THE MAP

60,000+ KMs driven!


BLACK = driven
RED = flown (luckily, paid for by work-related projects!)

2010 TOP 10 Moments

It's really hard to make a list like this of course but here are a few of my favourite moments from this wild year (In chronological order):

-Driving through the icy-foggy Fraser Canyon at night in February (Williams Lake to Ladner overnight dove-twitch with Kevin Easthope), and realizing that this kind of thing would become the norm.

-Hustling (or whatever it's called when you punch through thigh-deep snow and crawl over burned logs on a steep slope) 2km through the darkness for a Spotted Owl. Not only did we get to see the pair at point-blank range before they headed out to hunt, but on our slog back to camp, wolves filled the night with their mournful chorus (March in the Stein Valley)--and can't go wrong with a free heli ride!

-Finding a male White-headed Woodpecker foraging right beside my car (April in the Okanagan)

-Breaking the BC Big Day record with 197 species in 24hours, the last being a pair of Barred Owls calling in a wind-storm at Crescent Park near White Rock, BC.

-Getting to watch a Yellow Rail out in the open for over 45 minutes (May in the Peace)

-Driving over 115km "below empty" between Prince George and McBride (you had to be there)

-Finally finding a single male Cape May Warbler at the Beaver Lake Rec Site along Hwy 77 NW of Fort Nelson. If it hadn't been for that one bird, I might very well have quit the year... thank you Mr. Cape May!

-Watching thousands of alcids stream out of Triangle Island at dawn (August)--including over 7,000 Tufted Puffins and 1 Horned Puffin!

-Hearing someone yell, "LAYSAN!!!" on a September pelagic off Tofino

-EARLY NOVEMBER: From a fantastic Haida Gwaii trip to the mega-rarities down south!

Planning a Big Year

Big Birding Years are a fun way to challenge yourself. Your skills will undoubtedly improve as you learn more about identification and attempt to anticipate where particular birds will turn up and when. Big Years can be done in large areas like BC, or you can do them in an area as small as your yard. It's a way of motivating yourself to get outdoors and visit areas that you might not otherwise know about. It adds another fun angle to an already enjoyable past-time, and can also bring fellow birders together in the spirit of friendly competition! And of course you can add a healthy-flavour to it by making it a non-motorized year!

Although many folks won't be interested in the more-or-less "high-octane" style of Big Year that I performed in 2010, a self-paced BC Big Year can be attractive to many and I would thoroughly recommend it. Just by visiting Vancouver Island, Vancouver, the Okanagan, and the Peace River regions, in one year (at appropriate times)... any birder could rack up close to 300 species-- That's a lot of birds!

For those interested, here are some strategic pointers and some personal stats:

#1 Rule: If you're serious about a big year, you need to chase rarities. You miss them half the time but in the long run it will be worth it!

Jan-Mar: Concentrate on winter specialties (e.g. Gulls, redpolls, gyrfalcon, Harris's Sparrow, etc.), woodpeckers, game-birds, and owls (I had 13 species of owls by March).

April-May: It's migration time. The two main places you want to be are #1 The Coast (for rarities and shorebirds), and #2 The Okanagan (for tough breeders like Grasshopper Sparrow, Flammulated Owl, and Williamson's Sapsucker). This is also the time you want to clean up on all passerine breeders if possible--everything from Black-throated Gray Warbler to Boreal Chickadee.

June: Best time to visit the Peace Region as all birds are back and singing away. I found that July was getting a little late for birdsong and May was slightly early for some species. If possible you can continue north-west up the Alaska Highway for more northerly breeders like ptarmigan and Arctic Tern etc., at least rarities tend to tail off around June-July.

July-October: Seabirds, shorebirds, and rarities. This is the CRUNCH TIME which will make or break your year. Basing yourself near the coast will be helpful but if your big year is centered around your home-turf, you can still find some goodies.

Nov-Dec: Winter clean-up and sporadic rarity-chasing. I only added 5 species in November and only 1 in December. Some years can be better than others. Good birds did show up but they were things I already had like Acorn Woodpecker, Palm Warbler, Iceland Gull, and Northern Mockingbird.

My 'PACE' Breakdown:

100 species by January 7th (i.e the first day I hit the coast)
200- March 26
300- May 26 (314 by end of May)
330- Aug 7
350- Aug 30
370- Nov 10 (373 at year's end)

2010: A Year in Review

Well it's over now. Time to reflect! I've checked the list a couple times and things seem to be in order. 373 species seen [355 self-found]including the American Black-Ducks of Yellow Point (which Mike Toochin also tallied), and the freshly split Winter/Pacific Wrens. I also counted Cackling Goose, Dusky Grouse, and Eurasian Collared-Dove which were not on the checklist when Mike and Sharon did their big year-- on the other hand, Crested Myna has disappeared since then.

In addition to the full species, I also attempted to rack up various subspecies that could possibly warrant splits in the future. These include:

-"Aleutian" Cackling Goose

-Both "Taiga" and "Franklin's" Spruce Grouse

-The laingi subspecies of Goshawk (Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island)

-"Harlan's" (Red-tailed) Hawk

-"Richardson's" Merlin (east of the Rockies)

-The southern wymani (nominate) race of Western Gull. A single adult was observed near Tofino that was distinctly darker than typical occidentalis Western Gulls. Photos were taken--hopefully we can follow up on this in due time.

-brooksi subspecies of Northern Saw-whet Owl (Haida Gwaii)

-picoideus subspecies of Hairy Woodpecker (Haida Gwaii)

-carlottae subspecies of Steller's Jay (Haida Gwaii)

-ruficapilla (Eastern) subspecies of Nashville Warbler (1 seen near Dawson Ck)

-Both "Myrtle" and "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers

-Red, Sooty, and Slate-coloured Fox Sparrows... and a few mixes!?

-carlottae subspecies of Pine Grosbeak (Haida Gwaii)

-at least 4 types of Red Crossbill

***And a couple key types that I missed:

-Common Teal (Eurasian form of Green-winged Teal, split by the BOU)
-"Eastern" White-breasted Nuthatch (Peace/Central Interior)
-"Timberline" Brewer's Sparrow

Some of you will notice that I have a "MISSED" page up (links for all pages are near the top of the main/Home page). By looking at those misses (plus a bunch of others since around 410 species were seen by all in BC in 2010), I think it would be possible to get 380 in a year. This would require absolute dedication, sound planning, and lots of luck. Finding a way to get further offshore (i.e. 100 nautical mile range) would also help!

Time to give thanks!

First, the THANK YOUS! This year was made truly special by all of you who got involved; Either by providing a couch to sleep on, offering a vehicle on a "twitch," sending messages of support, reading this blog, and just "going birding." I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am. Not only did I break the record, but I learned so much about the province and its birds and was able to share it with everyone... so many people took me out around their local patch and showed me the best nooks and crannies to find birds, and brave were those who volunteered to join me on crazy drives from the Okanagan to the Yukon or NWT and back... what a ride! Sorry but I feel the need to mention a few names (luckily there is no Oscar music to cut me off!). I'm sure I'm missing a few people but here we go---

Housing (key to my survival):

Ahren McIntee (New Westminster)
Arnold Skei (Sechelt)
Avery Bartels (Nelson)
Barb & Tony! (Vancouver)
Brendan Benson (Kelowna)
Cathy Antoniazzi (Prince George)
Captain Ron (Sandspit, Haida Gwaii)
Christine Rock & Paul Levesque (East Vancouver)
Christopher Coxson (Prince George)
C.C.G.S. Vector (Port Hardy to Prince Rupert!)
Cooper Beauchesne & Associates (Revelstoke)
Devin Mackenzie & Wyatt Seddon-Johnstone (East Vancouver)
Dad’s CR-V
The entire Easthope family (Williams Lake)
My car Franscesca (’93 Toyota Tercel)
Ilya Povalyaev (South Surrey)
Jared Hobbs (Victoria)
Jukka Jantunen (Comox)
Julia Cannings (Victoria)
Alexis Harrington (Sechelt)
Marc Wiebe & Vanessa Johnson (Victoria)
Mom’s Nissan Sentra (aka “Ben”)
Natalie Jacyna (Tofino)
Samantha Brett (and her tent, which unfortunately met its end thanks to a bear!)
Syd Cannings (Whitehorse)
And of course my PARENTS!!!

Special thanks also to:
[For tactical advice, bird alerts, and particularly road/boat buddies!]
Al McTavish
Art Ahier
Avery Bartels
Cameron Eckert
Christopher Coxson
Chris Charlesworth
Dave Smith
Doug Brown
Gabe David
Gary Breault
Guy Monty
Ian Cruickshank
Ilya Povalyaev
Kevin Easthope
Kevin Neill
Linda Van Damme
Phil Ranson
Rick Howie
Rick Toochin
Rob Lyske
Jeremy Gatten
Jack Bowling
Jared Hobbs
Jess Findlay
Joël Gillis
Jukka Jantunen
Marianne Secrest
Norma & Carlo Giovanella
Pete Davidson
Peter Hamel & Margo Hearn
Samantha Brett
Thor Manson
--AND MANY MORE

I also want to thank John Cooper, Suzanne Beauchesne, Harry van Oort and the entire CBA staff for being so flexible and understanding (whilst providing the main dollars behind this project!)... like letting me drive from Golden to Dunbar for a Costa's Hummingbird when I should have been doing data entry! Truly a fantastic company to be apart of!

"Big Ups" to Michael Force, Danny Tyson, Michael Bentley, Roger Foxall, and Mike & Sharon Toochin for setting the BC Big Year bar sooo high and lending support throughout the year. I have a feeling this record might already be in jeopardy?!

And last but most importantly, I need to thank my parents Dick Cannings and Margaret Holm... could NOT have done this without your support, whether it be strategic, emotional, financial, or otherwise, you were always there to kick me out of bed when I was being lazy, and give me "that look" when I felt like giving up.

Day 365

And now for peace...

Good birds on the Penticton Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday (Dec 19th) I went out on the Penticton CBC, and helped cover the Okanagan lakshore and a portion of the local Indian Reserve (the Locatee lands). Despite the constant snow we had some great birds including 4 MEW GULLS, 55 GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS (high number for the south Okanagan), 7 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS (all in the Locatee lands), 1 SWAMP SPARROW (Locatee), 1 PURPLE FINCH (my first ever for the Okanagan--also in Locatee), and this HERMIT THRUSH (my first winter-find of this species in the Okanagan... of course it was also in the Locatee property--what a spot!).

Today (Dec 20th), my Dad and I hiked back into Locatee and managed to re-find the PURPLE FINCH and as luck would have it... another 4 species I missed the day before! This would have brought the day list to close to 70 but ah well... The highlight was seeing 2 SNOW BUNTINGS flying over the West Bench on our walk home.

#373: HARRIS'S SPARROW

It took 11 months and 17 days, but finally I nailed a HARRIS'S SPARROW! I chased them high and low last winter but didn't fret, assuuuuming one would turn up in the Okanagan this winter. Well I was beginning to doubt myself but finally yesterday (Dec 17th), I was able to re-find an adult bird first discovered a few days earlier on the Lake Country Christmas Bird Count (Thanks Don+Don+Margaret!). This was my second try at the spot so it was quite disappointing to pull up and see no sparrows whatsoever. But once the ever-lucky Tanya Seebacher dropped in, I spotted it 100+m away in a hedge down the road... not just another LBJ!

It's impossible to know, but perhaps this will be my final bird for 2010, as time is running short, and there are few birds to add.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've been pretty sick, plus I had my computer stolen in Richmond last week. More on that later probably. I think I'll just do a big write-up at the end of the year and explain what I did to cap things off.

Merry X-mas all!

Russ

Texas Itinerary now available!

Hi all,

Check out the itinerary for my upcoming TX tour in April 2011. Can't wait! Be sure to book ASAP as we're trying to keep the group to an intimate size. My Dad and I birded Texas in April this year and saw over 300 species... it's different every time so who knows what the highlights will be next year?! Not just for the hardcore, this trip will be fun for all skill-levels!

http://www.avocettours.ca/tours/2011-texas-coast.php

Also, let me know if you're interested in hearing about my birding tour to India in October, 2011!

Ancient Murrelet meets its end in Okanagan Lake

This morning I woke up to a report of an Ancient Murrelet washed up on Okanagan Beach. There were no specifics in the report so I scoured the entire beach from the Penticton Yacht club over to the S.S. Sicamous. It was probably close to -20 with the windchill coming off the lake, so it's no surprise I missed the little dude covered in ice. Highlgihts of my walk include a single YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER at the yacht club and a single RUDDY DUCK hiding behind a tugboat with some coots and a PIED-BILLED GREBE.


Later in the day my Dad got a call from the woman who first found the bird. We followed her instructions right to the bird. As you can see it was fairly hard to spot!

Dad got out the ax and we rescued the specimen from the ice... I wonder if the Little Blue Heron will suffer the same fate this week? Someone should be checking regularly!


From the ice to our sink! (then to the freezer)


Typical Cannings Family dinnertime moment:

Dad; "Achk! There's an ancient murrelet feather in my potatoes!"

Little Blue Heron, White-winged Scoter, Northern Parula, Gyrfalcon and Lesser Black-backed Gull in just over 24 hours in the Okanagan---what a mix!

This weekend I joined up with 2 ol' birding friends in Avery Bartels and Ilya Povalyaev (now of Calgary, AB!). We birded West Kelowna region Saturday morning and after a few hours of squinting into the wind and snow we finally found the LITTLE BLUE HERON at a Beach Access of Whitworth Road. In its weakened state, I doubt it will survive the next couple nights. Also in the area, we spotted 4 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS heading south-- a nice Okanagan year-bird and only my 2nd fall sighting.

The rest of the day was spent in the south where we failed to turn up the parula thanks in part to a bitter north wind that shook the trees constantly. Avery turned up a HERMIT THRUSH and roosting GREAT HORNED OWL though!

Nov 21- We started off back at Inkaneep PP and it didn't take long to nab the NORTHERN PARULA which is still energetically feeding away but like the heron it was looking kinda cold! Afterwards we headed south to Osoyoos, picking up a gorgeous GYRFALCON along Black Sage Road! What a bird and my third close-encounter with this species this year (4 total I think!).

[crappy shot of it flyin away!]

Later that day, back in Kelowna we sighted the LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (probably recently returned from an unknown breeding site). This bird winters in Kelowna every winter (for the past 8+ years I think).

All in all, a great weekend despite the cold!

Russ

Anyone wanna go to Texas?

Join me in April for the spring spectacle!

http://www.avocettours.ca/tours/2011-texas-coast.php

NEW ZEALAND TOUR FEB 2011 !!!!!!

Anyone wanna check out New Zealand in the austral summer? I lived there for a year back in 2008 and I'm very excited to take some people down to "the seabird capital of the world." The tour is 20 days out of Vancouver for only $5350 plus airfare. Yes it's a little pricey but if you compare to other bird-tour companies like WINGS and Eagle Eye, it's actually quite cheap! We'll visit all my favourite spots both on the ocean and in the interior. New Zealand is home to a variety of unique endemic species (many of which are flightless thanks to thousands of years without mammalian predators) and I'll do my best to get them all for you! So essentially the trip will focus on 1) Having a good time, 2)Seeing some amazing scenery 3)mainland endemics and 4) Seabird bonanza!

Feb 13-March 4 (2011)

Highlights of the trip include:

-Hauraki Gulf pelagic trip: targeting the recently rediscovered NZ STORM-PETREL, as well as several other petrel and shearwater species.

-Kaikoura pelagic trip: should get arodn 5 species of albatross on this trip alone!

-3 species of penguin!

-visiting the only mainland albatross colony in the world (Royal Albatrosses at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin, NZ--- my home town!)

-Several night-time KIWI expeditions

-Black Stilt (one of the rarest shorebirds in the world)

-Wrybill (one of the weirdest birds in the world)

-Kea [alpine parrot](according a recent BBC study, the smartest non-human animal in the World)

much more!!! Please email me directly and ASAP as this thing will start to fill up soon. (russellcannings@shaw.ca] I can send you all the info you need, and of course answer questions on the birds, other animals, plants, and locations we will visit.

Here are some photos to tantalize your brain!


[White-capped Albatross-- a guarantee on this trip!]

[Campbell Island Albatross--- should see!]

[Battling Gibson's (Wandering) Albatrosses (3.5m wingspan) --- guaranteed!]

LITTLE BLUE HERON!!!

[Photos by Jukka Jantunen]

Just when I thought I could get back to some casual Vancouver birding, my Dad calls me at 7am (still trying to catch up on sleep). "Russell, it's a Little Blue. I'm going for it right now. Watch out for snow on the Coq."

4 hours later I arrived at Power's Creek in West Kelowna, only to find out that the bird was "missing." Luckily within 10 minutes Doug Brown pulled up announcing that he had found it. Sure enough, there it was on some random beach about 1km away. After a few minutes it got up and flew off... back to the creek. After that I got to watch it along with several others from around 15 feet away as it hunted in the shallows. What a bird! 1rst record for the Okanagan and 3rd for the province!

Northern Mockingbird=YES, Philly Vireo=NO

After a pancake breakfast at my parents' place in Penticton, Jukka/Jess/I headed down to the coast where the NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD of Island 22 performed on cue, landing on a gravel pile before we had even parked the car. We searched the nearby woods for several hours for a reported Philadelphia Vireo but unfortunately could not pull it out from the hordes of chickadees and kinglets.

Northern Parula-- YES!

After completing another wild drive thanks to Jukka's steady hands, lots of coffee, "Beaver Buzz" energy drinks, Finnish heavy metal, and lots of bird-trivia, we arrived in the sunny South Okanagan. Here in Inkaneep Provincial Park it didn't take long to locate the immature male NORTHERN PARULA found by Don Cecile a few days earlier. Phew! I was stressin' out a bit on the islands but this felt great! I hadn't slept since 5:30 am the day before but I guess I'm getting used to it? Maybe not. Jukka suggested we continue on to Chilliwack for the mockingbird but I felt that sleeping in a bed tonight instead of a ditch was the smart thing to do.

[photos by Jess Findlay]

Haida Gwaii: The Southern Aleutians

Some have called Haida Gwaii (aka The Queen Charlotte Islands)—“The Northern Galapagos” because of its isolation as an archipelago away from the continent and its rich ecological tradition. I would argue that “Aleutians—South” is more appropriate from a birding standpoint at least. Breeding bird diversity is low on the islands, made up principally of a few hardy land-dwellers like Golden-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, Pacific Wren, and Oregon Junco, and of course: the seabirds. Thousands of alcids (puffins, auklets, guillemots, murrelets, murres) and other seabirds (gulls, cormorants, storm-petrels) call Haida Gwaii home year-round and even more come through in migration and during the winter months. Waterfowl numbers can be very impressive also, especially at this time of year. Shorebirds stop over regularly along beaches and wetlands, and perhaps most interesting for us birders, the islands act as magnets for lost migrants. Birds blown off course by storms in spring and fall, taking cover in the first bit of land they see. The Aleutian Island chain is of course known as not only a breeding mecca for seabirds, but also THE place to find both Asiatic and southern rarities during migration.

That is why we decided to hit “The Gwaii” in early November... to find mega-birds. Most experienced birders chat casually about the rarity potential of the Charlottes but few manage to get out there at the right time. The weather can be dicey outside of summer and the ferry crossing can get very rough. This year, Jukka Jantunen, Cameron Eckert, Jess Findlay, and I made it happen.

Jukka, Jess, and I left Vancouver around 10am on Wednesday, November 3rd, and drove none-stop (more or less) to Prince Rupert. When we got there it was pouring rain and blowing around 100km/hour. “Just as I expected,” I said. “Too bad it’s coming from the south.” We were a little worried the new flat-bottom ferry wouldn’t run in conditions like this but luckily by the early afternoon, things cleared up and I guess the swell died down out on the Hecate Strait. Sometime after breakfast we ran into Cam (in the liquor store of all places) who had just driven down from Whitehorse to meet us. We packed all our gear in his van, boarded the ferry and off we went!

FERRY CROSSING (Nov 4th, 2:30pm until dark): We stationed ourselves at various points around the boat; unfortunately this vessel is not ideal for birders as there is no way to have a forward view unless you wanna camp out in the children’s play area and look through an awkward circular window... at least you’ve got non-stop cartoons in case the seabirds don’t put out. Anyways... the highlight of the trip was definitely getting good looks at several SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS [pictured above] that usually stood out well from the more abundant SOOTY SHEARWATERS (we ended up with around 20 shorties). BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES were fairly common and we were pleased to count at least 6 YELLOW-BILLED LOONS amongst the numbers of PACIFIC and COMMON LOONS. 5 NORTHERN FULMARS were the only other tubenose, both murrelets were noted, and Jukka had a probable POMARINE JAEGER (a fairly late record any jaeger).

Once in Skidegate, we transferred over to the Alliford Bay ferry (inter-island ferry to Moresby). Once on Moresby, we drove to Sandspit where good ol’ Captain Ron had a good set-up for us in his chalet and basement.


NOV 5: First Full Day on the Charlottes

We had assumed in Prince Rupert that our trip to Haida Gwaii/Charlottes would be a very wet ordeal. Therefore it was quite a pleasant surprise to wake up to clear skies this morning. After checking through the local flock of juncos for oddballs (thanks Ron for letting us seed your driveway!), we headed to Shingle Bay and eventually the famous Sandspit Airport. Along the beach Jess and I found a female HOUSE FINCH (a very rare bird here—only 5 or 6 records for the Charlottes), and a SNOW BUNTING was also a nice find. Shingle Bay was filled with good numbers of ducks and grebes (as usual) with around 200 HARLEQUIN DUCKS stealing the show.

[Rock Sandpiper]
At the Sandspit Wharf near the base of the main peninsula where the airport is located, we rain into a large flock of 300+ BLACK TURNSTONES that also contained 30+ ROCK SANDPIPERS (pictured), 3 RUDDY TURNSTONES, 60+ DUNLIN, and 50+ SANDERLING. Amongst the gull flocks, it was once again a treat to see BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES so close and especially over land. At the start of our airport circumnavigation hike we found a winter male RUSTY BLACKBIRD (less than 5 records for the Charlottes) feeding along the shoreline, and on the airport itself, all 5 species of geese (Brant, Canada, Cackling, Snow, Greater White-fronted) were found (not too often one can claim that!). We had more close encounters with ROCK SANDPIPERS out on the spits and more looks at SNOW BUNTINGS and LAPLAND LONGSPURS were nice. Several RED PHALAROPES were spotted feeding close to shore and around 300 PACIFIC LOONS were noted offshore (among many other things!).

We eventually made our way over to the Sandspit Golf Course where a large flock of CACKLING GEESE caught our attention. It appeared that several subspecies of Cacklers were present including at least two “ALEUTIAN GEESE.” Note (above--bird on left, and bird third from right) the overall structural differences—especially head shape, black throat (separating the pale cheek-patches), and thick white ring at the base of the neck. There were also several “DUSKY” CANADA GEESE present. Our first and only RING-NECKED DUCK of the trip flushed out of a nearby creek, as well as many WILSON’S SNIPES. Eventually it got too dark to bird and we retreated to “Dick’s Wok-in” the only restaurant in town where Cam’s fortune cookie read: “Head to the nearest coastline.” No encouragement needed!

NOV 6: Day 2 on Haida Gwaii

Last night a big storm hit and heavy rain continued into mid-morning. Luckily it cleared off and out we went for more hardcore birding. More “southern rarities” popped up like RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (under 10 records), BREWER’S BLACKBIRD (under 5 records), and PURPLE FINCH (under 10 records). Dang this is getting frustrating!!!

Luckily the crappy weather had blown in a bunch of seabirds into Skidegate Inlet, and so the seawatching from the end of the airport was fantastic. Within seconds of setting up their scopes Jukka had seen a LEACH’S STORM-PETREL and a THICK-BILLED MURRE, and Cam had spotted a HORNED PUFFIN. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get onto the murre which would have been a year-bird but that’s just how it goes! Both SOOTY and SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS came within 50 meters of shore and several NORTHERN FULMARS were spotted wheeling over the surf further out. After not seeing any LONG-TAILED DUCKS on the ferry, all of a sudden it seemed like hundreds were coming in, as well as loads of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, COMMON MURRES, and PACIFIC LOONS among others like this presumed female BLACK SCOTER. Single WESTERN and BONAPARTE’S GULLS were certainly nice finds, and the number of CALIFORNIA GULLS (100+) was certainly a high count for this late in the year (thanks to the strong southerlies!). All 3 species of scoters streamed by close to land, and a late CASSIN’S AUKLET buzzed by around lunchtime. The golf-course produced a single SLATE-COLOURED JUNCO (apparently quite rare for the islands), and our only 2 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS of the trip whizzed on by. As the day winded down and the sky grew dark, that’s when the magic happened! We were all spread out birding a line of alders along a road—looking for rarities in with mixed flocks like they do in Newfoundland and Tofino. After a while, Cameron, Jess, and myself piled into the van and were about to go pick up Jukka when I got a sudden phone call from him... “CHESTNUT!!!! CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER!!!!!” Before Cameron could ask what the call was about I just yelled and gestured, “GO!! GO!! GOOO!!!!” I don’t think the Honda Odyssey had ever covered 200 meters in that short a time before but luckily the squeeling tires didn’t scare the bird. We arrived to see Jukka staring intently into the alders. He pointed it out and we all got onto it--- the first record for the Charlottes and my first ever for BC (let alone the year). In fact it was a BC first for everyone, so high-fives all around!


[Cameron marked the spot on the coastguard-base's wall-map... I hope that's erasable! It was still there a few days later when we stopped by again.]

Nov 7: Day 3 on Haida Gwaii

Today we took the ferry back to Graham Island and headed north toward Masset at the north end. Along the way we stopped at a few flooded fields near Tlell that produced some good November birds like HOODED MERGANSER, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, and NORTHERN PINTAIL. Both HAIRY WOODPECKER, and PINE GROSBEAK could be heard calling in the distance (both are endemic subspecies to the Charlottes), but the best was yet to come....

Just south of the Naikoon Provincial Park headquarters, we were stopped on the side of the road, investigating a few flocks of juncos and checking for waterbirds on the Tlell River. For some reason Cameron decided to scope the spruce trees on the other side of the road--- which turned out to be a very good idea. “BRAMBLING!!! %$&#ing BRAMBLING!!!” After a panicked sprint down the road we all lined up behind Cam’s scope and took turns peering into it. When I first looked in I was shaking so much I could barely make out anything... “oh shit all I can see are robins.... no wait... got it!” Wow, a male BRAMBLING hanging out in a spruce tree with robins! My first lifer in a while and a BC bird for all present! Unfortunately it flew before we could snap a photo; Jess got a video of it flying away but that was it. Luckily we all had great looks through the scope and suddenly things were goin’ REAL well.

Up north we visited the Delkatla Inlet bird sanctuary, picking up trip birds like EURASIAN WIGEON and GADWALL. Next we headed out east, stopping at the Dixon Entrance Golf Course where I spotted a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (less than 10 island records). We made it as far as Tow Hill, unfortunately the tide was too high to walk out towards Rose Point. We made due by marveling at the pristine rainforest and rivers that remain here in Naikoon Provincial Park. We also bumped into one of the most handsome SOOTY GROUSES around.
[photos below by Cameron Eckert]



We returned to Masset and met up with local birder Margo Hearn who kindly treated us to some coffee and of course bird-talk. We saw our only WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW of the trip at her feeder... not a zono sparrow paradise this Haida Gwaii place... 1 WT, 1 WC, and only 2 GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS on the whole trip! After birding the Old Masset area for a bit we finished off the day at the Dixon Entrance Golf Course east of town. Here we picked up a couple NORTHERN SHOVELERS, loads of WILSON’S SNIPE, a few large flocks of OREGON JUNCOS, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK, and probably best of all: a late LEAST SANDPIPER hanging out with a large flock of KILLDEER at the local navy base.

On the drive back to Skidegate we stopped at a few places near Tlell to look for the brooksi Northern Saw-whet Owl (an endemic subspecies). At one of these stops a vehicle pulled up to ask us if we were okay. When we replied, “we’re fine, just lookin’ for birds,” they said, “OH! Are you the guys doing the big year!!?!?!” I guess birding is getting pretty big(?), we also met a couple on the ferry who had heard about all this... oh my. Anyways, we did indeed call in a nice “HAIDA SAW-WHET OWL,” in fact in nearly took off Jess’s head. Both its contact call and full song were distinctly higher pitched than mainland saw-whets... very neat. Perhaps a future split?

Nov 8: Day 4 on Haida Gwaii

Because of the reported Northern Parula that was apparently hanging around in Oliver, we decided (for my sake) that this would be our last day on the islands; plus the following day (Tuesday) was the last day for almost a week that the ferry would be departing during the daytime, a major plus for seabird enthusiasts. We started off in beautiful Copper Bay, just south of Sandspit along the east coast. Down there we saw our 3rd NORTHERN GOSHAWK of the trip, our first RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, HERMIT THRUSH, and AMERICAN DIPPER of the trip. By this point we were getting pretty competitive about the trip-list so when Jess called out “dipper!” Cam, Jukka, and I sprinted all out to get there first. We didn’t want to dip on the dipper!

On our way back we birded the alders south of the golf course and I managed to relocate the CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER only 200m from the original spot. Moving north along the road our luck continued as Jess found a roosting (looks like a mainland bird!) NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL roosting in a spruce, and Jukka flushed up the Charlottes’ first ever GRASSHOPPER SPARROW!!! (no records for Alaska either)

[Presumed to be the nominate (mainland) subspecies of saw-whet--blown in with the sparrow!]


[Grasshopper Sparrow... not warbler]

We birded the airport one last time, finding most of the birds that had been there for several days. The only new bird to the trip after that was when I spotted a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET in a mixed flock near the coast-guard base. Because of the already-mentioned competitiveness, when I called it out Cam came running as fast as he could from across the road. Poor Jukka, who was around 300 or 400m away just happened to look up in time to see Cameron sprinting towards me. Thinking he was about to miss some mega Asiatic vagrant, he put his body to the test—sprinting the entire stretch of field and pavement in heavy-duty rubber boots (while a little out of shape I might add). When he got within shouting distance he gasped, “what am I running for?!”

“Ruby-crowned Kinglet!” I winked.

Nothing like a good bird to keep you in shape! Believe it or not, Ruby-crowns are quite rare on the islands so despite Jukka’s wasted panic, it was a great bird for the list! Perhaps I was just getting him back for when he shouted “Grasshopper Warbler!!!” by accident when he initially spotted the sparrow... good thing I didn’t hear him clearly the first time!

Nov 9: The ferry back, and another drive for the ages

We woke up around 5:30am to make sure we had enough time to pack up our gear, catch the inter-islander ferry to Skidegate, then board the ferry to Prince Rupert. Turns out it wouldn’t have mattered since the ferry was delayed for a few hours thanks to a new storm that had come in. After a good nap it finally departed around 11:30am and we resumed our seabirding positions on deck. It’s quite amazing how much a new weather system can change things; instead of 25 Sooty Shearwaters and 20 Short-tails, we had over 1,500 SOOTY and only 2 or 3 SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS. Also our LONG-TAILED DUCK count went from 0 to over 7,000!!! 4,000 of those were in one flock, and 1 female decided to take a rest on the boat (pictured). Luckily after a bit of petting from her adoring fans, Cameron threw her overboard and she took flight with ease and was on her way!

[Jess with his youngsquaw]

We got-off the ferry around 6:30pm, said our goodbyes and thank-yous to Cameron for the great time, stopped at Timmy’s, and headed out.

13-15 hours later we were in Oliver...

http://www.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=1879

This might be worth attending! Sounds fun. I'll be there too!

SMEW = No

Just as I was pulling into the ferry terminal in Langdale... trying to get back to the "mainland" as the rainstorm set in. The phone rings, it's local Gibson's birder George Smith... "you might want to hold on to your hat, Andre Lapointe just had a SMEW on Keats Island..."

After a rainy night of tossing back and forth ideas... mid-day found me on a small boat piloted by Capt Tony. Roger Foxall, Al McTavish, and I were heading for Plumper's Cove-- site of the reported Smew. There are not too many people crazy enough to brave wind and rain in late October by ferrying to Langdale, driving to Gibson's, and renting a small boat, asking the cap't to "drive over to those small islands, we're looking for a little white duck." After an hour and a half of fruitless searching, we gave it up and headed back. Gotta try right? No guilty consciences tonight...

G'night

SUNSHINE COAST BIRDING

Oct 23-24: It's been about 8 months since I was on the lovely Sunshine Coast. Last time I was here I had just broken my scope and seen a lifer (Rock Sandpiper)... also had some awesome sandwiches, celebratory beers, and great birds. So when Lexi Harrington contacted me a little while ago to ask if I wanted to lead a walk for the birding club, I said "YES!" Here's the group that braved the rain and wind:

(Photo by Marcia Mason)

We managed to see some great stuff despite the weather... around 68 species I think! Highlights included 1 THAYER'S and 1 HERRING GULL (both locally rare), a drake EURASIAN WIGEON, a late CEDAR WAXWING, a calling VIRGINIA RAIL, several MARBLED MURRELETS, and a PIED-BILLED GREBE... of course many other things but I'm finding it hard to think right now.

Why? Well read my next post!

THANKS to the whole COAST for having me! Your weather is indeed better than Vancouver!