golden eagle skirt mtn

golden eagle skirt mtn, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

from the top of skirt mtn, the golden sailed past below me

cooper's hawk

cooper's hawk, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

Arbutus trail to Railway lookout

some very tall trees along the goldstream river

I took a preliminary hike from Ma millers pub through Goldstream park  yesterday. I was checking on the distance and time it will take, on the CBC this dec 18th to get, to the lookout on the E&N railway line for daybreak. very quiet on the bird front, less than count day last year.

after following the Arbutus ridge trail for about 20 minutes I crossed over to the railway
track and followed that out
to the lookout where you can see across the valley to Mt Finlayson and Skirt mtn.
About  15 minutes after I got there a Golden Eagle finally appeared and crossed the valley to soar through the trees on the Skirt ridge. it weaved in and out of the tree tops for several minutes and then climbed up above the ridge to slowly dive south towards Langford lake area.

 

Golden Eagle

While the eagle was gliding south the E&N railway bud car came along the tracks below me. the daily passenger train to courtenay.

Arbutus ridge trail 

Back at the campground gate there was bald eagle giving me the "Once over". from a snag over the road

Gowlland Tod from Caleb Pike to Jocelynn and back

We hiked from the end of Caleb Pike parking lot along the Ridge Top trail in the Gowlland Tod Provincial park on Sunday. it was a frosty morning with the beginning of trail shrouded in fog.  2 inches of snow frozen on the trail crunched under our feet most of the way. We soon rose above the fog and the air  was beautifully crystal clear over the Sound. The fog lingered below and we could hear the sound of the Malahat Highway hidden in the dense cloud.  As we went further along the ridge the fog below dissipated and we could now see the ocean surface. The birds were very quiet on the way out, possibly it was still early and  too cool for them to do much chattering. A Sharp-shinned hawk was sitting on the golden eagle tree. No Golden eagles or even Bald Eagles were seen today.

We hiked 3 miles along the ridge, up and over Holmes peak, to the top of jocelynn hill. Met no hikers on the way up, but ran into maybe 8 or so on the way back. on the return trip the frozen snow started to melt and was quite sloppy in some places. More birds were active with 15 species counted. Even two Pileated woodpeckers flew up from the trail ahead of us. Not much else interesting in the bird category.   A 6 mile hike done in 3 hours, not bad.                                            

up finlayson in the snow

Cool day to hike up the back of finlayson. About 3 inches of snow on the ground. pretty quiet on the way up, not many birds, some interesting tracks in the snow, raccoon, deer, and what we thougth might be a cougar, with blood on the ground too. but it turned out to be bleeding on the foot somewhere and it was all over the top of the mountain too. A mink trail was also up on the top. 
Lots of birds, almost all Robins were feeding on the Arbutus berries, with about 20 or so Varied Thrush

There were about 200 Robins feeding on the berries. Something spooked them and they all flew off to the south, returning a few minutes later from the north and settling back down to their gorging .








I turn around to look out the front and notice a grey bird sitting in the top of a fir tree. A Solitaire.

 There ended up to be two of the solitaires up there.  A Sharp-shinned Hawk stirred up all the birds again and startled the solitaires enough to have them fly off and circle around the top not to be seen again. The hawk drifted off toward the south ledge. On the way down the hill I tried for the Pygmy Owl, but no luck with that today.

jocelynn ridge

Today I went directly to the ridge from Emma Dixon road entrance. I thougth with the windy day it might be interesting to see what was soaring out from the cliffs. It had rained the night before so the tail was still wet in places but atleast no running water. Most of the early fall mushrooms were rotting on the sides of the trail but some new ones were up including this one, a Brown Clustered Ear Cup.

Soaring in the winds above me on the ridge were 2 Red-tailed hawks and a couple of Bald Eagles.  A young one came close enough to be photographed

The ravens were also performing in the gusts,

The couples seem to stick together and have fun battling it out with each other.
    It was quite misty down the valley with the sun peaking through every now and then with some rays of light and dark shining on the Sound below.

 

The Golden Eagles were flying back and forth down the inlet. One would swope by very quickly and then gather enough height to soar across the valley to the far side. And then circle upward again to come back and join his mate further down the ridge. A very poor shot of the golden eagle as it screamed by below me.

looking out from Mt Finlayson

mt finlayson looking south towards Juan de fuca and below is goldstream river, with the Malahat drive 

A few hail storms around the area today, not much up on top of the mtn, except a sharp-shinned hawk soaring with the ravens.

looking north from Mt Wells towards Finlayson sound and The  Malahat drive 

golden eagles and pine grosbeak on Jocelynn Hill

Hiked up Jocelynn Hill today from Emma Dixon road in Highlands. Took the ridge trail over little Jocelynn and then joined the gowlland range trail along the crest. From there I treked through the forest and found some interesting mushrooms about .

Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis

 

from there I headed directly up the face of Jocelynn hill  to the open top.  there was a group of pholiotas on a willow tree in the pine and fir forest there.

finding I was now late for lunch, I headed down the outside trail as quickly as I could, sometimes running when the trail was even enough. When I got to the first lookout below the summit I found 3 eagles circling the inlet just below where I was standing. One quickly turned and chased another away to the north. I had some perspiration issues in eyes at the time and could not tell even with the binoculars if it was bald eagle being chased or a immature golden, I took some quick pics with my camera and watched them as the third one followed with a quick glide by me towards the other 2 heading north and out of sight around the corner of the Hill top.

an adult and a juvenile Golden Eagle

 

and adult golden eagle diving towards its mate and young one.

After the golden eagles left, I started to head back down the trail but just as I turned to go I heard a familiar call from  the from the cliff ledge to the right of me. it seemed to be in the top of a fir tree but could not locate it. Running back along the trail I had just come from, I called  back to it "bird d dee".  I quickly saw it fly up to a fir tree tip, a Pine Grosbeak. I took a few poor shots of it with my camera and then realized my camera card was full. Oh well, had to head home anyway, got a ID shot at least.

Pine Grosbeak, a rare bird in greater victoria. but sometimes found in the hills here in winter

immmature and adult golden eagle

immmature and adult golden eagle, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

an immature bird with one of the adults, probably its parent, on jocelynn hill in Gowlland tod provincial park

mt finlayson on a foggy day

poison mushroom pumpkin with ghost projection

poison mushroom pumpkin with ghost projection, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

Happy Hallowe'en!! enjoy the mushrooms but beware of the consequences.

up the back side of Mt Finlayson

trail heading up Mt finlayson

Yesterday I hoofed it up the back side of the mountain for first time in a while. It was overcast but was hoping it would clear when I got to the top. The ground was wet, and it had rained over night so the trees were still dripping abit with the previous nights rain. Lots of mushrooms along the way, one good one, a Cauliflower mushroom, good eatin'. A Witch's Hat mushroom suitable for the time of year.

gomphus floccossus

Clavariadelphus truncatus, club coral fungus

witch's hat

At the top the rain stayed away but the sun did also. Made it up from the road in 28 minutes, not bad for me.

It was pretty much quiet with the birds on the way up, only Kinglets could be heard. After a few minutes at the top a single bird flew from the south. I thought it was a pine grosbeak at first but the call was different and it was flying with a deep undulation and a "cheeup" call. Unknown to me. it did a figure 8 over my head as a silhoette and then dove with is odd flight pattern down over the front face of the mountain. no wing bars, grosbeak sized, fair length tail and wings, quite dark, when it went below the horizon, i thought i saw maybe some colour on the side of the head. after looking it up books and listening to some calls on the internet at home, i thought it must be a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. I will have to head up again in the next few days to see if i can find it.

Suprisingly there was quite a bit of arbutus berries in the trees here. All the other mountains in the area have very few to no berries. I guess I will be climbing this mountian more often this winter to see what turns up.

southwards from the top looking through the fog rising from  far below

some of the trail has built in stairs