Orcas

Today was our chance to look for Orcas in the Johnstone Straight. The pods had been hard to come by this year and yesterday’s outing produced no sightings. The journey out produced good views of Black Bears (a mother and cub, and what was probably a male.) We stopped and  watched them for quite a while as these were Michelle and Sam’s first sightings.

We then got the bad news that a pod had been sighted heading fast south well out of our range. Nearly all sightings lately had been of the same three pods which swam together in a single pod. They would often swim fast south early morning and return late afternoon, though lately this return had often been late in the evening (as yesterday) long after we would need to return.

We held fast and had reasonable and prolonged views of a single Humpback Whale, and later several sightings of Dall’s Porpoise, as well as Steller’s Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, and Harbour Porpoises. Birds included a number of Bald Eagles, three Red-necked Grebes, a Black Turnstone, and over for hundred Rhinoceros Aucklets. We also got the news that the pod heading south had been “Transient” Orcas and therefore the “Resident” pods may still be in the area.

Then, just as we were about to land for lunch, we got news that the pod had been sighted about an hour north. Ignoring lunch we motored at full speed (getting good views of Dall’s Porpoises by the boat) and found them. We enjoyed excellent views for a couple of hours whilst we had lunch on board our small boat.

The journey home produced several Mew Gulls, our first of the trip. A Rufous Hummingbird was around the feeder at the lodge and I found a dead Vagrant or Dusky Shrew.

Knight Inlet

The day started pre-dawn for us all before we tried for the Black Bears and Wolves. We failed with the former and temporary car trouble meant we did not have time to really try for the latter, though we did pick up a Wilson’s Warbler and a Surfbird seemingly flying out of across the car-park by our heads was a strange sight. Tom also managed to get on to a Swainson’s Thrush. So after sorting the car, we continued our  long drive long drive to Campbell River where we were to get our float plane over to Knight Inlet.

We had a couple of planned stops on the way, the first being at the Taylor River rest stop were I was told Western Tanager could be found. However, though the pools held a number of passerines, we could find no Tanagers so continued on to our next stop at Little Qualicum Falls. Here I checked and failed for Dipper, but did get on to a flock of Crossbills in flight.

Way ahead of schedule, Michelle requested we look around the rather strange town of Coombs where we had something to eat (with more “Nanaimo Bars”!) and watched the excellent Shane Philip perform. No more stops and we arrived two hours early for our flight, so just sat and watched the sea at Campbell River and enjoyed a beer.

The float plane journey (in a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver) was very exciting and I sat in the co-pilots seat. Arriving at The Grizzly Bear Lodge, Knight Inlet, the tide was high meaning we had no chance to look for Black Bears as promised, so instead, the four of us went on a walk of our own. We saw little bird life but we all got on to a Mink near the lodge.  After an excellent meal, the children went in to the hot tub with two girls!

More Boats

With Tom, I awoke way before dusk to check Florencia Bay for Wolves. We failed, but got extremely close (whilst in the car) to a mother Black Bear with two cubs.

For the rest of the family the day started with a tour with George in which we went in a canoe along a tributary of Kennedy Lake. En-route George spotted the Black Bears where we had previously seen them, but by the time we were able to turn around they had vanished.

Despite the title, “The Paddling with Eagles Tour”, we only saw one Bald Eagle, and that was when we were having lunch and not paddling! Anyway, I did not expect to see too many birds (it was something Michelle wanted to do – fortunately she had now recovered) but it was a lovely and very relaxing way to spend half a day. We did see a few birds too…

Band-tailed Pigeon – several.
Black Swift – x2 with several Vaux’s Swift.
Common Yellowthroat  x 3
Ring-necked Duck
Willow Flycatcher x 2
Baird’s Sandpiper – flying with a flock of six Least Sandpipers.
Spotted Sandpiper x 3
Pacific-slope Flycatcher x 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow – several.
Violet-green Swallow – several.
Cedar Waxwing – several.
Black-headed Grosbeak

Late afternoon the four of us headed to Cleland Island on the “Seabird Voyage”. The main reason for booking this was to see Tufted Puffin and Sea Otter but as we’d seen the Puffin yesterday and Tom had missed the Otters, plus Michelle and Sam wanted the Otters, our attention turned mainly to them. This was fortunate, as no Puffins were seen. As well as the five Sea Otters, we got a pretty similar set of birds to yesterday, the complete list being:

Red-necked Grebe x 3
Harlequin Duck x 11
Surf Scoter x c.40
White-winged Scoter x 2
Pink-footed Shearwater – a single bird.
Brandt’s Cormorant x c.50
Pelagic Cormorant x c.30
Bald Eagle x 6
Peregrine
Black Oystercatcher x 10
Black Turnstone
Western Sandpiper x 2
Red-necked Phalarope
Heerman’s Gull x 50+
Western Gull – several.
California Gull x 20.
Herring Gull – many.
Glaucous-winged Gull – many.
Common Guillemot x c.50
Pigeon Guillemot x c.20
Marbled Murrelet x 2
Rhinoceros Auklet x 8

We also saw a small pod of Harbour Porpoises, a number of Harbour Seals, and a few Steller’s Sea Lions.

 

Afterwards, with Tom and an American birder who had been on the boat, we tried Radar Hill for an hour. Not a lot was seen, but we got momentarily excited by a possible Varied Thrush after seeing something in a low bush with a pale orange supercillium and breast. It turned out to be this Black-headed Grosbeak!

Pelagic

Today was a Pelagic for myself and Tom where we went fifty miles off shore over the edge of the continental shelf. Conditions were calm, in fact too calm, as birds were scarce and the pelagic ended earlier than expected to go to Cleland Island. I was very annoyed about this as we were due to go there tomorrow and I later let my feelings known to George (who had arranged, but was not on the trip.) Anyway, while it lasted, it we had a great time. Notable species seen:

Harlequin Duck – four females.
Surf Scoter
Black-footed Albatross – one, unfortunately distant, bird.
Fulmar – 1,000+ nearly all dark birds.
Pink-footed Shearwater x 300+
Sooty Shearwater x 500+
Short-tailed Shearwater – three claimed, but incorrectly in my opinion (see photos at bottom.)
Fork-tailed Storm Petrel x 500+
Leach’s Petrel x 2 (one dark rumped, one pale.)
Brandt’s Cormorant x c.50
Osprey – on Cleland Island.
Wandering Tatler – on Cleland Island.
Black Turnstone – on Cleland Island.
Least Sandpipers? – a flock of about twenty waders, several miles from shore.
Red-necked Phalarope x c.20
Grey Phalarope x c.30
Heerman’s Gull x 50+ around Cleland Island.
Western Gull x 4 (probably very much over-looked.)
Common Guillemot x c.50
Pigeon Guillemot x c.50
Marbled Murrelet x 6
Cassin’s Auklet x 9
Rhinoceros Auklet x 40+
Tufted Puffin x 3
Humpback Whale x 6 very close to boat, some breaching.
Harbour Seal x c.20
Sea Otter – mother and pup.
Pacific Shark x 3

Returning late afternoon, we did little for the rest of the day but lay on the beach whilst the children surfed. Just before dusk we checked a site at Florencia Bay that was apparently reasonably reliable for Wolves but unfortunately there were people on the beach until dark.

A few pictures of the pelagic…

The rest can be seen here. These are the claimed Short-taileds, but they seem to be Sooties…

Tofino

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.

Vancouver Island

Not many birds today. We had a late start as Michelle was feeling quite ill and we needed to decide whether to get her to a doctors. She rested for a while whilst with the boys, I checked out a few places around Nanaimo (Pipers Lagoon and Neck Point.) Here Tom did very well to pick out a Bewick’s Wren and we also managed Northern Flicker and Black Oystercatcher.


Michelle decided she was feeling alright to press on to Tofino, and so we took a slow drive west slow drive west, stopping at places such as Cathedral Grove for walks. No new birds were added until we arrived, in thick fog, at our lodgings at "Bird & Breakfast" were we met with George Bradd. He’d been keeping the Hummingbird feeders well stocked and we managed to get Rufous Hummingbird added to the list.
The rest of the evening was spent visiting the hospital, though Michelle decided she would wait until tomorrow before seeing a doctor so we had dinner in a sea-side pub before an early night.

Vancouver Island

Today’s journey started with the first ferry of the day over to the Vancouver Island (Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay as Michelle wanted to go to the Butchart Gardens north of Victoria.) Whilst waiting for the ferry, I had Black Turnstone and Western Gull as well as what looked like three Western Sandpipers. The journey was quite quiet, but did manage to get a Common Guillemot, several Pigeon Guillemots, and two Rhinoceros Auklets. Tom also managed a raft of Scoter that included Black Scoter.

The gardens didn’t produce the hopped for Hummers (probably too late in the year, with most having already left) but were enjoyable all the same, though the baking temperature made it rather tiring at times. Leaving the gardens we took a second short ferry from Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay, saving us a couple of hours drive. Harbour Seals were noted on the way, and then a Steller’s Sea Lion jumped out of the water on to the ferry dock just as we were coming into dock, making quite a racket.

By this time (mid-afternoon) it was very hot and the children went for a swim in the sea before we carried on our journey north.

Not much was seen on the drive apart from Turkey Vultures, but we made a stop at Somenos Lake as I had read that Marsh Wren could be found here (we’d missed it at Reifel as I foolishly forgot to specifically look for it.) We found the small pull-in that leads to a broadwalk over the (dried) marshes and soon scored with our target as well as Savannah Sparrow, a small flock of Brewer’s Blackbirds, and a Merlin. The Merlin, being the dark, Pacific form, had us quite confused for a while, particularly as it spent it’s time dragonfly catching in a manner similar to a Eurasian Hobby. It would take its prey midair before carrying and consuming them at the top of a tall tree before going on another sortie. This was something we’d never witnessed from a Merlin.

We continued down to the lake itself, but it held little, so continued on to Nanaimo where we had an excellent meal on the seafront (including “Nanaimo Bars”.) At dusk we then strolled along the promenade watching the buskers the people crabbing.