a bird in this?  But less than five minutes down the road, it was dry as a bone.  By the time I got up the hill, Ed had identified the bird as a Horned Lark, a new species for my list (243).

 

Big Years would be a whole lot easier if birds could be as cooperative as this one. (More on that later.)  The lark came within a few feet of us as we were standing there, and ultimately stayed around for about 24 hours.  Many people got to see it, and it was as gregarious with them as it was with us.

On Friday, I took a calculated risk.  The annual Western Bird Banding Association meeting was being held in Vancouver, the nearest it’s been to us since I’ve been involved.  I had been asked to do a display table, and despite the fact that meant leaving the island, I had agreed.  It was only a weekend, right?  And not too far away if I had to come back for something great.

Before heading to Vancouver, though, I had arranged to go birding with Guy Monty, hopefully to get some terns and jaegers in Deep Bay. An early morning start got me there around 7:30 and the game was on. Guy is one of the best bird spotters I know, and when we hit the beach at the north end of Admiral Tryon, before we’d even raised binoculars, Guy called out “Golden Plover”.  I saw the bird fly, but there’s no way I would have ID’d it that quickly.  There was a 50/50 chance this could be a new bird for my list so details were critical. Thankfully, the golden-plover stayed close enough for some good scope views.  Guy had a pretty good idea of which one it was, but it was study time for me.  I took some photos and noted key field marks, but I’m not knowledgeable enough on these shorebirds to make a certain ID without consulting other resources.  What do you think?

It’s not enough to know what features to look for. You have to know which ones are associated with which species!  Ultimately, the count of four primaries beyond the tertials nailed this as an American Golden-plover (244)!  Here is a handy reference. There is no question that this big year is really improving my knowledge about differentiating difficult species.

As I headed to the 12:45 Duke Point Ferry,  the sign in Lantzville was discouraging. At 11:30, the 12:45 sailing was already full!  I was supposed to be picking up Judith Toms at Tsawwassen, and now I was going to be three hours late. I gave her a call so she could make other arrangements.  The three-hour delay gave me time to pick up a sandwich and some tea and make my way to the lineup in a leisurely manner.  I checked my emails and responded to a few at Tims before heading to Duke Point.  As I reached the ticket wickets, the sign now read “Possible Wait”.  What?  As I was dawdling, I should have been scurrying!  Long story short, I actually made the 12:45 ferry. Plan A was resurrected.

I had been looking forward to doing this crossing for a long time.  Jaegers had been seen along the route, and it was a brand new birding area for me.  Let me say, I was not impressed.  Once out of the terminal, I saw fewer than 20 birds of any kind–just Glaucous-winged gulls and a dozen cormorants on a channel marker– until we were back into the sheltered waters near Vancouver.  I guess some days must be better than others.

I picked up Judith and we joined up with Alison Moran and Gwen Ballus, as well as Alison’s mother, Bernice and sister, Heather for a great Italian dinner.

Saturday morning, we visited the bird banding station at Colony Farm, followed by lunch and the displays/workshops for the Western Bird Banding Association meeting.  Everything was going great until lunch was just about over.  Ding!  A message appeared on my phone that a Magnolia Warbler and Northern Waterthrush had been banded at Pedder Bay. The Northern Waterthrush would likely be one of several this fall, but a Magnolia Warbler????  I had to go back to Victoria.  Checking the timing and the ferry schedule, there was little point it rushing away immediately.  I’d have hit Pedder Bay with only about an hour of light to search for the bird.  So I did my display, went to a lecture, got most of the dinner (no time for dessert!) and headed to the last ferry of the night. Sadly, I would be missing the scientific sessions that were being held on Sunday.

At first light, I headed to Pedder Bay and searched for a couple of hours.  It had rained hard Saturday night, so I was optimistic that the bird was still in the area.  Sure enough, when I was about 500m away, it was retrapped near the banding station.

The cheap 100mg viagra disease will always be just a drink away. On asking generic med, he would show ignorance of the availability of any such drug. 5.What are the common side-cheap viagra in india and how intense are they? Many companies that offer levitra also pre-warn their customers about the common side-effects of kamagra involve headache, upset stomach, drowsiness, facial flushing, dried mouth, blurred aye-vision, vomiting, minor chest pain etc. This offers significance to weak men for making own fantastic sexual excursion additionally with other such results of Learn More generic cialis prescriptions. The truth is a generic type of any medicine is one among all available treating methods. viagra professional generic Under ABA rules, banders are allowed to “tick” birds they process, and I know the crew would have let me measure and weigh this one.  But I made a pledge earlier this year not to count species for my year list that are in the hand.  I had to wait for the bird’s release, let it get back to resuming normal behaviour, then refind it.  Sounds easy, right? At least I ws 100% positive the Magnolia Warbler was still in the area.

Seven hours later, after searching intently all day, I had still not relocated the bird.  Nor had I refound the Northern Waterthrush that had also been recaptured. I was surprised that not one birder from town came to look for this bird, possibly only the 4th or 5th record for the area.  It was a frustrating day.

Monday, I spent time at both the Pedder Bay and Rocky Point sites.  No sign of the warbler at Pedder, but at Rocky Point, Daniel Donnecke picked out a Broad-winged Hawk in a small kettle of raptors.  Thanks to his sharp eyes and good directions, I was able to add the hawk as species 245.

In the meantime, I got a message from Jan Brown and Alan MacLeod that they had seen a Tennessee Warbler at Beacon Hill Park early Monday morning.  It had not been relocated during the day, but I headed there in the afternoon.

While still searching for the Tennessee, I got a call from Cathy Carlson at Whiffin Spit.  She had borrowed a stranger’s phone to tell me that she had a Lapland Longspur at the spit.  As soon as I hung up, I realized that last year at this time, Daniel had found a Smith’s Longspur.  I didn’t know how certain Cathy was on the ID, and couldn’t get back in touch with her.  There was only one thing to do–head to Sooke!  I rallied the troops in the form of Kim Beardsmore and Heather Tronsden, and we refound the bird on the spit. Despite some overenthusiastic imagination that this just might be a Smith’s, Cathy’s original ID of Lapland stood.

 

A return trip to Rocky Point on Tuesday to do the census and continue the setup for owl monitoring didn’t result in anything new.  I stopped by Pedder Bay on the way out, and guess what they had at the station?  Yes, the Magnolia Warbler was trapped for the third time in four days!  My afternoon plans were set aside for a repeat of Sunday’s adventures.  I saw the release. Gave the bird a five minute head start before I stared looking for it. Three hours later, I called it a day, but not entirely empty-handed.  I had a solid Northern Waterthrush call during my search for the Magnolia, so added species 246 for the list.  Consolation, I suppose.  I’m heading back to Pedder in just a few minutes to try once more.

Here are some other shots from my week:

 

 

 

 

My silence of the last week is not an indication of a lack of activity.  Quite the opposite, really.  It’s been a week of wanderings, back and forths across town, and almost dawn to dusk birding on most days. While trying to find new birds for my list, one of my other goals is to have good eBird lists for each regional district on the island.  After several attempts, I finally found Caspian Terns at Esquimalt Lagoon, adding this species to my Capital Region and Victoria Checklist area lists.

Well, one good tern deserves another, and reports of a cooperative Common Tern at Cattle Point send me in that direction  for a new bird (#241) for my year list.

A two-tern week in Victoria is pretty special, but did not prepare me for what was coming.  The big storms that came in this week had the potential to bring in some rarities from the north or even from Asia.

Technology has been a good friend on my big year quest, and the earth wind map is no exception.   The winds hitting the west coast of Vancouver Island on the weekend originated near Hawaii, headed north to the Aleutian Islands, then picked up speed and headed to our coast.  Port Renfrew was a must!

Needless to say, I was not expecting good weather, but when I arrived at Harris Cove, it was actually quite nice.  I took a long walk on the sandy beach, reminiscent of a short Long Beach, with disappointing results.  Only a handful of peeps, and although there were plenty of gulls, nothing out of the ordinary.  By the time I reached the north end of the beach (about 1 km from the car), the rain had started and came down in a torrent.  It didn’t take long to get soaked to the skin.

Once I got back to the car and some dry clothes, I headed around to the Beach Camp site to wait out the weather.  The gulls were having a field day in the high wind and pounding rain.  Wait a minute…. those aren’t gulls–those are TERNS!!!  I jumped out of the car and watched dozens of terns wheeling around, chasing each other and generally speeding through the air.  Given the year’s earlier sighting of an Arctic Tern in Sooke, I knew what to watch for to distinguish between Arctic and Common Terns.  Every one of them had pale upper wings and no strong dark carpal patch.  Relatively short bill, red with a dark tip.  Elegant terns have also been seen along the coast (but not as far north as BC), so I was watching for any field mark that might turn one  into an Elegant.  No luck.  They were moving around so quickly, it was difficult to even estimate the number, but ultimately, I figured a conservative count of 80 would be my report. There might have been twice as many, as they were spread all over the cove, and I couldn’t be certain about the birds all the way across the bay.  The photo below gives you just a small feeling of the number of terns in the air.  You’ll need to click on it to enlarge it to see the little white dots.  Almost all terns. Phenomenal!

 

 

Now I just needed to get a photo to establish the species, and that was not easy.  Wherever I went to get closer, they moved away.  Anyone watching my “Spot” that day would have wondered what the heck I was doing. Finally, at the Pacific Gateway Marina, I was able to get a  few pictures of one that passed quite closely.

 

 

Consulting with others, there was agreement that seeing this many terns at once, especially Arctics, inshore on Vancouver Island was a very rare sighting.  It was most likely a flock of Arctics that got blown into the cove by the storm.  I returned to Port Renfrew on Tuesday, and managed to still find three terns: one Arctic, one Common, and one too far away to be sure.  I have seen more terns on Vancouver Island this year than I have seen here the whole rest of my life!

Sunday provided an opportunity to add a “year” bird.  Chris Saunders texted that an Eastern Kingbird was at Swan Lake.  By the time I arrived, Mike McGrenere, Daniel and Leo Donnecke had also made their way for the chase.  Chris had witnessed a Downy Woodpecker chasing the kingbird away, and despite searching for more than an hour and a half, we couldn’t relocate it.  I knew what I needed to do.  I went home and set my alarm for 5:30 am.  Ugh.

The alarm went off, and I could hear the rain pounding down.  Birding in the rain isn’t especially productive, so I hit snooze.  Twice. Okay, maybe three times.  When I did get up, I puttered around, gathering up all the things I’d need for the day.  Then the phone rang.  Mary Robichaud had relocated the bird at the lake.  I dropped everything (literally) and ran to the car, getting to Swan Lake about 20 minutes after the call.  Mary hadn’t seen the bird for about 15 minutes.  I had to concede that if I missed this one, it was my own fault for dilly-dallying.  I knew I should have been there at sunrise!

Aziza Cooper arrived and the three of us spread out to give the are the best coverage.  Almost two hours passed, without a hint of the bird.  We moved to the boardwalk, bemoaning our bad luck, when Mary spotted something just about 30 m away.  Yes!  It was the Eastern Kingbird (#242)!

 

 

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There were a couple of frustrations this week as well.  A Clay-coloured Sparrow was banded at Pedder Bay, but I could not relocate it the next day. This species looks very similar to a Chipping Sparrow, so I thought I might have found some redemption at Martindale Flats last night. Having studied the field mark differences carefully, though, I determined “my” bird was a Chipping Sparrow.  Still on the lookout for the Clay-coloured.

 

I also received a photo of a Northern Mockingbird seen in the Langford area.  I changed my day plans and scrambled for more information: where and when was this photo taken?  Could I get there?  When was it last seen?  Sadly, the key answer was that the photo had been taken 11 days earlier, and the bird hadn’t been seen since.  I’m definitely struggling to get a timely and accurate report on this pretty conspicuous species!

A very rusty Pectoral Sandpiper had several of us convinced for a while that it was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.  Mike McGrenere was the voice of reason that correctly identified this confusing shorebird.

 

Here are some more shots from my week.