Camping Vancouver island Sept. 8-23 2021 Whale Watch, Red Knots, Short-tailed Shearwaters, etc.

 We have been sticking close to home this year except for a couple local camping trips.  So we decided to pack up and tour the east coast of Vancouver Island for a few weeks.  It was also an opportunity to reunite with old friend Wayne  and his wife Leslie, in Parksville.  Wayne and I met when we were 5 years old in Boyle, Alberta.  The last time we visited was about 30 years ago.  They treated us to a great dinner at Tigh Na Mara resort.  The next day we realized we didn't get any pictures of our reunion.  We will have to rectify that sometime soon Wayne.  From Parksville we headed north to Port MacNeill and the Cluxewe RV Resort.

We were going to stay at Cluxewe for 4 days but we enjoyed it so much we stayed a week.

This was our site at Cluxewe.  Fishermen were catching Coho Salmon from the shore and it was a good location to explore Port Hardy, Telegraph Cove, Port Alice and Port MacNeill.

Our first day we found a pair of Red Knots on the seashore.  We have not seen many of the these high Arctic breeders here in the lower mainland.   The ones we have seen, have been at a great distance so it was nice to see them up close.

We went on MacKays Whale Watch out of Port MacNeill.  There were reports of 1000's of Short-tailed Shearwaters in these waters and we thought this would be a good way to view the spectacle.

From Wikipedia;

The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater is commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested. It is a migratory species that breeds mainly on islands in Bass Strait and Tasmania and migrates to the Northern Hemisphere for the boreal summer.

The birds are very oily and they were dried and used as fire starters by early Australians. 

This was taken about 25 years ago off the coast of Australia.  We were on a boat that banded Shearwaters.  The fee they charged for us to join them helped pay their expenses.  I think the bird on the left is a Flesh-footed Shearwater and the other is either a Short-tailed or Sooty Shearwater. (It was a long time ago.)

Some shots of the Shearwaters.  Taken from a rocking boat.  This number of these birds in our waters is unusual and the reason is not clear.  They should be returning to their breeding grounds in Australia now.  One thought is the warming water in the Northern Hemisphere has depleted their food source and they are searching for new sources.

From Audubon;

This summer, Short-tailed Shearwaters made up more than 95 percent of the total collected seabird carcasses that washed-up on Alaskan coasts. Mass seabird die-offs linked to the ecosystem's food shortage have become an annual occurrence in Alaska since 2015, with this year’s death toll estimated at hundreds of thousands.

5-10 Humpback Whales in the area were feeding and stirring up feed for the Shearwaters.

We also saw 10-15 Orcas in the area.  Some of them rushed toward our boat so they could surf off of the bow wake.

A Black-legged Kittiwake flew beside the boat.

While waiting at the dock for the boat Dian spotted this mink washing itself on the wet moss.

The ferry to Sointula cost about $25 including the car.  Sointula is located on Malcolm Island and was once a refuge for Finnish immigrants looking for utopia.  

A Sanderling and a Western Sandpiper on Malcolm Island.

We also took the same ferry to Alert Bay one rainy day.  We were surrounded by native art but Dian was looking under the boardwalk for birds.

There was a lot of excellent carvings like this scattered around Alert Bay.  We have to go back because we missed the museum too.

This windsurfer was seen as we made our way to our final destination of Sooke on the southern coast of Vancouver Island.  

And finally a Hovercraft went by as we were exploring a lighthouse west of Sooke.  It was good couple of weeks and we didn't have to travel a great distance.

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Radium Hotspring Getaway- Oct. 25-Nov.1 2020 Columbia Valley, Rocky Mountain Bighorns, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Hawk-owl, Mule Deer, Squirrels

Dian and I were getting house-bound so we decided to take a week and visit Radium Hotsprings.  We chose a nice apartment through Airbnb called  "Radium Condo with Mountain Views". It was a great location downtown with all the amenities of home.

We had heard of a festival there at the beginning of November called the Headbanger Festival, to celebrate the proliferation of Rocky Mountain Bighorns.  It was canceled this year because of Covid so it seemed like a good time to go and avoid crowds and get a discount on accommodation.  We lucked out on a week of good weather.  The day we got home the rains started.

This was our route.  

We came across two Mule Bucks.  

Although they look the same, they were two separate animals traveling together.

Dian took this shot of me with her iPhone.  We were hiking in the Columbia Valley, north of Fairmount Hotsprings.  

 On a day trip to Lake Louise, we found this Northern Hawk-owl.

This looks like a black and white shot but this is how the scenery actually appeared.  There was a forest fire here recently so there was not a lot of color.  Taken with the iPhone. The mountains at this time of the year are spectacular with the light touching of snow.  Unfortunately, I don't take enough time in trying to photograph them.

  

Main street Radium had a few Mountain Ash trees that had the Starlings going wild.  All the berries were gone in a few days.

The Starlings weren't the only ones after berries.  (iPhone shot)

The local golf course had more sheep than I have seen before.  I was hoping for some headbanging but it didn't happen.

Sheep were everywhere.  Landscaping seemed to be a favorite pastime.  One morning I was watching TV when a parade of them walked by the window.

The Columbia Valley.

I have a few theories of what is happening here.  I am going to go out on a limb (get it?) and surmise they are either trying to keep warm or one of them is afraid of heights.

Dian in the Columbia Valley

A Pileated Woodpecker landed close to us and proceeded to eat berries.

One last shot of the Columbia Valley taken with the iPhone by Dian.  We followed the trail to the end of the ridge in the distance. I rarely use the phone shots in the blog but they are better than the shots I got. 

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CHICKADEES, Mountain, Black-capped, Boreal, Mexican and Chestnut-backed. Sept. 2020

This is a short pictorial on Chickadees of which there are 7 species in North America.  I have pictures of 5.  Missing is the Carolina and the Gray-headed.  The Gray-headed is found in the far most northern regions of Alaska and the Yukon and the Carolina is found in the southern midwest and eastern states. Perhaps someday we may tack them on to our list but until then, here is what we do have.  These hardy little birds which weigh less than 1/2 an ounce, can live quite a long life. 

I took this picture of a Black-capped in Newfoundland.  I was surprised to learn years ago that Black-capped are not found on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwai, and some Gulf Islands. Instead, they are replaced by the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

 Boreal Chickadees are the largest chickadee at 5.5 inches.  They are less social and more secretive than other Chickadees.  They tend to habit more northerly environments.  The oldest recorded Boreal Chickadee was at least 5 years, 4 months old which appears to be the least lived of all the chickadees.  Like most chickadees, the Boreal Chickadee hides food regularly. Known as caching, this habit is probably vital for winter survival in the harsh boreal environment. 

Our most common Chickadee is the Black-capped.  It is 5.25 inches long.  The oldest known Black-capped Chickadee was known to have lived over 12 years.

Cattails supply a source of nesting material.  

• Every autumn Black-capped Chickadees allow brain neurons containing old information to die, replacing them with new neurons so they can adapt to changes in their social flocks and environment. 

Mexican Chickadees have a large, black bib and are small at 5 inches.

We found these Mexican Chickadees in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.  This is one of the few places they can be found outside of Mexico.

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are the smallest of our Chickadees at 4.75 inches.  The Chestnut-backed Chickadee uses lots of fur in making its nest, with fur or hair accounting for up to half the material in the nest hole.

They are found all along the west coast and the Pacific Northwest.  It is the only species of Chickadee found on Vancouver Island.

Mountain Chickadees are usually found in higher elevations across most of the evergreen forests of Western mountains.  This one has found a larva.

             They are 5.25 inches.  This one has an insect wing.

• The oldest recorded Mountain Chickadee was a male, and at least 10 years, 1 month old when he was identified by his band, alive in the wild in Utah in 1974. He had been banded in the same state in 1965.  It is estimated that their population has been reduced by 50% since 1966.

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