Saturday 31 December 2011

In Transit

Today I travelled from Vancouver to Nakusp, a journey of some 8 hours. I was very kindly picked up by my good friends Gary and Marie Davidson. Although if I was taking the trip I could have spent much longer as I own a camera. The trip went through, to coin a phrase, a winter wonderland. Majestic snow covered peaks, snow covered pines looking like giant xmas trees [of course they are…], snow covered landscapes and lakes. Okay you’ve probably picked up on the snow covered pattern by now but to Australian eyes the landscapes were magnetic. Everywhere was a post card in the making. It was difficult to focus on birds – probably impossible.

We enjoyed many stereotypical Canadian scenes. For instance we passed Canadians skating on an ice covered lake – they were Canadians for sure because they had large sticks in their hands.

Buse Lake - a purple lake
Some good birds were enjoyed enroute including Trumpeter Swans, Red-railed and Rough legged Hawks, Bald Eagles and my first Townsend’s Solitaire for this trip.

Anyway enjoy the pictures as I’m off to bed.

Friday 30 December 2011

Second Days Birding in Canada

Birding Vancouver 30/12/114

Brian Self and Chickadee
I’ve just got back from a tremendous day’s birding with Vancouver Birdingpal Brian Self who was excellent company, very knowledgeable and eager to share his patch, his birds and experience. I'm keen to share time with him in the field again.

Our first stop after an 8-30am rendezvous was at an undisclosed residence in Vancouver. The reason for its secrecy would soon become apparent. Even Brian had not dared to whisper the ‘secret’ resident for fear of creating too much expectation…..

The Secret Garden
At any rate the garden was excellent and very, very birdy and the star bird did a star turn. The bird in question? Wait for it… a Costa’s Hummingbird. [If you are not impressed check out your North American field guide and observe the range map for this specie.]
Male Costa's Hummingbird
Female Anna's Hummingbird
Now this bird is better than it sounds. In my opinion all hummingbirds are great but this one [as hopefully even my bad photo will attest] is something special.  It’s beautiful and spirited. It is only a small bird but it staked out its patch in this garden and guarded it furiously against the larger [and stunning] Anna’s Hummingbirds. Talk about small guy’s syndrome. So for about an hour we watched the Hummer Show starring these two species; one male Costa’s and a variety of the Anna’s. The show had some other special guests; on the floor there danced the back-kicking Fox Sparrows and the smaller Songs. Fluttering through the mid story was a variety of Chickadees – Black capped and Chestnut backed. [Sadly the Americans for reasons that I’m sure were purely puritanical refused to call them tits and thus avoided a shallow stream of birding adult humour.] Spotted Towhees were spotted and Downy woodpeckers showed up. Juncos and Bewick’s wren were also active around the feeders.
Black-capped Chickadee
Next stop was the fields around the greater delta area. The idea was twofold; first to try to turn up a Rough-legged Hawk and secondly to try to turn a Trumpeter Swan into a Tundra. The short of it was we failed in both plans. However we did see some lovely Red-tailed Hawks and we turned up a rare wintering Kestrel female. Also on the raptor front many Bald Eagles plus Northern Harriers. The fields did supply Trumpeter Swans, their necks and heads stained from the iron rich soil which makes iron rich mud [“just add water”] In front of the swans [and in front of the grazing mallards were a small flock of Grey Plovers or Black-bellied as they call them here, plus a large flock of agreeably fat yet energetic Dunlin   all lacking their ‘normal’ black breeding bellies.

Next was a visit to Reiffel Reserve. A word to the wise – if you are interested in birds [and by this stage if you’re still reading you are] and you visit Vancouver you must visit Reiffel! At any season it is fantastic for variety, numbers and views of birds. Mallards are so abundant here that you must kick them out of your way – that statement is not hyperbole – they’re everywhere. It’s because people feed them. The wigeons have spent too much time with Mallards and they have begun to learn the same bad wicked ways of sloth and dependence that the mallards have. Welfare dependence issues are everywhere it seems.

Anyway there are waterfowl everywhere here and there are many paths that wind between the canals, channels, small ponds and lakes. The trees and scrubs are filled with small passerines; sparrows and chickadees mostly – the latter too have felt the feeding craze and will land on your hand for seed. For me Reiffel delivered not only variety but a lifer – Pileated Woodpecker – the largest spp in North America. We searched for owls but were unsuccessful.

We finished our day as the clouds dramatically rolled in from the Pacific with Barn Owls – neatly packed in the rafters of a barn- and, as darkness descended we scooped and scoped a Rough Legged Hawk. As any birder would tell you it’s good to finish the day with a lifer!
Below today’s birds;
*** - lifer                   * - new Canadian bird for me
A – secret garden
Delta Fields
B – Delta fields
C – Reiffel REserve
Pied-billed Grebe - C
Double-crested Cormorant - C
Great Blue Heron  - BC
Black-crowned Night-Heron - C
Trumpeter Swan - B
Canada Goose - C
[Lesser] Snow Goose *** - C
Pied billed Grebe
Wood Duck - C
Green-winged Teal - C
Mallard - BC
Northern Pintail – BC
Northern Shoveler - C
American Wigeon - BC
Eurasian Wigeon * - C
Ring-necked Duck - C
Lesser Scaup - C
Common Goldeneye - C
Bufflehead - C
Hooded Merganser - C
Common Merganser - C
Northern Pintail
Bald Eagle - ABC
Northern Harrier - BC
Sharp-shinned Hawk *** - C
Rough-legged Hawk *** - B
Red-tailed Hawk - ABC
American Kestrel - B
Merlin- C [enroute]
Peregrine Falcon - B
Ring-necked Pheasant - C
American Coot - C
Sandhill Crane - C
Black-bellied Plover - B
Dunlin -B
Mew Gull - C
Glaucous-winged Gull - ABC
Rock Pigeon - A
Eurasian Collared-Dove - A
Anna's Hummingbird - A
Costa’s Hummingbird *** - A
Downy Woodpecker  - A
Northern Flicker - ABC
Pileated Woodpecker  *** - C
Barn Owl * - C [enroute from Reiffel’s]
Steller's Jay – C [enroute]
Northwestern Crow - ABC
Black-capped Chickadee - AC
Pileated Woodpecker
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - A
Bewick's Wren - A
Marsh Wren - C
Golden-crowned Kinglet - C
American Robin - ABC
European Starling - BC
Cedar Waxwing - C
Spotted Towhee - AC
Fox Sparrow - AC
Song Sparrow - AC
White-crowned Sparrow - B
Golden-crowned Sparrow - BC
Dark-eyed Junco - AC
Red-winged Blackbird - BC
Western Meadowlark – B [enroute]
Pine Siskin - A
House Sparrow - enroute
Buffleheads
Ring-necked Duck - female
American Coot
 Mammals – Grey Squirrel

Thursday 29 December 2011

First Days Birding in Canada 2011

One of many Bald Eagles
My first Snowy Owl!
I’ve been staying at the Super 8 Hotel near Vancouver Airport – a reasonable budget type motel closer to the Vancouver birding action as it is on the south of the city. I spent today - the 29 December with John Vooys [birdingpal.com] around the greater Boundary Bay – Tsawwassen area and it was, predictably enough, great. John was excellent company and knew both the birds and the geography very well.

Russ, Count 'em!!
We started the day near the Boundary Bay Airport and surrounds – reacquainting myself with large numbers of Bald Eagles. Soon however we found the main quarry; Snowy Owls – more than 15 birds had moved from their normal habitat a way north and had found a home among the bay side vegetation and the photographers that gathered there in even greater numbers! There were several recently erected signs advising people not to disturb the wildlife and while the majority obediently stayed their distance a few photographers got too close seeking the perfect shot. It was fantastic to see such a species and I count myself fortunate indeed to be here with the Snowies as they only make it down every five years or so. It was great too, to see so many people – clearly dudes – enjoying the rare spectacle of the owls. One of the odd features of birding around the bay was the occasional ‘boom’ of hunters’ guns bringing down one of the many ducks flocking in the bay’s waters. The swarms of ducks featured Mallard, Wigeon, Pintail, Lesser Scaup and Brant with Pintail being a major target spp judging from a hunter’s bag sighted on the way out.
Dark-eyed Junco

Golden crowned Sparrow
Small passerines included Purple and House Finches, Golden-crowned, White-crowned, Song and Fox Sparrows. Juncos and Spotted Towhees rounded out the smaller birds. Northern Flickers -  a flock of four – put in an appearance.

Fields in the area also held wildfowl; chief for me among them were Trumpeter Swan. Also great numbers of Northwestern Crow and Glaucous-winged Gulls and the occasional Herring.

The next stop was the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. It is here that people make their way to Vancouver Island. Birding here was wonderful; again waterfowl dominated but this time featuring all three species of Scoter and Bufflehead and grebes [Horned and Western] plus Common Loons in their winter plumage. [Speaking of winter plumage, for me relatively little was needed as the temperature stayed in the positives all day. Having said that, it was still cool with a maximum of about 8 degrees Celcius.] The rock wall leading to the Terminal had a few pair of Black Turnstone – a major target for the day and another lifer!

Lunch was authentic American - McDonalds and it was here i encountered a clumsy Canadian who unintentionally shared his coffee with me and my jeans and then completed the picture with an equally clumsy attempt at my accent. An elderly gent, on hearing my accent, turned and revealed himself to be wearing a tucked in St George Rugby League jersey and claimed to have played with them many years previously. He bid me fair well by saying,"seeya Banana bender."

After a lunch we got a tip off of a recently sighted Gyrfalcon which we searched for in vain before calling it a day. All in all a tremendous day.
*** - lifers

Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Brant
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
American Wigeon
Lesser Scaup
Black Scoter***
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Trumpeter Swan***
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Black Turnstone
Ring-necked Pheasant
Black Oystercatcher
Dunlin
Black Turnstone***
Mew Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Short-eared Owl
Snowy Owl***
Northern Flicker
Northwestern Crow
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
John Vooys and very large kelp
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
48 SPP



*** - lifers

Korean Stopover

 Stage 1 - the arrival
my motel
I’m writing a brief note from the Hyatt regency in Seoul. Not a bad little place. Full stopover is part of the deal – the room is mine until 3pm tomorrow when I have to return to the airport for my flight.
All meals are also included and I’ve just enjoyed a nice little three course buffet even if I was sitting by myself like a loser. [there were quite a few other losers however.]  You’ll expect me to detail the food; first course - salads including anti pasta plus smoked salmon. The mozzarella and tomato salad was particularly good. Second course a mixed bag of bean ragout, chicken stew, tomato pasta, pork ribs and fried veges. Third – fresh fruit plus sweet Korean rice cakes. Yum.

Poor photo of Brown eared Bulbul
Seoul airport was cool. I mean cold rather than a 'groovy' airport. Zero degrees outside and the ground is covered with snow. Our hotel still has Christmas decorations everywhere including a huge silver lit tree in the lobby. 

Stage 2 – the morning
Woke up at 6am local time and that was it. Dawn came at about 7-45 and a good breakfast buffet filled the time between dark and light. Went for a brief walk outside with only ‘light’ clothes to experience the minus two degrees cold. It was ok – I kept to the street and avoided the snow. No birds. Soon I returned to the hotel and then my room and watched as a small trickle of tourists did what I did; nervously walking the road across to the snow covered field opposite and stood at its edges just for the experience. One couple stood taking pictures of each other until a Korean man offered to take their photo together. [I could tell he was Korean only by the length and depth of the bows after the event..] When the sun rose a little more one could see footprints crossing the snow like ants in the sugar.

There are no parks around here; “only airport” the Concierge informed me so I’ve signed up for a 5 hour Seoul City tour for forty bucks. It will get me back to the hotel one hour before check out. Did not really pay any attention to what was on the tour but noticed that lunch was included..

Stage 3 – now at the airport two hours before Vancouver flight.
Eurasian Magpie
The day tour was a little bit mickey but ok . The Gyeongbokgung Palace we saw was interesting and the Korean food [Bibinbob] for lunch was good and quite spicy. And saw some birds. First near the hotel and then on the tour. I could identify Large-billed Crow?, Eurasian Magpie, Great [actually Japanese Tit according to a checklist] and Varied Tit [plus a probable Willow Tit - seen only briefly], Tree Sparrow, plus a Yellow- throated Bunting, a Daurian Redstart, plus a Brown-eared Bulbul.