Title photo - Black-bellied Plover at Oyster Bay

Birding Deprivation Day

Sept. 25 - Just like alcohol and tobacco withdrawal, birding deprivation is a similar malaise complete with an array of similar debilitating symptoms that require immediate treatment. When I woke up this morning hallucinating with the dt's and feeling nauseous and light-headed, I knew I was suffering from birding deprivation. I hadn't been out since visiting Wilma the Willet in Oak Bay two weeks ago. The only cure was to "bite the dog that bit me." I didn't hesitate when I dragged myself out of bed. After usual morning routine I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. A flip of the coin decided my direction - north to Parksville, Deep Bay, and Campbell River instead south to Beechy Head for the raptor migration. It didn't matter which birds I saw as long as I saw and photographed some.

My first stops were San Malo, French Creek, and Qualicum, but none were very interesting because of the low tide. There were ducks, gulls, and shorebirds in the distance but nothing in camera range. Just before Qualicum Bay a strange sight materialized on the hydro lines in front of me. I thought I was still hallucinating when a large flock of ghostly white doves floated onto the wires. I quickly pulled over, grabbed my camera, and took a few distant shots. I checked the playback monitor to see if they were really birds. If they were imaginary, there would be no images. I was relieved to see the pictures. I slowly walked up the road for a closer look. They were pure white pigeons. I knew they couldn't be albinos or leucistics as there were 27 of them.

The ghosly apparitions glowed beautifully in the morning sun. My guess was that they were domestic pigeons out for their morning flying exercise.

My next stop was Nile Creek which was inundated with fishermen. This was the time for catching pink salmon from shore. Meanwhile, there were a fair number of gulls bathing at the creek mouth. I scanned the flock for a possible Common Tern or even a Sabine's Gull. There were none, but I was pleased to see a number of Bonaparte's.

The Bonies are delightful little gulls and always worth a few pictures. The morning sun and blue sky was an ideal situation for some interesting photos.

A few of the bonies were taking their morning showers. Rub-a-dub-dub, three bonies in a tub ...

That was refreshing. Now to look for some breakfast.

I scanned the waters to look for some jaeger action, but all was quiet over the water. Just as I was leaving, a cheerful Greater Yellowlegs flew in and landed in front of me. Like I said, I was just out today to take some bird pictures. The yellowlegs was a delightful subject.

Deep Bay is usually very birdy and it was. The waters towards Denman were loaded with scoters, grebes, loons, gulls, loons, and probably alcids all at least a 100 meters away. The only birds in camera range were some Black Oystercatchers, Northwestern Crows, and one Great Blue Heron. As I stood watching the heron, it flew right towards me.

It didn't seem to notice me while it preened and cleaned in the morning sun.

Finally it stood up and gave the that tough guy look.

Meanwhile the crows were creating quite a disturbance. First they were having a ball ganging up on a beleagured Merlin. After the Merlin left they proceeded to pick chestnuts from the chestnut tree.

It was fun watching them fly around with the chestnuts. They tried dropping them on the road and the beach rocks, but nothing worked. Evidently they hadn't learned the trick from the Japanese crows. The Japanese crows learned how to place the nuts on the road so that the cars would run over them. * Correction: Paul Dubois of Comox noticed that this crow has a walnut and not a chestnut. All the other crows had chestnusts. Where did the walnut come from?

I'm not sure why I didn't stop at the Courtenay Airpark. It is usually one of my favorite stops. I think it was because I was hungry and before I knew it I was past the Airpark and having a burger at the White Spot. My next stop was Oyster Bay. I was sure I would find some migrating shorebirds there. It took awhile, but I finally discovered four Long-billed Dowitchers. Can you believe that these were the first four I had seen on the Island this year?

I normally see many Long-billed Dowitchers at Holden Creek, but maybe I gave up too soon this year.

The juvenile Long-billeds are always the easiest to identify because of the unmarked wing feathers.

After the Dowitcher visit a Black-bellied Plover landed close to me. It was very obliging and foraged right in front of me. There were a few yellow flecks on its back which is quite normal. In fact, there can be a lot of yellow flecks like the one I mistook for a golden-plover last year.

It's difficult to get interesting shots of the plover. I had to settle for the open-mouth shot while it was talking to me.

After the summer hiatus the Green-winged Teal are a common sight again. Most of them seem to be juveniles or females. I didn't see an adult male anywhere today.

As usual the Mallards were a common sight at Oyster Bay just like they are everywhere all year long. This was the last bird I photographed today to remedy my birding deprivation symptoms. I did see the expected Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants in Campbell River, but there were too many people around, and by then I was suffering from caffeine deprivation. It was time for a tall Pike Place and fruit swirl at Starbucks.

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Sept. 26 - Despite a very blustery day I made a quick stop at Rascal Pond. There was nothing in the pond, but a flock of 75 American Pipits on shore made the stop worthwhile. The pipits breed in the Arctic and alpine tundra and migrate south for the winter. Large flocks are common locally at this time of the year.

The thin bill of the pipit is a precision tool for picking up small insects, bugs, and seeds.

Sept. 16 - Thanks to Emma and Joe at Fairwinds for inviting me over to see their new lawn ornament. It was a Wilson's Snipe that had been visiting their lawn all day long. Of course, it flew shortly after I arrived with my camera.

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Bird Poster

My posters are on display at: Victoria - Swan Lake Nature House; Nanoose Bay - Credit Union; Courtenay - Graham's Jewellers

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