The Day It Snowed Twice

The crocuses lied to us all.  During the week we had some beautiful sunny days and it really felt like we were marching forward to spring.  Instead, we were vaulted back to the depths of winter today with a morning of wet snow.

No, this female Ring-necked Duck does not have dandruff.  It snowed and snowed this morning!

I waited for the snow to slow down a little before heading out for a few hours of birding.  The first order of business was to check over Maber Flats from the east end because the ducks were all concentrated there a week ago and I wasn't able to scan through them.  From the end of Meadowbank Rd., I looked down over a large group of Green-winged Teals in hopes of at least finding a Common Teal.  I must have passed over the flock two times before a candidate popped out.  I initially thought there was a chance the bird was a hybrid because I saw the slightest trace of a vertical white bar that is typical of a Green-winged Teal.  I think this can be shown on Common Teal, so I believe it is likely is a Common Teal.  I will, however, try to get back down to the flats in the next couple weeks to give it a better analysis.  If you happen to be birding on the Saanich Peninsula, go check it out and let me know what you think!

After checking the flats, I wanted to head over to Hovey Rd. to see if there was a blackbird flock around.  Before I made it Hovey, I found myself pulling off to the side of Tomlinson Rd. because three white geese were in a field among the regular flock of Canada Geese.  They appear to be the same group of three - one adult and two juveniles - that was at Martindale Flats last weekend.  It appears that snow can strike twice in a day - take that lightning!

The adult Snow Goose with one of the two juveniles, seen along Tomlinson Rd.

I finished my day off out at Patricia Bay.  When I was there last weekend, as you might recall, the tide was high, it was raining, and ducks were just offshore.  By the afternoon today, the temperature rose a couple degrees and it was raining again.  The difference, however, was the tide, which was quite low when I rolled up at around 3:30 p.m.  When the tide is low at Patricia Bay it can be quite productive for gulls near the outflow of Wsikem Creek.  I pulled off the road and scanned out over the gulls and immediately noticed a dark-backed individual.  The gull had a clean white head, yellow-orange bill, and slate-grey mantle.  It was a picture perfect Western Gull!  This is the kind of bird that reminds you what a Western should look like.  When you only see the ones at Clover Point and Esquimalt Lagoon, you kind of lose track of what a good Western looks like.  I'm not saying there is never a proper Western at those spots, but there are a number of convincing hybrids and birds that are not quite as classic as you'd hope.  I was eager to get out and try to get some photos of the Western at Patricia Bay, so I trudged my way out across the shore until I got close enough for some shots.  The bird turned out to be quite cooperative as it feasted on clams and scrapped for prime shoreline real estate with the other gulls.

The Western Gull with what appears to be a cracked Manila clam

Absolutely perfect specimen

Western Gull scrapping with a Glaucous-winged Gull over a morsel

Another profile shot showing this is a classic Western Gull

I also had a handful of Thayer's and Mew Gulls, but only a couple of the Thayer's were close enough for a photo.  For me, the amber eyes, straw-coloured base to a somewhat short bill, streaked head, medium grey mantle, and bubblegum pink legs are the key features of a Thayer's Gull.

Two adult Thayer's Gulls on the shore at Patricia Bay

Even with the poor weather, the birds put on a good show today.  I think photos of bona fide Western Gulls are worth their weight in gold in the Pacific Northwest where "Olympic" Gulls - that's one name applied to Glaucous-winged x Westerns - are so prevalent.  And let's not forget that double snow action - good day!

Don't Forget to Duck When It's Raining

The post-Valentine's Day weather seemed to embody all the bitter singletons - it was miserable!  I decided to scout around a little to prepare for tomorrow's Valentine's Couples Birdathon despite the foul weather.  For the most part, the birding was slow and not worth waxing poetic or whatever you want to call what I normally do.  Instead, I will just focus on the fantastic views the ducks offered up at Patricia Bay today.

When it's pouring, sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is getting out of the car.  Well, maybe I'm just lazy and didn't bring a rain jacket.  Either way, I drove to the north end of Patricia Bay to scan through the ducks today and found the whole exercise to be rather enjoyable.  I will probably have to return when the light is better and I can stand on the shoreline for better photos, but it was certainly a satisfying challenge today from the car.

Greater Scaup were often close to shore, which allowed me to study their head shape.  I always take the opportunity to study their head shape, which, compared to Lesser Scaup, is more rounded and has the high point towards the front of the head.

A perfect side profile of a male Greater Scaup surrounded by four females.  Another feature to note on the male is the clean white flanks, which is apparently more commonly shown by Greater Scaup.  The females appear to show more extensive white on the face, which is commonly shown by Greaters.

One last shot of a male Greater Scaup, which again emphasizes the head shape and clean white flanks.  The grey appearance to the back is the result of fine barring; Lessers should have coarser barring.

Surf Scoters are always a treat to see up close, so this group consisting of two pairs was a nice sight.

A pair of White-winged Scoters momentarily made it in relatively close to the shore.  There is certainly a je ne sais quoi about scoters!

This appears to be a first-winter male White-winged Scoter to the best of my knowledge.  I believe an adult would show a more prominent bump on the bill and a more extensive white mark under the eye.

That's all I have to offer for now.  I hope the next time it rains, this has inspired you to take a drive and never your leave your vehicle.  Choose a good body of water you can drive right up to for best results!

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!

A DICK and a HOOR: The Longest, Hardest, Wettest Twitch

Back on December 5th, I received an e-mail from Port McNeill resident Jackie Hildering about a bird that she thought might be a Hooded Oriole.  It's a good thing I was sitting on a couch because the attached photo would have knocked me to the floor if I was on a chair or stool!  The extremely crisp, full-frame shot showed a healthy, vibrant male Hooded Oriole in winter plumage.  After a few days of correspondence with Jackie, it appeared like the Hooded Oriole was setting up shop in the neighbourhood along Broughton Ave.

The birders were slow to trickle in to the area to search for this exotic stray from the south.  Christopher Stephens made the run up from the Parksville area on December 17th and was rewarded not only with the Hooded Oriole but also a first-winter Harris' Sparrow.  The plot thickened on December 28th when Alex Gray made the trip up to view the oriole and miraculously pulled a Dickcissel out of a flock of House Sparrows!

I was far too busy in the beginning of December to zip up for the Hooded Oriole and I became downright antsy about the situation when the Dickcissel was added to the suite of good birds in Port McNeill while I was in Ontario for three weeks over the holidays.  I was biting my nails for a week and a half hoping that the provincial rarity duo would stick around until I returned.  Finally, as the end of my eastern swing was approaching, a plan was hatched to head up with Jeremy Kimm and Kevin Neill.

Today was the day our plan came to fruition.  I met with Jeremy K. at 6:30 a.m. and we met Kevin at the Departure Bay ferry terminal shortly after 8:00 a.m.  Our back-and-forth e-mails leading into this twitch made it evident that our target birds would be a source of lowbrow humour due to their unfortunate four-letter codes.  Yes... we were looking for a DICK and HOOR and the jokes were writing themselves.

The next four hours were the hardest part of any twitch.  We had to cover 350 km before we even had a chance of finding the sought-after vagrants.  The stretch from Nanaimo to Campbell River went by quickly, but the roads became a little dicey along higher-elevation stretches as snow flurries carpeted the highway.  Jeremy K. handled those sections nicely and we reached Port McNeill in the early afternoon, a little later than expected due to the poor weather.

The flurries seen in the higher passes were replaced by driving rain in Port McNeill.  We donned our rain gear and braved the optics-unfriendly weather.  We immediately heard House Sparrows but were momentarily distracted by the Yellow-rumped Warbler that has been frequenting the same hummingbird feeders as the Hooded Oriole.  When we tracked down the flock of House Sparrows, it was not long until a yellow-washed bird was spotted in the mix.  If I had to weight our targets, the Dickcissel held a higher priority because Kevin had already been up for the oriole and Jeremy K. had found a female Hooded Oriole in late September.  The Dickcissel was actually a lifer for Jeremy K. and a BC bird for Kevin.  The Hooded Oriole actually held a higher allure to me because I had never seen one in North America, whereas Dickcissel was only a BC bird for me.  Before we really had a chance to soak in good views of the Dickcissel, it flew off with the rest of the House Sparrows.

I headed back to watch the oriole-approved hummingbird feeders for a while and after 15 minutes I decided to walk further along Broughton Blvd. in hopes of connecting with the oriole or reconnecting with the Dickcissel.  I only managed a Eurasian Collared-Dove  for my effort and as I made my way back I saw Kevin excitedly motioning for me to come back.  The oriole was at the feeders and the Dickcissel was back where we originally spotted it.  What an amazing Patagonia Picnic Table Effect for one little neighbourhood on northern Vancouver Island in the winter!

Despite our observations being hampered by the non-stop hard rain, we had great views of both target birds.  My hands were chilled and the light was horrible, but I decided I would still do my best to photograph the Dickcissel.  The Hooded Oriole was a little too far to bother even getting a record shot, but I figured I could manage some so-so Dickcissel shots.

The yellow accents in the supercilium and malar, yellow wash down the chest, and chestnut patch on the shoulder made this Dickcissel stand out from the House Sparrows it is travelling among.

The Dickcissel above a pair of House Sparrows, for comparison.

Kevin and Jeremy K. were focusing their efforts on warming up and drying off and I was certainly ready to do the same after spending over five minutes without gloves photographing the Dickcissel.  We had a leisurely lunch at Gus' Pub, popped in for a rather fruitless scan off the Cluxewe River Estuary, and then headed back south.  I left my place at 6:15 a.m. and got back at 9:30 p.m., which made for one of the longest twitches I've ever done.  The recipe for a great twitch is good company and success finding the targets.  Needless to say, this was a great twitch!  Now I am just hoping something interesting will turn up over on the Lower Mainland so we can do it all again with Kevin in the driver's seat!

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.

Snowy with a Chance of Awe

That was the forecast today here in Ontario.  I managed to get out for a drive today with Janean and we visited our friend Grant.  We advised him that a Snowy Owl had been seen within a few minutes drive from his place, so the three of us piled back in the car and slowly worked our way back to the King's Highway via Scugog Line 2.  Along the way, we encountered a few Red-tailed Hawks, a small flock of American Robins, a Mourning Dove, and a Downy Woodpecker.  Not bad for an area Janean and I should be counting in a little over a week for the Uxbridge CBC.

When we got onto the highway, I pulled off to the side on a stretch between Scugog Line 3 and 4 because that is where I understood the bird had been sighted most recently.  In retrospect, I believe it might actually be seen more regularly north of Scugog Line 4.  At any rate, we scanned the fields on both sides of the road and tried to find a white blob with black vermiculations on white snow drifts.  Sounds easy, right?  After scanning for a few minutes, we decided to drive past the buildings on either side of the road and tried again.  Again, all white fields and no white bird.  We turned off onto Scugog Line 4 heading west and repeated the drill.  This was proving to be a difficult task, so I drove ahead and found a driveway to turn around in and headed back towards the highway.  Around 50 metres before the highway, I happened to notice there was a large white bird on a hydro pole. Bingo!

We carefully pulled off to the side of road, turned off the engine, and I got my camera ready.  We noticed it had prey in its talons and this was a good sign.  Sometimes when Snowy Owls get forced south due to a crash in the lemming population, they end up in areas that are not very hospitable and seemingly lack food resources to sustain them.  I was hoping this wasn't the case with this particular individual because it could well be the highlight bird for Janean and I if we can locate it during the Uxbridge CBC on December 27th.

I think one of the coolest things about this scene was how well the sky matched the Snowy Owl!

At this point, the Snowy Owl had tried to swallow too much and gagged it back up

Graphic and utterly awesome!

We enjoyed watching the Snowy Owl for over 15 minutes and the fact that we were able to watch it devour its prey made it an amazing experience.  I wish my first Snowy Owl encounter - this was a lifer for Janean and Grant - was even half as exciting as this sighting!

I've been purposely ambiguous about what the Snowy Owl had predated.  This deserves its own little extra note!  I suspected the Snowy Owl had a vole while I was watching it, but I was taking photos and let Janean use my binoculars.  Grant and Janean were watching the whole act of the Snowy devouring a small mammal through binoculars and it was suspected that it was a mole.  When a couple of my photos are zoomed in, you can see features that seem to confirm it was indeed a Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata)!  I'm only a few days in to this trip out east, but it will be pretty darn hard to top this sighting!

The thick, long tail seems to point to Star-nosed Mole... I would like to see one alive some day!

Jingle Bell Rock... Wren

Christmas came a little early on the seasonally appropriate Christmas Hill!  On December 11, a birder by the name of Courtney Cameron photographed an interesting wren near the summit of Christmas Hill and she wondered whether it was a Rock Wren.  There is always that moment where you're not quite sure what you're about to see as you check a photo of a possible rarity.  In this case, the very nice photo did not result in a cringe - it was a classic Rock Wren!

I have been quite busy over the past week or so and there wasn't a daylight moment to spare until today.  Even today was a little slim for time, but I decided I wanted decompress with a little bit of rarity chasing.  When I arrived, I dashed along the trail and bounded up rock steps to get up to the top as quickly as possible.  I bumped into Mike Ashbee on the hill and he hadn't had luck connecting with the wren.  We chatted while covering ground and soon found our party size doubled, with Warren Lee and his daughter Rebecca hoping to spy the rare wren from the interior.

We tried fanning out and it was starting to look like we were going to dip on the wren that likes to dip on rocks.  Mike and I made our way to the southwest corner of the hilltop and suddenly a buffy wren darted up from a little gap in a rock outcrop and started bobbing on a patch of moss.  "That's it!" I exclaimed and I immediately looked around for Warren and Rebecca.  They weren't in sight, but I figured they were likely right at the main summit.  Mike kept tabs on the wren and I hustled up to the top and found them moping about and gave them the secret hand signals to indicate the wren had been found - for the record, the signals included a closed fist resting on an open hand for "rock" and both hands being lowered as fingers fluttered for "rain".  It seemed close enough and got the point across.

We all followed the wren around for the next half an hour or so as it actively fed and bobbed up on top of rock outcrop peaks.  It was an extremely cooperative bird and we all enjoyed watching this charismatic, wayward wren do its thing.

Rock Wren with lots of mosses and lichens to pick through for food

Like I said... cooperative!

One last shot of the Rock Wren on Christmas Hill

For some awe-inspiring shots, stop in at Mike Ashbee's photography page to see his shots of the Rock Wren and much more.