Mountain Bluebird

First year male Mountain Bluebird.
Englishman River Estuary, Parksville, BC
29 October 2014

Weekend Shorebirding:

Least Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Western Sandpiper

Summer shorebirding on the east coast of Vancouver Island is a frustrating game. There are rarely large numbers present, the diversity can be somewhat low, and it can be downright impossible to find something other than a Killdeer or Black Oystercatcher outside of the two hours a day either side of the high tide. There is though, just enough chance of a rarity being out there in that flock of Least Sandpipers, to keep a person searching. And if one does not search really hard and put in the hours, you will never find them. Besides, I love shorebiridng more than any other birding I do here, and even if all I end up seeing are a few small flocks of Least and Western Sandpipers, I still have fun. Thus, I find myself continually drawn back to the estuaries along the east coast of Vancouver Island, standing in the blazing sun for hours at a time, squinting into the heat haze at a distant single peep, waiting for the tide to bring in more birds. This weekend was much of the same. I birded the Englishman River Estuary at the high tide on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and enjoyed it immensely, but in terms of startling discoveries or massive numbers of birds, it was a bit thin. It is though, always exciting when the tide seeps slowly forward, and the muddy flats near the end of San Malo Crescent in Parksville become smaller and smaller, and more and more peeps appear out of nowhere. Note to self for next time; Remember sunscreen!

Shorebirds recorded at the Englishman River estuary and adjacent marine areas on 21/22 August 2011:

Black-bellied Plover: 21/19

Semipalmated Plover: 10/7

Killdeer: 26/31

Black Oystercatcher: 8/10

Greater Yellowlegs: 1/3

Spotted Sandpiper: 3/4

Black Turnstone: 59/11

Sanderling: 1/0

Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1/1

Western Sandpiper: 52/63

Least Sandpiper: 70/71

Baird's Sandpiper: 1/0

Short-billed Dowitcher: 1/0

Red-necked Phalarope: 18/0

Bird Numbers In The Local Area:

The Pacific Herring Spawn appears to have fizzled out this year, but multitudes of birds continue to swarm the Parksville-Qualicum Wildlife Management Area searching for a meal of herring or herring roe. Although numbers appear to have peaked, and birds some groups, like gulls, are declining in numbers daily, there are still plenty of birds around.

The following are counts or estimates of the numbers I saw in the area today;

Brant: 2587

Gadwall: 11

Eurasian Wigeon: 6

American Wigeon: 345

Mallard: 110

Northern Pintail: 50

Green-winged Teal: 50

Greater Scaup: 8000

Lesser scaup: 4

Harlequin Duck: 150

Surf Scoter: 23,500

White-winged Scoter: 700

Black Scoter: 400

Long-tailed Duck: 3000

Bufflehead: 600

Common Goldeneye: 1300

Barrow's Goldeneye: 300

Hooded Merganser: 10

Common Merganser: 350

Red-breasted Merganser: 550

Pacific Loon: 1500

Common Loon: 400

Horned Grebe: 250

Red-necked Grebe: 80

Western Grebe: 4

Brandt's Cormorant: 200

Double-crested Cormorant: 75

Pelagic Cormorant: 100

Turkey Vulture: 26

Bald Eagle: 315

Merlin: 4

Peregrine Falcon: 1

Black-bellied Plover: 200

Killdeer: 30

Black Oystercatcher: 120

Greater Yellowlegs: 1

Black Turnstone: 600

Dunlin: 1450

Bonaparte's Gull: 50

Mew Gull: 11,000

Ring-billed Gull: 2

California Gull: 12,000

Herring Gull: 900

Thayer's Gull: 4000

Iceland Gull: 2

Western Gull: 11

Glaucous-winged Gull (including various hybrids): 30,000

Glaucous-Gull: 3

Non Motorized Transportation Big Year Update

Since 2009,

I have been primarily birding by bicycle. It seemed to me the height of hypocrisy to be continually complaining about biodiversity loss, at the same time I was driving an internal combustion vehicle all over the place chasing birds. So sometime near the end of 2008, I decided to keep the car parked as much as possible, and use the bike and my hiking boots to go search for birds. Being a typical birder, I thought I might as well add a listing component, so I started what I called, a Non-Motorized Big Year, or NMT Big Year, for short. Essentially, I would try and see how many species of birds I could find without using a motorized vehicle. In 2009 I saw 215 species, and went on some very long rides to Victoria and Port Alberni, amongst other insane hair brained schemes. I ended up birding 289 kilometres by foot, and 2371 kilometres by bike that year. In 2010, I decided to just bird within the Parksville-Qualicum Checklist Area, and I ended up with 193 species, covering 120 kilometres by foot, and 2672 by bike. Interestingly, after announcing my plan on a local bird chat group, others joined in. By 2010, the idea had spread to the mainland, the southern interior, and as far east as Manitoba. There are now dozens of birders across Canada doing their own versions of an NMT Big Year. And many of them are doing far better at it than I am. A birder in Victoria last year rode over 10,000 kilometers and saw well over 200 species. Incredible! Others have crossed the coast range, tallying large numbers of birds by seeing both coastal and interior birds in the process.

So far this year, I just haven't had the time to put into it like I did in previous years. The unusually poor weather hasn't helped, nor has my work schedule. But I am planning to ramp it up a notch here in the next few weeks. I love birding from my bike, and I can't imagine going back to driving all over the country chasing birds again. Yuck.

Today Donna and I did a 19 km ride down to the Englishman River Estuary and back. Although it was blowing a gale and bitterly cold (headache and burning lungs type cold) I did manage to see a new species for the year. While we were standing on the banks of the Englishman admiring the river, a pair of Barred Owls started calling in the forest just behind us. These birds have been in this forest for years now, and although I generally don't have much problem finding this species ;locally, this was the first sighting for me in 2011. They were both up in a cedar about 10 metres apart, trying to sit perfectly still, but every now and then peeking around a branch to see what we were up to.

Totalling up my list when I got home, I see that I have now seen 90 species for the year, and walked 18 kilometres and ridden 176 kilometres in the process. Hopefully, with the improving weather, the coming herring extravaganza, and northbound migrants moving in, I should start seeing some more new species. I can't wait.


Species: Recorded in 2011 So Far:

Brant
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Yellow-billed Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Black Turnstone
Dunlin
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Glaucous Gull
Common Murre
Ancient Murrelet
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Not counted)
Barred Owl
Anna's Humminbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Steller's Jay
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow

Just Another Saturday

Excuse me, did you know that this area is off limits to dogs?

Did you know that I don't care?

Hi, I was wondering if you could stop your dog from flushing these Brant?

Fuck you

Good afternoon. Any Chance you could leash that dog?

No. Any chance you could go fuck yourself?

Sir, that is a protected species you are throwing rocks at.

Yeah, would you rather I came over there and hit you?

Hi, I was wondering if I could talk to you about those geese you just flushed?

What? Geese? Those are seagulls and I want them all off this beach.

You need to leash that dog.

Come over here and make me!

Do you kids realize how much damage it does to run into flocks of birds like that?

Mom!

Get away from my kids you bastard!

Hi folks. Do you think there is any chance you could walk around that flock of Brant instead of flushing them?

No. And you can go fuck yourself.

Did you know that urging your dog to chase those birds is a violation of at least three different laws, and can net you some serious fines?

Yeah, well show me a badge or shut the fuck up.

Excuse me, but would it be possible to stop your dog from chasing those Brant?

Hey! Everybody hates Canadian Geese so fuck off!

Sir, it's illegal to allow a dog off leash in a Provincial Park, and it's even worse to urge it to chase birds.

Up yours! Parks are for people!

Hi, could I talk to you a minute about what you just did to those Brant?

No. Go to hell.

Hi, do you think you could step back about 50 feet so the Brant could come in and feed?

Oh for Christs sake. You wanna fucking go? Huh? Come on! You wanna go? Come on!

Sir, if you give me a chance I can explain exactly why it's important not to harass these birds.

You don't get it do you? The NDP lost, and we don't have to put up with this bullshit anymore.