California day 2 - San Mateo county

My second day in California (May 27th) was another full dawn-till-dusk birding day. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Aaron Maizlish. It was spent in San Mateo county, birding from the Pacific coast to the San Francisco Bay area. We met up at Pigeon Point and started off at Gazos beach and Gazos road going inland. The riparian forest was excellent with lots of activity, visual and vocal, and some good stuff.

'Russet-backed' Swainson's Thrush - horrible photo of an insurance tick ahead of a proposed split

Often seen flying up in tree canopies, Band-tailed Pigeon is quite spectacular when seen at eye level. 

In more open, grassy areas a few stunning Lazuli Buntings were seen:

As well as equally-stunning Grasshopper Sparrows ;-)

And a tatty-looking Savannah Sparrow

At Pigeon point we had two Wandering Tattlers. We then headed up the coast towards Half Moon Bay, that produced some nice stuff as well. At sea we had lots of alcids including many Pigeon Guillemots:

At Devil's Slide we had one Rock Wren, but it didn't stick around for photos

Across the ridge, we arrived in San Francisco Bay. At Coyote Point the long-staying Harlequin Duck was located resting on distant rocks:

Nob Hill pond in Belmont provided nice urban birding, with Black Skimmers - that bill:

Cinnamon Teal - what it says on the tin:

We were in desperate need for lingering migratory shorebirds for the day list. We checked different mudflats and wetlands - nothing left behind. Finally, while driving on Dumbarton bridge at full speed, we spotted a group of 'brown' shorebirds in Don Edwards NWR saltpans. We pulled over and enjoyed a medium-sized group of Greater Yellowlegs that also contained a marvelous Wilson's Phalarope (my third ever, after two winter-plumaged vagrants, in Israel and in UK):

'Western' Willet

And a beautiful summer-plumaged Long-billed Dowitcher

We ran out of daylight at Coyote Hills Regional Park. Our daily total of 113 species was quite good, I think. Thanks again to Aaron for another great day out. Aaron worked hard all day, including keeping all the eBird lists.

BC day 3 - Vancouver Island - sea and snow

Another great day on and off Vancouver Island. In the morning we headed up towards Mt. Washington Alpine Resort. Right on top there was still lots of snow and rather few birds around.

'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco

Red-breasted Sapsucker

In lower elevations there were more birds but the forest did feel somewhat dormant. Ruby-crowned Kinglets were abundant:

We had both Steller's and Gray Jays. Steller's Jay is a very charismatic bird:

Other nice birds were the beautiful Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Rufous Hummingbird and that's it.

In the afternoon we joined a whale and wildlife tour out of Campbell River. We first headed south and rather quickly connected with two or three superb Humpback Whales that spent some hours south of Quadra Island.They did mostly shallow dives so we had only few tail flips but they were very impressive. At first they were quite distant:

But then they came to check us out and surfaces maybe 30 m away from us. Incredible.

Too close...

There were lots of birds in that area. Many hundreds of loons, and tons of ducks and alcids. There were about 15 Rhinocerus Auklets in that area but the only alcid I managed to photograph was a Common Murre:

On Center Island both sea lion species were present, though on different parts of the small rocky island. Steller's Sea Lions are huge! Males are real Behemoth - they weigh up to 1.5 tons! This bull looked very pleased with a harem of 7 females:

California Sea Lions are much smaller and not such beasty animals. The males have this distinctive pale patch on the forehead:

I want a harem too!

Our tour continued into the beautiful Bute Inlet. We searched for bears hard, but no luck today. There were plenty of ducks, including more Harlequins and Barrow's Goldeneyes. But the avian star of the afternoon was undoubtedly Surf Scoters. We had large numbers, are the good views they offered demonstrated what spectacular birds they are. That white eye of the male is stunning: 

Check that red leg of the male:

 

Harlequin Ducks

We also had some Pacific Spotted Seals (Harbour Seals) and a few Dal's Porpoises. 

Back in the harbour this Bald Eagle greeted us:

While having dinner we saw some Marbled Murrelets swimming close in so I had to improve my photos slightly:

Just a few shots of Glaucous-winged Gulls for my Larophile friends. Adult with very worn primaries and hardly and white spots left:

Typical 1cy

 

BC day 2 - Vancouver Island - Orcas!

What a great day yesterday was. But first, good news - I think I have already overcome my jet-lag and I am delighted to announce that I had a good night's sleep.

Anyway, the night before was awful and I was grateful when the sun had come up over beautiful Vancouver. I just spent some time getting acquainted with common garden birds which was nice. Quite a lot of singing stuff. I think Bewick's Wren was a new bird for me...

After breakfast we headed out and caught the ferry to Nanaimo. While waiting for the ferry one Audobon's Warbler was singing in tall tress on a slope above the road. Though we did spend all of the crossing on the deck watching out, there were rather few birds. Some first Marbled Murrelets and Common Murres, Pacific and Common Loons, a few rafts of Surf Scoter but no marine mammals.

Surf Scoters

We started making our was north along the coast and made a few enjoyable stops. Englishman River Estuary was really good with lots of birds and good variety. Geese included quite many Black Brants, 6 Cackling Geese and a lone White-fronted Goose - I have no idea which form to expect here:

Ducks were in good variety too with Harlequins, Buffleheads, Goosanders, Red-breasted Mergansers, one Long-tailed Duck etc. Not too many shorebirds but we had a tame group of c. 30 Western Sandpipers - so pretty in summer plumage:

There was a larch concentration of gulls there. Among the masses of Glaucous-winged there was one Kumlien's Gull (need to confirm that - couldn't get a photo of it), American Herrings, Mew, California and Western Gulls.

Glaucous-winged, Mew and Bonaparte's Gulls, maybe a western on the left?

California Gull. Not sure about its age. Pretty fresh primaries and no moult yet, but already pretty bleached median coverts:

A group of the sweet tern-like Bonaparte's Gulls were foraging close in a funny fashion that included small springs and dives head-in:

Not too many passerines around, some hirundines and a small group of Savanna Sparrows:

Dedicated to my friends in the UK who dipped or didn't go for the one in Cheshire the other day:

'Pacific' White-crowned Sparrow

When we finished the circuit and arrived on the beach, Gidon was ahead of me and Amir, we were wasting time on photography. Gidon ran back to us: Orcas! We caught up with him - a pod of about five Orcas swam gracefully across the bay, too distant for photography but boy, these long dorsal fins... My first Orcas so I was pretty chuffed, stunning animals.

Gidon 

Little Qualicum River Estuary was also good with more gulls and ducks. I am just crazy about Harlequin, stunning birds:

Harlequin Ducks

Qualicum Bay was also just packed with birds. Huge numbers of loons, grebes, seaducks, alcids - I really enjoyed it. Also quite many Harbour Seals and Harbour Porpoises swimming about. Superb. Three species of scoter, Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes, Cassin's, Marbled Murrelets and Pigeon Guillemots, and lots more - great stuff.

At Fanny Bay the California Sea Lions were entertaining. The males roar is quite something, what a resonance box they must have...

In the evening we finally made it to Campbell River. As we checked in we got intel about Orcas that should be heading our was in front of our accommodation. We sat on the porch, enjoyed the sunset over the beautiful bay. We didn't see the orcas (did add Rhinocerus Auklets) but it was a lovely end to a great day.