Saturday 3 April 2010

Bluebird of happiness

Managed an early morning visit to the Nanaimo River estuary, before being encouraged to go for a nice day out on Saltspring Island - a place where I consistently see no birds of interest.

Anyway, upon arrival it was apparent that there were good numbers of savannah sparrow on territory, with birds singing from every available spot. I was surprised to rediscover the golden-crowned sparrow flock (14 birds) and the attendant white-throated sparrow, which I'd assumed had departed. An influx of white-crowned sparrows was also evident, again a number of birds were in song.
A group of violet-green swallow were roosting in the big oak (see pic.).
The mountain bluebird was still present out on the posts. Presumably the same bird, despite my not seeing it yesterday - it must have been keeping its head down.
A check along the hedgerow revealed just 1 female yellow-rumped warbler.


There were good numbers of red crossbill (see pic), including recently fledged young, around - plus a couple of pine siskins.
I could hear yellowlegs, frequently calling from somewhere on the river but I didn't spend any time looking for them. Noticed a handful of gadwall dabbling around the waterlogged fields.
Left the site around 8.30am and decided to check Holden Creek. No sign of yesterday's white-fronts, or even the Euro wigeon. A single northern shrike was hunting along the creek, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. As usual, there were plenty of green-winged teal present, plus 3 hooded merganser.

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