Dear members
9 birders had a great morning walk in the beautiful sunny weather along the sea front at Crofton. On our way there we stopped at Quist’s Farm where I think I was the only one to see a Western Meadowlark that was put up by a Common Raven. We made our second stop along Crofton Road where we looked out over the estuary and adjacent fields, not much to see except a large flock of Canada Geese. It was then onto the boardwalk at Crofton where things looked a little slow out on the water and I was beginning to wonder if this was not the time to visit, but we kept moving and our list of birds started to grow. A few sparrows here and there and a Spotted Towhee or two. A single Common Loon worked hard for some food underwater. A distant dead snag had a lump on it and with the add of the scope a Merlin showed to us all. After a nice walk we parked our bodies on a damp bench and waited for the birds to come to us, some distant Pelagic Cormorants sat with a couple of Double-crested on the large floating buoys out from the mill and then a single Black Oystercatcher came flying towards us only to veer off before getting too close. A small pack of Surf Scoters came scootering around and disappeared before many got to see them. A single California Gull took a while to get identified and a few Mew Gulls came in close. We moved up too a little park area at the end of the sea walk to check on some sparrows and we found a nice immature White-crowned Sparrow, Daryl heard a Pileated Woodpecker call and a few Stellers Jays came through along with a small flock of Chestnut-backed Chickadees. It was just then that the ladies brought my attention to a lump on another dead snag, don’t you just love dead snags ? The lump appeared to be very light and all sorts of good thoughts went through my mind, but I was not prepared for what I saw through the scope, sitting way up there was a Violet-green Swallow a wonderful late record and bird of the day for me. This year has seen many late Violet-greens around the valley, but this one is by far my latest ever for British Columbia. It sat up proud at the top of the snag taking in this wonderful weather for which we are being subjected too.
As we meandered back along the boardwalk a pair of Black Oystercatchers came in close and let some unsuspecting crows know that it was their bit of beach and gave them a few jabs to keep them clear and a chance for a couple of pictures for Barry.
Our last stop of the day saw us at the entrance to the road up to Crofton Lake where yours truly gave his rendition of a Barred Owl, which in turn for those that have any hearing left attracted a call from a Northern Pygmy Owl, I tried a few more times with my call until I started to get a bit croaky, but alas the little owl would not put in an appearance, mind you I did get the attention of at least 3 Red-breasted Sapsuckers so all was not lost.
That was it our day was done and we all headed home.
Big thanks to my 8 birding buddies who made this lovely fall day one to remember, until we meet again.
Derrick
Below is our list for the day any major errors are due to too much sun.
Canada Goose # 61
Mallard # 4
Surf Scoter # 6
Duck Sp. # 1
Common Loon # 1
Pelagic Cormorant # 11
Double-crested Cormorant # 6
Great Blue Heron # 4
Black Oystercatcher # 3
Mew Gull # 7
California Gull # 1
Glaucous-winged Gull # 22
Gull Sp. # 40
Rock Pigeon # 1
Northern Pygmy Owl # 1
Anna’s Hummingbird # 1
Red-breasted Sapsucker # 3
Northern Flicker # 2
Pileated Woodpecker # 1
Belted Kingfisher # 2
Merlin # 1
Stellers Jay # 7
Northwestern Crow # 7
Common Raven # 12
Violet-green Swallow # 1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee # 6
American Robin # 11
European Starling # 52
Fox Sparrow # 2
Dark-eyed Junco # 33
White- crowned Sparrow # 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow # 10
Song Sparrow # 2
Spotted Towhee # 3
Western Meadowlark # 1
House Sparrow # 11