A week ago, I invested in a new pair of Nikon Monarch 10X42s. Love them, but haven't had time since then to try them out!
Last night was the Rocky Point Bird Observatory Annual General Meeting. Generally, I dislike "bored" meetings, but they are a necessary evil. This one was different. Seeing the passion and dedication around the table last night was refreshing for me, and I look forward to the year ahead with this great group of folks! I will no doubt mention Rocky Point more than once in the months ahead (as it is one of my favourite places in the Victoria area), but for now, check out their website at http://www.rpbo.org/ to find out more, support them with a donation, volunteer, or buy some snazzy RPBO merchandise!
This morning I took the day off to spend with my wife, and somehow managed to convince her to let me field test my new binos. Mount Doug Park was the locale, as my Big Year is still missing Hutton's Vireo and Purple Finch. Although I found a large flock of Pine Siskins, a real rarity this year, as well as three species of sparrow (Song, Fox, Golden-crowned) singing for all the world to hear, there were no Purple Finches in evidence. Returning to the parking area there was a Hutton's Vireo loudly and energetically singing from one of the tall firs. It didn't help that the bird was a fair distance up the tree, and it didn't help that it stopped singing and calling as soon as I had a fix on the tree, so I had to accept a really difficult miss on it, again.
Tonight/tomorrow morning it is off to find the last two owls (Western Screech and Short-eared), stay tuned!
Good birding,
Jeremy
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Rules
I have been asked a couple of times about what my "rules" are for my big year, so I figured I would include them here. They are quick and simple (or so I hope, stay tuned), and are as follows:
Where possible, I will also try to post record shots of rarities. "Record shot" is a very loose term for me, as I aim to be a birder and not a photographer, and 24X digital zoom is not kind when it comes to photographing birds.
Lastly, there are some sensitive species that I won't post information about in this blog, such as some owls or private residences that wish to remain private. Any sightings that can be posted will appear here, on the BCVIBIRDS yahoo group, and on the BC Bird Alert.
Good birding!
- Each species must be visually identified beyond all shadow of a doubt, with clear views of all field marks. Hearing a bird is not the same as seeing it. There are not many species that this will be difficult with, but this is why there are still owls on my Wish List (and thank goodness Wrentit, my long-standing, uber-vocal nemesis, does not occur here).
- Each species must be seen within the Victoria Checklist Area. Species seen while I am in the checklist area and they are not, cannot be counted. This really only applies for pelagics, or at Otter Point (ie, when birding from Otter Point, birds to the East will be counted, birds to the West will not).
Where possible, I will also try to post record shots of rarities. "Record shot" is a very loose term for me, as I aim to be a birder and not a photographer, and 24X digital zoom is not kind when it comes to photographing birds.
Lastly, there are some sensitive species that I won't post information about in this blog, such as some owls or private residences that wish to remain private. Any sightings that can be posted will appear here, on the BCVIBIRDS yahoo group, and on the BC Bird Alert.
Good birding!
Monday, March 7, 2011
More Dogs than Birds, and "Mini Pelagic" Take 2
The weather gods were kind to us this weekend, and I decided to thank them in my own way, by spending the entire weekend birding.
Saturday was supposed to be a cleanup run, to pick up those residents (Golden Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Purple Finch, Barred Owl, etc) that have eluded me so far. Alas, it was not to be. My first couple of stops of the day, at the group campsite at Goldstream Park, followed by the Goldstream Park day use area, yielded only one of the three park targets, in the form of a Golden Eagle which was sharing the skies around Mt. Finlayson with 5 Bald Eagles, a Merlin, and a Red-tailed Hawk. I was also treated to 2 Red-breasted Sapsuckers sharing a tree with a male Downy Woodpecker and a male Hairy Woodpecker. No Pileated in sight.
The next few stops were dismal. A journey to Whiffin Spit had me dodging dogs every 10ft, much the same situation I encountered at Albert Head Lagoon, another of my favourite spots. I really should have cut my losses at that point, but I carried on to Esquimalt Lagoon and Swan Lake, both of which were quiet on the bird front. My last stop of the day was Cuthbert Holmes Park, for the resident Barred Owl. Turns out the bird is seen regularly, and I encountered a dog-walker who had seen it the day before. No go on Saturday.
Sunday was Take Two on the MV Coho, still hoping for winter pelagics. The weather was much more birder-friendly than it was last weekend, but the trip yielded the same species, with higher numbers of Pigeon Guillemot and Rhinoceros Auklet showing well. The one cause for celebration was the seen-again Cassin's Auklet, which this time was accommodating to the point of being well inside Canadian waters. The other treat was seeing a flock of 500+ Mew Gulls with others about 750m SE of the Ogden Point Breakwater, presumably feeding on a bait ball.
My guess is this will be my last MV Coho trip for a few months, as pelagics will be sparse, and the migrants will be showing up soon, but June or July will undoubtedly find me out there again.
Good Birding!
Saturday was supposed to be a cleanup run, to pick up those residents (Golden Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Purple Finch, Barred Owl, etc) that have eluded me so far. Alas, it was not to be. My first couple of stops of the day, at the group campsite at Goldstream Park, followed by the Goldstream Park day use area, yielded only one of the three park targets, in the form of a Golden Eagle which was sharing the skies around Mt. Finlayson with 5 Bald Eagles, a Merlin, and a Red-tailed Hawk. I was also treated to 2 Red-breasted Sapsuckers sharing a tree with a male Downy Woodpecker and a male Hairy Woodpecker. No Pileated in sight.
The next few stops were dismal. A journey to Whiffin Spit had me dodging dogs every 10ft, much the same situation I encountered at Albert Head Lagoon, another of my favourite spots. I really should have cut my losses at that point, but I carried on to Esquimalt Lagoon and Swan Lake, both of which were quiet on the bird front. My last stop of the day was Cuthbert Holmes Park, for the resident Barred Owl. Turns out the bird is seen regularly, and I encountered a dog-walker who had seen it the day before. No go on Saturday.
Sunday was Take Two on the MV Coho, still hoping for winter pelagics. The weather was much more birder-friendly than it was last weekend, but the trip yielded the same species, with higher numbers of Pigeon Guillemot and Rhinoceros Auklet showing well. The one cause for celebration was the seen-again Cassin's Auklet, which this time was accommodating to the point of being well inside Canadian waters. The other treat was seeing a flock of 500+ Mew Gulls with others about 750m SE of the Ogden Point Breakwater, presumably feeding on a bait ball.
My guess is this will be my last MV Coho trip for a few months, as pelagics will be sparse, and the migrants will be showing up soon, but June or July will undoubtedly find me out there again.
Good Birding!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Poor Weather Musings - eBird
The weather still fails to co-operate during hours that I can get out, so I have been catching up on eBird.
I was introduced to eBird last year, and immediately noticed that it has managed to accomplish something that few other outlets have - it gives the birding community something in return for sightings submitted to the research community. It does this by providing users access to sightings of note, providing alerts to "needed birds" in various areas, and by giving us listers a great platform to keep track of our lists, going so far as to break sightings down to the month and county levels. It allows users to view seasonal abundance bar charts for large or small areas, all sightings of a given species, recent sightings of a given species, and much more! eBird also has worldwide coverage, so I have been able to submit sightings from my two overseas birding adventures in South Korea and Costa Rica!
For those of us in British Columbia, eBird is also the closest thing that we have to a Provincial Bird Records Committee, in the form of Dick Cannings, our provincial co-ordinator. Dick spends countless hours of his own time reviewing sightings, maintaining hotspots, and following up on submissions, things that very rarely get noticed until a request for more information arrives in the old inbox, at which point it is usually greeted by grumbles. Without his dedication, we would not have the infrastructure and information we have access to, and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude.
For those of you who don't currently use eBird, I highly recommend it. With a little practice, data entry is a breeze, and it provides a great way to keep track of your own sightings and notes. There is also a great lack of historical information (at least in B.C.), so my recommendation goes doubly for those who are sitting on decades of notebooks. Many species that appear on the Victoria Checklist don't appear in eBird because no one has bothered to input them (recent additions of old birds include American Avocet and Clark's Grebe).
This site, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, has the potential to change birding technology substantially, but it does depend on a steady stream of inputs from us, the birding community at large. I know we all have a lot of other things that we could be doing instead of inputting data online, but this site really does make it simple, and takes up very little of said precious time.
Anyway, enough of my soapbox sermon, give it a look-see!
Back to hoping for good weather and early migrants!
I was introduced to eBird last year, and immediately noticed that it has managed to accomplish something that few other outlets have - it gives the birding community something in return for sightings submitted to the research community. It does this by providing users access to sightings of note, providing alerts to "needed birds" in various areas, and by giving us listers a great platform to keep track of our lists, going so far as to break sightings down to the month and county levels. It allows users to view seasonal abundance bar charts for large or small areas, all sightings of a given species, recent sightings of a given species, and much more! eBird also has worldwide coverage, so I have been able to submit sightings from my two overseas birding adventures in South Korea and Costa Rica!
For those of us in British Columbia, eBird is also the closest thing that we have to a Provincial Bird Records Committee, in the form of Dick Cannings, our provincial co-ordinator. Dick spends countless hours of his own time reviewing sightings, maintaining hotspots, and following up on submissions, things that very rarely get noticed until a request for more information arrives in the old inbox, at which point it is usually greeted by grumbles. Without his dedication, we would not have the infrastructure and information we have access to, and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude.
For those of you who don't currently use eBird, I highly recommend it. With a little practice, data entry is a breeze, and it provides a great way to keep track of your own sightings and notes. There is also a great lack of historical information (at least in B.C.), so my recommendation goes doubly for those who are sitting on decades of notebooks. Many species that appear on the Victoria Checklist don't appear in eBird because no one has bothered to input them (recent additions of old birds include American Avocet and Clark's Grebe).
This site, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, has the potential to change birding technology substantially, but it does depend on a steady stream of inputs from us, the birding community at large. I know we all have a lot of other things that we could be doing instead of inputting data online, but this site really does make it simple, and takes up very little of said precious time.
Anyway, enough of my soapbox sermon, give it a look-see!
Back to hoping for good weather and early migrants!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Victoria's "Mini-Pelagic" Take 1
There has to be a special kind of insanity associated with standing on the bow of the MV Coho, Port Angeles bound, in the driving snow, rain, and wind. Yet there I was, traveling both directions, in temperatures that could charitably be called freezing.
I boarded the Coho for the 10:30am sailing on Saturday with visions of Cassin's Auklet and Short-tailed Shearwater dancing through my head, as February is part of the right season for these two species, along with a couple of others, and the Victoria-Port Angeles trip presents one of the best ways to find them.
As I expected, the birds were scarce. One of the beauties of a winter pelagic or "mini-pelagic" is that the birds are few and far between, but there is a greater chance of something special. Through the wind and waves, I caught sight of the occasional Common Murre and Pigeon Guillemot, most in clean breeding plumage. As the boat crossed the border I finally lost all feeling in my face, and three Ancient Murrelets flew by, followed by more murres, guillemots, and a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets. Port Angeles Harbour was teeming with waterbirds of all varieties - Red-necked Grebes (one in full breeding plumage), loons, Long-tailed Ducks, goldeneyes, scoters, and cormorants as far as the eye could see!
There is not much to do in Port Angeles, even with only two hours to fill before the return trip (four hours in summer). A little exploring for lunch, and I lucked upon Peaks Brew Pub, which doesn't look like much from the outside, doesn't look like much from the inside, but has dynamite burgers and a great selection of microbrews.
The return to Victoria was a little milder than the first crossing, with flat water all the way out to the border, and wind marking the return into Canadian waters. On the return trip, I did catch sight of a single Cassin's Auklet alongside the boat. A quick check of the GPS revealed what I had feared, that we were still officially in the US. eBird tells me it is a new bird for my Clallam County list (I didn't even know I had one), so it wasn't a total loss.
Coming into Port Angeles
The 90 minute "mini-pelagic" crossing aboard the Coho is a great trip from Victoria (in season), and one that a good number of local birders take part in every year. This trip turns up great birds at appropriate times, such as Sooty, Pink-footed, and Short-tailed Shearwater, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, alcids, jaegers, and the occasional Brown Pelican, to name a few. This is a trip that I plan on taking "a few" more times this year, just to see what else might be out there. For their schedule and rates, check out www.cohoferry.com.
I boarded the Coho for the 10:30am sailing on Saturday with visions of Cassin's Auklet and Short-tailed Shearwater dancing through my head, as February is part of the right season for these two species, along with a couple of others, and the Victoria-Port Angeles trip presents one of the best ways to find them.
As I expected, the birds were scarce. One of the beauties of a winter pelagic or "mini-pelagic" is that the birds are few and far between, but there is a greater chance of something special. Through the wind and waves, I caught sight of the occasional Common Murre and Pigeon Guillemot, most in clean breeding plumage. As the boat crossed the border I finally lost all feeling in my face, and three Ancient Murrelets flew by, followed by more murres, guillemots, and a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets. Port Angeles Harbour was teeming with waterbirds of all varieties - Red-necked Grebes (one in full breeding plumage), loons, Long-tailed Ducks, goldeneyes, scoters, and cormorants as far as the eye could see!
There is not much to do in Port Angeles, even with only two hours to fill before the return trip (four hours in summer). A little exploring for lunch, and I lucked upon Peaks Brew Pub, which doesn't look like much from the outside, doesn't look like much from the inside, but has dynamite burgers and a great selection of microbrews.
The return to Victoria was a little milder than the first crossing, with flat water all the way out to the border, and wind marking the return into Canadian waters. On the return trip, I did catch sight of a single Cassin's Auklet alongside the boat. A quick check of the GPS revealed what I had feared, that we were still officially in the US. eBird tells me it is a new bird for my Clallam County list (I didn't even know I had one), so it wasn't a total loss.
Coming into Port AngelesSunday, February 27, 2011
Burger and a Buteo
The recent weather has cancelled or postponed a lot of good birding. In fact, the one brief window of great weather happened to be on Friday, mid-day, when I was scheduled for a lunch meeting (sometimes work does take priority).
The lunch meeting took me to Crossroads Bar and Grill at Colwood Corners. As I met my appointment in the parking lot, I noticed a shape passing over. When I looked up, I almost fell over, and must have let out a string of words I can't repeat here, as my companion jumped a little, before I managed to blurt out "Holy #(*$#%, a Swainson's Hawk! My companion, not being a birder, looked at me blankly as I jumped up and down in the parking lot, trying to free my blackberry from it's holster to take a picture. It was not to be, as the bird disappeared behind some trees and out of sight before I could snap a shot. The pale wing linings and belly were clearly visible, as were the dark flight feathers, dark head, white chin, and barred tail with a wider terminal band. The bird had no black/dark on the wrists or leading edge of the wings.
There has been some some speculation that this bird, despite the lack of jesses, could be an escaped falconers bird, something I will be attempting to find out in the coming week.
If a wild bird, this would be the earliest British Columbia record by 10 days, excluding four historical Christmas Bird Count records. The other earliest record was a single bird seen in the 70's on March 7, on Saltspring Island (Birds of BC). There are a number of winter records for this species from surrounding states/provinces, and this year 2 individuals have spent the winter in North Carolina, where it is a less than annual vagrant.
Another one of the great questions of birding, and hopefully this bird can be relocated and verified as a wild one.
The lunch meeting took me to Crossroads Bar and Grill at Colwood Corners. As I met my appointment in the parking lot, I noticed a shape passing over. When I looked up, I almost fell over, and must have let out a string of words I can't repeat here, as my companion jumped a little, before I managed to blurt out "Holy #(*$#%, a Swainson's Hawk! My companion, not being a birder, looked at me blankly as I jumped up and down in the parking lot, trying to free my blackberry from it's holster to take a picture. It was not to be, as the bird disappeared behind some trees and out of sight before I could snap a shot. The pale wing linings and belly were clearly visible, as were the dark flight feathers, dark head, white chin, and barred tail with a wider terminal band. The bird had no black/dark on the wrists or leading edge of the wings.
There has been some some speculation that this bird, despite the lack of jesses, could be an escaped falconers bird, something I will be attempting to find out in the coming week.
If a wild bird, this would be the earliest British Columbia record by 10 days, excluding four historical Christmas Bird Count records. The other earliest record was a single bird seen in the 70's on March 7, on Saltspring Island (Birds of BC). There are a number of winter records for this species from surrounding states/provinces, and this year 2 individuals have spent the winter in North Carolina, where it is a less than annual vagrant.
Another one of the great questions of birding, and hopefully this bird can be relocated and verified as a wild one.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hidden Gems in Victoria's Book Stores
It's too nasty out to resume my quest, so only on my second post, I will diverge from twitching already.
I was down at Russell Books (www.russellbooks.com) on Fort St last week, and scored a couple of great finds. The first is a paperback called "The Big Twitch" by Sean Dooley, which is an entertaining story about an Australian Big Year. For six bucks, not bad.
The second book is the gem, a hardcover 1979 copy of Birds of South Africa. From a collectible point of view, next to useless (for reasons described below), which is what attracted me to it in the first place. Aside from being a field guide to a place I dream of going, the cover page has one of those "with love from..." inscriptions, which makes it more than just a field guide. The colour plates are nice, reminding me of the plates from the old Peterson hardcover that was the start of my own bird book collection, but beside each plate is the legend, and beside the legends, the original owner has jotted down notes on where he saw what birds, little "11/03/79 - Kruger" type notations on many of the pages. To me, this is the prize. I have a piece of someone's birding history, and can follow along on his adventures with the turn of every page. I also paid six bucks for this beauty. What a score!
Victoria has a number of great book stores, and most of them have treasures like this hidden within. Also, don't discount out of the way places - my current best find was "Birds of Washington State" by W.L. Dawson, a two volume, limited print B.C. edition, with full page colour plates by Maj. Allan Brooks, released in 1909. This was hiding at Gallowglass Books in Duncan.
Get out and check them out, just leave a couple treasures for me (and let me know if you find a stash of A.C. Bent Life Histories, I'm still missing a few)!
Anyway, back to dreaming of birding!
I was down at Russell Books (www.russellbooks.com) on Fort St last week, and scored a couple of great finds. The first is a paperback called "The Big Twitch" by Sean Dooley, which is an entertaining story about an Australian Big Year. For six bucks, not bad.
The second book is the gem, a hardcover 1979 copy of Birds of South Africa. From a collectible point of view, next to useless (for reasons described below), which is what attracted me to it in the first place. Aside from being a field guide to a place I dream of going, the cover page has one of those "with love from..." inscriptions, which makes it more than just a field guide. The colour plates are nice, reminding me of the plates from the old Peterson hardcover that was the start of my own bird book collection, but beside each plate is the legend, and beside the legends, the original owner has jotted down notes on where he saw what birds, little "11/03/79 - Kruger" type notations on many of the pages. To me, this is the prize. I have a piece of someone's birding history, and can follow along on his adventures with the turn of every page. I also paid six bucks for this beauty. What a score!
Victoria has a number of great book stores, and most of them have treasures like this hidden within. Also, don't discount out of the way places - my current best find was "Birds of Washington State" by W.L. Dawson, a two volume, limited print B.C. edition, with full page colour plates by Maj. Allan Brooks, released in 1909. This was hiding at Gallowglass Books in Duncan.
Get out and check them out, just leave a couple treasures for me (and let me know if you find a stash of A.C. Bent Life Histories, I'm still missing a few)!
Anyway, back to dreaming of birding!
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