Well, Tuesday was another one of those days–you know–foggy, foggy, foggy.

The plan for the day was to search out the Marbled Godwit (last posted to eBird on Jan 10), Yellow-billed Loon, and of course, the Great Gray Owl.

I headed to the Courtenay Airpark where the godwit has most often been seen. There is a great trail network that runs right around the airpark and takes you right along the waterfront.  Lots of ducks and gulls around, and several new species for my “county” list, but no Marbled Godwit.  I’ll probably try again on my way south.  There was also a flyby by a warbler that I really wish I’d been able to see a little better.  Probably a Yellow-rumped, but….

Next stop was the beach at Singing Sands Rd.  I am picking up a good number of geographic lifers on this trip, and this is one of them.  Former RPBO bander-in-charge Jukka Jantunen has reported as many as ten Yellow-billed Loons from this site.  I only wanted one!  By the time I got there, the fog had lifted enough to allow a view over the water, but the light was still muted enough to make IDs difficult.  There were actually two loons on my wish list, but try as I might, I couldn’t turn any of the many Common Loons into either Red-throated or Yellow-billed.  I’ll try for these again on this trip as well.

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I thought this might be a chance to get some great photos, but within about five minutes, they were gone!  I hung around the lodges for another fifteen minutes or so, and except for a distant foggy flyer, there were no birds to be found.  This time, my timing was perfect!

Down the mountain and 40 km north, I boarded the ferry to Quadra Island to once again try to track down the Great Gray Owl.  There have been no reports since last Saturday, so we’re back in “needle in a haystack” mode.  Quadra Island is jam-packed with suitable habitat, and this afternoon I spent a couple of hours wandering through some of it. There weren’t a lot of birds around, but I did get to spend some time with a Pileated Woodpecker.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a report in the morning. This time, I will be in striking range!