Sightings Board Postings for 2001

Date submitted: Monday, December 24 at 05:48 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 12/22/01
Time on site: 2.5
Sightings:
Weekly census highlights among 44 species:
1 Hermit Thrush
2 Turkey Vulture
17 Varied Thrush
5 Ring-necked Duck
2 Sharp-shinned Hawk
135 Ancient Murrelet

Final census of 2001. Next one January 5, 2002.
Final year list tally: 192 species.

Side note: Alan MacLeod and others managed to complete a "late" Sooke Christmas Bird Count pelagic tour of Race Rocks and surrounding waters on Sunday the 23rd. Highlights: adult Iceland Gull on Race Rocks with 500 Thayer's Gull, 5 Herring Gull, and 9 Rock Sandpiper. The Iceland represents Rocky's 273rd species on its checklist!.
Five new birds were added in 2001: Northern Mockingbird, Black-headed Gull, Great Egret, Anna's Hummingbird, and Iceland Gull.

Merry Christmas

Date submitted: Sunday, December 09 at 12:36 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 12/08/01
Time on site: 2
Sightings:
Rod Mitchell and I returned for weekly census. Third week in a row for poor weather, but birds kept our attention focused. More trees are down, including section willow near banding shack.
Highlights:
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Surfbird
8 Ring-necked Duck
1 Virginia Rail
300 Pine Siskin
500+ Common Murre
30 Ancient Murrelet
7 Pigeon Guillemot

Date submitted: Sunday, December 02 at 06:53 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 12/01/01
Time on site: 2
Sightings:
Rod Mitchell and I returned for our weekly winter census of station (albeit a wet one!).
Water level was very high (combination of high tides and wind), but seabird activity was reduced in spite of strong winds the night before.
Highlights:
1 Virginia Rail (heard calling from marsh above Glover Pond);
2 Marsh Wren;
20+ Black Turnstone;
1 Turkey Vulture;
150 Bufflehead;
1 Common Goldeneye;
40 Bonaparte's Gull (flying in close formation through Eemdyk Channel);
160 Pine Siskin (we checked them over but pouring rain made it difficult to observe them clearly for any redpolls -- patience, patience!).

Date submitted: Monday, November 26 at 09:37 PM
Name: David Allinson/Rod Mitchell
Date Visited: 11/24/01
Time on site: 4.5 hours
Sightings:
How great to be back on site after more than a month away!

While songbird activity was generally quiet with a brisk north wind blowing, seabird activity offshore was dramatic!

Highlights among 62 species tallied:
1 Heermann's Gull (late date)
175+ Ancient Murrelet (in groups by the dozen zipping by in every direction)
4 Turkey Vulture
9 Red-throated Loon
45+ Bufflehead
2 Dunlin
8 Bonaparte's Gull
4 Cedar Waxwing
2 Hutton's Vireo
160 Pine Siskin

2001 year-list now stands at 187 species (since May 13th).

Date submitted: Monday, October 22 at 02:06 PM
Name: Rod Mitchell
Date Visited: N/A
Time on site: N/A
Sightings:
TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF SIGHTINGS.

Because of the military actions in Afghanistan the Canadian Forces have moved to a higher level of readiness and alert status. Thus, the base is in a "lock-down" state at the moment and, as of Sunday, October 7th 2001, we have been asked to vacate the premises at Rocky Point.

It is not clear at this time for just how long we will be denied access to our station. We are currently in consultation with the military and soon hope to have one of our members cleared for access to resume our twice weekly winter counts.
Keep checking in and thanks for your interest in RPBO.

Date submitted: Saturday, September 08 at 09:13 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 09/08/01
Time on site: 7 hours
Sightings:
42 birds banded and 80 species total
-- 17 Sandhill Crane (on mudflats near Allinson Point); WOW!
-- 1 leucistic/albinistic Cooper's Hawk (photographed) -- weird bird! and I do not know of many records of albino accipiters, buteos yes, but not accipiters. I'm going to send a note to Andy Stewart and ask him (the bird was close enough to tell it was NOT banded). It had a banded tail and some grey on crown, but otherwise a dusky white overall.

10+ RTHA
6+ SSHA
1 American Kestrel
1 Osprey
50 TUVU
50 Vaux's Swift
1000's of murres and RHAU continue offshore.

Gosh, I love September!

Date submitted: Thursday, September 06 at 08:46 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 09/05/01
Time on site: n/a
Sightings:
Rare Bird Alert!
RPBO banded a Northern Pygmy-Owl during an abbreviated banding session before DND demolition took place. Graeme and rest of crew enjoyed handling our 89th banded/mist-netted species. For interest, it was trapped in net 5 right near the banding shelter.

Date submitted: Saturday, August 25 at 08:42 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/25/01
Time on site: n/a
Sightings:
Rare Bird Alert!
On Friday, August 24th, Denise Gubersky found the still fresh remains of Rocky Point's third Barn Owl. Poor guy was probably nailed by one of resident Great Horned Owls!

Date submitted: Sunday, August 12 at 05:29 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/12/10
Time on site: 7 hours
Sightings:
Rocky is becoming scary with how many rarities keep showing up!

Yesterday afternoon, Graeme Gibson had two Great Egrets fly by Edye Point on their way toward Race Rocks (GREG's seem to be everywhere in northwest this month). This represents #271 for us!

Today, Rocky's third record of Short-eared Owl was found during on census. Our seventh Black-legged Kittiwake was spotted during seawatch as well. Other highlights today were: 3 Common Tern, 1 Sanderling and 6 Tree Swallow. Finally, the first Golden-crowned Sparrow of fall was heard singing in upper field.

While it was slow at nets (about 20 birds), we still tallied about 90 species over last two days and the rarities don't seem to be "rare" (at least with their frequency)!!

Why bird anywhere else?!

Date submitted: Saturday, August 11 at 07:38 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/11/01
Time on site: 9 hours
Sightings:
Today at Rocky, we found our seventh record of Dusky Flycatcher; a singing (!) adult seen very well out in open just below Teal Ponds. Other highlights: 5 Black Scoter (very early; our first August record and rare at Rocky anytime), a Virginia Rail, 1 imm Semipalmated Plover, 4 Surfbird, 1 Herring Gull, and 1 Common Tern during seawatch gave us hope that this species will be building in numbers soon (usually towards end of August). Raptors starting to move too with single SSHA, COHA, and MERL along with 2 NOHA's. Two Harbour Porpoise during seawatch was a nice marine mammal highlight too.
85 species on day! Year list is now 152 species total.
Still no Lincoln's Sparrow (late?!), Fox Sparrow or Golden-crowned Sparrow -- any day now!

Date submitted: Tuesday, August 07 at 10:27 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/06-07
Time on site: n/a
Sightings:
On Monday, while things were quiet at nets, there were still some birds of interest about:
Rare Bird Alert! A BREEDING PLUMAGED (!) male BLACKPOLL WARBLER was briefly seen but repeatedly heard calling in company of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Orange-crowned Warblers near Gate 11. Of additional interest, this represents the second sight record (single observer) in last two years.
Other highlights;
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
1 Caspian Tern
1 Semipalmated Plover
11 Band-tailed Pigeon

On Tuesday, Ann Nightingale saw a Sandhill Crane over the jetty on her way out for our first record of fall. This is Rocky Point's earliest date ever for this species by about one week.

Date submitted: Sunday, August 05 at 06:18 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/04-05
Time on site: 8+ hours each day
Sightings:
For Saturday the 4th, among 83 species tallied:
1 Cassin's Auklet (immature), 70 Red-necked Phalarope, 5 Harlequin Duck, 1 Mourning Dove, 1 Western Wood-Pewee, 1 Osprey.
Sunday was seemingly a quieter day today at first, but similar species diversity numbers and some new arrivals made things interesting (total of 89 species for last two days and we still caught 74 birds in two days in spite of only three hours banding on Saturday due to rain - I think our banding total is now ~485).
Most interesting birds for Sunday 5th:
2 Black Swift, a Cassin's Vireo, 2 Western Tanager, 2 Purple Martin, a Lesser Yellowlegs, and the first Thayer's Gull, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Sora of fall. I am about 65% sure I heard a Red-eyed Vireo near the banding station, but was distracted by a mini-fallout at nets at the time and could not chase it down (this would be only our 6th record) -- if someone can confirm the Red-eyed, then we had the vireo slam today (all four species)! We also caught and released an unidentified Empid today (it was released largely due to fact that it had a malformed or damaged bill -- missing part of lower mandible and upper mandible was all wrinkled), and it looked like a miniature Willow, but was probably a scary moulting Hammond's (we took photos of this strange looking adult bird). We couldn't spend long with it as it did not look too healthy (obviously undersize -- amazing it could survive with such a bill)! Finally, outside the count area, I had a Varied Thrush along the road north of Fir Junction on the way in this morning.

Of interest, the accumulative RPBO year list is now at 146 species (only since May)...

Date submitted: Sunday, August 05 at 06:10 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 08/03/01
Time on site: 30 minutes
Sightings:
During a quick visit Friday evening, I discovered an eclipse plumaged male Wood Duck in Glover Pond. This represents our earliest fall record by about two weeks.

Date submitted: Tuesday, July 31 at 10:16 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 07/27-28-29
Time on site: Sometime...
Sightings:
Good numbers of resident warblers on Friday at head of front that moved in, but migration has apparently slowed over weekend. On Friday, an immature Northern Harrier was of interest and on Saturday 8 Semipalmated Plovers was undoubtedly a site high. Also of interest on Saturday was our first Brewer's Blackbird of season. Finally, on the 28th RPBO finally captured and banded its first Cliff Swallow (#87 on our banded/mist-netted list!).

Date submitted: Sunday, July 22 at 10:13 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 07/21-22/01
Time on site: Sometime...
Sightings:
Weekend Highlights:
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
110 Bonaparte's Gull
6 Surfbird
12 Black Turnstone
1 Osprey
250 Violet-green Swallow
1 Semipalmated Plover
1 Short-billed Dowitcher

Date submitted: Saturday, July 14 at 07:19 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 07/14/01
Time on site: 5.5 hours
Sightings:
Hi folks,
Had a phenomenal seawatch today at the Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO).
In spite of the fact that I rolled into RPBO at noon (!), I managed to tally some 65 species. With strong west winds, there was a lot of movement offshore from Pedder Bay, all around Race Rocks, and out in Juan de Fuca Strait.

Highlights:
1 Black-headed Gull -- new RPBO species (#270!)
5 (maybe 7?) Black-legged Kittiwake -- the year of the kittiwake continues!
2 Tufted Puffin
1 Ancient Murrelet
4 Common Murre
400+ Rhinoceros Auklet
3 Red-necked Phalarope
1 Common Tern -- 'early-ish' date
3 Caspian Tern -- where are the rest of them this year?
1 Western Gull
2 Semipalmated Plover -- 'early-ish' date
1 Spotted Sandpiper
1 White-winged Scoter

To top the day off, a pod of about 10 orcas swam right in front of me just as I was about to leave. They flushed 3 Red-necked Phalarope that I likely would have missed.

Date submitted: Sunday, July 08 at 07:47 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: July 7 And 8
Time on site: n/a
Sightings:
Saturday July 7th highlights:
3 Caspian Tern
2 Heermann's Gull
1 Mourning Dove

Sunday July 8th highlights:
2 Semipalmated Sandpiper (new high!)
3 Short-billed Dowitcher
1 Steller's Jay

Date submitted: Monday, July 02 at 06:23 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/30 And 07/01-02
Time on site: n/a
Sightings:
1 Caspian Tern (scare around Victoria this year)
3 Common Nighthawk
5 Purple Martin
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk (immature)
1st adult peeps are back:
9 Western Sandpipers
11 Least Sandpiper
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
2 Willow Flycatcher (back breeding in gorse! west of Teal Ponds)
3 Savannah Sparrow (surprisingly scarce in summer at Rocky in spite of habitat)
1 Mourning Dove (cooing again just past Gate 11)

On Monday 2nd, a nice mini fall-out representing post-breeding dispersal of locally breeding warblers with a total of at least 30 individuals from 7 species. Each oak in upper meadow had 1-2 birds foraging on large caterpillars. 'Seep', 'chip' and 'sip' calls could be heard everywhere (this is July isn't it?!).

Date submitted: Sunday, June 24 at 09:10 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/23-24/01
Time on site: 3-4 hours each day
Sightings:
G'day folks,
Today, Gabriel David and I went to RPBO, but were unsuccessful in re-locating my possible Alder Flycatcher from Saturday. I personally am not going to count it, even though it sure sounded right (would have preferred hearing it again and seeing it for minor differences with Willow). It will no doubt remain one of those SHOULDA, WOULDA, COULDA's! Safer to just call it a "Traill's" Flycatcher!

Other highlights (64 species tallied, 69 species for weekend):
1 Black-legged Kittiwake (offshore west of Bentinck Island) -- fifth record for RPBO, and our second this year.
1 Mourning Dove (for Western Communities of Victoria very rare in summer, and only uncommon during fall migration -- the bird was busily cooing away, perhaps suggesting breeding?). Heard just beyond Gate 12 in DND's 'verboten zone'.
1 Northern Pygmy-Owl - responded to my impersonation of a pygmy'.
1 Dunlin - still in breeding; is it early, late, or summering?!
1 Common Loon - offshore west of Race Rocks.
323+ Rhinoceros Auklet - conservative total as there were lots of alcids around both ends of Race Rocks today!

There is no such thing as 'summer doldrums' for birding!

Date submitted: Saturday, June 16 at 04:44 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/16/01
Time on site: 6 hours
Sightings:
Before joining a work party clearing broom and gorse and paths, I arrived to complete census today. I was pleasantly surprised to tally 55 species today (not too shaby considering it's mid-June!).
Highlights:
1 Western Kingbird (our fourth record)
1 Willow Flycatcher
1 Hammond's Flycatcher
29 Cliff Swallow

Date submitted: Sunday, June 03 at 10:45 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/03/01
Time on site: 1 hour
Sightings:
Brief visit this evening produced a female Common Merganser serving as a life raft for her five newly hatched chicks as they rode on her back in Pedder Bay (just inside checklist boundary)! First confirmed breeding record for our checklist!

Date submitted: Saturday, June 02 at 03:40 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/02/01
Time on site: 5 hours
Sightings:
In spite of rain and cool temperatures, four volunteers ventured to Rocky today.
Highlights among the 61 species tallied were:
1 Northern Pygmy Owl (1st June record)
1 Semipalmated Plover (1st June record)
1 Vaux's Swift
4 Pacific Loon
3 Western Wood-Pewee

Date submitted: Friday, June 01 at 10:34 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 06/01/01
Time on site: 1 hour
Sightings:
During an evening visit, showers and a strong gale (60+km/h) out of west, south-west ensured that things were slow at Rocky! However, a pair of Western Wood-Pewees calling near Gate 11 gave hope that this species may breed again on site. A pair raised a family in 1998 near the banding shelter, but pewees are an irregular breeder in the Victoria area.
Also heard was a Virginia Rail in the lower pond.
The sub-adult Red-tailed Hawk, recently seen being harrassed by the resident pair of 'tails', surprisingly is still present and was seen near Cape Calver tonight. This bird has a distinctive two-tone, partially "red" upper tail.
Finally, this appears to be a good year for California Quail as they seem to be everywhere along the roads and trails (more so than usual)!

Date submitted: Sunday, May 27 at 03:30 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/27/01
Time on site: 6 hours
Sightings:
The day started off quietly at the start of my spring census route, but picked up momentum as I lingered. The excitement began with not one, not two, but THREE Black-legged Kittiwake off Cape Calver! They were all adult birds and were flying toward Race Rocks. Later, as I stood near Building 100, an unusual buteo caught my eye and when I put my scope on it I was rewarded with an intermediate-phase adult Swainson's Hawk! Strong dihedral, long pointed wings with two-tone underwing and very different flight jizz than nearby Red-tail's (almost harrier-like). And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, five minutes later the Red-winged Blackbirds began to kick up a fuss so I looked up to see a large dark buteo pass over Bldg 100 at 30 feet right over my head! Guess what? Swainson's Hawk #2 for the day, but this time a dark-phase bird (able to see white undertail)! WOW!
67 species total.

Highlights:
2 Swainson's Hawk (our 6th record)
3 Black-legged Kittiwake (our fourth record)
11 Yellow Warbler
16 Yellow-rumped Warbler
31 Rhinoceros Auklet
1 Evening Grosbeak
2 Swainson's Thrush
2 Pacific Loon

Date submitted: Saturday, May 26 at 10:39 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/26/01
Time on site: 4 hours
Sightings:
Our second annual joint VicNHS/RPBO field trip for new volunteers had 11 participants enjoy a relatively quiet day at the station. Lots of evidence of resident breeders with young.
Highlights:
4 Evening Grosbeak
1 Cassin's Vireo
5 Townsend's Warbler
3 Common Merganser
1 Cliff Swallow with a WHITE rump!

Date submitted: Monday, May 21 at 09:09 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/21/01
Time on site: 7h, 30 min
Sightings:
Highlights today were sidetracked by my day-long effort attempting to turn a first spring (?) Wandering Tattler into British Columbia's first Gray-tailed Tattler!! However, the bird resisted obliging me and will remain a slightly aberrant Wandering Tattler! The bird was not as gray on the mantle as it could be (almost brown) and more importantly showed a white belly and vent and its calls were not typical either. However, upon very close examination it did show Wandering Tattler diagnostic features with a markedly barred undertail coverts and with a longer nasal groove running more than 2/3's of way down bill (believe it or not this is a field mark; check your guides!). This bird gave me a scare, but it was a good learning experience! Photos were taken at close range (while I stood almost waist deep in chilly waters of Juan de Fuca Strait!).
Also obtained photos of wolf prints which remained in mud flats (see May 13 report).
Finally, I managed to single-handedly move one of the picnic tables from trailer site back to banding hut area (Subaru Forester's rule!).

Highlights:
1 Wandering Tattler
1 Dunlin
1 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Blue-winged Teal
3 Cedar Waxwing
4 Band-tailed Pigeon
2 Steller's Jay (scarce of late)
1 Hutton's Vireo
2 Cassin's Vireo (oddly absent at RPBO for last two weeks)

Date submitted: Sunday, May 20 at 10:17 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/20/01
Time on site: 5 hours
Sightings:
Clear weather likely allowed many migrants to pass through undetected overnight. Species numbers were identical today (58) as on Saturday with the following highlights:
1 Solitary Sandpiper
1 Whimbrel
1 Tree Swallow
2 Blue-winged Teal (pair in Teal Ponds)
3 Western Wood-Pewee
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Harlequin Duck
2 Common Merganser
1 Pacific Loon

Date submitted: Saturday, May 19 at 10:35 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/19/01
Time on site: 7 hours, 15 min
Sightings:
Returned to Rocky for spring migration monitoring with a mixed bag of weather to greet me. Morning showers were moving sideways thanks to stiff west-north-west winds and the temperature was only 10C. Happily by 10:30 it turned into a sunny day, but the strong winds remained and temp. rose to 17. Today, I also began the onerous task of weed-wacking the trails and net lanes (three hours later I was only at net 4!).

Seabirds were almost non-existant and overall bird numbers/diversity were down from week before with only 58 species tallied, but here are the highlights:
9 Western Wood-Pewee - single-day high?!
1 Herring Gull - first May record!
1 Hutton's Vireo
1 Virginia Rail
2 Black-headed Grosbeak

Date submitted: Sunday, May 13 at 05:07 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/13/01 (Holy Day)
Time on site: 4 hours, 30 min
Sightings:
Hello again,
Ventured to Rocky again and enjoyed nicer, calmer conditions and fantastic birding! Total species was remarkable at 72 species and a two-day combined total of 80 species!

RARE BIRD ALERT(s)
1 Northern Mockingbird -- new Rocky Point checklist species (#269)! Seen along upper road just east of Teal Ponds. We all should keep an eye out for this bird over summer as this species has nested in the Victoria area historically. (Ironically, I just came back from a Texas birding trip where I saw these birds everywhere!).
1 Townsend's Solitaire -- one of only about a dozen records on site for this species. This bird was seen just past Gate 12 (first gate at entrance). [A new bird for site list for yours truly!].
RARE MAMMAL ALERT
1 adult female Grey Wolf -- new? (old historical records?) Rocky Point mammal checklist species! Seen foraging along beach at low tide west of Building 100 (the 'shorebird area'). Observed at distance of 150 yards for about 10 minutes (slide photos taken with 300mm lens). Awesome scope looks -- after it saw me it simply moved up shore and LAID DOWN and watched me watching her before disappearing into forest. Truly one of those special, spiritual moments that only Rocky can produce! Happy to report that it appeared to be a very healthy individual; a fine specimen. I have now seen all three of our island's major terrestrial predators at Rocky Point -- cougar, black bear, and now grey wolf (you could even include river otter and orca to this list of "large" predators if you want!). This just further indicates the significance of Rocky to biodiversity on southern Vancouver Island and the Victoria area (also an indication of a "healthy" environment there).

Other bird highlights:
2 Red-necked Phalarope (off Cape Calver)
2 Brant (off Cape Calver)
1 Virginia Rail (calling from lower pond)
45 Surf Scoter
4 Common Merganser
7 Common Loon (6 flying high over land!)
1 Pacific Loon
2 Marbled Murrelet
8 Vaux's Swift
5 Yellow Warbler
1 Western Wood-Pewee
1 Osprey

Yep, just another slow day at Rocky...NOT!

P.S. There is a large orange and white cat hanging out (hunting) near trailer @ Cape Calver! Aaarrggh.

Date submitted: Sunday, May 13 at 04:29 PM
Name: David Allinson
Date Visited: 05/12/01
Time on site: 2h, 45 min
Sightings:
Greetings all,
My first general ob's session of spring started well. In spite of a stiff and surprisingly chilly west wind, I managed to tally 63 species with the following highlights:
1 male Blue-winged Teal (upper ponds)
1 Great Horned Owl (being mobbed by a dozen robins!)
1 American Pipit
1 Osprey
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 male Black-headed Grosbeak
"Fallout" of 15+ Savannah Sparrows near Bldg. 100 was interesting (latish date).
Also tallied all eight of our "regular" warblers.
Finally, the remains of a mule deer kept resident Turkey Vultures and Bald Eagles happy but they still squabbled over leftovers (near old trailer site).

Date submitted: Wednesday, May 02 at 02:46 PM
Name: Rod Mitchell
Date Visited: May 2Nd 2001
Time on site: 30 min
Sightings:
It was a beautiful day at RPBO today as I took a couple of visitors for a drive through the area and walked out to the banding shack to check on the state of things. The grass is green and birdsong was everywhere. Redwinged Blackbirds were particularly noisey at all ponds. Song Sparrow, Flickers, Lincoln Sparrow, somebody Vireo, Thrushes, and too many to list here as this was a tourist visit and we were talking and pointing out vistas too much. But, how beautiful.

I sure do hope this posting is listed correctly so the board can go public now...............