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| Cackling goose |
However,
Panama Flats was pretty quiet and it was clear from the moment that I arrived
that there were few birds around. A handful each of northern shoveler and gadwall
graced the pools, along with 3 bufflehead, a few green-winged teal and American
wigeon. There were also mallards with ducklings, Canada geese sat on nests, a
lone cackling goose (pictured) and 15 greater white-fronted geese present.
There
was a dearth of shorebirds, with just 20 or so least sandpipers and 6 western
sandpipers to be found. A couple of pairs of killdeer were also on site.
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| Barn swallows |
Huge
numbers of swallows kept things interesting, the bulk being barn (pictured) and
violet-greens. Small numbers of tree swallows were hawking over the water, as
were 3 or 4 each of cliff and northern rough-winged swallows.
Brit
birders will notice from the attached pic, just how much more ‘pink’ the
underparts are on north American erythrogaster race barn swallows, compared with nominate European birds. The blue
breast band is also much reduced, and often altogether absent on the American
subspecies.
Weekend
round-up
On
Saturday I had a quick root around the Government House grounds late in the
afternoon. There wasn't much going on, though a Townsend's solitaire
managed to brighten up the proceedings. A drifting gaggle of 8 turkey
vultures were heading slowly along the coast, and stopped off over the Gvt
House for a good sniff around.
The
female Cooper's hawk was sat on top of the nest; she's quite a
formidable bird! There appears to be just the one pair breeding here this year,
and they have chosen a far less obscure location in a more ornamental part of
the grounds.
 |
| Fairy Slipper Orchid |
En
route however, we made a short detour and stopped by at Maber Flats. I wasn’t
too sure if the black-necked stilts were still present, but what I did know was
that a couple of sora had been heard calling here in recent days. And as exciting as the
stilts are in a local context, the secretive rails were of far greater
interest to me as they are something of a 'bogey-bird'.
We
arrived to find Jeremy Gatten and Jeremy Kimm (what is the collective noun for Jeremies?) busily scanning the watery
vegetation, also in search of the diminutive rails.
They
had determined that at least 2 birds were calling, but weren’t being terribly
cooperative. After a while we figured out that there were in fact 3 vocalising,
but as to be expected they were keeping a low profile.
At
one point Jenny asked for my bins. Having learnt through many years’
experience that this request isn't to be ignored, I handed them over immediately (Jen has found several good birds with the power
of her keen naked eye, so I never refuse…). Then came the immortal words “I
think I have one”, and indeed she did! It emerged briefly, as I grappled the
binocs away from her as it did an about-turn, scurrying off into the dense grasses
once more, calling all the way. At last, I had seen a sora!
Despite
the tolerable frequency with which the they turn up in the UK as vagrants, I
had never bothered twitching one, convinced that I would run into one in the
Americas somewhere, eventually. And
while the views were hardly crippling, they would certainly do. I will be going
back for an attempt to get a better look, as soon as I get a nice calm
rail-finding-friendly day.
Oh,
and while we were there at Maber Flats we did see those 4 black-necked stilts that
everyone’s been raving about. Thanks to the inept fieldcraft of a camo-bedecked
photographer we also saw a cinnamon teal, which was unceremoniously flushed
while the snapper crept ever closer to the stilts. I suspect any attempts by
these handsome waders to breed (it would be a first for Vancouver Island,
incidentally) may be jeopardized by such shoddy behavior. Sigh…
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| Picnic time at Squally Reach |
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