Down to the last 9 days of 2011!
On Monday, I finally managed to catch up with the long sought after Rusty Blackbird. A couple of hours of searching the Martindale area finally turned the bird up at the pig farm on Lochside Lane, south of Martindale Rd.
This morning, Jeremy Gatten and I decided to search for the Red-naped Sapsucker that was located and photographed on private property during the Christmas Bird Count by Warren Lee and Daniel Donnecke.
Arrangements had been made to access the property, and we met Warren and his wife and headed in at 8:30am. Before long I heard the soft tapping of a sapsucker and located the bird high in a maple, making the first bird of the day a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Close, but not quite. Jeremy Gatten heard tapping in another area of the patch of trees, and quickly found the bird, this time high in a cedar. Red-naped Sapsucker for bird number 245 of the year! We spent a little more time enjoying the company of the bird and following it back and forth, before heading off to Panama Flats in search of the previously reported Vesper Sparrow.
Panama Flats was very birdy, and the first flock of sparrows we ran into, right by the Carey Rd entrance, contained an American Tree Sparrow. We worked our way around the south end of the flats, checking all of the sparrows as we went. Jeremy heard a Swamp Sparrow just before we decided to wade across one of the wetter areas to check the southwest corner. We didn't find the bird there either, so Jeremy continued on to the centre dyke, and I retraced our steps. By the time I had made it halfway back, I heard a shout, and Jeremy was motioning me over. I ran the distance back to the building on Carey Rd, no small feat with a pulled hip flexor, and turned on to the centre dyke where it leads west from the building. Jeremy was standing near the first break in the dyke. While I approached slowly, three Western Meadowlarks flushed and flew north. A little closer, and I noticed bird number 246, the Vesper Sparrow, about 5 metres in front of Jeremy, sitting up on a dirt mound! The bird eventually flushed and flew west, folllowed closely by a Sky Lark. Not a bad start to the day!
We followed up with a look from Macauley Point for the Brown Pelican that was reported yesterday, without luck. Hastings Flats and Viaduct Flats were likewise quiet.
I am now at the point where, had I not chosen to vacation during peak migration times, I would be sitting at 253 or 254, clear of my target. However, there are still 9 days and a Christmas Bird Count (Sooke), plus a number of possible birds still left.
We shall see!
Good birding,
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