Return To Sandy Island

One of my favorite birding sites in the Vancouver Island region, has always been Sandy Island Provincial Park, or as it is known now, Jáji7em and Kw’ulh Marine Provincial Park. I have great memories of dozens of day trips and overnight camping trips to this large, partially wooded sand spit off the northern tip of Denman Island. Oddly enough, I hadn't been there in about 5 years. Difficulty in accessing this site, being the chief reason. In the past, one either had to own a boat, or do a moderately long hike in from Denman Island. Given the rising BC Ferries ticket prices, even getting to Denman Island has become expensive. A new, and slightly more affordable option was discovered by Sandy McRuer recently. We chartered a water taxi out of the Comox Marina, with a company called Scubashark. With 5 people, the cost was about $55 per person. Although the landing and departures at the island could stand some improvement (jumping off the bow into the water and wading ashore) it worked quite well, and I would highly recommend Scubashark to other birders looking for a way to access this excellent birding site.

http://www.scubashark.com/Water_Taxi.html

We (Sandy, Don, Shelley, John and I) left the Comox Marina at about 8:40, and by 9:00 we were already birding. We spent the next 6 hours walking around Sandy Island, sometimes as a group, and sometimes by ourselves. We didn't bird all that intensively, and spent more time enjoying the looks at what we did discover, rather than rushing around looking for new ticks. With the leisurely pace, we were only able to explore one of the three Seal Islets, which would have undoubtedly increased the number of species seen. Still though, a completely enjoyable day out with some wonderful folks, and a few really great looks at birds one doesn't encounter here all that often. For me, the highlight of the day was a juvenile Pacific Golden-Plover that circled us and almost landed at our feet. The close up views of this bird in flight were spectacular, and although I've seen many of these birds in the past, this was the most amazing viewing I have ever experienced. This is the type of thing I look forward to at Sandy Island. We ended up recording 56 species on Sandy Island, and another 6 from the boat, for a 62 species day.

Species Recorded from Sandy Island: 56

Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Common loon
Horned grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Merlin
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Black Turnstone
Sanderling
Wetsern Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Pigeon Guillemot
Band-tailed Pigeon
Vaux's Swift
Hairy Woodpecker
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Barn Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch

Additional species recorded from boat: 5

Pacific Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-necked Phalarope
Common Murre
Bonaparte's Gull
Northwestern Crow

One Year At Moorecroft!

Today marks the one year anniversary of our becomeing caretakers of Moorecroft Regional Park, and the begining of our second year of keeping a list of bird species recorded here. Below is a list of the 135 bird species noted from the boundaries of the park.

Greater White-fronted Goose

Snow Goose

Brant

Cackling Goose

Canada Goose

Trumpeter Swan

Wood Duck

American Wigeon

Green-winged Teal

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Greater Scaup

Harlequin Duck

Long-tailed Duck

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Common Goldeneye

Barrow's Goldeneye

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Merganser

Red-throated Loon

Pacific Loon

Common Loon

Yellow-billed Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Horned Grebe

Western Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Brandt's Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Merlin

Black-bellied Plover

Killdeer

Black Oystercatcher

Spotted Sandpiper

Black Turnstone

Surfbird

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Red-necked Phalarope

Red Phalarope

Parasitic Jaeger

Bonaparte's Gull

Heerman's Gull

Mew Gull

Ring-billed Gull

California Gull

Herring Gull

Thayer's Gull

Iceland Gull

Western Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous Gull

Caspian Tern

Common Tern

Common Murre

Pigeon Guillemot

Marbled Murrelet

Ancient Murrelet

Rhinoceros Auklet

Rock Pigeon

Band-tailed Pigeon

Great Horned Owl

Snowy Owl

Barred Owl

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Common Nighthawk

Black Swift

Vaux's Swift

Anna's Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Cassin's Vireo

Hutton's Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Steller's Jay

Northwestern Crow

Common Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Bushtit

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Bewick's Wren

Pacific Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Swainson's Thrush

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Varied Thrush

European Starling

American Pipit

Cedar Waxwing

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

MacGillivray's Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

Western Tanager

Black-headed Grosbeak

Spotted Towhee

Savannah Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Purple Finch

Red Crossbill

White-winged Crossbill

Common Redpoll

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch

Evening Grosbeak

A New Turkey Vulture Migration Route?

For some time now, I have suspected that the numbers of Turkey Vultures migrating through Metchosin and East Sooke Park each Autumn are probably greater than the total breeding population on Vancouver Island. So where are these other Turkey Vultures coming from? We know that some of them are coming from the southern and northern Gulf Islands, and a few migrate across Johnstone Strait onto Northern Vancouver Island. But what about the large breeding population on the Sunshine Coast? Is it is possible that these birds somehow make their way across the Salish Sea onto Vancouver Island somehow? The distance across much of the Salish Sea is even greater than that across Jaun de Fuca Strait, and would seem to be a barrier to any of the migratory raptors that do travel well across water. Some recent observations from Moorecroft Regional Park in Nanoose, has made me wonder if perhaps the Salish Sea isn't the barrier it was previously believed to be.

On September 27th, 2011, we were doing some sea-watching from Vesper Point, in Moorecroft Regional Park. At app. 12:40, a kettle of 14 Turkey Vultures were spotted, fairly high, and north of Gerald Island. These birds were flapping hard, and seemed to be loosing altitude fairly quickly. When they reached Gerald Island, they began soaring again, and quickly gained some altitude, before soaring ashore over First Bay in Moorecroft, and then continuing on towards Nanoose Hill. About 15 minutes later, another kettle of 17 Turkey Vultures appeared app. two kilometres to the northwest, very high up and soaring towards Gerald Island. They also began catching thermals as soon as they reached Gerald Island, and it didn't take them long to reach the Moorecroft shoreline. Interestingly, this kettle also contained a Cooper's Hawk and an American Kestrel. Although I had little time today to perform active monitoring, I did notice three Turkey Vultures soaring ashore from the direction of Gerald Island.

So where are these birds coming from? The total breeding population on Gerald Island this year appeared to be one pair, and the adults and young left the island back in late August and spent several weeks in Moorecroft before going elsewhere. I would imagine that the total breeding population of the two Ballenas Islands is similar, and it is possible that they made their way onto Vancouver Island previously anyway. I can only think of two explanations. These birds are flying directly across from the Sunshine Coast (app. 28 kms) or from Lasqueti Island (app. 10 kms). I would think that direct crossing from the Sunshine Coast is unlikely. It is simply too far. Lasqueti Island is certainly within the range of a migrating Turkey Vulture though. And there are certainly more than 30 pairs of Turkey Vultures nesting on Lasqueti. How do I know this? Because for years I have counted them as they migrated from Lasqueti across to Parksville, usually coming ashore near the Englishman River Estuary, a distance of about 17 kms. The problem is, I see Turkey Vultures migrating across there every year. Why would they suddenly begin migrating in the other direction? 

I am beginning to wonder if the Turkey Vultures we have seen over the past two days are not actually from the Sunshine Coast, and are using Texada Island as a migratory Stepping Stone. Looking at a map, it becomes obvious that if Turkey Vultures do migrate between the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island, this is likley the route that thyey take. Using Google Earth, I made the following calculations;

Smuggler Cove (north of Sechelt) to Thormanby Island = 1.5 kms
Thormanby Island to Texada Island = 3.5 kms
Texada Island to West Ballenas Island = 12 kms
West Ballenas to Gerald Island = 3 kms
Gerald Island to Moorecroft Regional Park = 1 km   

All of this seems entirely possible for a migrating Turkey Vulture to accomplish. Now, with only about a week left in the migratory period, I need to do a lot more monitoring to see if this is indeed the case. Exactly the type of mystery that fascinates me.