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.