Happy New Year!

Jan. 2 - It's great to start the new year with sunshine albeit a little on the chilly side. It's been sunny and cold for the past three days, and it's supposed to continue for one more day. I don't think the temperature got above zero yesterday or today which was a good excuse to go birding instead of cutting firewood. My rationale was that it would be difficult to cut frozen wood so I opted for some finger-numbing photography instead. Even with my golf gloves on the fingers were close to freeze-up. I was tempted to go to Deep Bay to look for the Snow Bunting but decided stay within my local area from Nanoose to Qualicum. I didn't find anything unusual, but it's always fun to get the first shots of a species for the new year.

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2011 Birds

My first bird for 2011 was actually a Northern Flicker at the suet feeder but there wasn't enough light for photos. When it was light enough I grabbed a quick shot of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee before it hopped on the feeder.

On Northwest Bay Road a raptor on the top of the Red-tailed roosting tree caught my attention. It looked so small compared to any Red-tailed I'd ever seen there, and I couldn't identify it with the naked eye. My guess was a Kestrel, but to my surprise it was a Cooper's Hawk. At first glance it seemed too small for a Cooper's, but it's difficult to judge sizes from about 50 m away.

I had no difficulty identifying the next raptor I saw with the naked eye at the north end of Qualicum. First of all it was very big. Second, it was on a small fir and only about 20 m from where I was standing. The tree is a common roosting spot for the local Bald Eagles.

My first Bufflehead of 2011 was at French Creek. I was actually waiting for the pair of Hooded Mergansers to come closer, but they stayed away. The female Bufflehead was an acceptable compensation.

There seems to be more Mallards than ever both on salt and fresh water. There's always a sizeable flock at French Creek.

While Mallards are common and abundant at French Creek, Northern Pintails are rare. In fact, over the years this is the first I've seen there. They're more common in places like the Englishman and Nanoose estuary, Courtenay Airpark anfd Esquimalt Lagoon.

I think the most abundant duck in our region is still the American Wigeon.

The flock at French Creek is about 50 which is small compared to many of the other flocks in the region.

A quick stop at Madrona only yielded some distant shots like the Pelagic Cormorant about 30 m away.

The Pelagic was in the company of a Double-crested.

With Fairwinds Golf Course closed because of the freeze-up, it was a good chance to look for the Golden-crowned Kinglets. The last time I golfed with Barry Kerr the Kinglets came within a meter of us. They were very skittish today. The best I could do was a shot from about 8 m.

I had much better luck getting close to a Northern Flicker. It was busy probing the grass for insects and didn't notice that I was right behind it.

Last year was the first year I didn't see any Eurasians at Fairwinds. This year one has been hanging in the pond on the third fairway. This is another first as in past years they only frequented the ponds on 5 and 18.

Ring-necked Ducks have always been a common feature at the Fairwinds ponds.

I'd love to have a dollar for every time I've had to explain why they aren't called "Ring-billed" Ducks. Mind you, I know the males have a chestnut-coloured ring around their necks but I'm still not sure if the females have a ring.

There are two pairs of Hooded Mergansers in the golf course ponds. This female is on the 2nd pond which is often quite shaded.

I'm still trying to catch them in the perfect light with blue sky. You can see the problem with the black bill of the male Hooded merging with the dark background.

My final birding stop was at Schooner Cove. I wanted to see if the Yellow-billed Loon was still around, and I wanted some pictures of the Barrow's Goldeneyes. I had no problem locating the Barrow's as they were foraging between the docks.

There was one male and three others in the group. They were picking barnacles off the side of the dock.

The challenge with the males is to catch them at the right angle of the sun to reveal the iridescence of the dark feathers.

At first I assumed the others would also be Barrow's but the circular cheek spot suggests Common Goldeneye.

In the distant near the mouth of the marina I spotted a couple of loons. One was definitely a Common Loon.

The other was definitely the Yellow-billed. I has been in the area for over a month.

For anyone keeping records, here's the 2011 Yellow-billed! As long as there's still food in the marina I expect it should be around for awhile.

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That's it for now. During the next few weeks we should start seeing an increase in the gull and Brant populations as the annual herring spawn draws closer. Meanwhile, there's still some interesting birds lurking about like a few warblers that have toughed it out for the winter.

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Bird Poster

My poster is on display at: Victoria - Swan Lake Nature House

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PUBLICATIONS

VOLUME I & II BOOKS AVAILABLE AT

PARKSVILLE & QUALICUM - MULBERRYBUSH BOOKSTORES

NANAIMO - SAVE-ON FOODS (WOODGROVE),
SAVE-ON FOODS (COUNTRY CLUB), CHAPTERS, FALCONER BOOKS

PORT ALBERNI - CLOCKTOWER GALLERY

COURTENAY - GRAHAM'S JEWELLERS

SIDNEY - VICTORIAN BIRD HOUSE, TANNER'S BOOKSTORE

COMOX - BLUE HERON BOOKS

BOWSER - LIGHTHOUSE GIFTS

DEEP BAY - SHIP & SHORE

SAANICH - WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED

VICTORIA - BOLEN BOOKS, MUNRO'S, CROWN PUBLICATIONS, IVY'S

CAMPBELL RIVER - SAVE-ON FOODS, COHO BOOKS, CAMPBELL RIVER MUSEUM

DUNCAN - VOLUME 1 BOOKSTORE

CHEMAINUS - WILLOW"S WILD BIRD STORE

LADYSMITH - SALAMANDER BOOKS

NANOOSE - SCHOONER COVE MARINA

LAKE COWICHAN - GALLOPING MOON GALLERY

TOFINO - BOTANICAL GARDENS

QUADRA ISLAND - EXPLORE & BOOK BONANZA

LANGFORD - WILD BIRD CENTER

SOOKE - READING ROOM BOOKSTORE

SOOKE - MUSEUM

Port Hardy - MUSEUM

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