Heerman's Gull-A-Palooza

Last week Victoria birder Daniel Donnecke reported 100 Heerman's Gulls from Flora islet near Hornby Island. I assumed it was a typo, and forgot about it, as even one Heerman's Gull in these waters is noteworthy. Others then began questioning the sighting. One hundred Heerman's Gulls in the Salish Sea? Really? Well, yes, really! Daniel not only accurately reported what he had seen, he also took photos of large groups of Heerman's Gulls roosting on rocks. Wow! What a sighting!
On Friday the 26th, Donna and I had some time in the morning so we checked all of the spots around here where Heerman's Gulls have been seen in thee past. We were not disappointed. And had we searched on a better tide, and on a day without driving rain, I have no doubt we would have seen more. The numbers up here right now are unprecedented.

In 4 hours we saw 108 adults and 9 immatures,  for a total of 117 Heerman's Gulls.

Rathtrevor: 2 ad.

Englishman Estuary: 1 ad.

Parksville Bay: 0

French Creek Marina: 2 ad.

Columbia Beach: 3 ad. 1 imm.

Beach Creek: 5 ad.

Brant Viewing Stand: 22 ad. 2 imm.

Little Qualicum Estuary: 3 ad.

Big Qualicum: 0

Qualicum Bay: 0

Nile Creek: 54 ad. 6 imm.

Bowser Rd. 0

Jamieson Rd: 0

Shoreline Dr: 16 ad.

Deep Bay: 0

Today, I noticed an adult Heerman's Gull feeding in a large flock of California and Bonaparte's Gulls off Vesper Point. This is the third sighting of a Heerman's Gull for Moorecroft Regional park. There seems to be an amazing number in the central part of the Salish Sea right now.

Deep Bay Jaegers

Today I spent about 5 hours birding at Deep Bay, which is near Bowser, on Vancouver Island. This site is a great place to observe interactions between terns, gulls and jaegers from mid-August through September. Although there were only about 25 Common Terns and 200 Bonaparte's Gulls, the jaeger action was intense all through the morning. I observed 62 different chases in that time, most of them by Parasitic Jaegers pursuing Bonaparte's Gulls. There was at least one Pomarine Jaeger as well, which is a very good sighting for this site, although by no means the first. The three species of North American Jaegers, as well as South Polar Skua, have all been noted in this area over the years.

Birds observed at Deep Bay on 2 Spetemebr 2012:

Mute Swan x Trumperter Swan hybrid: 2
Canada Goose: 44
American Wigeon: 6
Mallard: 2
Northern Pintail: 17
Green-winged Teal: 10
Harlequin Duck: 3
Surf Scoter: 83
White-winged Scoter: 52
Common Merganser: 6
Common Loon: 7
Red-necked Grebe: 565 (Deep Bay is a major fall molt site for this species)
Double-crested Cormorant: 26
Pelagic Cormorant: 11
Great Blue Heron: 3
Turkey Vulture: 10 (migrating across from Denman Island)
Osprey: 1
Cooper's Hawk: 2 (migrating across from Denman Island)
Merlin: 1
Killdeer: 5
Black Oystercatcher: 2
Sanderling: 1
Western Sandpiper: 24
Least Sandpiper: 2
Baird's Sandpiper: 2
Red-necked Phalarope: 8
Pomarine Jaeger: 1
Parasitic Jaeger: 20+- (estimate)
Bonaparte's Gull: 200+- (estimate)
Heerman's Gull: 1
Mew Gull: 12
California Gull: 26
Glaucous-winged Gull: 51
Common Tern: 20+- (estimate)
Common Murre: 10
Pigeon Guillemot: 6
Marbled Murrelet: 3
Rock Pigeon: 22
Band-tailed Pigeon: 18
Eurasian Collared-dove: 11
Common Nighthawk: 33
Anna's Hummingbird: 1
Belted Kingfisher: 2
Purple Martin: 12
Barn Swallow: 2
American Pipit: 1
Savannah Sparrow: 9
Red Crossbill: 116
American Goldfinch: 2