Dave Ingram's Natural History Blog» Birds

Surfbird Surprise

Dave — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:00:13 +0000

A flock of Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata) on the rocks at Schooner Cove.

I watched a flock of Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata), possibly fresh in from breeding grounds in Alaska’s rocky alpine areas, as they worked the intertidal zone in front of the large rocky island in the middle of Schooner Cove yesterday.

I love visiting Schooner Cove and consider it one of my favourite places in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. It’s far enough from the main parking areas that most casual walkers don’t make the effort to walk out to the cove but yet it’s close enough to be reached in under an hour. The rocks here are covered with barnacles, mussels, sea stars and anemones making it a prime destination for folks who want to do some quality intertidal exploring at low tide. The Surfbirds were making their way through beds of mussels, plucking out invertebrates, small mussels and barnacles with their short bills.

A pair of Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata) keep a wary eye on the photographer.

Surfbirds are a chunky little shorebird at home on wave pounded rocky coasts. At this time of year they’re moving into winter plummage, a flat gray back and white belly. Its short bill is yellowish at the base and black at the tip while its legs are yellowish-green in colour. By far the most conspicuous field mark is the striking black band on the end of the white tail and the white “V” pattern on the wings, visible when the birds are flying from rock to rock. Surfbirds move almost continuously, keeping one step ahead of the waves crashing on the rocks while searching for invertebrates to eat.

The Surfbird (Aphriza virgata) is completely at home on the mussel covered rocks of the intertidal zone.

I enjoyed watching these birds as they moved effortlessly around the mussels and barnacles that covered the rocks at Schooner Cove. While I had to watch out for waves and the incoming tide, they were perfectly at home in this dynamic environment.

Read more about bird watchers and their interaction with birds at I and the Bird, this month hosted by John Beetham over at A DC Birding Blog.

Single Sanderling Lingering

Dave — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:45:16 +0000

It almost seems like the arrival of fall shorebird migrants is on pause or perhaps just waiting for the next big push. I haven’t seen too many shorebirds on the beaches at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve aside from a few Semi-palmated Plovers. There are, of course, plenty of California Gulls around and shorebirds can be found if one looks hard enough.

This week while down at Florencia Bay searching for the elusive Pink Sand-verbena I did run into a solitary juvenile Sanderling (Calidris alba), perhaps a forerunner of the wintering flocks, at the mouth of Lost Shoe Creek. The bird was focused on feeding, enabling me to get close enough with my 105mm Nikon lens to get a decent shot. The light was pretty much perfect and the Sanderling was lit well in the early morning sun.

Sanderling (Calidris alba) at Florencia Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Adult Sanderlings in winter plumage are pale gray across the back with a white underbelly, black legs, and a short black bill. Juveniles have a “spangled” back, a beautiful pattern of softly scalloped black and white. Note the black shoulder – in flight, the leading edge of the Sanderling’s wing is black with a broad white wingstripe.

Sanderling (Calidris alba) enjoying the morning sun.

We watched each other for a couple of minutes, ankle and tarsus deep in water. Then I moved on down the beach, leaving this gorgeous little shorebird to enjoy the morning light as it continued to feed at the water’s edge. Rather than lingering, perhaps it is just waiting for its fellow shorebirds to arrive.

Countless California Gulls Hide Heermann’s Gulls

Dave — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:56:26 +0000

A small section of the large flock of California Gulls (Larus californicus) at Wickaninnish Beach, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

It’s hard to describe the number of California Gulls (Larus californicus) that have descended on the beaches in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island since last week as the numbers continue to build. Fall migrants are arriving from breeding grounds in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the interior of BC make their way to the West Coast in mid August before continuing their migration south to California and Mexico. It’s an interesting migration pattern as the birds must fly over the Rocky Mountains before making following the coast southward. They’ll be here for another couple of weeks before beginning to depart in mid September.

More California Gulls (Larus californicus) at Florencia Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

And even more California Gulls (Larus californicus) - note the yellowish or gray/green legs, and black-tipped wings.

Adult California Gulls are fairly easy to identify. They are a smaller gull (when compared to the more common Glaucous-winged Gull) and have black wingtips and yellowish or greenish-gray legs. In comparison with the somewhat similar looking Mew Gull (which also has yellow legs and black wingtips), the bill is more robust with a red and black spot in comparison to the Mew Gull’s thinner, “spot-less” bill.

California Gulls (Larus californicus)

I usually find juvenile gulls a challenge but in this case, most of the juvenile birds were also California Gulls so it wasn’t too difficult to identify them correctly. In a less homogeneous flock I don’t think I’d be as confident!

Juvenile California Gull (Larus californicus)

A pair of Heermann's Gulls (Larus heermanni) in a large flock of California Gulls at Wickaninnish Beach on Vancouver Island, BC.

With such large flocks of California Gulls it pays to spend a little time sorting through the birds to look for other species. This week I was able to find a half dozen Heermann’s Gulls (Larus heermanni) in the flock. With their sooty gray bodies, black legs and red bills they look quite different from the California Gulls. All of the Heermann’s mixed in with the flock of California Gulls appear to be juveniles.

A juvenile Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni).

Interestingly, the Heermann’s Gull has a different migration pattern, nesting in western Mexico in the early spring and then moving north along the west coast. Heermann’s Gulls can be seen fairly regularly in Victoria, British Columbia in the fall. Check out 10,000 Birds article on Heermann’s Gulls for a good overview of the species and excellent photographs of the adult birds.

I’m enjoying watching these large flocks of gulls along the beaches and at the mouths of streams and creeks in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. They’ll only be here for several more weeks so while they’re here I’m going to continue searching through the flocks for more unusual gulls. With this number of birds on the beaches, something interesting is bound to turn up!

California Gull Zen

Dave — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:47:44 +0000

A bit of a feeding frenzy today at Wickaninnish Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. A huge flock of mostly California Gulls (Larus californicus) descended on the beach in the late morning and were still there in the late afternoon despite some folks who thought that it would be fun to flush the flocks resting on the sand up into the air – just a reminder that harassing wildlife in a national park is illegal and can result in a fine so keep your dogs (and children) on a tight leash.

California Gull (Larus californicus)

I spent about 45 minutes watching the antics and searching through the flock for any unusual gulls – more on that in my next post tomorrow. The overall impression was chaos broken by moments of calm. I photographed this lone California Gull preening on a rock and like the contrast between the bird and the reflection and texture in the water.

California Gull (Larus californicus) preening.

Sand Dunes at Wickaninnish Beach

Dave — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:25:29 +0000

One of the places that my wife Jocie and I love to return to again and again are the sand dunes at Wickaninnish Beach. For the botanist, these dunes are the home to many very interesting plants that are adapted to the shifting sand of the dune ecosystem.

Sand dunes at Wickaninnish Beach from a vantage point high in the back part of the dunes.

While I enjoy photographing flowers and plants I find that landscapes are a challenge for me. I usually end up moving closer in an attempt to convey the nature of the greater landscape by examining a smaller part of it. Such was the case in the dunes. I took a number of “grand scale” images that just didn’t seem to work very well and then began looking closer at the details – the way that the wind had sculpted ripples in the sand and the signs that other visitors to the dunes had left behind.

Sand ripples show that the wind is constantly shaping the dunes.

Deer Mouse tracks were everywhere in the dunes, starting from the forest edge and making their winding way across the sand.

These tracks show that a bird (probably a Song Sparrow) paid a visit to the dunes.

Mysterious insect tracks - a caterpillar? a beetle? something else?

After spending some time in the dune looking at tracks and patterns in the sand I realize that I now have more questions than when I began. Sometimes, the bigger picture isn’t nearly as interesting as the smaller stories that you see when you shift your perspective a little closer.

To learn more about the plants in the dunes, read Jocie’s article The Dunes at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve or take a Parks Canada guided walk with an interpreter during the summer months. Keep in mind that the dunes are a very sensitive ecosystem and care should be taken when exploring them. Avoid trampling on any plants and leave as little trace of your visit as possible. The dunes can be accessed by a short walk from Parking Lot “E” at Wickaninnish Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.