The Cattle Point Entrance Oaks Effect

Why not start our own local version of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect?  For those not familiar with the phenomenon, it apparently spans back to a rest area in Patagonia back in 1971.  Some birders stopped in for lunch and ended up finding the first record of Black-capped Gnatcatcher north of Mexico.  A swarm of birders descended on this little rest area and consequently turned up the first North American record of Yellow Grosbeak, as well.  The Patagonia Picnic Table Effect now refers to any instance where an unusual bird is reported and those looking for the rarity turn up another stray.

This phenomenon occurred locally on November 1st when Ian Cruickshank put out the word that he had briefly observed a Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) in the oaks at the entrance to Cattle Point.  Several birders quickly launched into action to try to relocate the kingbird.  Steven Roias tried in vain to find this once-every-couple-years rarity from the south, but he did find a tern feeding just offshore.  He jotted down some detailed notes on the bird and left thinking it was just a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), which is actually a decent bird here these days.  When he got home and broke out a field guide, he realized all the features he had seen did not add up for Common and were bang on for an Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans)!

Elegant Tern on the rocks off Bowker Ave. in Oak Bay, taken on November 2, 2012 (Photo: Daniel Donnecke)

The next morning, Daniel Donnecke and Val George were on scene and managed to relocate the Elegant Tern on the rocks at the end of Bowker Ave.  This news made me very anxious because I was working and the feeling was so overwhelming that I buckled and went out to search for the bird.  I decided to head right to Bowker Ave.  When I arrived just over an hour after the morning report, not a soul was in sight.  I raised by binoculars and scanned over to Cattle Point and could see a scope set up and a group milling around it.  I hopped back in the car and raced over to the point.  I was greeted by Aziza Cooper who said the bird had flown south and seemingly landed behind one of the islands.  I looked over at the rest of the group and they were intently looking at something.  Barb McGrenere waved over to me and I thought it was just a "hello" wave, but then Mike McGrenere announced "The tern's over here!"  I darted over and set up the scope just in time to not see the tern.  So I played the waiting game.  I waited for over an hour and kept checking my watch.  I had intended to be back at work at 1 p.m. and that time was approaching rapidly.  I decided to cut my losses at Cattle Point and put in quick check at Spoon Bay and Cadboro Bay, the latter being the assumed destination of the tern as it went out of view to the north.

I scanned the rocks in Spoon Bay and checked every passing Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia), but no sign of the tern.  I was going to head to Gyro Beach, but as I passed Loon Bay I noticed several Bonies and figured it was worth a check.  A scan out beyond Loon Bay into Cadboro Bay revealed a lone adult Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens), but again no tern.  I was starting to pack up when I noticed multiple birders that I had been chatting with at Cattle Point had decided to check here as well.  I went over to let them know about the goose and realized I could see a whole new sliver of water from where they were standing.  I set up the scope again as a last ditch effort.  As I scanned out over Cadboro Bay, a bird with a black crown flew through my field of view and I excitedly proclaimed "I've got the tern!"  Everyone there managed to observe the tern circling for half a minute before we lost sight of it as it headed back south towards Cattle Point.  After celebratory high fives or verbal equivalents, I had to get back to work.  I left very happy as Elegant Tern was my 289th Victoria checklist area bird.  Still knocking them down ever so slowly!

So how rare were the two birds involved in the Cattle Point Entrance Oaks Effect?  Tropical Kingbirds are annual in British Columbia and one is seemingly turned up approximately every second year in Victoria.  They are almost certainly annual, but there might be a lack of focused searching in appropriate habitats for this species from mid-October through November.  Elegant Terns, on the other hand, are typically reported during El Niño years.  There is no regular pattern to El Niños, so it can't be predicted when Elegant Terns might put in an appearance in our waters.  Previous records in the Victoria checklist area are surprisingly numerous, but they are the result of several reports in certain El Niño years.  Using the E-Fauna "British Columbia Rare Bird Records" document, Elegant Terns were reported in 1983 (5 records), 1992 (7 records), 1993 (1 record), and 2008 (2 records), with some records potentially referring to the same bird or birds.

The 2012 record of Elegant Tern is anomalously late and may be in part due to a weak El Niño that really started showing effects in September.  Elegant Terns breed in southern California and Mexico and then have a brief northbound dispersal.  The late summer arrival of Heermann's Gulls (Larus heermanni) in our waters is due to a similar pattern.  Elegant Terns typically only head as far north as northern California before they turn back south and head to South American shores from Peru to Chile.  The warmer ocean temperatures during El Niño years draw southern marine life northward, and Elegants Terns follow suit with this trend.

I was more interested in catching up with the Elegant Tern because the really pronounced El Niño years occurred before I was in the habit of consistently chasing rarities.  As a result, I haven't had much of a chance to see one locally.  I was, however, fortunate enough to see my lifer Tropical Kingbird way back in 1998 at Esquimalt Lagoon.  I certainly wouldn't have passed up a view of the Tropical Kingbird that Ian found, but I can wait for the next one or just be content with the hundreds I've seen in the Neotropics.

I'll just wrap this up with a congratulatory note to Ian Cruickshank for finding the Tropical Kingbird and initiating the Cattle Point Entrance Oaks Effect, and Steven Roias for completing the phenomenon with his sharp eyes and detailed notes leading to the identification of the Elegant Tern.  What's next?  The Swan Lake Lollipop Boardwalk Bonanza?  The Esquimalt Lagoon Hump Hoedown?  The Whiffin Spit Breakwater Blitz?  The Island View Beach Boat Launchapalooza?  Whatever goes down, I look forward to catching up with familiar faces and sharing some laughs.

Take the last tern when you get to Calgary...

Sometimes you don't even need to try to find something unusual.  This was one of those occasions and it always seems this sort of event happens when I'm not on familiar ground.

After my three week work trip up to Fort McMurray, I dropped in for a visit at my uncle's place at the south end of Calgary in a community called McKenzie Towne.  Today, I offered to take my uncle and grandma out to lunch so we headed out just after noon.  While my uncle drove, I looked over at a small pond just around the corner from his place and I noticed a tern fluttering over the water.  I was quite surprised as I thought all the terns would have passed through already.  Then again, I don't really know the typical windows of all the birds in this unfamiliar territory.  I decided I would wander over when I got back from lunch.

After lunch, I looked in the corner of the pond where I saw the tern darting about, but it was nowhere to be seen.  I decided I would walk to the far end and see if it was by chance just out of view.  Once again, the tern wasn't immediately obvious.  I scanned a little patch of muddy shoreline at the far side and was happy to see not one but two terns.  Being from British Columbia, I am not very familiar with Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri), but I know they have a black smudge over their eye as juveniles and non-breeding adults.  These two fit that description and I felt confident that's what they were.  I took some very distant record shots and then worked my way around to get better shots.  I only had a work camera that doesn't function properly, but still managed some decent shots between two visits this afternoon.

This Forster's Tern shows the classic black smudge over the eye, while the brown-tinged scalloping on the back points to this being a juvenile.

Without a DSLR handy, I only made a couple attempts at catching them in flight.  On this occasion, I happened to catch it scratching!

I rarely see terns land on water, but I watched the two juvenile Forster's Terns land on the water twice this afternoon.

Finally, here's a shot of the two juvenile Forster's Terns together in the same frame - what a nice and unexpected find!

Looking back over eBird, I can only see one report entered for Forster's Tern between October and November in the past decade.  This does not necessarily reflect reality as many people probably did not go back and enter in their older notes into eBird.  It does, however, give an indication as to how rare it is to find this species in Alberta at this time of year.  This year, you can see that all records of Forster's Terns in October are well south of the two I encountered today (although I don't know if the link will get updated or not to reflect my record).

I don't have much to add, but I figure I may as well add a shot of one of Calgary's dirt birds that we only get on Vancouver Island on very rare occasions.  This is one of those birds that everyone takes for granted if you live around them, but you see them in good light and they are just the most spectacular birds!

Unfortunately the light wasn't hitting this Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) quite right, but they're striking birds regardless of how the light hits them!

I have enjoyed some of the sights I've taken in over my stay in Alberta, but I'm excited to get home and start taking photos of some of the fall birds in Victoria.

Rock out with your hawks out!

Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) alert!  In that last few decades, the mystery of Broad-winged Hawk migration has been slowly unraveling on southern Vancouver Island.  Every fall, the species is now recorded in small numbers (usually <10 individuals) primarily from hawk watch efforts at Rocky Point Bird Observatory and Beechey Head.

I had an unfortunately brief but exciting encounter with a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk at Mount Tolmie on Friday (September 21, 2012) afternoon.  I had never seen a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk on southern Vancouver Island and I'm not sure if that's because I primarily hone in on the more obvious pattern of adults or if they're genuinely less frequent here.  I always enjoy actually identifying something rather than complacently accepting it as the obvious choice by range.  As a result, I decided to go through the identification of this bird as a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk and not a Red-shouldered Hawk (B. lineatus).  Before a well-documented record of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk over Rocky Point in 2009, the species was considered hypothetical based on a handful of sightings with insufficient details.  Obviously I had a vested interest in trying to make it a Red-shouldered, but seeing a juvenile Broad-winged would be quite exciting as well.

I managed a couple photos which I mildly adjusted due to compensate for the extremely backlit conditions.  When I first saw the bird, it had its wings swept back and was moving rapidly past me.  It was much smaller (approximately two-thirds the size) than the Red-tailed Hawk (B. jamaicensis) just ahead of it, so my immediate reaction was Broad-winged Hawk.  I thought I was never going to be able to say for sure because I lost sight of it in seconds, but I jogged up to upper viewpoint of Mount Tolmie on the off chance that it would find a thermal to rise up on and start circling again.  And that's what happened.  With a better look at the bird, I still suspected it was a Broad-winged Hawk but felt like I was in slightly over my head because it was a juvenile.  I noted the pointed wings which seemed reminiscent of my previous encounters with adults, and that proved to be a helpful feature.  Here are a couple cropped shots of the bird in question.  I know the lighting is still bad, but I didn't want to make it too unnatural and possibly distort the actual appearance.

This bird lacks dark patagial marks (the "shoulder" area) on the leading edge of the wings and a band of streaks on the belly that form a distinct band.  Instead, you see the chest and belly is uniformly streaked, the underwing coverts are  flecked with dark spots with no strong patagial mark, and the throat has a central dark stripe, which matches a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk.

This shot shows the pointed wings off nicely, which is apparently good for Broad-winged Hawks and should distinguish it from the more squared look of a Red-shouldered Hawk's wings.  Additionally, a pale crescent near the  wing tips would likely be visible in this backlit shot if it was a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Aside from the wing shape and pale wing crescents, I was having trouble finding obvious differences between Broad-wingeds and Red-shouldered Hawks.  I then realized most of the references I was looking over referred to the lineatus subspecies from the east and I should have been comparing to the western subspecies elegans.  The bird documented in 2009 belonged to the latter and it is expected more will show up with their slow-but-continual northward expansion.  Western juveniles have stronger barring on their flight feathers and are heavily marked with rufous-brown on the underwing coverts not unlike an adult, as indicated by a helpful information sheet from Princeton Press found here.  As a result, if my bird was a Red-shouldered Hawk it would show some rusty tones on the underside of the wings.  The individual I saw definitely did not possess any rusty tones under the wings.  There has been one record of an eastern Red-shouldered in California, however, so it was good that I noted the pointed wings and lack of crescent-shaped panels near the wing tips just to eliminate this unlikely scenario, as well.

This exercise has been very enlightening for me and I think I will be that much more ready if a Red-shouldered Hawk decides to cross my path.  Hopefully you gained something from this breakdown analysis as well.  If you want to see more photos to compare some juvenile hawks, check this juvenile hawks in flight entry on the Stokes Birding Blog.  Now get out and enjoy the hawk migration while you can!

Merge-gansers

Fall is upon us now if you haven't noticed.  Head out to the maples and see for yourself - the leaves getting mottled and starting to drop.  Some telltale birds are also moving in to our area and I found one such example on the last day of summer at Saanichton Spit.

I got to the spit late in the afternoon and it felt much darker than usual because it was the first day with full cloud cover in a couple weeks.  I made my way out to the north-facing shoreline and could see a group of Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser) resting at the water's edge.  They got nervous at my presence and pushed off into the water and I was able to see the entire group with ease.  One bird stood out due to its more delicate structure, dull orange-brown head that smoothly grades into the grey of the chest and flanks, lack of a white chin, darker back, and spikier crest.  It was a lone Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) in with the Commons.

The bird at the back in the center is noticeably different in this group.  It is a Red-breasted Merganser and its head is a dull gingery colour compared to the rich orange-brown of the dozen Common Mergansers around it, and the crest is more upswept and spikier.  The first Red-breasted Mergansers return in mid-September but they are not considered common until more return in October.

Looking at that photo a little closer, you can see the straight-lined separation of the rich orange-brown head and paler chest and grey back and flanks of the Common Mergansers compared to the smooth transition of the lone Red-breasted Merganser (far back on left).

The merging of mergansers was great to see and I always enjoy seeing two related species side by side for comparison.  If you struggle with these two, I hope you can see a couple differences in this photo.  If not, feel free to pipe up and I'll do my best to break down the identification even further.

Interiorly Decorated

How ironic... or something resembling irony!  On International Migratory Bird Day, two species decided to show us they are not so apt at finding their normal range.

I woke up early this morning after getting to bed earlier than usual last night, so I opted to go for a walk at Saanichton Spit.  The spit was deader than I've seen it in ages, so I decided to make tracks and head out to the airport.  I had nearly finished my circuit around the airport when I made one last stop just east of the terminal.  I scanned out over the fence lines and fields and noticed a hawk low over the field.  I thought "Hmmm... that has quite the dihedral going on!"  When it banked, it showed black primaries and secondaries - it was a classic light phase Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)!  I hopped out and put it in the scope and saw other key features, such as a brown hood, a clean white chest, and a sandy grey-brown back.  I even watched it dive into the grass a couple of times in hopes of snagging a vole or a snake!  I called up Jeremy K. and he was in the exact spot he didn't want to be at that moment, which was smack dab on the top of Mount Wells.  He booked it down the mountain, met me at my place and we zipped out to the airport, which ended up being a shade under two hours since I last saw the bird.  We pulled over at the spot I had originally seen the hawk and started scanning - is it that one?  Nope... Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).  That one above it?  Nope... another Red-tailed Hawk.  How about the one over the control tower?  Yes!  We watched the light phase Swainson's Hawk wheeling around over the fields for a couple minutes before noticing another interesting dark phase hawk.  It had several features in line with the light phase, but its chest was uniformly chocolate brown.  When it banked and showed its back, we could see it was the same sandy grey-brown colour as the light phase's and it graded abruptly stopped at the blackish primaries and secondaries.  Additionally, the tail didn't have a trace of rusty-red like any of the dark version of Red-tailed Hawks.  After watching it for a while, we were quite certain it was another Swainson's Hawk!  Below are pictures (not great) of the two different Swainson's seen today.

Light phase Swainson's Hawk - no doubt about this classic bird!

Dark phase Swainson's Hawk at the Victoria International Airport - note the white undertail coverts (if you squint)

I managed to capture the light phase and dark phase Swainson's in the same frame for comparison - awesome!

We continued on to the Vantreight bulb fields where things were slow, then Jeremy K. abruptly said "We have to go!"  I thought that was a tad urgent, but I knew he had early afternoon plans.  He then clarified by turning his phone to show me a message indicating there was a Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) at Panama Flats.  We turned tail, hopped in the car, hit the highway, and made our way out to the flats.  We luckily picked the right corner of the flats and were soon looking at two female Wilson's Phalaropes!  What a great day of birding with two species normally found in the interior of the province!  And two of each to boot!

One of the Wilson's Phalaropes in the southeast pond at Panama Flats

Female Wilson's Phalaropes exemplify a rare case (aside from humans) where the females are more striking than the males.  Their mating system is polyandrous, which means there is a role reversal where males perform most of the parental duties while the female competes for mates.