Triangle Island Birding Adventure - Day 3

April 26th;

I got up early yet again, ( as is par for birding ), at around 6:45 a.m. I slipped on my jacket and headed out the door almost as soon as I jumped out of bed. The habitat around the cottage we were staying at in Port McNeill is lush, with green, young bushes lining the driveway, a stand of aspens farther up to the back of the property, and at the top is a vast forest of cedar. So, there is quite a lot of bird diversity there, and that morning proved its bird-rich qualities. As soon as I opened the back door, the song of an Orange-crowned Warbler reached my ears. Quickly after, a Song Sparrow sprang into song. Violet-green Swallows chirped overhead, and two Glaucous-winged Gulls shot past below me, over the water. I started to plod up the steep driveway, picking up a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet and one Yellow-rumped ( Audubon's ) Warbler. In the low bushes, a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos flitted about. Wafting from the cedar at the back was the sound of a Townsend's Warbler belting out his tune. A pleasant surprise was hearing an American Pipit passing overhead, flying north to its breeding grounds.

Farther up the trail, a Fox Sparrow popped into view, as did a Song Sparrow. The Yellow-rumped Warbler I heard earlier finally made itself seen, but alas hid behind a branch. Pictures of the three birds just mentioned are presented below in respective order :


Fox Sparrow


Song Sparrow


Yellow-rumped Warbler

The birds list kept piling higher, as an adult Bald Eagle sifted overhead and a Killdeer called in quick succession. Scanning the bay way down on the water produced 5 Surf Scoters, 2 White-winged Scoter, 1 Rhinoceros Auklet, and 1 Marbled Murrelet. As I approached the massive cedars at the top, 2 Chestnut-backed Chickadees, 2 Rufous Hummingbirds, 1 Hermit Thrush, and 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets called right off the bat. One of the most memorable trip moments was the next event to happen. A Ruffed Grouse started to drum from the cedar undergrowth, followed by a wing clap! RUGRs are scarce anywhere on Vancouver Island, so to find one at the top tip of VI was quite awesome.

Surprisingly, the birds didn't stop there! A Merlin descended in and hopped onto an evergreen bow,


Merlin looking for breakfast

... and an extremely daring Pacific Wren burst into his trilly, spilt-out song literally 7 feet away from me!!! The sound was almost deafening. Up in the aspen grove, a male Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler was a wonderful sight with his striking white throat.

I hiked into the cedar forest, and immediately, a Rufous Hummingbird buzzed very near. But, the conditions and lack of light produced a blurry image :


Rufous Hummingbird female blur

I then tried some sharp, high-pitched pishing to lure in the Golden-crowned Kinglets that were singing so close by, and sure enough, an excellent looking male flitted to a branch right over my head and I fired away with the camera. By far the most cooperative Golden-crowned Kinglet I've ever encountered, and I had some images to take from it; this one being arguably the best of the series :


Golden-crowned Kinglet ( Mr. Cooperative )

Satisfied in my morning walk, and having found 29 species of bird, it was now 8:30, and about time to head in for breakfast.

Post-breakfast, my mom and I drove down to "urban" Port McNeill, and met up with Liron ( another 13 year old birder like me, who had organized the Triangle Island Pelagic that was successful the day before ). We started birding at the fabled street where that winter a Hooded Oriole and Dickcissel had taken up residence. Looking up into the sky, we were happy to watch a group of 7 Sandhill Cranes circling up overhead, then flapping north.



Sandhill Cranes

Liron and I had 1 hour for our walk, because at 10:30 a.m., we would meet up with our parents at the docks and hop on a local ferry which would take us 5 kilometers across the Port McNeill bay to Malcolm Island, where we would bird for the remainder of the day.

Getting back to our walk in Port McNeill, it was quite productive, and some of the highlights were :
- Seeing non-breeding and breeding plumaged Common Loons together
- Getting a pair of very perturbed Belted Kingfishers jabbering at us
- Watching a Fox Sparrow execute quite an unusual song, with notes of other bird species
- And observing this more than cooperative Least Sandpiper along the shoreline :


Least Sandpiper


Boarding the twelve-car capasity ferry, we noticed a perfect vantage point at the front of the ferry in which to scan from. So, we got out of our carpool car, snatched the spot, and started scanning the water as soon as the boat pulled away.

The ride from Port McNeill to Sointula, ( the only town on Malcolm Island ), was eventful, with tons of various alcids, seaducks ( including a large raft of Surf Scoters ), and these Pacific Loons :




Pacific Loons in semi-breeding plumage

Only 30 minutes after we pulled away from the Port McNeill shore, we had made it to the Sointula harbor. Gulls were the main attraction as you can see...


Nice adult Glaucous-winged Gull


Second-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull - maybe a trace of hybridism?


Another good old pure adult Glaucous-winged Gull


First or second cycle Glaucous-winged Gull - looks pure...


Third-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull - looks pretty pure...

Enough with the gulls. We drove into Sointula, and dropped Liron and his dad off at their hotel ( as they were staying the night and then driving back to Port McNeill with another person in the morning ), and my mom and wandered around the island; doing an afternoon of birding. Here's the story.


We began at the east side of the island and stopped at a few pull-offs to scan the water. At the first pull-off, we nabbed Red-breasted Merganser, White-winged and Surf Scoters, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Red-necked Grebe. At the second stop, we had more of the same. Time to drive up Kaleva Road, an excellent street for various forest species. Shockingly, it was very quiet and devoid of birds. Warbler numbers were up, though, with 8 Townsend's, 7 Orange-crowned, 2 Yellow-rumped, and a possible heard Wilson's Warbler tallied. There were several Rufous Hummingbirds around, but overall it was very quiet. But there was one major highlight. While trying to track down the possible Wilson Warbler, something caught my eye; it was a massive flock of geese! Way, way up in the sky they powered north, and identification down to species was utterly difficult. By body stature, I have eliminated Canada Goose from contention, and Cackling doesn't fit it either. So my guess is either Brant or Greater White-fronted. Here's a photo of them; what do you think?


Geese sp. flock

Moving on, after we had exhausted our resources at Kaleva Road, and it was starting to drizzle, we turned around, and drove back to Sointula. We got out at the fishing dock, where a large amount of boats were stored, and I proceeded to walk along the road, away from Sointula. The first excitement came in the form of a Rufous Hummingbird, executing his shocking dive-bombing display, and every once and a while he would come down and land on a wire above me and scold away.


Rufous Hummingbird - not impressed by my presence

Golden-crowned Sparrows were everywhere, and even in a resident's garden :


"Garden Sparrows" at a typical Sointula house

The 'Coastal' subspecies of Steller's Jay was also present in that very backyard, with almost no facial markings at all; only two bleak blue streaks on the forehead.

Mew Gulls like this individual were also abundant nearby on the shoreline :


Mew Gull

At the boat dock, there was a photo op that was too perfect to pass up - a Belted Kingfisher on a fish boat :


Belted Kingfisher deckhand - "The kingfisher's on lookout again, Cap'n"

Also at the boat moorage, I had this look at the bay water -


Scenery as seen from the Soitula boat moorage - You can probably find the Glaucous-winged Gull, but can you spot the pair of Buffleheads? ~ Hint- they're on the left half of the image ~

Walking out of Sointula, it was impossible to miss this gloriously singing Hermit Thrush :


Hermit Thrush posture

Suddenly, a Band-tailed Pigeon absolutely obliterated the speed record; tearing across the sky close overhead. A good FOY ( first of year bird), for me, which I was afraid I would miss on the trip. I rounded a curve, and Deep Bay was spread out before me. This spot's claim to fame is that in May, the odd little group of Marbled Godwits are almost annual. It's too early for them, though. But there were the first Mallards for the whole trip on the bay - yippee, one I wanted to miss. But also on the muddy shore were 2 Green-winged Teals ( also new for the trip ), and a lone female Gadwall ( also new ) with a handful more of Mallards. On the edge of the water were two confusing adult Western X Glaucous-winged Gulls; when could I find a pure Western already?! There were sadly no shorebirds whatsoever on the mud; the tide was even starting to go out and there was shoreline to feed on. Oh well, there're just probably circling around way up the clouds, waiting for me to leave, and then when I do, they'll just come down to bay and feed oh-so-happily.

Other birds in the area were : Eurasian Collared-Doves ( Come on, they're here too? Darn invasive. ), Common Raven, Bald Eagle, one Fox Sparrow, and a soaring Turkey Vulture. Here are few more enduring moments from Malcolm Island :


Great Blue Heron - Deep Bay


View from Deep Bay, looking at Sointula on the left


The beautiful shore and Sointula boat dock


A tree growing from a stump - life sprouts!


Another view from Deep Bay


Deep Bay and beyond - On the far shore, in the centre of the picture, you can just make out Port McNeill. Pristine, isn't it?

After 2 1/2 hours of wonderful birding and pure and untouched scenery, it was time to attend Liron's presentational speech at a local converted gym. After the wonderfully presented talk ( great job, Liron, my friend :) ), we exchanged goodbyes, and I headed down the ferry port. But not before watching a fairly large flock of Brant flying swiftly south. As I boarded the ferry, I soaked the island's natural beauty, and lovely gist and qualities. Once the ferry pushed off from dock once again, I turned around and snapped this shot of the town of Sointula, very quaint and rich in heritage.


Sointula - Quaint, and rich in heritage

An odd feature on the shoreline was this :


Post-accident - I wonder what happened here?

Quickly snatching the vantage point at the front of the boat again, I surveyed the water for birdlife. Pacific Loons were still about, joined by a few White-winged Scoters. A pair of the WWSCs actually were tame enough to stay put as the ferry rocketed past them, and pictures were available. The best I could manage with the swaying of the boat were -




White-winged Scoters - As you can see, they were quite close!

Just to give you an idea what the ship looked like, here's a picture taken of the ferry from the front to the back of the boat ( yes, I know the cars are facing backward ).


The ferry

As I was taking this scenery photo below, two Red-breasted Mergansers ripped by my frame of vision, creating a positive photobomb!


Red-breasted Merganser with scenery - or is it the other way around?...

Pardon my dry sense of humor.

Carrying on.... continuing to travel back to Port McNeill, sea birds persisted, with Horned Grebes, a few Pigeon Guillemots, Common Loons, Surf Scoters, and one Pelagic Cormorant still being present. Finally, as evening was dawning ( whoa, that's oxymoronic ), the vessel slowed down as we neared the Port Mac dock.


Port McNeill dead ahead!

Subsequently driving off the ferry, we scooted back to the cottage... to catch an NBA playoff game.

Yes, I would have watched the game if there weren't 33 Bald Eagles in a feeding frenzy outside the front door of the cottage. Yep, there they were, 33 Bald Eagles just awing us with their majestic, yet somewhat mythical being; swooping, turning, and flying forcefully past. They would swoosh down, way down to the bay below, than surge up and start consuming their meals in mid-air. It was truly incredible, and a moment my mother and I will not forget any time soon. Of course the camera was clicking, and here are the results :


7 of 33 Bald Eagles present at a feeding frenzy right outside the front door of our rented cottage in Port McNeill


An immature bird - this is nearly full-frame!


Looking at his catch. He would even stretch out and take a bite out of it mid-air! Anyone identify that fish?


Swooping Bald Eagle


Bald Eagle - Same individual as the last two pictures

After around forty-five of observing the spectacle in awe and wonder, I did eventually sit down and watch the basketball game. ;)

Well, that wraps up another full day of birding at the top tip of Vancouver Island, and would be my last, as I would navigate back down to Vancouver ( birding along the way ), starting bright and early in the morning.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and the next of the series is coming soon!

Have a great rest of your week;

Logan :)