Two Notches Up on the Victoria Checklist Area Belt

I was away for 11 weeks with work and visiting family in Ontario, but I am back in Victoria and have been trying to make up for lost birding time.  Luckily were are in the midst of what is shaping up to be an interesting fall.

With more than a week of work left in Fort McMurray, I received word that a Black-throated Sparrow was found at Whiffin Spit.  The sighting was quite unprecedented for the fall; all sightings of Black-throated Sparrow in the province have been from early May to early July.  In the Victoria checklist area, we have only two previous records:

1) June 18-19, 1992 at Somenos Marsh, found by Derrick Marven

2) June 16, 1994 at Mount Tolmie, found by Keith Taylor

I didn't chase many birds when I was young, so these records were not ones I capitalized on more than 20 years ago.  For more than a week I nervously watched BCVIBIRDS to see if the Black-throated Sparrow was still being seen.  I also watched the soap opera unfold of a rapidly growing tick on the sparrow's face.  Now I was hoping not only that the bird would stay, but also that the tick would be gone.  I got home on October 8th and could have immediately zipped out to Whiffin Spit, but I just wanted to do some relaxing birding.  The next day I apparently wanted more relaxing birding, so it wasn't until October 10th that I finally made my way out to Whiffin Spit.  I left fairly early and got out to Sooke before 8:30 a.m.  The most recent reports said the bird was right by the parking lot, so I basically hopped out and started looking.  The first bird I heard was a bit surprising: a Yellow Warbler was giving some sharp call notes as it fed in a maple at the edge of the parking lot.  They are pretty scarce once the calendar rolls over to October, but this was surprisingly the second I had seen in two days.

Drab fall Yellow Warbler blending in nicely with the changing Bigleaf Maple leaves

After checking out the Yellow Warbler, I turned my attention to searching for the Black-throated Sparrow.  It was an extremely anticlimactic event as I immediately found it in the short grass at the edge of the parking lot.  The sparrow was very cooperative and looked a little worse for wear.  The tick had fallen off a couple days earlier, but the feathers around the attachment site were all missing and there was an unsightly mark in its place.  I walked the rest of the spit, but couldn't drum up anything interesting.  By the time I finished my walk, I found another birder enjoying the Black-throated Sparrow.  I didn't recognize said birder, but was soon introduced to Neil Hughes who recently moved back to southern Vancouver Island from Powell River.  I'm always happy to meet new birders and learn the community has an extra set of skilled eyes in its midst.  We chatted for a while as the Black-throated Sparrow busily fed along the edge of the beach.  The bird was sometimes too obliging for our cameras, but certainly not for our eyes.  Despite the rather bedraggled condition of this rarity from southern aridlands, it was a treat to see one on southern Vancouver Island.

The scruffy little Black-throated Sparrow scored this tasty morsel while foraging around the rocks at the base of the beach

The next day, news of another exciting bird ended up in my e-mail: Cathy Carlson had a Brown Booby about three miles offshore from Beechey Head in East Sooke.  This species has been ending up in British Columbia waters more frequently in the past five years, and there have been other sightings this year in the Strait of Juan de Fuca/Puget Sound area on the Washington side.  There has been at least one other record for the Victoria checklist area from 2007, but that record has not been formally submitted for review.  As a result, once Cathy's superb photos of the juvenile Brown Booby, seen here, will go down as the first official record for the area.

I recognized the needle-in-a-haystack luck required in relocating the booby, but decided to give it a shot.  The bird was seen from Beechey Head in East Sooke, so I decided to head to a spot that not many birders think to visit.  I drove out to the westernmost point of East Sooke, which puts you at a rather unpleasant development called Silver Spray.  This development has been around for ages, but it seemed to get put on the backburner for more than a decade.  I was surprised to see there was an open house within the gates of the development, so it appears a developer is well underway to finish off this project.  It's a real shame, but hopefully they will retain some public land there because it is a great vantage point for seawatching.  I followed a crude crushed rock trail down to a leveled off area and set up the scope.  I started by checking the rocks below, but only had California, Heermann's, Thayer's, Mew, and Glaucous-winged Gulls.  On the water, Common Murres were plentiful.  The close waters had no oddball birds, so I pushed my scan further offshore.  I quickly spotted the fluke of a Humpback Whale way out in the strait.  While scanning back and forth for a blow from the Humpback, I spotted a log with a few birds sitting on it.  If you're going to spot a booby, it'll either be flying (and hopefully plunge-diving), resting on a log, or sitting on a boat mast.  One of the birds on the log was dark and bulky.  I was immediately intrigued by its relatively squat-legged, pot-bellied, long-tailed appearance, but I wanted to ensure it wasn't a cormorant with its neck coiled or even just a juvenile gull.

The bird was content sitting on the log and after over an hour it had only budged a few times.  I tried to maintain focus on the bird, but had to give my eyes periodic relief due to the monochromatic pale grey sea and sky that provided a backdrop.  On a couple occasions, the bird stretched its wings and these events provided glimmers of hope that it was indeed a booby.  I would have expected a cormorant to uncoil its neck, but when the dark bird on the log flapped, it maintained a thick neck.  The wings looked long and pointed, too, much like one of the photos Cathy managed.  I got really hopefully when a large Glaucous-winged Gull circled over the log and decided to land on it.  The gull flushed off a couple other gulls and began to walk over to the booby-like bird.  The bird again flapped up its wings, but did not budge.  I watched the bird for more than an hour and half under conditions that occasionally saw wisps of fog add to already trying conditions.  The entire time I watched the bird, I knew I had stay on it until it flew.  I had no idea if I would just be sitting there until sundown or not.  Finally, however, the bird raised its wings and pushed off the log and took flight.  This was the moment I had been waiting for and it could have deflated me in an instant if a snake-like neck had shot out and squared-off wings carried the bird off low over the water.  Instead, everything crystalized.  The bird maintained a long, thick neck blending right into the head.  The wings were long, and slightly swept back, the tail was also long.  The bird gave lumbering-but-strong wing beats with the occasional glide thrown in.  I have seen many Northern Gannets off Newfoundland, both Brown and Blue-footed Boobies in waters off Mexico, Central America and South America, and Masked Boobies off O'ahu.  In other words, I know what a sulid looks like in flight.  For a moment, I thought the Brown Booby was going to hitch a ride on a large tug that had passed by 15 minutes earlier, but instead it swirled down and dropped onto another log.  I was riding pretty high and had hoped to stay on the bird for a while longer, but after another 10 minutes a light drizzle started over land and soon the band of water containing the booby was enveloped in a veil of light fog.

I have been told this photo does my observation more harm than good, but I don't really understand why one would disregard the written description and focus on something not really in focus - the photo is grainy, pixellated, and heavily cropped.  The photo borders on useless, but I still see some features there that I view as booby-like.  The bird is dark, pot-bellied, and long-tailed.  I am including the photo just to show that you can't always get effective documentation.  In the birding world, photographic evidence has pretty much become the standard and anything less is suspect.  Gone are the days of careful observation, written notes, and field sketches.  Instead, it seems you'll gain more traction if you just raise your camera and snap a shot.  I frequently have to make difficult decisions about observations just like this on the British Columbia Bird Records Committee.  I have found it quite refreshing to see that careful written descriptions can sometimes inspire more confidence than a photograph.  In fact, some records get shelved due to a lack of a written description when the photographic evidence fails.  You can tell some identifications are an afterthought and actually the result of putting too much emphasis on a photo that may not accurately portray a bird.  Okay... I think that's enough of that little tangent.

With the Black-throated Sparrow and Brown Booby, the two notches added to my Victoria checklist area belt, I have edged very close to the 300 milestone.  I currently sit at 298.  Perhaps I will have to take a run up to Spectacle Lake to see if I can finally pick up a checklist area Grey Jay.  I like to think of it a bird in my back pocket, but it will probably be more difficult than I think to connect with one.  Hopefully this El Niño has a few more surprises in store for us!

Field Birding Season: Mountain Bluebirds!

I've been off on some adventures and if I know what's good for me I'll eventually post something about my travels in Colombia.  For now, though, I'll write up on my Saturday birding on the Saanich Peninsula.

As soon as it nears mid-March, the birding options really open up locally.  You can either head up to the Parksville/Qualicum area to take in the hordes of waterfowl and gulls that descend upon the area to partake in the feast presented by the herring spawn or you can search estuaries, driftwood-dotted shorelines, open Garry Oak hills, and any fields (e.g., airports or agricultural areas) in hopes of catching up with Say's Phoebes or Mountain Bluebirds.

Despite wanting to sift through the gulls and waterfowl up Island, I was a little too festive the night before to get up early.  I decided to visit some of my favourite field haunts on the Saanich Peninsula, starting at Maber Flats and ending around the airport.

At Maber Flats, I ran in to Randy Dzenkiw and we sifted through the waterfowl, but other than a couple Eurasian Wigeons there wasn't anything too exciting.  I told him my intentions to continue north up the peninsula and he had planned to check out Panama Flats, so we went our own ways.  I snaked my way along West Saanich Rd., up Mount Newton X Rd., and back south down East Saanich Rd. to the eastern portion Hovey Rd.  In 2007 I found a group of 12 Mountain Bluebirds at the tree farm on Mount Newton X Rd. and in 2013 I found a lone male Mountain Bluebird in the field between Central Saanich Rd. and the eastern end of Hovey Rd.  Both of those sightings were in the second week of April, but I know it is not without precedent to be searching now because there are sightings of both Say's Phoebe and Mountain Bluebirds from the Lower Mainland already this year.  Unfortunately I was unable to recreate the magic of those past sightings at either of those sites.

I then made my way over the Vantreight bulb fields (I refuse to call it Longview Farms) so check a small tree farm of Newman Rd., but also to check in on the Sky Larks.  As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, I could hear the continuous song of a Sky Lark from above.  I don't check in on them often enough, so I'm always happy to confirm their persistence so I can continue to recommend this spot as the best place to get good views of the Sky Larks.  I walked north past the greenhouses and spotted a couple more and hoped I would be able to spot one sitting in a little open patch of ground for a photo.  As luck would have it, I did spot one just in the grass near the edge of the road.  My luck wasn't picture perfect, though, because some of said grass was in front of the bird and prevented a clean shot.  I was still happy with the results.

They're a pretty drab bird, but Sky Larks to more are more about the song.  Everyone should hear them at least once!

The little tree farm by the bulb fields only produced a flock of a dozen or so Violet-green Swallows and at least one Tree Swallow, plus a flyover Northern Harrier.  I should be promoting the use of eBird periodically, so to see the utility you can check out my list from the bulb fields here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22454775

Next, I made my way to the airport and checked almost all the fence lines around the southern half and the best I could muster was another Northern Harrier.  I was going to check the gulls where Wsikem Creek drains into Patricia Bay.  Despite it being a Saturday, there was construction going on right at the beach and the area was virtually devoid of gulls.  I continued into Deep Cove and came back to check the fields just north of the airport along Munro and John Rds.  When I got to the eastern end of Munro Rd. a short ways before it comes to a dead end, I scanned the fields to the north.  Almost immediately I spotted a mid-sized bird that had a flash of blue.  I immediately hopped out and got the scope set up.  It took a minute, but I managed to get a stunning male Mountain Bluebird in the field of view.  A search with my binoculars revealed a female Mountain Bluebird was also out there.  Now you're going to get a lesson in what record shots are all about.  I waited until the male and female could be captured in the same frame and fired off a photo.  Checking on Google Maps, the bluebirds were over 200 metres away.  It's always amazing to me to see the results when you crop in on the birds... they're still recognizable as Mountain Bluebirds!

Classic record shot: a pair of Mountain Bluebirds through a mesh plastic fence.

I finished my day with a search along John Rd., which added a Northern Shrike, Hairy Woodpecker, and a couple Yellow-rumped Warblers for the day.  As I headed home, I saw Mary Robichaud had called and by the time I got back to her she had found the bluebirds.  When I checked the computer a while later I saw Brian Starzomski had also enjoyed the bluebirds, and the following morning at least a couple more (Liam Singh and Aziza Cooper) were able to find just the female.  I love being able to report a species in a timely manner and nothing makes me happier than seeing that others have been able to catch up with a bird I have found.  It's good to be back and hopefully this spring brings some rarities to break the birding dry spell the entire province has been under!

Two Palms and a Redpoll

First off, Happy New Year!  I have been unmotivated by the prospect of doing blog posts without photos go along with them.  I think the blog entry recession is over now that I've picked up a Canon 7D Mark II.

I've had the camera for nearly a week now and I've been able to take it out for a few sessions.  My first trial run was on Saturday, but it was pretty unsatisfying.  The weather was dull and moments of drizzle came and went.  My favourite shots of the day were had on the rocks at Cattle Point.

Black Oystercatcher

Song Sparrow picking around the rocks

The first day I had it out was on Sunday when I joined Ian Cruickshank for a bit of alley exploring in the Uplands.  The alley birding was pretty interesting, but we couldn't drum up anything unusual.  In fact, despite toting the camera in my backpack for nearly three hours, I wasn't even tempted to take it out.  I did finally pull out the new rig at the end of the day.  We decided to stop in at Clover Point where we bumped into Geoffrey and David Newell.  I asked if they'd seen anything of interest, but it was just the usual suspects.  Still, I prodded them to know whether they happened to come across the Palm Warblers.  They indicated they had not, so I asked if they had walked around the tip of the point along the beach.  They had not.  When I found the first Palm Warbler at Clover Point back in mid-November, I was standing right at the tip and it flew below me.  With this thought, I stared down at the beach and caught the movement of a bird out near some logs.  I raised my binoculars, soaked in some details, and was able to proclaim "There's a Palm Warbler down there!"  Ian and the Newells were equally elated.  After watching them for a minute, I decided I would put my 7D Mark II to its first test.  How would it perform in the dull, late day light?  It was already around 4 p.m. and I knew any photos would come out noisy.  Still, I had heard this camera has great high ISO capabilities.  I don't like to drop my ISO below 800, so I decided to see what I could at that setting.  My photos came out really cold and drab, but a little editing made the results look not too bad.  It was a nice first test, but it left me realizing there is a lot to learn on the camera.

This shot of a Palm Warbler was one of my first low light attempts with the Canon 7D Mark II

I was able to head out again the next afternoon because I was itching to try some different settings in better light.  There was a report of a Common Redpoll on January 5th from some feeders near the intersection of Southgate and Quadra Sts., but all subsequent efforts to relocate it came up empty.  I arrived at the feeders just before 2:30 p.m. and amazingly enough found the Common Redpoll in a few minutes.  It was a distant and somewhat brief look, but I knew it was the redpoll.  I posted a message on BCVIBIRDS and continued to watch the feeders.  Mary Robichaud arrived in good time and I left her to watch the feeders while I patrolled the road to the north.  From Southgate St. I could see a few Cedar Waxwings, so I wanted to get a closer look to ensure my much sought after Bohemian Waxwing wasn't in the mix.  I spent ten minutes or so dividing my attention between a berry-rich holly shrub on the St. Ann's Academy property and a birch on Academy Close.  After feeling I had given that a fair scouring, I rejoined Mary back at the feeders.  A good five minutes later, the Common Redpoll mysteriously materialized at one of the feeders.  I made sure Mary had seen all the features before making an approach with my camera.  Getting a decent photo was tricky because the feeder wasn't stationary.  It was rotating as new birds landed on the feeder, causing the redpoll to vanish in and out of view.

Side profile view of the Common Redpoll just showing a hint of its red poll

Closer view of the Common Redpoll with an American Goldfinch at the back of the feeder

Common Redpoll sitting on an oak branch near the feeder

When the redpoll decided to fly up to the top of the oak, both Mary and I had seen enough to be content with the sighting.  We head back to our vehicles and I noticed a gull across the road.  It actually appeared to be somewhat pale compared to the handful of Glaucous-winged and "Olympic" Gulls nearby, so I actually thought it might be Ring-billed.  The size wasn't right for Ring-billed, so I headed over to get some photos and Mary departed.  The gull allowed close approach and I managed to get some decent photos.  The pigeon-headed look, small bill, and pink legs pegged it as a Thayer's Gull.  The age on this bird is the tricky part.  I thought it might be a fourth-winter bird, but when I put it up on the North American Gulls page most suggested third-cycle.  Note the switch in terminology - many subscribe to the use of cycles for aging, but I am more used to referencing the season.  From my understanding, a third-cycle bird would be in its third winter so I might be a year off.  Apparently it is very hard to determine the age between third- and fourth-cycle birds.  It has a pretty strong residual tail band, so maybe third-cycle is right.  Now that I've bored you with gull musing, the bird itself will be a little anticlimactic.  I think it's a nice bird, though.

Thayer's Gull, possibly third-cycle

I finished off my afternoon's birding back at Clover Point watching the Palm Warblers.  They were quite confiding, but it still required a good deal of patience to get good photo opportunities.  I eventually ended up with a handful of respectable shots.  I will include a few different angles, including one shot that shows that one of the birds has rufous feathers on the cap indicating it's an adult.  What a treat to have them around for over a month!

Here's my favourite Palm Warbler shot of the lot

A nice side profile on a piece of driftwood

The angled piece of driftwood made for an interesting shot here, I reckon.

As you can see, this bird has rufous in the crown, which should indicate an adult Palm Warbler

That's all the material I have for now.  I hope to get out again this weekend and will write up another entry if the birds cooperate.

I'm Not Getting Rusty...

Well... this is hardly the resounding post I should be putting together to break the silence.  I was away working for six weeks without internet and then I was back in Victoria for a whopping four days before heading up to Fort McMurray for a few weeks.  I have been back in Victoria for just over a week now and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm settled back in.

I have been sneaking in little birding excursions when I can and this morning was rather productive.  With a Red-throated Pipit reported along Puckle Rd. near Martindale Flats last weekend, I thought I would see if I could sift through some pipits.  I arrived at the fields at around 8 a.m. and there was a light veil of fog hanging over the fields.  This was a little discouraging as it reduced the visibility, but I could hear pipits out there.  I pulled to the side of the road, grabbed my scope, and did my best to find tail-bobbing birds popping up from furrows in the soil.  While doing this, I noticed blackbirds and European Starlings flying in from the northwest and landing on the wires.  I gave them a quick scan because a Rusty Blackbird was reported in local flock a few days earlier.  My mind was set on pipits at this time, though, so I quickly went back to trying to pick out a Red-throated and among the Americans.  After half an hour or so of looking and listening to the same group of American Pipits, I decided it was a bust.

As I headed back to the car, I noticed Eurasian Collared-Doves were at the edge of one of the fields with the starlings and blackbirds.  I moved the car closer to the action and shortly after parking a truck pulled up.  Jody Wells, a birder I had bumped in to once before at Tod Creek Flats, provided good company as we scanned through the blackbird flock and small groups of sparrows dropping down to the ground along a fence line.  While chatting with Jody, I said he should let me know if he ever finds any interesting birds during his walks.  He said he wasn't as intense with the birding as others, but he has come across some interesting birds.  One sighting he recalled in particular was three Yellow-headed Blackbirds on Saanichton Spit.  I was impressed - that's my spot and I certainly haven't found one there!  At that point, I mentioned there was supposed to be a Rusty Blackbird around and it could well be in the flock we had in front of us.  Well, wouldn't you know it... I couldn't dig out the Rusty Blackbird, but I did find a first-year male Yellow-headed Blackbird!  I got Jody on the bird and we both marveled at the brilliant yellow patch on its chest when it turned the right way.

The flock was rather restless and Jody noticed that they all put up after a Mourning Dove darted in towards them.  They must have mistaken the swept back wings for a Merlin that we'd seen zip by earlier.  Eventually the Yellow-headed Blackbird ended up on the road near the very end of Puckle Rd., surrounded by Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a smattering of Brewer's Blackbirds.  I crept my way up to the flock and maintained a healthy distance to take some record shots.

First-year male Yellow-headed Blackbird with three Red-winged Blackbirds

Easily the best look I've had of a Yellow-headed Blackbird in Victoria!

Another familiar face, Barry McKee, rolled up as Jody was heading off.  I managed to get Barry on the Yellow-headed Blackbird and he snapped one shot with his camera before it flew, likely rejoining the flock on the fields.  This was only my second self-found Yellow-headed Blackbird for the Victoria checklist area and I would gladly take that over a Rusty!  This sighting paired with seeing a couple of familiar faces made for a great morning.

I just looked back through the BCVIBIRDS archive and learned that my first self-found Yellow-headed Blackbird was almost two years ago to the day.  I went to the Vantreight bulb fields on October 19, 2012, the day after returning from a work trip, and found a female Yellow-headed Blackbird in a large blackbird flock off Wallace Dr.  I guess mid-October is a great window for uncommon icterids!  Is it too much to hope for a grackle?

I Heard It Through the Kiwi Vine...

A few weeks ago, if you'll recall, I managed to see my first Clay-coloured Sparrow in the Victoria checklist area.  I even made brief mention of the next five species I anticipated to add as I work towards 300.  Well, you can pretty much guarantee it won't work out the way you anticipate and I pretty instantly derailed my list.

On June 24, Ann Nightingale headed over to Livesay Rd. where Bullock's Orioles were first noted four days earlier.  Not only were the orioles still around, but a song rarely heard in Victoria was being repeated in the backdrop.  Luckily Ann recognized the repeated "che-bek" phrase as a singing Least Flycatcher.  Unfortunately for me, I was working in the interior and heading to Valemount for four more days of work.  Even worse, the trail went cold the next morning after it put in a brief appearance.  It wasn't reported over the next two days and I figured it was yet another Least Flycatcher that had slipped through my grasp due to my absence from the Victoria area.

The Newells are a persistent bunch and they not only checked in on the orioles on June 28, but they also decided to check around the kiwi farms near the intersection of Martindale and Welch.  Surprisingly enough, they relocated the Least Flycatcher singing around the kiwi farm - awesome!  I was finishing up my work that day and had a day of natural history mayhem planned for the next day down in the Okanagan.  I wasn't about to rush back to Victoria for the Least Flycatcher, but I made sure to stay updated on its status.  After a morning in Princeton and Manning Park on the 30th, I was bound for Swartz Bay on the 6 p.m. ferry.  While on the ferry, I read an update from Mike McGrenere saying that he had the Least in the morning.  I wanted to pop in to drop off some Okanagan cherries to my dad, but I planned to make it quick so I could put in a bit of time before dark trying to hear or see the flycatcher.  I mentioned it to my dad and he wanted to join me, so we hopped in my work truck and we headed on over to the kiwi farms.  I am fortunately very familiar with Least Flycatcher due to the areas I work, so I stood still and just listened.  It took a minute, but I heard a distant "che-bek" at the far end of the kiwi farm on the south side of Martindale Rd.  We tracked the bird down to the row of poplars at the south side of the farm.  I popped just inside the row of poplars along the road and managed to see a little empid with obvious white wingbars high up in one of the poplars.  It wasn't the best view, but it was most definitely my first Least Flycatcher in the Victoria checklist area!

My dad didn't really get a great view of the bird before it flew to the north end of the farm.  I listened for it to sing again and determined it was half way down the north line of poplars.  Then it stopped singing for a bit and when it restarted, it was over in the kiwi farm kitty corner to us.  We crossed over to it and there my dad was able to briefly observe the Least as it sat on a drooping kiwi vine about 10 metres away at eye level.  What a great bird to add and it didn't quite make my cut for the top five next expected species.  It was pretty close and I debated putting it on over Pink-footed Shearwater and Long-tailed Jaeger because I don't do much in the way of "pelagic" birding here.

I don't have any audio files or photos to support this blog entry, so I will have to make up for it with a photo extravaganza soon.  Photos would have been miserable anyways due to the low light conditions.  Knowing this is a new Victoria bird for me, I will do the standard update on my progress towards 300 species in the checklist area.  The Least Flycatcher is my 294th species and it was actually a tiebreaker for me to jump back ahead of Jeremy Kimm.  I probably fretted at his progress over the past few years as he quickly closed the gap and then momentarily passed me.  At the same time, I knew he was adding species I hadn't seen and it was only a matter of time before I recouped those losses.  Mission accomplished!  If that sounds extremely competitive, it's actually all in good fun.  We congratulate each other genuinely when we add new birds to our Victoria checklist and JK even prods me to hurry up and get my Grey Jay already.  I think we both enjoy the friendly competitive edge and schoolyard maturity taunting.  So... bring on the next one!

Conquering a Nemesis: Say's Phoebe and Tiny Picnic Tables

Spring has firmly been established for over a week now, with Yellow-rumped Warblers singing, Violet-green and Tree Swallows darting over lakes, and the whir of Rufous Hummingbird wings.  If I'm in Victoria and these sights and sounds are all around, I know it's time to hit open areas to look for Mountain Bluebirds and my nemesis grail Say's Phoebe.  Say's Phoebe has a predictable spring passage window, much more so than the fall, but where it shows up is the hard part.  There is an abundance of open areas, so you're left with checking ones that traditionally turn up Mountain Bluebirds and have had Say's Phoebe records in the past or else just crossing your fingers and hoping the stars align.

On Saturday, March 29, the stars aligned in all sorts of ways.  I probably earned some karma points by dropping off "A Bird-Finding Guide to Mexico" to Jeremy K. bright and early in the morning.  I forgot he was taking off that day to Vancouver to stay the night before flying off to Cancun, so it was probably a nice surprise for him when I showed up at his door with the guide in the morning.  I was just going to stay on the Saanich Peninsula, but I opted to do my Metchosin run since I was already out in Colwood.  I took the Veterans Memorial Parkway and then turned on to Latoria Rd., which cuts through the old gravel pits.  This area had a Mountain Bluebird a few weeks ago, so I figured I would check all fences, posts, wires, and other assorted perches as I made my way to Metchosin Rd.  The first bird that stood out was a singing White-crowned Sparrow, which I decided to stop and photograph.

White-crowned Sparrow announcing its presence: "Oooh-eee cheddar cheddar cheese!"

As I walked back to hop in the car, I was serenaded by the song of a Western Meadowlark sitting on top of one of the hydro poles.  I got in the car and continued rolling along down Latoria Rd. and then promptly pulled back off to the side of the road.  A bird was sitting on a powerline on the north side of the road and my initial thought was that it was perhaps the same Mountain Bluebird from a few weeks ago and it had just eluded detection.  A look through the binoculars pushed that thought aside and after some mental contortion, I was nervously excited at the prospect of it being a Say's Phoebe.  The bird then did some aerial acrobatics before landed on a large rock, revealing a perfect profile view of a Say's Phoebe!  The pale ashy upper parts and ochre-washed belly were radiant in the morning sun.  I sprang into action with my camera and the bird was quite obliging.  A mound of dead broom was one of the favoured spots of the phoebe in the morning and it also provided a visually attractive perch for photos.

A shot of my freshly conquered nemesis bird: the Say's Phoebe!

The stars had aligned and I had knocked down a major Victoria nemesis bird!  Now I had a new dilemma.  How do I spread the word about the Say's Phoebe?  I currently don't own a cell phone and I was a long ways from home.  My mind raced with all sorts of options.  Should I head back to Jeremy K.'s place and get Thea to contact him at work?  That didn't seem like a great option, so I thought I would try heading to Eastern Phoebe spot and hopefully I would find a birder with a cell phone there.  Well, connecting with the Say's apparently didn't drain all my karma and I miraculously found Rob Gowan just around the corner.  He was looking for a Mountain Bluebird that had, unbeknownst to me, been reported a couple days earlier.  Rob was turning around and heading towards Latoria Rd., but I didn't want to chance anything.  I hurriedly pulled off to the side, jumped out, and ran down the road like a crazy person, waving my arms trying to get his attention.  It worked!

We drove back on to Latoria and I pulled off a short distance from where I had last seen the phoebe.  We quickly found it and then we decided we should get our cameras.  More photos were taken, and here is one.

Say's Phoebes have subdued colours but the warmth of that ochre belly make them a subtly attractive bird.

While trying to follow the Say's Phoebe as it moved around, Rob spotted a couple of Mountain Bluebirds on the south side of the road.  I looked over and realized there was actually three, then four, then five... and finally, six Mountain Bluebirds!  Two of the bluebirds were impossibly bright males.  For some reason, I decided to stop taking photos at this point, so I have no shots of the bluebirds.  At any rate, it wasn't long before the message that Rob had spread to BCVIBIRDS had birders dropping everything to come out for a slice of the interior.  First it was Heather Trondsen, then Cathy O'Connor, and finally Gordon Hart.  I sincerely enjoy meeting new birders and reconnecting with others I haven't seen in a while, so I enjoyed getting to share the phoebe with four birders in short order.

Just before noon, I decided I better head back home because I was going to get out for more birding in the early afternoon with Ian Cruickshank and Avery Bartels.  I had never met Avery but had heard nothing but good things, so it was great to finally meet and go birding with him and Ian.  We started with a quick check over Maber Flats before Ian started getting a little antsy about the Say's Phoebe and Mountain Bluebirds.  We made our way back out to gravel pits and as we pulled up to the area, we saw Mike and Barb McGrenere.  We figured if the phoebe was still around, they would know roughly where to look.  We got the encouraging word that it was there a couple minutes earlier and it wasn't long before Barb spotted it on a wire.  As we were switching our focus between the phoebe and the bluebirds, I noticed a bird in a patch of broom that had white corners to its tail.  That was really all I got on it, but it was tantalizing enough that we stayed trained on the area.  Soon, Avery proclaimed that it was a Palm Warbler!  The bird proved to be quite tricky to get good looks at, but eventually we all had decent views.

A second wave of birders poured in at this point.  First, Cathy Carlson pulled up and we quickly got her on the Say's Phoebe.  She let me know that she was very excited and thankful that I got the word out because the phoebe was a lifer for her!  Those are the kind of words that make my day!  Next, the Newell clan emerged from a car and we were able to show them the two stars, but the Palm Warbler was not showing any more.  No bother... an immature Golden Eagle rose up and put on an incredible show!  We watched the Golden Eagle casually soar back and forth against a backdrop of trees on the south side of Latoria, showing off its white tail base and pale flashes on the wings every time it banked.  As if getting to watch the eagle soaring around wasn't enough, it landed on a rock ledge and all scopes were focused on it.  The golden nape is a feature I rarely get to see because I usually see Golden Eagles soaring, so this was incredible!

We were then joined by Cathy Reader and Rebecca Reader-Lee and efforts were then focused on getting them on all of the birds.  It was starting to seem customary to find a new bird with each new addition to the birding fleet, so I decided to check an intriguing grey bird sitting up on some very distant broom.  The bird had a tall profile and I really thought it had to be a Townsend's Solitaire.  I got Ian to check the bird and he agreed - the micro Patagonia Picnic Table Effect was strong on this day!  I also got Cathy Carlson on the bird and Avery seemed to just get a glimpse of it with binoculars before we lost its exact location.  The solitaire was spotted when it next flew, but it ended up behind a patch of broom.  I was focusing on where it was going to go next and then an American Robin hopped out of the broom.  Did both Ian and I greatly misinterpret the bird based on the distance and angle?  "There's the solitarie!" someone excitedly called out.  The Townsend's Solitaire sat up on dead mullein stems long enough for everyone to get decent views.  Unfortunately, Heather Trondsen came back just a little too late for the solitaire - it was all a blur, so perhaps that's not true - but she was able to get more great looks at the bluebirds and see the Golden Eagle in action, too.  What a great gathering of birds and birders in one place!

The afternoon session at the Latoria gravel pits was one of the greatest birding moments for me in recent memory.  The combination of five uncommon to rare species, the number of birders in attendance, and just the amount of fun everyone was having made this event the perfect kickoff to spring.  Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the spectacle!

Phoetos: Shots of Victoria's First Eastern Phoebe

After a great morning of birding, I stopped in at the abandoned Aquattro development lot to see if the Eastern Phoebe was still around.  The phoebe, to my knowledge, had not been reported since March 12 but I figured the effort dropped off the chart after most people saw the bird.  After spending 15 minutes looking at the usual suspects, I heard the phoebe's distinctive "chip" call coming from the edge of the main pond.  My eyes traced the edge of the pond, looking in the low vegetation for the source of the call.  It took just a few seconds to spy a plain-chested bird sitting low in an alder over the water.

Unlike my last encounter with the Eastern Phoebe, I was able to watch this bird at leisure for around half an hour as it moved around the pond, then traveled along the stream to the west before moving on to the western ponds.  Getting photos was a challenge, but I managed some shots that are pretty good.  I am glad Victoria's first documented Eastern Phoebe appears to be in good health and is actively hawking insects more than three weeks after news first broke about this bird.

Eastern Phoebe on March 22, 2014 at the abandoned Aquattro lot near Esquimalt Lagoon

Eastern Phoebe on March 22, 2014 at the abandoned Aquattro lot near Esquimalt Lagoon

Eastern Phoebe on March 22, 2014 at the abandoned Aquattro lot near Esquimalt Lagoon

Eastern Phoebe on March 22, 2014 at the abandoned Aquattro lot near Esquimalt Lagoon

Eastern Phoebe on March 22, 2014 at the abandoned Aquattro lot near Esquimalt Lagoon

Year of the Harris'

With all the Kung Hei Fat Choi going on with the Chinese New Year, I figured I would kick it off with some nice birds.  According to the Chinese calendar, it is the year of the horse but I think that's just because they don't have Harris' Sparrows over in China.  Here on Vancouver Island, it is definitely the year of the Harris'.  In an average winter, we have maybe one record of Harris' Sparrow reported somewhere on Vancouver Island.  This winter we've had at least three reported: one consistent bird near Summit Park in Victoria, a bird in Metchosin that put in a couple days of appearances, and an individual in Port McNeill found on a Hooded Oriole twitch.

I started things off today at Portage Inlet with Jeremy and Thea Kimm to look for a bird that Jeremy K. saw on the way to work.  He spotted a bird that appeared to be a grackle, but unfortunately we were unable to relocate it.  We did, however, have an enjoyable walk along Portage Rd. that was quite productive for birds.  The highlights of the area included: 13 Canvasbacks, 1 Hermit Thrush, 10 Cedar Waxwings, 75 Greater Scaup, 1 Merlin, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes.

A female and two males - part of the group of 13 Canvasbacks seen in Portage Inlet

After the Portage Inlet session, I headed back towards the Cedar Hill area and decided I would stop in to McNair St. because I had not followed up on any of the Harris' Sparrows this winter.  Luckily for me, it was almost too easy.  I parked at the end of McNair and immediately spotted the Harris' sitting on the rock wall near a rather elaborate feeder set-up.  The Harris' periodically joined dozens of Golden-crowned and House Sparrows, with lower numbers of Fox and Song Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Spotted Towhees in attendance.  A flock of Bushtits and lone Bewick's Wren and Ruby-crowned Kinglet also put in an appearance.  The Harris' Sparrow was almost always in low light and it really gave me a chance to test out my new Tamron 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens.  I think the results, considering the low light conditions, were pretty good.  I did a tiny bit of basic post-production (something I definitely need to work on) and it looks pretty nice despite the slightly noisy feel to the background, which is expected with such a high ISO (1600).  What do you think?

The Harris' Sparrow on McNair St. is quite the sharp-looking sparrow and I was glad to finally lay eyes on it!

I am off to Jamaica on Sunday evening and come Monday afternoon I will be in Montego Bay with Nathan Hentze.  We will be touring around for a week and hopefully my new lens will result in some nice pictures to show off the rather exquisite suite of endemics Jamaica has to offer!  In the mean time, would someone do me a favour and find a Thick-billed Murre on this side of the strait!

Birding On Ice

On December 21st, Ontario had mild temperatures that dropped and led to freezing rain.  The end result was a branch-shattering ice storm.  I have survived the legendary ice storm of 2013 with minimal damage.  The effects of the ice storm are still lingering, with thousands of people in the Greater Toronto Area still without power.

On the 23rd, I decided to go for a little walk around the neighbourhood where Janean's family lives.  I knew it would be icy but I figured I was pretty good on my feet and should be able to get around just fine.  I walked along the road and made it to little path that runs between two roads and promptly ended up horizontal.  I got up rather sheepishly and kept moving and a few steps later I was flat on my back again.  I had my camera with me and luckily protected it both times and wasn't hurt in the process.  At that point, I realized I was still trying to maintain a pace that is more in line with Victorian roads.  I had to tell myself to calm down and basically shuffle rather than take full steps.  This worked fine until I encountered my first slope.  I was still in my careful-stepping mode but I was getting a little too confident walking in a recent track of a snowmobile that broke the icy crust.  A small section must have been a little tougher and did not get broken.  I hit that stretch and had a rather dramatic tumble and put one hand down to slow my slide and nearly sliced it on the ice.  I triple-checked my hand to make sure it wasn't split open and spurting blood.  I think I'll just stay in the next time there is an ice storm!

Regardless of all those tumbles, I am a sucker for punishment and continued on my walk.  I also got my camera going to document some of the plants, all of which were coated in ice.  I unfortunately don't have any photos to show you some of the aftermath of the ice storm.  Driving into Whitby on the morning of the 22nd, Janean and I a tree that fell onto a powerline, a branch that narrowly missed a parked car, and many of the intersections reverted back to four-way stops because the traffic lights were out.  Despite the rather destructive nature of an ice storm, it certainly adds a certain beauty to the landscape.

Goldenrod coated in ice

Knapweed heads and stems encased in ice

I can see how an ice storm would be hard on birds that eat berries, but luckily some of these are not iced over!

A Staghorn Sumac inflorescence fringed with ice

The intricate needle pattern of a cedar traced in ice

Narrowleaf Cattail flowerhead partially covered in ice

My favourite sight was this backlit patch of cattails - you really can't do it justice with a photo!

I did see some birds along the way.  First, I heard some chickadees and their calls led me to discover a Cooper's Hawk up in a fir tree.  Or perhaps I spotted it while I was on my back... details are sketchy.

This Cooper's Hawk is likely a male based on its rather small size, and it even had me thinking Sharp-shinned at first.

Not the greatest photo, but the Cooper's took off and I reeled around just in time to snap this off.

I walked around in a little park that I checked out last year and I managed to find a little flock that included some Northern Cardinals, American Tree Sparrows, and Black-capped Chickadees.  They were a little too active, but I managed to snap off a photo of each species.

American Tree Sparrow on some icy branches 

Not a good photo, but just wanted to show a Black-capped Chickadee in the icy mayhem

Northern Cardinals never cease to brighten a dull winter day... not that it was dull on this particular day!

I finished off my day by walking over to a feeder that I recalled from last year.  It had a fair bit of activity, but unfortunately all the birds were too far away to photograph.  As a result, you'll just have to take my word for it that I also saw Mourning Doves, a White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a couple House Finches.  I hope you all enjoyed the ice storm imagery - it has now melted away, but some unfortunate folks in Toronto are still waiting for power to come back on so they can stock their fridges back up and thaw out.

Swamped

I had to run an errand today at Red Barn Market on West Saanich Rd., so I decided I would step out and check Tod Creek Flats while I was at it.  My intention was to quickly scan over the flats and then continue on to Mount Newton Valley to see what I could dig up there.  In reality, I spent around an hour and a half at Tod Creek Flats and had very little time for birding elsewhere.

When I got out of the car at the Red Barn, I just grabbed my binoculars and wandered down through the opening leading to the flats.  A couple minutes later, I found myself heading back to the car to get my camera because a Swamp Sparrow popped up along the shoreline in the weedy vegetation.  As I made my way back to where I had initially seen the Swamp, I noticed there were several sparrows in the weedy vegetation.  The clumps of rushes and weedy vegetation must provide a good combination of food and cover because there were a half dozen Song Sparrows and, as I was very surprised to find, at least five Swamp Sparrows!

Swamp Sparrows are found in low numbers every winter - usually it's just one or two at Swan Lake and another at either Viaduct Flats, Panama Flats, Rithet's Bog, or perhaps somewhere near Martindale Flats.  This year has been exceptional for them so far: one at Rocky Point, three at Swan Lake, three at the Cowichan Bay Dock Rd., and one at Panama Flats.  Add the five I had today at Tod Creek Flats and you can see we have a pretty good total locally.

In all my years of birding in the Victoria area, this sighting is easily the best for Swamp Sparrows.  There have been occasions where I've seen two individuals at one location, but having five in one small stretch of shoreline was incredible!  I may have to go down there again to see if I can determine whether my count was low.

Hopefully anyone who has had trouble catching up with Swamp Sparrows locally can head on down to Tod Creek Flats and see at least one or two of the relatively cooperative bunch.

This stretch of weedy shoreline at Tod Creek Flats hosted at least five Swamp Sparrows

One of the five Swamp Sparrows, most of which were being uncharacteristically cooperative for views

Another Swamp Sparrow perched on rushes and calling at Tod Creek Flats today

November Big Day

While I was drifting around at sea, the idea of a November big day was floated by Russ Cannings.  The proposed date made me wilt because I was almost certainly going to be on the boat still, but I put on bitter-yet-brave face and said Jeremy Kimm, Ian Cruickshank, and Russ should go on without me.  As luck would have it, the date did not work and it was pushed back.  I selfishly suggested waiting until I got back and the suckers took the bait!

On Saturday, November 16th, I was picked up by Russ and Ian at the totally reasonable hour of 2 a.m. Next, we picked up Jeremy K. at his local Tim Horton's, obtained our birding fuel, and headed up to Duncan.  From Cowichan Station to Duncan, we put in a few hours of owling and ended up hearing a handful of Great Horned Owls and a couple Barn Owls before first light.

Our first daylight stop was Quamichan Lake and we got the ball rolling quickly.  Waterfowl and common bush birds were tallied rapidly.  We held out hopes we might be able to pull out Redheads or Canvasbacks, but we settled for our only Ruddy Ducks and Barrow's Goldeneyes of the day and our sought after Ring-billed Gulls.

From Quamichan, we traveled our way toward Cowichan Bay and stopped along the way when Ian and I noticed a sapsucker fly across Tzouhalem Rd.  We hopped out and found not one, but three Red-breasted Sapsuckers in the area!  We realized the shrubs were hopping with activity and decided we should pish and sift through the birds a little before heading on.  This turned out to be an extremely good decision as Russ soon exclaimed "There's a warbler... it's a Wilson's!"  Wilson's Warbler is a very rare bird in late fall and winter, and this turned out to be the most unexpected species of the day.

At Cowichan Bay, we walked the dock road and picked up our hoped for Northern Shrike, Northern Harrier, Swamp Sparrow, and Eurasian Wigeon.  At Dinsdale Farm, the Sandhill Crane that has been mixed in with the swans and geese cooperated nicely.  At this point, we decided to cut our ties with sites north of the Malahat and head back towards Victoria.

Ian had suggested we take a quick run up Stebbings Rd. off Shawnigan Lake Rd. and we debated long and hard about the merits of this potentially time-consuming endeavor.  We opted to pull off on Shawnigan Lake Rd. and give a quick listen and perhaps head a little further down if it seemed warranted.  The stop did net us our only Red Crossbills of the day, which have been very scarce in lower areas around Victoria.  We happened to be birding right at someone's driveway and the lady of the house decided to come out after being called by her husband who had just left, and she proceeded to take pictures of us and Russ' car.  At that point, we were all rather underwhelmed by hill folk and decided to continue on to Goldstream.

We had only one target at Goldstream Provincial Park: American Dipper.  Luckily the spawn is fully on right now and dippers are definitely going to be around.  It still took five minutes or so to catch up with one, but we picked up our target.

My record shot of the American Dipper just happened to capture its white eyelid - I love that feature!

From Goldstream, we knocked down a series of waterfront stops, including Esquimalt Lagoon, Ogden Point, Clover Point, McMicking Point, Queen's Park, and Cattle Point.  The wind was up a bit and the seabirding was actually quite difficult.  We managed most of the birds you'd expect along the waterfront, but shorebirds were a little hard to come by.  Clover Point had Black Turnstones and a lone Black-bellied Plover, Black Oystercatchers were seen on rocks off Kitty Islet, and we managed to find a mixed group with Surfbirds, Black-bellied Plovers, Black Turnstones, and Dunlin on Trial Island viewed from McMicking Point.  Queen's Park had the usual combination of Killdeer and Greater Yellowlegs, but the Long-billed Dowitcher and Spotted Sandpiper that have been around the Oak Bay area were nowhere to be found.

As we rolled through the Uplands, we had our windows down in hopes of picking up American Goldfinch.  Instead, we had Ian's bionic ears pick out a weak White-throated Sparrow song.  We backed up and found there was a feeder and when I got out, I located the nice white-striped male on the neighboring yard's driveway.  We figured we would need to get one at Swan Lake, so it was a convenient species to pick up on the fly.

We stopped briefly at Panama Flats before realizing it was going to be a time sink if we didn't get out quickly.  We opted to head over to Viaduct Flats instead and we finally managed to catch up with Canvasbacks.  We were starting to near crunch time and needed to stay on the move and limit our stops to places with specific targets.  We decided we better make our way over to Martindale Flats as there were numerous species we could get there with a little luck.

We headed to Martindale via Dooley Rd. where we hoped to find Mourning Doves.  Unfortunately, the yard that has great feeders also had the homeowner out working in the yard.  There were many birds around still, but none we were hoping to find!  We rolled on through the flats and made a couple quick stops, picking up Savannah Sparrow, American Pipit, and Cooper's Hawk.  When we got to McIntyre Rd., we headed down the path and worked our way out to the western edge of Garcia Nursery to look for the Palm Warblers that have been around for over a week.  As we passed by the marshy patch by the end of the lane, we finally got to tally Wilson's Snipe.  Russ had one at Cowichan Bay, but he was the only one to record it.  That was a sigh of relief, and catching up with the Palm Warblers a couple minutes later was also a welcome sight.

Next, we crossed the highway and drove down Shady Creek Dr. in hopes that it would have Mourning Doves.  They were not there either.  This species was proving to be a much harder task than anticipated.  We then headed over to the Vantreight bulb fields and I had hoped we would get Western Meadowlark and Peregrine Falcon there.  Instead, we got a couple Sky Larks and an American Kestrel.  That was actually not a bad trade as it eliminated the need to head to the airport.

From my standpoint, this is where the big day got interesting.  We were deep in crunch time.  It was after 4:00 p.m. and we had to make some tough decisions.  We were sitting at 112 species and we had a number of species within our grasp, but we had to pick where to invest our efforts.  We started by heading to Saanich Bay because we were missing Greater Scaup and Long-tailed Duck still.  We set up on the James Bay wharf and I heard the good news over my shoulder that there Greater Scaup at approximately the same time I found a large group of Long-tailed Ducks.  113 and 114.  Perfect execution... now what?

This exact moment tormented me because I had a moment where I thought it might be a good idea to walk Saanichton Spit.  We could definitely get Western Meadowlarks there, but the Horned Larks that were reported several days earlier could easily be gone.  Would Sanderlings be on the shoreline?  Maybe we could luck into a Short-eared Owl, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, or who knows what else?  It was too late to gamble like that, though, so we decided to retrace our path back to Martindale, including checking a yard along East Saanich Rd. that had a good number of blackbirds and Eurasian Collared-Doves.  Mourning Doves eluded us yet again, but there were multiple Brown-headed Cowbirds mixed in with the blackbirds.  115.  We continued back east across the highway, then went south along Lochside Dr. Our timing was amazing - a flock of Western Meadowlarks flew over the car and landed in a field on the west side of the road.  116.  We went to the pig farm and couldn't add anything.  We then headed back to Martindale Rd. and were going to make our way to Dooley again, but were stopped short when two Mourning Doves flew over the car.  There was a tense moment when only two of us had seen the doves, but then a straggler zipped by and everyone saw it.  Phew!  117.  We had tied the old November big day record at this point and we still had enough light to pick up a couple more if we played it smart.

We had done poorly with geese at this point.  We had seen plenty of Cackling Geese, but we'd missed Greater White-fronted and Snow Geese and we knew they were around somewhere.  I suggested we check Mount Newton Valley because it can be good for geese and then if that fails we could continue on to Tod Creek Flats.  Well, Mount Newton Valley was barren in the goose department and we added a quick pass by Maber Flats, too, with the same assessment.  Tod Creek Flats turned out to be our promised land.  When we stepped out to view the flats, it was not long before we had both of our hoped-for geese in our sights.  118 and 119.

We did not have much light left, so we figured we had only one option: Swan Lake for Barred Owl, Virginia Rail, and, if extremely lucky, American Bittern.  None of those wanted to cooperate.  We tried Hyacinth Park for Barred Owl and struck out there, too.  We had been up for a long time and were content with our effort, so we decided to give my place a shot for Barred Owl and call it a day.  Russ gave his last effort Barred Owl - a rather impressive rendition as anyone that has gone owling with Russ can surely attest - and we all stood around reminiscing for a few minutes.  In the distance, a rather ugly hissing screech of a Barred Owl made us all smile.  That capped our day off at 120 species.

I wouldn't want to claim this record is going to hold up for years to come.  We really went in to this with no scouting and we had plenty of misses.  I think with a little preparation and luck, a total of 130 would be a solid-yet-attainable total.

Thanks to Ian, Jeremy K., and Russ for a great day out and I hope we can get together again soon to try to knock down more records!