The West Coast Trip (Week Two)

First of all, a correction – I had, in the last post, made an error in my identification of photo number six – it is a Savannah Sparrow, not a Golden-crowned.

I’m sorry this comes out late; despite being one of the best things ever to happen to me, homeschooling rhythms have yet to fully settle in.

We started the second week with high hopes – it all revolved around the pelagic tour that we hoped to do in Tofino. Long Beach and Englishman River Estuary also looked promising.

Monday we visited Long Beach, where both of my siblings had a lot of fun jumping over waves.
I, on the other hand, scoped the ocean hoping for murrlets and Pacific Loons.
After about ten minutes of searching, something other than a Pigeon Guillemot or Surf Scoter brought excitement.

Surf Scoter
Surf Scoter

Through the fog, I could see something that could possibly be a Pacific Loon!
Nope, false alarm. It was a Red-necked Grebe. Though still interesting, it was not what I had hoped for. A few minutes more, and this time I had found a loon. In fact, there were about 6 of them, but unfortunately too far away for photos.

Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper

The only bird other than a gull to turn up actually on the beach, a Least Sandpiper.

That afternoon, we headed into Tofino, and found three Bald Eagles circling behind a sea-side restaurant, which was throwing out it’s fish guts.

Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle

Tuesday was the day planned for the pelagic trip. Sooty Shearwaters, Cassin’s Auklets and many others awaited. We walked in to the tour office, and the co-owner radioed a captain who was out near where we would go. Apparently,  there was still fog out near the island, and the waters were getting “tricky.” In short, we could not go. That hit us hard. The entire trip had hinged on this outing!

We drove back across the island (meaning Vancouver Island) and once on the other side, met up with some friends who had recently moved there. At least, the others did. My Dad and I went to Englishman River Estuary for a couple hours.

Killdeer were the first  things we saw, and we went on to count 35 of them along with the Western and Least Sandpipers, and a few Sanderlings. A bunch of Common Mergansers and a late Western Gull added to a total of 21 species.

Killdeer
Killdeer

The next day, we had a long stop at Rathtrevor Beach, where there were oystercatchers, sandpipers and gulls galore. There was also a quickly approaching tide, so some wet feet were involved.

Black Oystercatcher
Black Oystercatcher

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In Victoria, we did a short whaling trip during which I did as much birding as possible, drawing out Surfbirds from a photo of an island. At the time, I was unsure of their ID, but now there is no doubt, though the photos are bad. An aqua-phobic just can’t take photos from a boat.

Surfbird, Black Turnstone and Black Oystercatcher
Surfbird, Black Turnstone and Black Oystercatcher – 2 of each, but the turnstone

Can you find all the birds?

Rhinocerous Auklet
My Dad’s shot – Rhinocerous Auklet

That evening, we headed out to Clover Point, where we (eventually) found the much-hoped-for Heerman’s Gull.

Heerman's Gull
Heerman’s Gull

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Back on the mainland, a quick stop-over at the fabled Reifle Bird Sanctuary turned up 35 Herons, 10 Sandhill Cranes and a Virginia Rail among others. This Leucistic Mallard is banded, but unfortunately I was unable to get the band information.

Leucistic Mallard
Leucistic Mallard

And that’s it from my West Cost Trip #2! Thank you everyone for reading, and stick around to hear about the Canmore Christmas Bird Count.

The West Coast (Week One)

I recently returned from a two-week camping trip to Vancouver Island, as many of you know. We left on Saturday the 6th of August, and stopped over night at our friends’ place in Summerland.

My Dad and I woke early on the Sunday and explored the neighbourhood. A Killdeer calling from the top of a tree attracted attention, but it was merely an imitating Starling. There were some Stellar’s Jays around, but we were more interested in the California Quail, a bird that we do not have at home.

California Quail
California Quail

As the 6:00 ferry was full that evening, we had to wait for the 7:00, which left plenty of time for us to bird the hotspot. Common Loons, Great Blue Herons, and Glaucous-winged Gulls were plentiful, but the Highlight was a Peregrine Falcon that swooped in at about 6:30, and stayed until we left.

Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon

That night, we set up camp at Goldstream Provincial Park, where we would stay for the following week.

On Monday the 8th we birded Whiffin Spit. Halfway down the path we were watching some White-crowned Sparrows when a twittering Anna’s Hummingbird zoomed over our heads. Lifer!

Western Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper, another lifer from Whiffin Spit

Tuesday we went out to Cowichan Bay, where we identified Purple Martins,  but the real Highlight was Esquimalt Lagoon, 2 swan species, and many ducks, gulls and guillemots.

Glaucous-winged Gull
Immature Glaucous-winged Gull

We spent much of our third day at the Victoria Museum. but when we left we found a few Anna’s Hummingbirds and 3 Purple Finches.

Anna's Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird

On Thursday we headed to Botanical Beach, where the first thing that we encountered was a Black Bear. After it had left, I found some Western Sandpipers and Harlequin Ducks, but the treat was an immature Golden-crowned Sparrow. In the woods nearby, a lone Yellow-bellied Flycatcher called.

Golden-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Harlequin Duck
Harlequin Duck, engulfed by the surf

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our final full day based in Goldstream, we took a ferry across to Saltspring Island and Maxwell Mountain, where we saw 2 Baldies, 2 Peregrines and 6 Turkey Vultures in the space of five minutes.

Turkey Vulture
Turkey Vulture

We packed up camp fairly early the next morning, and went to Cattle Point to look for Black Turnstones. just as we were turning back, we saw them, a long distance away, but it counted.

That evening, we hit Swan Lake  were we found Bushtits, Anna’s Hummingbirds and the Best view of a Bewick’s Wren so far.

Bewick's Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Bushtit
Bushtit

That concluded the first week, but we had high hopes for the second. A pelagic tour from Tofino, more lifers, and the famous Reifel Bird Sanctuary all awaited. So far, I had a lifer count of 7 for seven days. Could I keep it up?

Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow
North-western Crows
North-western Crows
Mallard
Mallard

Heli-Hiking

I am sorry to say that the West Coast posts will come out later than expected. My excuse is that I have been Heli-Hiking for the past week. For those of you who don’t know what Heli-Hiking is, it is a form of mountain hiking where you are transported by a helicopter to hard to reach places, where you procced to hike. This came out of the blue last Monday, and we spent a frantic night packing before a 6:00 start on Tuesday. My dad works for Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) and we got a special place amongst the guests.

The Helicopter
The Helicopter

We stayed at the Bugaboo Lodge, which was super nice. This is the best shot I could get of it from the helicopter.

The Bugaboos
The Bugaboos

The birding wasn’t great, but I managed a lifer in Rock Ptarmigan, though I only heard them. Ptarmigan are very difficult to see. There were a family of Willow Ptarmigan that a few people saw but no matter how many times I went out to find them, I missed them.

Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did, however see a Wolverine. Flitting glance though it was, I saw enough to confirm the identification before it cleared a hill and disappeared. Wolverines are very secretive creatures, and I did not get a photo.

That same day, I saw a family of Harlequin Ducks, some Spotted Sandpipers and a group of American Pipits.

Harlequin Duck
Harlequin Duck

I also got a good shot of the famous Bugaboo Spire.

The Bugaboos Spire
The Bugaboo Spire

So that is my excuse, please forgive me for getting out the West Coast posts late. 🙂

Coastal Birding

Flammulated Owl
Flammulated Owl

Four years ago, we set out on the trip that I have the clearest memories of. A visit to the Vancouver Island. This doesen’t sound amazing, but for a young birder only a few years into his birding career, it was paradise. I added 40 species to my life list on that trip, including the spectacular Flammulated Owl and Black-headed Grosbeak.

And now, we are set to repeat that trip, heading out on Saturday and arriving on the island on Sunday. Now, this is where it gets interesting. My Dad has been out there twice without me, and consiquently has a good many more birds than I do. I will have to catch up on about 15 species including Anna’s Hummingbird and Common Murre.

Common Murre
Common Murre (obviously my Dad’s photo)

There are, in adition to the ones he has seen, some that are on my target list.
Red-throated Loon, Golden-crowned Sparrow and Tufted Puffin being of high priority.

I will post soon about what I have seen and experienced on my second trip to the West Coast.

Glaucous-winged Gull

Drive to Drumheller and Back Again

We were going out to Drumheller for the Saturday. I knew what this meant. No more than fifteen minutes out of our way was Langdon Corner Slough. I had been preparing all week – for what? For the first time ever, an Arctic Tern was nesting in Alberta, and we were going to see it.

I know Langdon Corner Slough pretty well, and I knew that the tern was nesting on an island a good distance out, too far for our cameras too do much good. That was why I had my Uncle’s gleaming fixed 400 ml. lens beside me with two extenders. The extenders would slow down the shutter speed by a stop or two depending on which one we used, but it would give us the extra distance I needed to get a half-decent shot.

Sadly, the ARTE is not the one flying, but second from the left sitting.
Sadly, the ARTE is not the one flying, but second from the left sitting.

I found it almost immediatly, but could not get a good photo because of the distance and heavy camera. Through my scope, we found also the two hybrid Common/Arctic immatures, but they were hidden by the long grass. Here is a Common feeding its baby (not a hybrid).

Common Tern feeding young
Common Tern feeding young

The terns were active quite a bit, and the one time that the Arctic flew and I caught it, it was out of focus. Here is the shot. The Arctic is in the bottom left corner.Flying TernsIn one corner of the Slough, we saw a large number of Marbled Godwit. I haven’t really looked for one, so if anyone sees a Hudsonian in there, please let me know.

Godwits
Godwits

That was it for Langdon, but there will always be Upland Sandpipers on the way out East.

Going, Going...
Going, Going…
False Alarm!
False Alarm!

I also got a nice photo of the all too common White-crowned Sparrow. If your ebird checklist doesn’t have one here, you’re cheating.

White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow

And that’s it! I will post again soon.

Feathers on Friday

Western Bluebird
Western Bluebird

I was in Cranbrook for a soccer tournament this past weekend, and we went to a small pond called Fosters Small Pond, where we found a multitude of birds including a pair of Western Bluebirds.

Other Feathers on Friday:

Prairie Birder                                           The Cats and The Birds

Wolf Song Blog                                         Birds In Your Back Yard

Back Yard Bird Blog