Much to our surprise, myself and Tom were booked on an early morning tour. We didn’t book on it, but decided to go anyway. First stop was Wickaninnish at the end of Long Beach followed by a short drive to Florencia Bay. Here we had the following new birds:
Great Northern Diver
Wandering Tatler
Surfbird
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Marbled Murelet – two, close to the shore.
Semipalmated Plover
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Winter Wren
Red-throated Diver
Crossbill – several heard only.
Best sighting of all though was a Black Bear seen walking along the beach which we managed to get very close to. We also managed to see a River Otter (in the sea!)
A non-birding afternoon was spent doing the laundry, taking Michelle to the doctors (she finally got sorted!), and taking the boys surfing. We did manage a quick half an hour around the back of George’s Lodge, where Cassin’s Vireo were supposed to be found, but only got a few Gold-crowned Kinglets, though Tom also managed to find a Ribbon Snake and Sam saw a Rufous Hummingbird on the feeders.
