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.

BC day 1 - Vancouver

This post is the result of my nasty jet-lag... Had a long day yesterday flying from Heathrow to Vancouver. Beautiful approach to Vancouver:

Great to meet up with my brother and his family, and Amir. Some casual common birds along the way and in the garden - Glaucous-winged Gulls, White-crowned Sparrow, Anna's Hummers etc.

More proper adventures tomorrow (or later on today, depends on which internal clock I work). Stay tuned.

Adder S*x

Woke up in the morning, switched my phone on and got a message from James: 'Wonna join me for some Adder action?'. Of course I couldn't resist, and after schoolrun I quickly headed out for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Perfect for some Short-toed Eagle food action. There were no Short-toed Eagles around, but as soon as I arrived on site we immediately had Adder action. Before I had arrived, James and Will had a bunch of five males but they quickly disappeared. And soon after I joined them Will spotted this pair mating - incredible! The female was so much larger than the male. The male has recently sloughed and had this lovely pale greenish skin colour. We watched them from a distance for about ten minutes until they had enough and disappeared into the gorse bush.

European Adders (Vipera berus)

He kept licking the female, apparently to make sure she's his exclusively.

Their sex organs are located close to their tail tips. here they were actually copulating.

What amazing animals!

Apart for that pair we had another 2-3 shy males, and this yearling female, not longer than 20 cm:

We also had this Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) and a couple of Common Lizards.

There were some birds around too - singing Willow Warblers, Yellowhammers, Siskin and a Lesser Redpoll. Today my attention was focused on the ground so I'm sure there was much more.

Last morning in Israel

Before heading back to the cold, grey UK I just had to absorb some more sun and birds. Went for a quick early morning session in wadi Bet Arif, east of Shoham. It's a lovely part of the country, very rich and hosts some quality species.

As I stepped out of the car I was greeted by singing Long-billed Pipits:

I parked my car in a very comforting spot:

And started climbing up the wadi. I quickly met up with a breeding pair of Blue Rock Thrushes. The male had been ringed by Yosef some time ago:

The female is unringed (yet)

Up on the hills there was good activity of Long-billed Pipits. I had at least five pairs. The females are very shy now, probably incubating. And the males were very mobile as always. Still haven't achieved a shot I'm fully satisfied with:

  

  

  

Also in the area many Cisticolas, Little Owls, Woodchat and Southern Grey Shrikes, not too shabby. Relatively few migrants in this open habitat - mainly some tens each of Tree Pipits and Ortolans.

This Little Owl successfully hunted a Tuna Can:

Chukar - stunning birds

Some White Storks foraged on the grassy slopes

Wadi Bet Arif

Biggest year with Arjan Dwarshuis

Yesterday I joined Arjan Dwarshuis who is doing a global big year. Contra Noah Strycker who skipped Israel in 2015, Arjan made the correct decision and spent 2.5 days in Israel, clearing up local restricted-range speciaties and lots of migrants. Yesterday afternoon we met up first in Yeruham. Arjan was with Oz. We had there some new birds for Arjan's list but fewer migrants than we expected. Spotted Crake was nice. Then we headed down into the Rift Valley. First stop was in the wonderful Navit ponds, south of the Dead Se Works. The place was packed with birds. Important species for Arjan were Dead Sea Sparrow and Baillon's Crake. The sparrows were present in large numbers - more than I have ever seen there, singing, nest building and offering great views. This male was Arjan's first this year:

The crake was well-spotted by Oz. I am sure the site holds many crakes but they are difficult to see. This was the only one visible - and the scarcest of the crakes in Israel, good stuff. I also saw very briefly an African Swamphen - 99% sure. Other highlights were breeding Ferruginous Ducks, several singing Clamorous Reed Warblers and a good selection of migrant ducks.

Birding Navit ponds

Before dusk we checked a nearby wadi where we added some common desert species such as Trumpeter Finch and Sand Partridge. 

The night session was very successful. We had a great time with Nubian Nightjars, and then we had a breathtaking performance by a male Desert Tawny Owl that just wouldn't stop singing for us. Not only Arjan was in heaven.

I had a great time with Arjan, Oz and Andy, and am very happy that I contributed something to Arjan's big year.

Good luck to Arjan in the next legs of his quest. Up till now he's doing very well, and I hope he can keep up with his excellent pace until the year ends.