17, 20 June

17 June

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S113131738

weather:  8 am 12C wind NW 14,  12:00m 15C wind NW 13, clear

tide:  10:15 am 3.0m falling

17, 20 June

A relatively quiet week, bird-wise.  Big tides, as (I gather) happen with the full moon in spring and autumn.



Still not all that warm, although due to warm up on the coming weekend.

Two charming females at the feeder by the entrance to the Estuary paths.


...Not a great photo, but  as far as I can figure, the upper bird is a  purple finch and the lower a black-headed grosbeak.  It's the first time I've seen a grosbeak at a feeder here.

Offshore, the sandbar had a flock of Caspian terns as visitors along with gulls and Canada geese.  


I did my usual cheaty bird id--photograph, crop and enlarge.  (I just can't be bothered to carry my not very good spotting scope along with a camera and binoculars.  Too durned heavy!)  If you enlarge the photo a whole bunch, it will be kind of fuzzy, but you'll see that some of the white birds have black tops to their heads and bright orange beaks.  That pretty much makes it plain that they're terns.  And then (sorry, couldn't record this) the vocalisation is very plainly Caspian.  I used to see and hear lots and lots of them at Bodega Bay, and know the sound well.  

Friday afternoon I had my second COVID booster and it clobbered me.  Dang.  I slept most of Saturday and felt pretty crummy Sunday morning.

Eventually after a late (8:30 am) breakfast, I decided to drive up-Island  to see what was going on bird-wise at Qualicum Beach, Deep Bay and wherever thereafter.

The short form was:  Nada.  Nowhere.  Zip.  Other birders I met up with agreed.  Just Not Birdy.

One violet-green swallow at Deep Bay.  


I think, from the fuzziness, a juvenile.


 I decided to drive up to Kin Beach, just north of the Comox Canadian Air Force Base, and a place where I've seen really nice birds here and there.  

Well, no, not very birdy there, either.  But the campground wasn't as busy as I'd anticipated, and the eagle nest still had Momma Eagle and one Eaglet.  




On a whim, I decided to stop overnight.  It was great, very peaceful.  I was up by 5:30, in lots of time to get back to Parksville to do some major weeding in a local park.  

The mountains showed well in the morning light.


The coming week should see more birds, and some serious invasive stuff removal.  






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