Island Time
Last week I packed up my car and headed to southern Vancouver Island.
With my SUV acting as a mobile motel, a fully stocked cooler, and a small propane stove, I could be very Covidish antisocial. On my list were some rarities that had been hanging around for a while like the Tufted Duck in the Duncan sewage ponds and the American Black Duck in Yellowpoint. I had told myself I wouldn’t make the mistake I made with the Red Backed Shrike last year. It showed up in Powell River and I told myself, I’d be over there in a few days anyhow, so 4 days later, I go over and of course it had gone by then.
I think the birding gods were smiling on me those couple days. Almost everything I was looking for, I found. Some of them were almost too easy. I drove by the Victoria Airport to find the Mountain Bluebirds ( I knew I could find them later in the year, but why wait). I slowed my car down and there they were, 5 meters away, on the fence posts hawking insects .
Later, I drove up to the spot where a Northern Goshawk had been seen. I see two photographers further down the road but then spot a shape partially hidden in the top of a tree. A quick look with the binos and bingo. I waved the photographers over and they got one quick peek before it flew off into the bush. Talk about good timing. My luck didn’t stop there. At a location where a Northern Pygmy Owl sometimes hung out, 2 birders were set up at the edge of the cliff, and again, there it was. It had just flown in a few minutes earlier.
All in all, I added 23 birds to my year list in just over two days. Granted, some were ones I would get anyhow, like Barn Swallows, but I’ll take them
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