Tag Archives: american pipit

August 17 – Weekly Census

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Wind: W 19 to 33 knots
Sea State: up to 1m chop
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: clear
Temperature: 15-21 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Last night after the sunset, a lightning show began. There was at least one flash visible per minute when I was watching from about 21:00 to 22:00.  According to CBC News, there were 1,600 lightning strikes overnight across BC’s South Coast: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/august-lightning-weather-bc-south-coast-1.5689195

Weekly census results observed today:
33 steller sea lions
45 california sea lions
1 sea otter
313 harbour seals
1 adult bald eagle
1 Canada goose
3 pelagic cormorants
1256 gulls (approximately 2/3 glaucous-winged gulls and 1/3 california gulls)
4 black oystercatchers
53 pigeon guillemots
42 black turnstones
1 american pipit

There were many ecotour boats passing through the Ecological Reserve today and only a few fishing boats visible in the distance.

 

Census and 3rd New Weaner

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-30 knots NE, later 15 W
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: overcast with showers

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles were both on Great Race today, but I saw no interactions.
  • The mother is gone on Middle Rock, making her pup a weaner.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 75
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 32
  3. Harbour Seals: 6
  4. Elephant Seals: 3
  5. Seagulls: 300
  6. Cormorants: 299 (142 on Great Race, of which 87 were Double Crested, 28 Pelagic, 8 male Brandt’s, and 19 unidentifiable to me. 157 on North Rock, too far away to identify.)
  7. Black Turnstones: 39
  8. Surfbirds: 18
  9. Canada Geese: 18
  10. Black Oystercatchers: 13
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (6 male, 2 female)
  12. Bald Eagles: 3 (2 adults, 1 juvenile)
  13. Crows: 3
  14. Ravens: 2
  15. American Pipit: 1

Maintenance

  • Hauled logs off the ramp.
  • Checked the diesel in the tidy tank.

Boats

  • Didn’t see any boats near the reserve today.

 

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, late afternoon up to 33 knots from the West
  • Water: rippled, later wavy
  • Sky: foggy in the morning, overcast in the afternoon

Ecological

  • Chunk spent the day on Middle Rock with the mum and pup.
  • Lady, Grieving mum, mum and pup, were in the same spots on Great Race.
  • Chuckles arrived on Great Race in the late afternoon.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 87
  2. Northern/Stellar Sea Lions: 50
  3. Harbour Seals: 21
  4. Elephant Seals: 8
  5. Cormorants: 742 (of the 742, I think that at least 10 were Male Brandt’s, 131 Double Crested, and 200 Pelagic; my identification is improving, but many were either too far away, or indistinguishable to me.)
  6. Seagulls: 605 (131 had darker plumage and therefore must be immature gulls?)
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 50
  8. Bald Eagles: 30 (23 juveniles, 7 adults)
  9. Black Oystercatchers: 13
  10. Canada Geese: 10
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (4 male, 4 female)
  12. Black Turnstones: 6
  13. Surfbird: 3 (unless they were Rock Sandpipers?)
  14. Raven: 2
  15. American Pipit: 2

Maintenance

  • Did some more cleaning in the Student’s House.

Boats

  • In the morning, one fishing boat passed through the reserve. The occupants did not fish in the reserve; they were going slow and appeared to be observing.
  • In the afternoon, one large eco-tour boat came through the reserve.

April 12

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As the sun set, the wind shifted around to south-southeast after blowing about 10 knots  from a westerly direction most of the day. The snow line across the Strait is very low and the chill in the air continues. Although there was some sunshine today producing a high solar radiation reading of 1,000 watts/m2, there was also a lot of cloud. The barometer reached a high of 1020 hPa mid-day and then began to fall. The forecast is for southeast showers switching back to westerlies tomorrow afternoon.

Only one tour boat was observed in the Ecological Reserve today and although there were dozens of sports-fishing boats all around the reserve none were observed inside.

American Pipits have been spotted bobbing and flitting around Great Race and there is a photo below as evidence. Thanks go out to Rocky Point Bird Observatory for the identification confirmation.

American Pipits have been busy feeding on insects on the ground at Great Race.

American Pipits  busy feeding on insects on the ground at Great Race.

Six Northern Elephant Seals came ashore at first light and spent the whole day sleeping in the garden. One was a tagged, with a pale green tag #5850. This same individual had two tags when I first saw it last fall, October 14.

Goose exclusion cage keeps seals from flattening all the grass. Cage may be flattened too.

Goose exclusion cage keeps seals from flattening all the grass. Cage may be flattened too.

Northern Elephant Seal tagged at Ano Nuevo as a weaner in 2012.

Northern Elephant Seal tagged at Ano Nuevo as a weaner in 2012.

 

The Canada Geese are in over-drive right now and uber-territorial. One pair tried again to take up residence in the entrance way to the de-salinator room which is just not going to work.

Canada Geese defending the entrance to the de-salinator.

Canada Geese defending the entrance to the de-salinator.

The Glaucous-winged Gulls are engaging in more definite pairing behaviours and also becoming more territorial. Many are nest building, pulling out chunks of grass turf for padding. Black Oystercatchers are looking broody too and I observed Black Oystercatchers eating limpets today.

 

There were no visitors today.

 

Anthus rubescens: (American Pipit ) –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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raisasept292010amerpipit

Raisa Mirza in the fall of 2010 took this image of an American Pipit at Race Rocks.

Raisasept222010americanpipit

Raisa Mirza in the fall of 2010 took this image of an American Pipit at Race Rocks.

8 individuals of this  species were recorded on the  VNHS Field Trip, Sept 27 2014.

DanielleD-Amerpipet

Photo of American Pipit by Daniel;e Donecke on the VNHS FIeld Trip, Sept 2014

 

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Species: A. rubescens

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

Oct 30, 2012 –Garry Fletcher

Victoria Natural History Society Field Trip-Bird Count

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Thanks to the participants of the VNHS Field Trip today and especially to Daniel Donnecke for tabulating this detailed bird census list.

For the boat crossing between Pearson College and  Race Rocks, Daniel and the group on the boat made the following observation:

2 Great Blue Heron
110 Double crested cormorant
2 pelagic cormorants
160 rhinoceros auklets
45 common murre
3 pigeon guillemot
25 Heermann’s Gulls
8 Glaucous winged gull
20 California Gull
30 Gull sp.
4 Oystercatcher
4 Harlequin duck
1 common Goldeneye
4 mallard
1 red-throathed loon
56 greater white fronted geese (single flock crossing the strait)
20 band tailed pigeons
2 coopers hawk
400 turkey Vultures (attempting to cross the Strait but turned  around)
DanielleD-Amerpipet

American Pipit–Anthus rubescens photograph by Daniel Donnecke

At Race Rocks Daniel made the following census notes which he entered on eBird : 23 species (plus 2 other taxa) total:

4
Greater White-fronted Goose
11
Canada Goose
2
Harlequin Duck
17
Surf Scoter-(-east-bound)
42
Brandt’s Cormorant
8
Double-crested Cormorant
18
Pelagic Cormorant
25
cormorant sp.
10
Turkey Vulture- (-distant, ketteling)
16
Black Turnstone
2
Dunlin
1
Western Sandpiper
1
Short-billed Dowitcher
2
Common Murre-(-low number, most alcids closer to Vancouver Island)
1
Rhinoceros Auklet-(-low number, most alcids closer to Vancouver Island)
41
Heermann’s Gull
1
Western Gull
110
California Gull
1
Herring Gull
25
Thayer’s Gull
36
Glaucous-winged Gull
85
gull sp.
8
6
Savannah Sparrow
1
Song Sparrow

For other images of the species above see the Race Rocks Taxonomy