Today 13 birders went in search of spawning herring and, hopefully, lots of birds. We started at Nile Creek – there were many birds scattered over the waters but no concentrations. We could see several gill netters searching for herring but didn’t see any successful fishing. We could see that there were some waterbirds south of us so we then went to Qualicum Bay. There weren’t any spawning herring, but there had been some previously because the Bay was filled with huge flocks of Greater Scaup, scoters, goldeneyes and Long-tailed Duck and the shore was covered with several thousand gulls! We enjoyed great views of the spectacle, including courting goldeneyes. We then headed back north to Deep Bay, which was fairly quiet but had a few flocks of birds and many eagles. That calm was periodically interrupted by groups of sea lions that had found a small school of herring and began to churn up the waters with their feeding – which, in turn, attracted many gulls and eagles. We also saw a few of the first Brant of the season. All together we saw 33 species and had an enjoyable morning.
Brant
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Greater Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrows Goldeneye
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Mew Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Pacific Wren
American Robin
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
