It has been a few days since I have seen the sun, not because I was indoors, but because the overcast weather has been preventing me from seeing that giant burning ball of gas. With this great weather, I decided to make it out birding for the morning. The first stop was Qualicom Beach, a great spot with a significant amount of pull off parking to allow for beach access, or in my case, viewing opportunities with the spotting scope.
There was a significant amount of bird activity in the area, not the greatest diversity in species, but certainly high numbers of birds.
A quick snapshot of part of the water...this was the view for many kms
A few Black Scoter that got close enough for me to take a photo
This Black Turnstone was a lifer bird for me, it was great to see one up close.
I observed a total of 5 Sea lion between Little Qualicom River Estuary and Neck Point Park. A couple appeared to be California but there were some Stellar Sea Lion present as well. The individual presented above looks like a California Sea Lion based on its almost black coloration (Stellar are lighter in coloration).
This White Crowned Sparrow was one of the few cooperative photo subjects today.
Only 39 species of bird observed today, but Black Scoter and Black Turnstone were year birds for me, so I cant complain. There were large numbers of Pacific Loon moving around, with Common Loon seen in good numbers as well. All 3 scoter species were around in high numbers, with Surf Scoter being the most abundant with White-Winged and Black trailing behind.
The biggest miss today was a Pigeon Guillemot that was reported yesterday at Neck Point....this is a bird I am excited to see, but have missed twice now...hopefully I will have that lifer bird tick sooner than later.
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