Today I did a complete census at Moorecroft Regional Park, in Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC. New birds for the 2012 list in the park were Common Terns, Parasitic Jaegers, and Rock Pigeon. All expected, but only seen for the first time today. Passerine migration continues to be exceedingly slow, but the number of Dark-eyed Juncos has increased substantially in the past few days. The number of Red-breasted Nuthatches locally continues to astonish. I have never seen so many in my 17 years on Vancouver Island.
Canada Goose: 3
Northern Pintail: 18
Surf Scoter: 6
Red-breasted Merganser: 2
Common Loon: 5
Brandt's Cormorant: 1
Double-crested Cormorant: 7
Pelagic Cormorant: 4
Great Blue Heron: 2
Turkey Vulture: 18
Bald Eagle: 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2
Cooper's Hawk: 1
Parasitic Jaeger: 2
Bonaparte's Gull: 47
Heerman's Gull: 1
Mew Gull: 2
California Gull: 16
Glaucous-winged Gull: 31
Common Tern: 5
Rock Pigeon: 1
Barred Owl: 2
Rufous Hummingbird: 1
Anna's Hummingbird: 2
Belted Kingfisher: 2
Downy Woodpecker: 3
Hairy Woodpecker: 4
Northern Flicker: 12
Pileated Woodpecker: 4
Hutton's Vireo: 3
Common Raven: 6
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: 27
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 41
Brown Creeper: 10
Bewick's Wren: 3
Winter wren: 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 19
Varied Thrush: 6
American Robin: 15
American Pipit: 3
Orange-crowned Warbler: 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 5
Spotted Towhee: 8
Song Sparrow: 4
Dark-eyed Junco: 79
Red Crossbill: 60
Pine Siskin: 43
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
