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!

Swan Song

On Saturday I decided to get out check some of the local flats to check of the waterfowl numbers and diversity.  In the last few weeks there has been multiple reports of Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) and there were other sightings involving Redheads (Aythya americana), Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria), and Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis).  This was motivation enough for me to see what I could turn up close to home.

I started off at Tod Creek Flats behind the Red Barn Market on West Saanich Rd.  As I came down the hill towards the Red Barn Market, I could see the number of large white dots on the water had gone up significantly in the last week.

The bustle of waterfowl on Tod Creek Flats is accentuated by a picture perfect fall scene with loaded hawthorn shrubs, dead grasses, and turning leaves contrasting the evergreen wall of conifers.

I was excited to get out and sort through those large white dots to see how many were Tundra Swans.  The last Victoria checklist was produced in 2001 and it asserts that Tundra Swans as rare for this area, which means they are annual but typically limited to a few records.  I think the timing of rainfall this fall has resulted in higher-than-average numbers in our area.  The first report this fall came from Ian Cruickshank on October 23rd when he noted nine Tundras (4 adults, 5 juveniles) flying over the appropriately named Swan Lake.  These birds landed on Viaduct Ducts where they were enjoyed by many Victoria birders.  On October 31st, Mike McGrenere noted a flock of 17 adult Tundras passing west over Martindale Flats and the next day he found a group of nine resting on the fields at Martindale that likely constituted a different flock.  Considering Mike is one of the most active birders in Victoria, this quote from BCVIBIRDS says it all: "I think this must be close to the number that I have seen in Victoria since I moved here in 1985."  I don't get to study Tundra Swans very often, so that puts my excitement in perspective.  I was not hoping to find a Tundra, I was expecting it!

Spoiler alert!  Yes I did see some Tundras!  The front and centre cygnet and adult are Tundra Swans.  Compare them to the back right cygnet and adult Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator).  When adult Tundras have a yellow spot in front of their eye, they are much easier to identify as you can see here.  The juvenile Tundra has a bill that is largely pink, including the base and sometimes extending into the lores.

Almost immediately I spied my first Tundra.  In fact, it turned out to be a group of five.  There were three adults and two juveniles travelling together.  I looked through the whole flock twice and found four more adults, making a total of nine Tundra Swans mixed in with 50 Trumpeters.  There are many subtle features involving the bill that can be used to the separate the two species.  If you're interested in learning more about distinguishing these two species, please check out this swan identification article by David Sibley from his blog.  I spent a fair amount of time scanning through the ducks after sifting through the swans and was tickled to hear the Tundras making their higher-pitched honks for several minutes.  It was a perfect encounter!

I estimated there were more than 2500 waterfowl out on Tod Creek Flats, and you can see the breakdown of that from my eBird checklist here.  I thought I heard Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) when I first arrived and eventually tracked one down.  As you may have seen from the checklist, it turned out there was actually a flock of 14 that I was able to observe after they flushed, circled the flats a couple times, then settled back on the water.  I was also pleased to pick out three male Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope) amongst the American Wigeons (Anas americana).

Flock of Greater White-fronted Geese about to land on Tod Creek Flats

I went to Viaduct Flats next as there had already been one report of Redheads this fall from Duncan and Viaduct was the location I last saw them in Victoria.  These hunches occasionally work out and this was one of those times.  In with the mix of diving and dabbling ducks were three Redheads and ten Canvasbacks!

I had hour-long birding sessions at Hastings Flats and Tower Point afterwards and just saw a nice variety of the usual suspects.  The only bird I don't encounter all too often that I came across was a male Red-breasted Sapsucker near the parking lot at Tower Point.  I ended the day with 78 species, which was a little surprising considering I wasn't specifically trying to amass a high species total for the day.  I think a big day could easily churn out over 100 species right now.  I do believe a certain Victoria birder with a blog about unsuccessful big years was prodding me to do a November big day.  Maybe that's on the horizon?