In a normal year, I participate in three Christmas Bird Counts.  This week, I was doing five.  There was a method in this madness.  The more people out looking for birds, the better the chances of them finding something unusual.  If I was in the area for the count, I hoped that I would get a tip and be able to go for the bird.

Friday was my third count of the week, this time in Nanoose on a team with Guy Monty and Garrett Beisel.  We started out on the water at Vesper Point in Moorecroft Regional Park and later spent time at Enos Lake.  It was quite quiet, but a very pleasant day.

What was noticeable was the lack of thrushes and other berry eaters.  Very few robins or Varied Thrushes. No Hermit Thrushes or Cedar Waxwings. It was far too quiet in the woods.  The lack of berries on the trees is undoubtedly the result of the lack of rain in the last spring and summer.  Is this the shape of things to come?

For the last fifteen years or so, I have coordinated the Victoria Christmas Bird Count. This year, with my Big Year underway, I will admit to being remiss in some of the tasks I usually undertake in preparation for the count.  Thank goodness I have 23 fantastic zone leaders to manage approximately 200 volunteers for our count day!

I was in disbelief as the fourth of my Christmas Bird Counts started out in great weather.  The forecast had been for stiff winds, but it was calm on land and on much of the surrounding waters.  I cover parts of two zones on count day as my RPBO security clearance is required for access to Department of National Defence lands.

Two days before the official start of winter, and we found Spring Gold in bloom!

Turkey Vultures have become an expected bird on our counts.  Twenty years ago, people wouldn’t easily accept a winter sighting of this species.

We moved on to our next sites in the afternoon.  My next stop is another restricted area, the DND Diving Dock in Colwood.  In the summer, this spot has a good Purple Martin colony.  On Saturday, things were slow, just as we were seeing elsewhere.

This is, until my phone rang.  Nathan Hentze had just found a Redwing!  Two years ago, a birder from Calgary had photographed a bird he didn’t recognize while in Victoria in mid-December.  Those photos didn’t surface until three months later when Dick Cannings was asked for identification help.  It was a Redwing.  Oh, the angst among the birding community, and in particular, in a certain Christmas Bird Count coordinator.  It did get recorded as a count week bird, but despite many hours of searching (albeit months after the sighting), we could not relocate the bird.  And now, two years later to the week, Nathan had another–less than 100m from where the earlier sighting had occurred.

 

With my counting of my area more than half done, yes, I abandoned the count to go look for this bird.  And I even called a few other folks that keep local lists, several of whom guiltily left their count sites as well. The more eyes the better for relocating a cryptic bird like a Redwing.  Two hours later, the group of about a dozen birders who were holding out hopes still hadn’t seen the bird when all of a sudden, it appeared.  Before the spotter could describe where it was, it flew across the road and into some dense brush.  A few people caught a glimpse.  I wasn’t one of them. Neither were the handful of people who had left just fifteen minutes earlier.

I wandered around the houses to the back side of the brush to see if it had snuck through.  My phone rang.  It was back on the other side! Of course, by the time I got there, it was gone.  Frustration was growing as the light was dimming. Was I ever going to see this bird?

Just about at the last possible light, Steven Roias and Amelie Rousseau came up the street.  I had called them earlier and intercepted them to point out where the bird had been seen. At the last “Vanna White” type sweep of my hand over to a holly thicket, Steven put up his binoculars and said, “Oh, there it is.”  I don’t think he’d even broken his stride!  Thankfully, in the one minute or so the bird stayed in the bush, almost everyone got on it, including me. Bird #268! Sadly, there was one birder  (who I will leave nameless) who had wandered just down the block, but it was too late for him.

The next day was the Sidney/South Salt Spring count, and a few zones got a bit of a late start while the participants tried to get an early morning glimpse of the bird.  Others had come from the BC Mainland and up island.  Dawn to dusk, the Redwing failed to show.
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In the meantime, teams were spread out over the Saanich Peninsula, Salt Spring Island and in boats on the surrounding waters on yet another gorgeous morning.  The best bird IMHO was a Fork-tailed Storm Petrel in the Saanich Inlet, found by Marilyn Lambert. This is the second year she’s found this species in this unlikely location.

 

We did get a couple of good showers in the afternoon, which provided an opportunity for another rainbow shot.

 

I also saw my best Cadborosaurus ever!

At the wrap up, it was clear that owls had not been cooperative.  These were the only ones I’d seen that day.

I went out after the wrap up and managed to add one species, Barn Owl, to the list.

Five CBCs done!  Five wonderful days.  Now on to the next adventure. The clock is definitely ticking!