Is it that time of year already?

The other day I got my annual Baillie Birdathon notice in the mail from Bird Studies Canada and, coupled with the great weather, was momentarily confused. Is it May already? Turns out it isn't, but that's no reason to not get a jump on registration!

The Baillie Birdathon is an annual fundraiser put on by BSC, which runs Long Point Bird Observatory in Ontario. However, it is a fundraiser with a catch!

The Birdathon entails birders spending up to 24 continuous hours birding, at some point in the month of May, collecting sponsors and pledges as they go. Sponsors can choose to sponsor their birder of choice on a flat rate, or by species seen/heard. Further, the birders can choose to designate an organization or observatory to be a partial beneficiary of their hard work, sleep deprivation, etc. My organization of choice every year is Rocky Point Bird Oservatory here in Victoria (I may have blogged about RPBO once or twice in the past......). Proceeds raised by the Birdathon go to BSC, which then distributes a portion to the organizations designated by the participants, on an increasing percentage basis. The more raised by a team/birder, the higher the percentage that goes to the organization.

This year, I have created the Rocky Point Birders to be RPBO's Birdathon team, and I encourage you to join us, or sponsor one of us at the link at the bottom of this post. If you decide to join us, it doesn't mean you have to bird with us, as I wanted to leave that open for each member to decide, based on schedules, etc, but it sure will be fun!

Last year I managed to find 89 species on my solo Big Day, winding down with Chris Saunders and a Bank Swallow at Swan Lake. This year I aim to hit 100 species, and challenge those who would rather write a cheque than have blurred vision at the end of the day to consider sponsoring me on a per species basis! My Big Day this year will likely be on either May 19th or 26th, so be sure to get your pledges in by then!

For more info, or to join or sponsor the Rocky Point Birders, see our team page.

Good Birding,

Sunny does not mean warm!

Since I'm feeling a little lazy today, I am not going to relive Saturday's birding adventure. Jeremy Gatten actually beat me to the punch on Saturday night, posting a report in the same time frame I was occupied with babysitting my 13 month old niece. Instead, I will provide a link to his post regarding the days adventure. Most of the sightings are there, though I don't necessarily agree with his portrayal of the hero of the story. You be the judge!

http://www.naturalestnaturalist.blogspot.com/2012/02/help.html

Sunday dawned, full of promise and not a cloud in the sky. I may have mistaken the sun and blue sky as warmth, and headed out without a pair of gloves. Turns out a cup of coffee in the hand doesn't quite fill the void, but it was close!

The Goldstream Group Campground is one of my favourite places close to home. It is a five minute walk from the parking lot at Icecream Mountain (shuttered this time of year), it is usually quiet (as in, no one else there!) in the off season, and it also provides access to a number of species not seen over much of Victoria, such as Golden Eagle (which nest somewhere nearby) and Northern Pygmy-Owl. I imagine the temperature on Sunday was constant from where I parked to the top group site, at a balmy 2 degrees. This didn't seem to bother the birds, as there were Anna's Hummingbirds at the bottom and at the top, Dark-eyed Juncos everywhere, and a good number of Pacific Wrens warming up the vocal cords. At the campground itself, an adult Cooper's Hawk looked unbothered as I walked directly under it on the trail. Sadly, no eagles or owls today.

After brunch, which I had promised to my wife, I braved the sudden snowstorm and headed out again. Swan Lake had been my plan, but when I found no parking anywhere nearby, I guessed that there must have been an event there, and decided to try somewhere a little quieter. I ended up at Viaduct Flats, which was indeed quieter. Unfortunately, the birding was quiet as well, with no birds present that haven't been there all winter. There were 9 Trumpeter Swans on the water, a low count for this year for me (there are normally 11 or 12).

Hastings Flats was my next stop. This is another one of those gems that I was introduced to last year, courtesy of Jeremy G. and a Northern Mockingbird. The water was quite high, providing refuge to a small number of ducks, including an amazing 4 Eurasian Wigeons! This species has been present in what I can only think of as unprecedented numbers this year. At one point, I had a count of over 30 known individuals, all but one of which were male. Surely a few females squeaked in under the radar as well. Also at Hastings Flats were 1 Green-winged Teal, a few Mallards, Canada Geese, and 65 American Wigeons.

With family coming over for dinner, I wrapped up my afternoon at the pond at Burnside and Charlton. There has been much debate over the name of this seasonal pond, so I have decided to stick with Charlton Pond. The pond was void of birds, save 13 Mallards, but the surrounding fields were covered in American Robins, Brewer's Blackbirds, and European Starlings. A lone Turkey Vulture cruised overhead, and 2 immature Bald Eagles circled as well.

Not much of a day compared to Sunday, but it is always great to be out!

A little owl on the side

I have fallen off of the pace I had planned. Just a little, but there are a couple of categories I have not had as many species as I had anticipated by this point. Owls are the main category, as of this morning I had only managed to catch up with two species for the year - Barred and Barn.

After work today, I decided to try to add an owl. Decided may not be the right word, as I have spent many an evening lately unsuccessfully looking for owls. The target for today took me up into the Highlands for a hike I have been on a few times this year, with all previous hikes being nice walks, and not much else. A couple of whistles here and a couple of whistles there did nothing but stir up the local American Robins, though the view was indeed spectacular.

I held out as long as I dared before heading back, and I had no sooner reached the car again than I heard a hollow whistle, then another, then another, coming closer and closer.

After a minute a Northern Pygmy-Owl flew overhead, and I managed to keep eyes on it for about 5 minutes before it disappeared to the south, still calling deep in the trees. Target located! This is a bird I seldom catch up with, but always a treat to see! Even more so to have the privilege of such great, long looks!

With any luck, the rest of the owl clan will be half as obliging as this one was!

Good birding,

We have a winner....... so far......

The Great Backyard Birdcount (www.birdcount.ca) just happened to be this past weekend, and I probably wouldn't have noticed had Dick Cannings not issued a challenge to the complacent birders of the coast. The challenge? To best perennial favourites Penticton and Vancouver (most species) and Clearwater (most checklists submitted).

Like many birders, I submit checklists to eBird anyway, so I figured I might as well put them into the GBBC as well. I mean come on, the reputation of Victoria is on the line!

With the results posted so far, it looks like Victoria has beaten (dominated?) the competion, both in total species (119) and total checklists submitted (120)!

Let's make sure we stay ahead! If you have any sightings or checklists (15 minute minimum observation time in an area), head on over to the GBBC website and put them in!

It may be a bit premature to say "Way to go Victoria!" as the data entry deadline is March 5, but,


Way to go Victoria!

All Quiet on the Home Front

Despite the number of great birds in surrounding areas, including multiple Emperor Geese, multiple Tufted Ducks, and a McKay's Bunting all just south of us, birding here in Victoria remains quiet, and I have only added a couple of birds this month.

An immature Glaucous Gull has been making the rounds, and has been seen at Maber Flats, as well as the Vantreight Bulb Fields, and numbers of Brant are starting to show up. I finally had a pair of them within the confines of 2012 and the Checklist Area, after seeing them at Islandview Beach just in the end of December, and again at Otter Point this year, a mere 300m outside the Checklist Area boundary.

As we transition into spring, hopefully more goodies will start to show up! Last year, the first few months were quite slow as well, but we more than made up for it with a spectacular spring vagrant showing. Fingers crossed!

The January Round Up!

January has come to an end. Yes, old news, as I am getting around to this a little late.

The last Christmas Bird Count of the season, on January 1st, got the year off to a great start, with some good birds plus a bird that I managed to miss last year, Common Redpoll. All of the rare sparrows stuck around, allowing for early month looks at Vesper, American Tree, Swamp, and White-throated, leaving me two sparrows short of my entire 2011 total!

Elsewhere birding was also good, with an aborted pelagic turning up a new ABA bird for me in the form of Emperor Goose, as well as King Eider, which I have seen only once previous.

My January end total of 133 species puts me 9 ahead of last year's Big Year pace, but a little short of my target of 140, owing to a lack of owls and a couple of others.

In other news, Rocky Point Bird Observatory raffle tickets have gone on sale, and can be purchased from RPBO, Jessie Fanucchi, or myself. Tickets are one for $5, or 5 for $20. There is an impressive slate of prizes, including lower bowl Vancouver Canucks tickets, a whale watching trip for two, 2 Sue Coleman prints, an iPod nano, a lightweight tent, etc. For more details, see http://www.rpbo.org/raffle_2012.php. Rocky Point will be down at the Westshore Town Centre Hobby Show this weekend, Feb 3rd to 5th, stop by and say hi!

Good February Birding!

The Longest Twitch

The email came in as Jeremy Gatten and I were standing in line at the finest Burger King in Whalley - "...weather looks good....... trip is a go..... look forward to seeing you Saturday!"

Spirits were high from that point on as we picked Nathan Hentze up from the skytrain station and headed south, Tacoma-bound. We were on our way to Westport for a scheduled January trip, an occurence even rarer than the birds we were chasing! The last Westport January trip to make it out onto the water was in 2001, as most get cancelled due to weather, but the list of possibles is enough to make any birder pull up stakes and head down. We had visions of Laysan Albatross, Mottled Petrel, and Parakeet Auklet dancing through our heads as we pulled into the South Tacoma Motel 6 (international motel chain of choice, say 8 out of 10 birders!) at 11:00pm. A few beers and a lot of stories later, the clock said 2:00am, and it was time to get some shut eye in advance of our early departure for Ocean Shores, where we planned to spend a day birding before driving around the harbor to Westport.

Any early morning fuelling session at another American cultural icon, IHOP, and we were ready to roll! The fog and cold still couldn't dampen our enthusiasm, until my phone rang somewhere outside of Olympia, and my heart sank when I saw the 360 area code..... that could only mean one thing. Sure enough, it was Chris Anderson from Westport Seabirds, calling to let me know that the weather had changed for the worse, and the trip was off. This made the third Westport trip in a row that I have been scheduled on and had cancelled, including two last year! A quick consultation and we decided that we might as well keep going, as we were just over an hour from Ocean Shores anyway, and there were still birds to be found!

Stop one, Ocean Shores Golf Course! An Emperor Goose has been hanging around the golf course for some time now, and as this would be a lifer for both Jeremy G and myself, it was a high priority. We came upon a group of geese pretty quickly, but they all turned out to be Canada Geese, along with a few American Wigeons, so we continued driving, following roads that we assumed took us through the golf course. On another side road right by the driving range, a small flock of geese were lounging and grazing. A quick look from the car revealed a small, grey-backed goose! Not only did this little flock contain our sought after Emperor Goose, it also contained two "Dusky" Canada Geese, two Greater White-fronted Geese, and a Cackling Goose! We spent a fair amount of time admiring these birds, as Yellow-rumped Warblers flew overhead, and we even ended up chatting with some of the local golfers, who asked if we had seen the Emperor. It was nice to see golfers tolerating us on their turf, and even showing an interest in their visiting celebrity!

Damon Point was our next stop, where Snowy Owls have been present, as well as a female King Eider that has been around for over a year. We eventually located the King Eider with a mixed bag of scoters, quite close to shore. As we admired it, we also kept a scope trained on the point, and watched with dismay at the zoo that was taking place as people tried to get their very own point-and-shoot reminder of the invasion year, getting much too close to the Snowies.... We never did get a look at the owls, but saw areas where they were likely hunkered down by using cameras as an indicator. Again, we had great conversations with many local birders who shared our dismay at the scene, and we decided against adding to it. It was nice to see the Parks Service patrolling the area, presumably to keep the herd under control.

Brown`s Point was our final stop before heading north again, and in the parking lot we ran into two women who had been conducting dead bird surveys. They asked if we were birders, and immediately answered themselves in the positive, as one of the women recognized me..... I guess my blog must have more readers than I had thought!

The jetty quickly turned up several Rock Sandpipers, in company with Surfbirds and Black Turnstones. This was also the point in our trip where our experience turned sombre. On the beach were two Western Grebes which had been washed in and were unable to fly or return to the water. Incoming waves would push them further up the beach, and it was almost heart-breaking to see the healthier of the two looking around, calling, as if to plead for help. We also found 4 dead Rhinoceros Auklets and two more Western Grebes (deceased). In the surf, and much out of place, was a Ruddy Duck that couldn`t stay clear of the waves and disappeared into the water, never to be seen again. The happier ending came in the form of two Parks Service employees making the rounds. When Jeremy and Nathan explained the situation to them, they immediately made a call, and two others came out shortly to collect the exhausted grebes. On our way out of town we saw them dropping the grebes off to be cared for.

At 2:30 it was time to head north, with the perfect plan of catching the 9:00pm boat from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. It was not to be, as the virtual gridlock from Olympia to Marysville cost us dearly in time. Despite desperately needing coffee and a stretch, we kept on the road, scared that if we took an exit, we wouldn't get back on the I-5! Finally we made the border where we had to explain our trip, much to the amusement and disbelief of the CBP officer. Apparently birders don't cross the border too often!

As luck would have it, Jeremy G and I managed to roll onto the ferry bound for Nanaimo at 9:45, going straight from ticket to topside, and we settled in for a long boat ride and longer drive. Our last bird of the trip showed itself outside of Duncan, where a sideroad detour led to a Barn Owl flushing from a roadside fencepost!

After dropping Jeremy off at just before 3:00am (where he found himself locked out), I took the backroads home, hoping to run into a Great Horned Owl on a wire (catchy movie title maybe?), but it was not to be. Twenty-one hours of travel on five hours of sleep found me home.

What was to be a winter pelagic turned into what I can only call the "longest twitch", but it was a great trip with great company and great birds, and I wouldn't be entirely comfortable asking for more!

Good birding,