Migration and Poor Vacation Planning

Well, it looks like migration may finally be picking up! A Palm Warbler was banded at Rocky Point a couple of days ago, the first Lapland Longspurs were reported this morning, and good numbers of raptors are moving through East Sooke and Rocky Point.

Last Thursday, Mike M called me, letting me know about 4 Sandhill Cranes near McIntyre Reservoir. By the time I made it out there they were gone, so I circled around to Martindale Rd, where I found Mary R. I pulled over in front of her, and she jogged up to the car before I had even stopped, letting me know that 8 Cranes had just taken off and were flying to the north. I quickly got my binoculars on them, for #227! Thanks Mike and Mary!

There have also been good numbers of raptors, we had our first small kettle of Turkey Vultures over Rocky Point yesterday, in company with a single Red-tailed Hawk. Jeremy G and I spent yesterday afternoon at the hawkwatch spot in East Sooke Park, where over two and a half hours we counted 150+ Band-tailed Pigeons, 50 Red Crossbills, 50-60 Turkey Vultures, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, and 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks.

Now that things are heating up, it looks like my vacation could not have come at a worse time for big yearing..... On Thursday morning, my brother and I will be heading for Westport for the pelagic trip on Saturday, after which we will be working our way down to Tucson via Newport, Redding, and the Salton Sea. I will post a complete trip report when I get back, on a separate tab off of the home page.

Here's hoping I can pick up a few more before I leave! If anything does show up, I am never more than 15,000 air miles away........

Good birding,

Another Good Weekend

The sun was shining, and the birds were calling! Being a long weekend, I decided to make a concerted effort to clean up some outstanding species, now that migration is somewhat upon us.

Friday afternoon found me, along with 50 or so dogs, at Whiffin Spit in Sooke. This location turns up great birds every year, if you can handle to aggravation and frustration of sharing it with dog walkers whose only aim, it seems, is to vicariously enjoy nature by watching their canines chase it. In defense, there are responsible dog owners that use the spit but they, unfortunately, are in the minority. The only good birds on Friday afternoon were a Horned Lark and a Common Loon, both fall firsts for me.

Saturday morning found me back at Whiffin Spit, still searching for my year Ruddy Turnstone. These birds turn up at Whiffin annually, and it seems a little unfair to me that there is currently one in Albuquerque, NM, but we have none. Again, there was to be no love from this species. I did, however, find Mary R, and we located 3 American Pipits, another fall first for me, as well as another Horned Lark (a different individual from Friday's) calling and singing away, while a Merlin perched on the other side of a pile of driftwood. Both birds were completely oblivious to the presence of the other.

Sunday it was back on the MV Coho, hoping for some semi-pelagic birds. Not long out of Victoria, we came upon the first good bird of the day, a streamer-less Jaeger that shall forever after be recorded as "Jaeger sp.". Shortly after that, amidst a feeding flock of mixed gulls, a Pomarine Jaeger made an appearance. Out closer to the border, I had a great, long look at a Parasitic Jaeger (#224) flying parallel to the boat. The journey was also complimented by several Harbour Porpoises, and a group of Dall's Porpoises feeding or playing near the border. Several small groups of Red-necked Phalaropes dotted the water as well. The U.S. side was pretty well devoid of birds, which left us with 5 hours to kill before the return trip. The return trip was again quiet on the U.S. side, but when we crossed the border, the Phalaropes started showing again. As I was watching one such group, a small black bird with long, slender wings and a white rump flew through the group, quickly catching my attention. I followed the bird with my binoculars for as long as I could, enjoying my first Canadian Leach's Storm-Petrel (#225). Another (or the same) Parasitic Jaeger was again chasing gulls closer to shore. Not a bad way to spend a day!

Monday morning I opted to head out to Rocky Point to help out with the census, seeing as how we are getting into migration time, and I need all the help I can get before I take off for Westport and Tucson on the 22nd. The morning started off quietly, but during the census, it started to feel a lot like late September hawkwatching at East Sooke. As I rounded the corner to the Upper Meadow, I was greeted by 3 Turkey Vultures, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, and a juvenile/immature Northern Goshawk (#226). Also in evidence were migration numbers of Band-tailed Pigeon (80+), Red Crossbills, more Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2 Cooper's Hawks, and 1 Peregrine Falcon.

A later day drive out to Jordan River with Jeremy G turned up little, but I did find a female Bufflehead at Ayum Creek, just east of Sooke. This is the first for the fall, and a tad early.

Let the migration begin!

A Great Weekend by Any Measure!

As many of these posts have, this one begins with a Friday afternoon phone call from Jeremy Gatten, a casual "so, we have a probable Red-necked Stint at Witty's Lagoon, come in from Tower Point". This was more than enough to send me running for the car, dialing a couple of other local birders on the way. As I was getting ready to pull out, I got a text from Jeremy, reporting a Ruff in the same flock! A Ruff in Victoria is great, a Red-necked Stint incredible, but both in the same spot?

This is also a lesson about knowing where the trails are. Had I known about the trail that Jeremy was referencing, which is at the end of Olympic View Dr, it would have been a much drier walk. I arrived at Tower Point itself and, finding no trail, hopped into the water and waded over to Witty's Lagoon, crossing carnivorous mud and waist deep water to reach the area where the birds and birders were. When I reached the other side, I was met by Jeremy and guided to the discovering group of Nathan Hentze, Jamie Fenneman, and Pierre-Paul Bitton, who had the juvie Red-necked Stint lined up in the scope for me already, showing the peg-like bill, short legs and long primary projection. Eventually the feet were seen as well, clearly showing a lock of webbing to seal the deal. A great bird, and well worth the bath on the way over! Thirty seconds later, one of the scopes was in line with the Ruff, also in juvie plumage. Jeremy G et al had to leave at that point, and I stuck around to keep track of the birds for the other incoming birders. The Ruff stuck around and showed well, but a Merlin came through just before everyone else arrived, and the peep flock flew off. Also in the area were a Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Yellowlegs, and 2 Dowitchers.

If this wasn't enough, Saturday morning was the Mini Pelagic Trip out of Sooke, with Russ Nicks from Sooke Coastal Explorations. The fog was thick as we left Sooke, headed for the US Border due south of Otter Point. We had no luck finding any feeding gatherings of gulls or other birds as we cruised along the border, so we headed a little closer to shore off Sooke. As we were slowly cruising, someone yelled "Puffin!" Sure enough, there was a beautiful adult Tufted Puffin about 40ft or so off the side of the boat. All aboard got great looks at the bird. Our next stop, where we ended the 2 hour journey, was Beechey Head, where bait and gulls alike had been gathering. As we approached, we saw two jaegers off the front of the boat, but no one was able to get an I.D. on either. This proved to not be a big deal. As we approached a small gathering of feeding gulls, a larger bird flew in, showing off the long, twisted tail streamers of a Pomarine Jaeger! We ended up getting incredible looks at a second Pomarine on our way back in, as it flew by very near the boat. Other birds on the Mini Pelagic included Red-necked Phalaropes and a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls. There is lots of opportunity out there, and this is the time to take advantage of it. Thanks to Russ for a great trip!

Sunday morning found me doing the census at Rocky Point Bird Observatory. The birding and banding was quiet, but as I left I had a voicemail from Chris Saunders, reporting a Northern Waterthrush at Swan Lake. This bird was almost expected, as they have been annual for the last few years, during the last week of August, at the switchback portion of the boardwalk. I arrived to find Chris, Ian C, David C, and Mike M listening intently, though the bird hadn't been heard for 20 minutes or so. I was hoping for the best, as I only had 20 minutes to hang around. A couple of minutes of waiting, and the bird started calling. Then a second bird chipped in as well! Both called on and off, but never showed themselves. C'est la vie!

I returned to Swan Lake this morning (Monday) on my way to the office, hoping for the best but preparing to come away empty-handed, as there had been no followup reports. As I stepped onto the switchback part, a Waterthrush called, very close, and I looked up to see the bird perched in the open about 12 feet off the ground, calling continuously and providing just incredible looks. The second bird was about 5 feet away from the first, and they chased each other around the branches while I called Chris. In the 30 seconds or so that it took Chris, David, Mary, and Kirsten M to get to where I was, the birds both stopped calling and disappeared. In the next half hour that I stayed, they provided brief looks, and everyone ended up getting to see at least one.

Four days and five new birds, bringing me to 223, and 29 away from beating the record! It should be an exciting next few weeks around Victoria, and I wonder what will be next!

Good rarity hunting!

Still summer.....

...and I have been lazy with the updating! Somewhere between the last post and now, I snuck in Coho trip number four, which was fairly uneventful, with good numbers of Common Murre during the crossing, and an incredible 300+ Heermann's Gulls on the Port Angeles side, the majority of them on Ediz Hook. I also finally picked up the Sibley Guide in a Port Angeles book store, saving myself almost $16 in the process. Not bad for a birding trip!

I have also added on species since the last post, a Pectoral Sandpiper that has been hanging around Panama Flats with great numbers of several other species. The ocean side birding has been a little slower, with neither of my targets putting in an appearance, despite daily stops in prime areas. The shorebird migration is still young though, so I don't expect them to be targets for much longer.

Also coming up, we can expect our pelagic types to finally show up. For those who have been following along, I have been waiting for them for about six months now! Hopefully a couple of boat trips out of Pedder Bay, plus the now full August 27 mini-pelagic to the far reaches of the checklist area, will fill in the jaegers, shearwaters, and others. If you are interested in perhaps joining in on one of the Pedder Bay trips, let me know! The boats have room for 4 or 6 people, depending on the boat rented.

There have been incredible birds showing up just about everywhere along the coast from Haida Gwai to the Salton Sea (Bar-tailed Godwit, Wood Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, etc), and hopefully it is just a matter of time before we turn a few up in our neck of the woods!

Good birding,

A Nice Day for a Walk!

This past holiday Monday, my wife and I decided to take a bit of a walk up to Tugwell Lake, just north of Sooke, to do some birding. As some of you know, the only problem with Tugwell Lake, is this:




This gate was put up, under 24-hour lock, a few years back in response to vandalism of logging equipment. Tugwell Lake lies roughly 12 uphill kilometers from the base of Butler Mainline and the gate.

We started off just before 8am with the idea of beating the heat. Birding the first 4km or so was average for the area, but we had yet to run into the coveted Ruffed Grouse, one of two birds I had come to find. Passing the 4km marker, the brush opened up a little, and suddenly there were birds everywhere, with MacGillivray's Warbler being the surprise leader in numbers. We ended up counting 23 in total, including a couple of what must have been family groups. The odd Band-tailed Pigeon would fly over, as would small groups of Red Crossbills.

Likely the steepest hill of the whole trek winds up to the 8km marker. Luckily, we had broken out the energy shots at the bottom, and were alert enough to notice this little guy and his friend in the open area just past the marker:

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I am the master of the "record shot" and not much else. Luckily, this Grey Jay (now here's the game, try to spot the bird!) stayed in the open long enough for some admiration and a distant photo. Try as I might, I couldn't lure it closer with either peanuts or trail mix. This was the second bird I had hoped for on the hike, as they have been known to hang out around Tugwell Lake (historically, anyway), and Ian C, Mike McG, and Rick S had heard them there a couple of weeks ago. Kilometer 8 is a far sight closer than Tugwell, so I counted myself fortunate. A bit of a surprise was a very vocal House Wren just off the road. One target down, one to go!

Continuing along, we kept our eyes on the fringes of the road, looking for grouse and bear sign. At about 8.5km, something rustled in the bushes to our right, and a beautiful adult Ruffed Grouse hopped onto a low branch before taking off, leaving me without a picture. Target two, and well short of the lake! We could have trimmed 7km off of our round trip at this point, as I had found everything I wanted to, but we carried on uphill, walking to an unending chorus of Olive-sided and Pacific-slope Flycatchers in the trees.

At the 10km marker, the bird life changed ever so slightly yet again, and all of a sudden the air was filled with the song of Hermit Thrushes. A left turn on to an old streambed leads up to Tugwell Lake itself, where we planned to kick back for an hour or so before heading home. For those of you toying with the idea of a hike, somewhere between Kilometer 10.5 and Kilometer 11, there is a sign nailed to a tree that says "B". Just past this sign, watch for the old streambed.

Signs of campfires past were clearly visible, as were beer cans half-buried in the mud at the bottom of the lake, but even they couldn't take away from the beauty of this little gem! We had the entire lake to ourselves, and found a convenient rock jutting out into the water to lounge on for a while. The birds quickly showed themselves, as we hadn't even unpacked our water bottles before four Common Nighthawks appeared overhead. One of these performed it's full display numerous times, and another thrilled by coming down to the lake to pick a bug off of the surface. Also overhead were two Black Swifts and a Band-tailed Pigeon. Three more Hermit Thrushes were singing, and we located three Yellow-rumped Warblers in the trees, the first I have seen in many weeks.

Forty-five minutes of relaxing was enough, and we headed back down the streambed toward Butler. Nothing new appeared on the way down to the car, but the hills certainly felt much steeper than they had going up. Perhaps I was distracted by all the birds and hadn't noticed.... We found one little bit of bear scat around the 9km point, which wasn't overly fresh, but no bear. We also could not locate the grouse or the jays on the way down, so we had apparently been very lucky on the way up!

All in all, it turned out to be a great day, totalling 35 species, adding 10km onto my previous longest day hike, scoring two much sought after species for the Big Year for a current total of 216, and finding some great places for future birding!

Now about those shorebirds.......

Banding Season Again!!

Banding and census season is upon us again at Rocky Point Bird Observatory! MAPS began at Witty's lagoon this morning, and Rocky Point's nets officially open on Sunday morning for what promises to be another great season!

I will be out there doing censuses, while hoping to catch up with some of the goodies that tend to turn up which, in past years, have ranged from Rose-breasted Grosbeak to Alder Flycatcher to Pomarine Jaeger, Crested Auklet, and Tufted Puffin offshore. Broad-winged Hawks and Swamp Sparrows are annual fixtures, as are many others!

On the topic of Rocky Point, Alison Moran has put together two beautiful cards that will be sold as a fundraiser for the Hummingbird Project of BC. Mike Yip (www.vancouverislandbirds.com) has generously provided the stunning images of a male and female Rufous Hummingbird which appear on the front of the cards, while species information can be found on the back (actual cards shown below).



These 4X6 cards are sold in packages of 10 (5 of each card with envelopes) for $10 per package, plus shipping if applicable. Please email hummingbird@rpbo.org to order yours!

Don't forget to check out Rocky Point's website at www.rpbo.org to keep on top of news, happenings, and to find out how you can support the banding station or any of it's projects.

Now off to find some shorebirds........

Coho Birding, Take 3

After a trip up to Cowichan Bay on Saturday, which netted my first Ring-billed Gull of the year for the checklist area, I decided to take trip number three aboard the Coho to Port Angeles and back, in hopes of some early pelagic-type birds.



We left the dock a little late, just after 10:30am on Sunday. Alcids were immediately evident, with Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marbled Murrelet, and Common Murre well represented. The weather looked a little ominous, and we were to have a five hour wait in Port Angeles before the return ferry. We had just reached the middle of the crossing with nothing new seen, when a small flock of shorebird-types flew up from in front of the boat and settled a short distance away. My first Red-necked Phalaropes of the year! A moment of panic ensued, in which I was unsure of just what side of the border we were on. A quick map check on the ole Blackberry confirmed that we were indeed still in Canadian waters.

At the end of Ediz Hook, at the entrance to Port Angeles, there were 60+ Heermann's Gulls lounging on the beach. This species has yet to reach Victoria in good numbers, and it was a nice touch to see so many in one spot this early in the year. There were another 30 or 40 scattered along the waterfront as well.

My wife and I grabbed lunch right away at the Port Angeles Crabhouse, which wasn't too bad, if a little on the pricey side. Following lunch we played tourist, and explored the antique shops and bookstores. I found it a little surprising that the Sibley Guide is $40 once you cross the border, as opposed to the $57 it costs up here. Picking up two copies and bringing them home would pay for the ferry ride! The birding in Port Angeles was a little slow, but I did manage to add (according to eBird) American Goldfinch to my Clallam County list, which up until this year, I didn't even know I had!

The return trip was also uneventful. There was a bit of swell on the water which, combined with the rain, meant I had the bow of the boat mostly to myself. Nothing new was added, but we had light enough back in Victoria to check for the Wandering Tattler that had eluded me over the weekend. A quick check of the breakwater revealed nothing, after which I quickly located the bird roosting on the rocks over near the pilot boats.


Wandering Tattler is a fairly regular summer bird here, but it can be missed. I feel a lot better having added it now, and not having to scramble or camp out in August.

I added three birds over the weekend, to bring the Big Year total to 213, with a few months left to find 39 more. However, a few common birds have still managed to avoid me, including Ruffed Grouse (heard, not seen) and Common Nighthawk (heard, not seen, numerous times). Shorebirding continues to pick up, and hopefully it won't be long until we have our first Baird's Sandpiper, followed closely by the others. The first Pectoral Sandpiper has already been reported as well.

Good birding,