Cemetary

Mountain Bluebird

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

If you ever get close to a human.......

Mystery Underwing Moth

On the night of September 14, 2014, we surprising large numbers of a very large moth fluttering about the porch light here at Moorecroft Regional park, in Nanoose Bay, BC. Watching them for a few moments, I felt that it was a species that I couldn't recall having seen before. Later in the evening, I realized that several must have come in when I had the door open, and were now noisily bumping into lamp shades around the house. As large as they were, it didn't take long to capture them and release them outside. Curious as to the species, I photographed one, thinking I could identify it later. Well, I should have known better. After sending the photos to quite a few different people, there was no consensus as to what the species was, although Catocala semirelicta and Catocala unijuga were the most commonly suggested species. Reading about the abundance,  distribution and habitat preferences of the two moth species, it seems that semirelicta is more likely. Next time, I'll make sure and wait to release the moth AFTER it has been identified.

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

California Gulls Return

There are large numbers of California Gulls passing NW over Moorecroft right now. Probably due to the unsettled weather, they are passing quite low over the park and they are vocalizing continually, which is typical when these birds migrate at lower elevations in the dark. It will be interesting to see if this movement continues after sunrise.

Some years, we see massive numbers of California Gulls moving into the Salish Sea at this time of year, searching for the herring spawns which help fatten the birds for their long migration to the prairies.

Happy New Year

Donna and I started 2013 off with a pre-dawn run up to Comox to see if we could add the Citrine Wagtail to the 2013 list. We hiked out to the regular spot, and stood around for about an hour wondering where the bird, and the other birders, had gotten to.

Standing on a wet, muddy road in near freezing temperatures on a dull January morning is not without it's benefits though, especially when one is on the Courtenay estuary. We had five Tundra Swans fly over, amongst the hundreds of Trumpeters going this way and that. The calls of so many Trumpeter Swans gathered in one spot was wonderful in and of itself. We were also able to study the myriad plumage differences amongst 1st winter Thayer's Gulls, as there were about 100 feeding in the partially flooded field where the wagtail should have been. Other gulls, mostly Mew Gulls, numbered about 1500. American Wigeons were abundant in the fields as well, with about 2000 sharing the fields with at least 11 Eurasian Wigeons and a scattering of Mallards and Northern Pintail. Keeping a close on this winged buffet, was a very dangerous looking adult Peale's Peregrine Falcon, and 25 or more Bald Eagles. In the hedgerows, Fox, Song, Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows kept us occupied trying to spy something different. Evening Grosbeaks called from the distance, and small flocks continually flew overhead, along with clouds of Pine Siskins and the occasional small flock of Purple Finches. But no wagtail.

 

Eventually, a little after 09:00, Ed from Quadra walked out and shared the news that the wagtail had moved about two fields over, and there was already a crowd of birders there looking at it. Apparently, it pays to check the internet chat groups or have friends in the loop. But such is life, being a Luddite and a social outcast. We thanked Ed, and rushed over to see it.

The Citrine Wagtail was easy to find, as it was about 60 meters in front of a half-dozen birders sporting various vintages of optics, typical western Canadian winter clothing, and some well earned New Years Day hangovers. The bird was now in a spot that I used to bird now and then, and as happy as I was to see it, I was also reminded of all the great birds I had seen at this site previously, and how much fun I had birding here with friends and family in the past. Friends and family that I have not seen in a very long time. But that was a long time ago. Before the dark times...before the Empire.

New Years day often brings such thoughts to the fore, and 2013 maybe more so than in the past. Never have I felt such dread at the direction things seem to be headed, and rarely have I felt so alone in times as confusing as these. But at the same time, never have I felt that change was so close, and that better times are waiting for us, if we would just push a little harder to catch up to them. If a little grey bird from Asia can survive a winter alone on the Courtenay Estuary,  our obstacles should be easily overcome.

Happy New Year friends. May 2013 be entirely different than 2012.

Cacklers in Port Alberni

On 18 October, 2012, we encountered app. 350 Cackling Geese in the fields around Port Alberni, hanging out with app. 700 resident type Canada Geese. We also saw two juvenile Greater White-fronted Geese. No Snow Geese or dusky type Canada geese were observed.

Hiking On Gerald Island

Yesterday I rowed out to Gerald Island, here in Nanoose. It is about 1 km out to the Gerald Island  shoreline, and takes me about 10 minutes of easy rowing in calm seas, and about 20 minutes of hard rowing in choppy seas with a contrary wind. Yesterday was fairly easy, with winds generally less than 1 knot. 

One the way out I saw all three species of cormorants and a few Harlequin Ducks on the large rock at the mouth of First Bay, here in Moorecroft Regional Park. A bit further out, was a single Western Grebe. A fly-by Rhinoceros Auklet was the only other bird of interest on the trip out, or for that matter, on the trip back. The large numbers of Pacific Loons and gulls that have been present the past few days, appeared to have moved on. Other than a few Mew, California, and Glaucous-winged Gulls feeding locally, gull numbers were way down. 

The first bird I noticed upon landing on Gerald Island, was am immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. It was in pursuit of a small flock of Pine Siskins. After giving up on catching one of these tiny finches, it flew directly to the shoreline of Vancouver Island, entering the forests of Moorecroft, somewhat below the canopy. I would see two more of this species do the exact same thing over the next two hours. I do not know how they got to Gerald Island, but I suspect they were using the Texada to Ballenas to Gerald route. The other bird of interest I spotted on Gerald Island, was a Northern Shrike, quite contentedly catching grasshoppers along the NW shore of the island. In many Octobers, the grasshoppers would be long gone by the time this migrant from the far north arrives.

Walking on Gerald is interesting. The island is only lightly forested with Douglas firs, red cedars, grand firs, arbutus and trembling aspen. An odd forest composition anywhere in BC. There is also some Rocky Mountain juniper, Saskatoon, ocean spray and Pacific crab apple in the shrub layer, which is places, is impenetrable. Rare coastal plants such as prickly pear cactus and coastal wood fern grow in fair abundance on parts of the island. For the most part though, much of the island is rock which is covered by thin grasses or lichen and moss. A small wetland dominated by red-osier dogwood sits in the center of the island, but because the vegetation is so thick, only the presence of wetland plant species and numerous mosquitos convinces one that there is any water at all on this otherwise dry and rocky island. Most of the shoreline is either sheer rock and short cliffs, or hills of steep rock, making hiking into the interior of the island difficult. There are three places to land a small boat on the island, which lead to routes to reach the center of the island, with varying degrees of difficulty. At it's highest point, it is about 175 meters high, and offers some great views of Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the surrounding Salish Sea. There is one active Bald Eagle nest on the island. I have read undocumented reports of Peregrine Falcons nesting on Gerald Island as well. I have seen no evidence of this, and decent cliff ledges are in short supply here. Turkey Vultures do nest on the island, on the ground in dense vegetation. The island is well known as a major roost site for Northwestern Crows in the winter. The actual number of crows nesting here can vary quite a bit from day to day through the winter though. With the large amount of open ground and bare rock and grass on the island, it does appear to be an attractive migration stop for the more open country species.

The only presence of mammals on the island, are the numerous runways through the grass, and scat piles from River Otters. Harbor seals and both California and Steller's Sea Lions feed in the waters around the island, but do not appear to haul out here with any regularity. Probably because there are other more appropriate haul out spots nearby.   

List of birds noted from Gerald Island on 7 October 2012:

Harlequin Duck: 8
Surf Scoter: 5
Red-breasted Merganser: 2
Common Merganser: 2
Pacific Loon: 32
Common Loon: 2
Red-necked Grebe: 1
Western Grebe: 1
Brandt's Cormorant: 5
Double-crested Cormorant: 11
Pelagic Cormorant: 9
Mew Gull: 22
California Gull: 10
Glaucous-winged Gull: 18
Northern Flicker: 5
Northern Shrike: 1
Northwestern Crow: 3
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: 11
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 5
Brown Creeper: 4
Bewick's Wren: 3
Pacific Wren: 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 23
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 4
American Robin: 12
Varied thrush: 1
American Pipit: 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 6
Spotted Towhee: 11
Savannah Sparrow: 14
Fox Sparrow: 9
Song Sparrow: 26
White-crowned Sparrow: 5
Golden-crowned Sparrow: 22
Purple Finch: 4
Pine Siskin: 123

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