Have you ever watched the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'? Do you remember the moment when Hugh Grant is in the church waiting for his own wedding to "duck-face" and he has just discovered that his true love Carrie, played by Andi MacDowell is separated from her husband, and this is the person he really wants to be with. He goes into a side room in the church and slowly beats his head against the stone wall and says "bugger, bugger, bugger" with such depth and feeling. For me, it's a defining moment in a great film.
There is also a word in the book "The Meaning of Liff" (the book that marries place names with no meaning, with everyday things and phenomena that have no name). I can't remember the place name but remember the phenomenon - when you know something has just gone badly wrong, but you don't know what it is yet. Yesterday, I was thinking that everything is sorted out now between now and when I leave Seattle - what could possibly go wrong now?
Well I just had both of those moments. I woke at 5:30 a.m. in my motel room in Port Angeles, and something made me think about the pelagic birding trip I've organised. Isn't that due to go on 18th? Isn't that today? Checking the booking confirmation, it certainly is today, and I'm in Port Angeles and the boat leaves from Westport, which is at least 4 hours drive away.
I'm feeling completely gutted. That boat trip was going to be the highlight of my trip and I've screwed up. I've had a month since I booked this thing for the penny to drop and I could have done something about it, even last night. I doubt there's much chance of getting a refund given this is completely my own fault, and they won't have had a chance to get a reserve at this late notice.
Oh well, there are plenty of other things I could do instead.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Dungeness spit
I wake early. I need to sort a few things out. I book a motel for the night before the pelagic trip in Westport, sort out some money and work out my route for the next few days. Finally, I check out and go to pick up my hire car.
I've decided to take a ferry across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. At $15 for me and the car, I sense we're getting back to sensible prices (the Canadian dollar is quite strong now, so there aren't any bargains to be had over there just now). As you get off the ferry, you realise you've left the hustle of the big city behind and entered the rather well-heeled island community. Of course they're probably all so rich they can afford to commute daily to Seattle.
The impressive Seattle skyline from the ferry
I drive to the Dungeness area. Like its namesake in England, it is a spit made of sand and shingle, with more emphasis on the former. The spit is a long and narrow, and projects into Juan da Fuca Sound close to the southern tip of Vancouver. It's a calm day with the sun trying to force its way through the occasional fog and cloud.
Olympic National Park in background
Once again, I don't see a huge amount, but its an enjoyable day's birding. The most interesting additions to the trip list was a couple of American pipits at the end of the day. They showed exactly why they are called buff-bellied pipits, with their quite rich buff underparts, contrasting with a much greyer back. They have pure white outer tail feathers, giving away that they are related to water pipit.
I stay in a cheap, but very comfortable motel in Port Angeles, and have a substantial Mexican meal nearby - they forgot to charge me for my beer, so I give them a bigger tip.
I've decided to take a ferry across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. At $15 for me and the car, I sense we're getting back to sensible prices (the Canadian dollar is quite strong now, so there aren't any bargains to be had over there just now). As you get off the ferry, you realise you've left the hustle of the big city behind and entered the rather well-heeled island community. Of course they're probably all so rich they can afford to commute daily to Seattle.
The impressive Seattle skyline from the ferryI drive to the Dungeness area. Like its namesake in England, it is a spit made of sand and shingle, with more emphasis on the former. The spit is a long and narrow, and projects into Juan da Fuca Sound close to the southern tip of Vancouver. It's a calm day with the sun trying to force its way through the occasional fog and cloud.
Olympic National Park in backgroundOnce again, I don't see a huge amount, but its an enjoyable day's birding. The most interesting additions to the trip list was a couple of American pipits at the end of the day. They showed exactly why they are called buff-bellied pipits, with their quite rich buff underparts, contrasting with a much greyer back. They have pure white outer tail feathers, giving away that they are related to water pipit.
I stay in a cheap, but very comfortable motel in Port Angeles, and have a substantial Mexican meal nearby - they forgot to charge me for my beer, so I give them a bigger tip.
On my own again
We wake early and do some birding at Lake Somenos nearby. It's a bit more lively here, though not much more. I manage to pick out a Lincoln sparrow. Hurrah, a full blown lifer, though it didn't exactly knock my socks off! We add a few more birds to the trip list, including a moulting drake wood duck.
We then drive round to Swartz Bay where the ferry leaves for Vancouver. After a great breakfast at a cafe in the nearby marina, I drop off Martin for his return journey and we say our farewells.
I take the car along the coast road down to Victoria, stopping off at a number of locations to take in the view and do some birding. It's a very nice stretch of coast, with fantastic panorama views across to the gulf islands. It's pleasantly mild and the sea is flat calm. I manage to see a few new birds. Perhaps the highlight is two Sandhill cranes flying along the coast. There are a few other new spec ies for the trip, though all are fairly common, and to be expected. A wasp managed to sneak inside my shirt and start to sting me. The first was the most serious, but the others had relatively little venom in them. Other occupants in the car park in the rather refined Oak Bay must have been put off their prosciutto and mozzarello do buffalo foaccaci at the sight of a shirtless Andy swiping at a long-gone wasp!
Not a Lincoln's sparrow, but a song sparrow
I drop off the hire car and wander around town for one last time, picking up a map and other bits and pieces, while the heavens opened on Victoria. The ferry is delayed and full of excited American football fans from Nebraska. They are converging on Seattle for a big college game, and there to support the Huskers. I get to my hotel at midnight - two hours later than planned. US immigration is a breeze from Canada on the ferry. The hotel is rather good - the Mediterranean Inn - a little outside the centre, but all easily accessible.
We then drive round to Swartz Bay where the ferry leaves for Vancouver. After a great breakfast at a cafe in the nearby marina, I drop off Martin for his return journey and we say our farewells.
I take the car along the coast road down to Victoria, stopping off at a number of locations to take in the view and do some birding. It's a very nice stretch of coast, with fantastic panorama views across to the gulf islands. It's pleasantly mild and the sea is flat calm. I manage to see a few new birds. Perhaps the highlight is two Sandhill cranes flying along the coast. There are a few other new spec ies for the trip, though all are fairly common, and to be expected. A wasp managed to sneak inside my shirt and start to sting me. The first was the most serious, but the others had relatively little venom in them. Other occupants in the car park in the rather refined Oak Bay must have been put off their prosciutto and mozzarello do buffalo foaccaci at the sight of a shirtless Andy swiping at a long-gone wasp!
Not a Lincoln's sparrow, but a song sparrow
I drop off the hire car and wander around town for one last time, picking up a map and other bits and pieces, while the heavens opened on Victoria. The ferry is delayed and full of excited American football fans from Nebraska. They are converging on Seattle for a big college game, and there to support the Huskers. I get to my hotel at midnight - two hours later than planned. US immigration is a breeze from Canada on the ferry. The hotel is rather good - the Mediterranean Inn - a little outside the centre, but all easily accessible.
Wet Wet Wet
Today, Martin and I went walking in the woods.
We started at the lighthouse again and did the circuit, bumping into Mark Newell there. We didn't see an awful lot - nearly all the migrant birds from the previous two days had cleared out, and the bushes around the light were pretty quiet. There was still quite a bit of wildfowl passage offshore - mainly surf scoters (and mostly drakes as well). We did, however, see a greylag goose fly over. Still not sure if this was a genuine vagrant and if we should have initiated a rare bird alert.
After a hearty breakfast at a nearby breakfast joint, and we checked out, we went for a walk in a different bit of coastal woodland. We didn't see much here, and the varied thrush I wanted to see eluded me once again. We did manage a brown treecreeper which was new for the trip. Perhaps the best thing I saw (Martin missed this) was when we first arrived at a viewpoint. I raised my binoculars to a spot offshore, and instead of seeing grey sea and a few waves, I got a face full of humpback whale. It had clearly done a lunge feed and launched half of its body clear of the water. So what I could see was the upper half of the underside of its body (all those ridges), part of its pectoral fins and water surging from the side of its huge mouth. It surfaced again and lofted its tail fluke into the air. Then we didn't see it again until much further offshore. WOW!!!!!
We walked for ages trying to see a varied thrush. But it started to rain, and didn't stop all day, so we got pretty wet and dis-spirited. We drove much of the way back to Victoria, stopping at potential places for varied thrush. All of these with no luck. We found an OK motel in Duncan and had a not very interesting meal at a family diner.
Will I go through my entire journey in Canada without seeing a single lifer?
We started at the lighthouse again and did the circuit, bumping into Mark Newell there. We didn't see an awful lot - nearly all the migrant birds from the previous two days had cleared out, and the bushes around the light were pretty quiet. There was still quite a bit of wildfowl passage offshore - mainly surf scoters (and mostly drakes as well). We did, however, see a greylag goose fly over. Still not sure if this was a genuine vagrant and if we should have initiated a rare bird alert.
After a hearty breakfast at a nearby breakfast joint, and we checked out, we went for a walk in a different bit of coastal woodland. We didn't see much here, and the varied thrush I wanted to see eluded me once again. We did manage a brown treecreeper which was new for the trip. Perhaps the best thing I saw (Martin missed this) was when we first arrived at a viewpoint. I raised my binoculars to a spot offshore, and instead of seeing grey sea and a few waves, I got a face full of humpback whale. It had clearly done a lunge feed and launched half of its body clear of the water. So what I could see was the upper half of the underside of its body (all those ridges), part of its pectoral fins and water surging from the side of its huge mouth. It surfaced again and lofted its tail fluke into the air. Then we didn't see it again until much further offshore. WOW!!!!!
We walked for ages trying to see a varied thrush. But it started to rain, and didn't stop all day, so we got pretty wet and dis-spirited. We drove much of the way back to Victoria, stopping at potential places for varied thrush. All of these with no luck. We found an OK motel in Duncan and had a not very interesting meal at a family diner.
Will I go through my entire journey in Canada without seeing a single lifer?
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Do bears shit in the woods?
We get up early and travel back to Amphitrite Point for more birding. Except it is foggy with limited visibility. We see a few additional species, including Macgillivary's and Wilson's warblers. We bump into Stefan Garthe and Philip Schwemmer who were both at the conference. They say they've seen a varied thrush, which is high on my hit list. How very dare they!
Steller's Jay
No luck with the varied thrush, so we continue on our way and visit some interesting boggy area and some virgin rain forest. The latter site seemed to reek of decay. The boardwalk weaved a way through the permanently wet forest, among rotting trees and talls stands of cypress, hemlock and what looks like leylandii. We bump into the German contingent again at each of these sites.
In the Pacific Rim virgin rainforest
We continue up to Tofino where there are mud flats. The town is very commercial, aimed at tourists. We see Stefan and Phillip there again! There is a small viewing platform overlooking the mudflats. We bump into Shane Wolseley from Northern Ireland (he is organising the BTO Atlas there). There are a few distant waders there - most likely Western sandpipers, but who knows at that range. A young bald eagle flies into a tree and makes quite a racket. We don't see much in the way of shorebirds.
Martin overlooking the Tofino mud flats
Our last port of call is to the Thornton Creek salmon hatchery, where they have been trying to augment the local salmon stocks. Its a drive along a rough track, but has a reputation for being a good place to watch black bears, when the salmon start to run.
When we arrive, there is a black bear in the river bed. It spots us and slowly ambles off up the bank and disappears into the vegetation. I walked along the boardwalk and onto a narrow bridge over the river to take a photo of the waterfall. Unbeknown to me, another black bear is ambling down the bank, and I see it just 20m away walking toward me and the bridge. I retreat back onto the boardwalk, facing it, and let it do its thing. This bear clearly is used to humans. It spends its time plonking its bum into the stream (is this what bears do when they want to go to the toilet, but are too shy to do it in the open? In fact it is panting, and seems to be using the river to cool off. We get amazing looks at this bear - just us and nobody else. It finally climbs up onto the same side of the river bank as us, onto the boardwalk and ambles away. Truly amazing.
Nice cascade, but what else is there to look out for?
Just as we are about to depart, the Germans arrive, and we grip them off with our bear photos.
In the evening, after an average Chinese meal, we bump into Mark Newell from CEH and Matt Parsons. They are teamed up for their travelling around this part of Vancouver Island.
Steller's JayNo luck with the varied thrush, so we continue on our way and visit some interesting boggy area and some virgin rain forest. The latter site seemed to reek of decay. The boardwalk weaved a way through the permanently wet forest, among rotting trees and talls stands of cypress, hemlock and what looks like leylandii. We bump into the German contingent again at each of these sites.
In the Pacific Rim virgin rainforestWe continue up to Tofino where there are mud flats. The town is very commercial, aimed at tourists. We see Stefan and Phillip there again! There is a small viewing platform overlooking the mudflats. We bump into Shane Wolseley from Northern Ireland (he is organising the BTO Atlas there). There are a few distant waders there - most likely Western sandpipers, but who knows at that range. A young bald eagle flies into a tree and makes quite a racket. We don't see much in the way of shorebirds.
Martin overlooking the Tofino mud flatsOur last port of call is to the Thornton Creek salmon hatchery, where they have been trying to augment the local salmon stocks. Its a drive along a rough track, but has a reputation for being a good place to watch black bears, when the salmon start to run.
When we arrive, there is a black bear in the river bed. It spots us and slowly ambles off up the bank and disappears into the vegetation. I walked along the boardwalk and onto a narrow bridge over the river to take a photo of the waterfall. Unbeknown to me, another black bear is ambling down the bank, and I see it just 20m away walking toward me and the bridge. I retreat back onto the boardwalk, facing it, and let it do its thing. This bear clearly is used to humans. It spends its time plonking its bum into the stream (is this what bears do when they want to go to the toilet, but are too shy to do it in the open? In fact it is panting, and seems to be using the river to cool off. We get amazing looks at this bear - just us and nobody else. It finally climbs up onto the same side of the river bank as us, onto the boardwalk and ambles away. Truly amazing.
Nice cascade, but what else is there to look out for?
In the evening, after an average Chinese meal, we bump into Mark Newell from CEH and Matt Parsons. They are teamed up for their travelling around this part of Vancouver Island.
Drive to Ucluelet
I pack my bags, check out and meet with Martin Heubeck. We're going to drive over to the west side of Vancouver Island and spend a few days birding together. We pick up a hire car and set off on the journey. I'm tired, but manage to stay alert for the driving. The dirve would have been really pretty, except there was low cloud and occasional rain for most of the way. We manage to see two black bears crossing the road in front of us. Wow!
We found a motel in Ucluelet, and decide to take a walk around the lighthouse at Amphitrite Point, which is the southernmost part of the peninsula. We see a few migrants, such as yellow and the amazing Townsend's warblers. There were Swainson's and hermit thrushes grovelling in the undergrowth. Offshore we see 5-6 humpback whales and two bald eagles feeding in the sea nearby. Also we see a couple of marbled murrelets, and a steady stream of divers and scoters migrating offshore.
We found a motel in Ucluelet, and decide to take a walk around the lighthouse at Amphitrite Point, which is the southernmost part of the peninsula. We see a few migrants, such as yellow and the amazing Townsend's warblers. There were Swainson's and hermit thrushes grovelling in the undergrowth. Offshore we see 5-6 humpback whales and two bald eagles feeding in the sea nearby. Also we see a couple of marbled murrelets, and a steady stream of divers and scoters migrating offshore.
Coastline around Amphitrite Point
Monday, 13 September 2010
Kayaking around Oak Bay
Today, with the conference finished, I went on one of the organised post-conference trips. There was a seabird and whale pelagic trip, which didn't look too exciting. I decided to go kayaking; something I haven't really done before (excluding some river canoeing I did as a kid), but am told you can approach wildlife very closely and I thought it would be something good to do around Portlethen. Marischal (the conference organiser) took us to the launch point. He's an interesting guy. His family is from Broughty Ferry originally. He used to pronounce his name the Aberdeen way (i.e. Marshall), but has been forced to pronounce it as spelled because it confused too many people.
Six of us paddled out, plus the guide. We were in tandem kayaks - I was teamed up with a guy from New Brunswick on the Canadian east coast called Dave. He has done a bit of kayaking before, so that was helpful for me as a novice. It was drizzling with rain most of the time.
We paddled to some islands, where there were common seals, and some cute river otters. We also saw a grey whale pass behind us. All around the islands there were moulting harlequin ducks - not as smart as they could be, but still amazing to see them. There were black turnstones and surfbirds on the shoreline, and a couple of belted kingfishers.
I survived the day pretty well. It even brightened up, and we could see across to the mainland. My shoulders were a bit sore by the end of the day, as were my feet from steering the rudder. I figure my swimming must have helped my shoulders.
In the evening, I met up with Martin Heubeck and Kees Camphuysen for a meal and a drink. We go into Chinatown and have an amazing meal!
Harlequin ducks and black oystercacher
Six of us paddled out, plus the guide. We were in tandem kayaks - I was teamed up with a guy from New Brunswick on the Canadian east coast called Dave. He has done a bit of kayaking before, so that was helpful for me as a novice. It was drizzling with rain most of the time.
We paddled to some islands, where there were common seals, and some cute river otters. We also saw a grey whale pass behind us. All around the islands there were moulting harlequin ducks - not as smart as they could be, but still amazing to see them. There were black turnstones and surfbirds on the shoreline, and a couple of belted kingfishers.
The intrepid paddlers
I survived the day pretty well. It even brightened up, and we could see across to the mainland. My shoulders were a bit sore by the end of the day, as were my feet from steering the rudder. I figure my swimming must have helped my shoulders.
In the evening, I met up with Martin Heubeck and Kees Camphuysen for a meal and a drink. We go into Chinatown and have an amazing meal!
Harlequin ducks and black oystercacher
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