Mt macdonald rainforest

Hump back reservoir

Since it is now fall, and it has rained alot, I thought I would check out the Mt Macdonald Rainforest for some mushrooms.  I parked in the Mt Wells parking lot and followed the humpback lake shore, scaring up a pair of Woodducks,  to the back side before heading over into the small valley that runs along the bottom of Mt Macdonald. There are some great sized Douglas Firs in this small valley, some must be close to  6 feet across. A Barred Owl showed up and he thought I was not much of a threat because he was continuing to hunt for something that was on the ground below him. It was very dark in that part of the forest so couldn't get a decent picture of it. A Sapsucker flew and and dove at the Owl a few times but he seemed uninterested in it too.  I left it alone to continue searching for what ever was peeking his interest. From there I headed straight up one of draws hoping to find some Chantrelles or some Pines, or anything, since there were only a couple of Russulas in the valley bottom. 
A lot of logs to climb over and many moss covered boulders to slip on during the trek to the rock outcrops, but no Chantrelles at all. When I got to the top of the draw it levelled out enough for A large patch of Salal to grow. I thought maybe some Chantrelles in this habit, but no. I walked out to the cliff edge and disturbed a Red-tailed Hawk, It flew off with its high pitched "kree-eee-ar" echoing against Mt Wells on the other side of the valley. On the way back down through the draw  I finally founds some mushrooms, but not the chantrelles, some White Worm Coral and some Gyotropas, nothing edible. I got back to car thoroughly soaked through and through, didnt rain that much though

Mt Wells on the other side of the valley

Clavaria vermicularis

Clitocybe geotropa

Beechey Head

Beechey head 

Decided to take a chance in the rain the other day and head out to east sooke to the hawkwatch lookout at Beechey Head. We took the ocean side trail to the point and then hiked up the path to the rock outcrop. It was raining when we started but the sun came out shortly, and it was quite a beautiful hike. the Head blocked any wind come up the strait  so when the sun shone it was quite nice on my sooking wet  jacket. by the time we got to the lookout the wind was blowing quite briskly. It was a nice warm breeze so I could take off my jacket and hang it in one of the small pines that are scattered around the top.

There was about a dozen Vultures soaring low over the lookout when we got there, about 25 feet over our heads. Just as we got to the lookout a bird the size of a Goshawk swooped by and headed inland through the douglas fir treetops, never to be seen again.  there were several Red-tailed Hawks that went over some appearing to head south over the strait and some decided to hang around a little longer and head back to the ridge to catch the updrafts. 3 Ospreys also came over and all three them kept heading south out to sea. A few Vaux's swifts were flitting about the ridge line most of the time we were up there. Also 3 sharp-shinned hawks were bombing around, sometimes chasing the turkey vultures for fun it appeared.

on the way home there was a mink dead in the middle of the road

Jocelynn Hill today

Hermit Thrush

I hiked up Jocelynn Hill today, took the jocelynn hill ridge trail which is about a 500 foot climb in about 10 minutes before you get to the ridgeline. from there it is an up and down trail , mostly up, to the main trail along the cliff edge. on the way an Owl flew up from an rock outcrop on the side of the trail and vamoosed into the woods nearby, it was the colour of the back of a coopers hawk , so I assume it was a Horned Owl. I think a Barred would have been quite grey, it was a little odd to see a horned out sunning itself.. Further on along the trail where a bunch of chickadees were hanging out , a Hermit Thrush twitted away.
When I arrived at the top the ravens were cavorting and carrying on back and forth over hilltop, squawking

Common Raven

alot but not finding anything to chase around, no hawks at all today.
The air was totally calm,  not a breath of wind., which is unusual for up there, the sun was out,  so it was quite balmy for a September day.


About 5 Vaux.s Swifts zoomed by heading north as well as a flock of band-tailed pigeons

Band-tailed Pigeons on the move

Saanich inlet from Jocelynn Hill

I could see a flock of Waxwings way down below where the pigeons flew but they were heading south . On the way down the hill I ran into a couple of other hikers but no Owl.

esquimalt lagoon and albert head lagoon

Had to cancel the trip to beechey head for a Hawk Watch because of the rainy day, so I decided to go down to Esquimalt  and Albert Head Lagoon instead. I arrived at the bridge end at about 8 am, it was still raining and the gulls were sitting  at the sandbar in the lagoon. amongst them were 2 Caspian Terns and several Oystercatchers. All of a sudden all the pigeons and starlings flew up in front of me frantically, so I searched and found a Peregrine swooping down and circling through the flocks. It missed, it then maded a quick exit and  headed off toward Fisgard lighthouse. As I was searching the shoreline inside the lagoon I heard a commotion over on the outside of the bridge, it sounded like a gull squawking. about 20 gulls got up from the lagoon and headed over to circle above the lagoon entrance. When I got across the road I could see a juvenile glaucaus winged gull head down in the current with its wings sticking up in the air. It then seemed to manuevre itself over to the shoreline, but when it rocky beach out popped an Otter with the gulls neck in its mouth and 2 other otters hopping around excited over the gull. The otter proceded to chow down on the now motionless gull, plucking feathers from around the neck area. All of a sudden the gull came to, and started to flop and fly away with the otter trying to hang on. The otter fell off it back and the gull managed to get airbourne enough to escape the grasp. As it flew from the beach the otter was in hot persuit leaping and loping into the water behind the gull. The gull flew by me shaking itself off and slowly headed out to sea every now and again giving itself another shake. The otters by now were on the beach on this side of the river scurrying around still looking for departed gull. All three soon gave up and headed back to the water and the other side where there were still a pile of feathers left behind to investigate.
I drove down the lagoon road and stopped to see a wimbrel sized bird flying out from the shoreline towards esquimalt harbour, only to disappear into the distant fog. I could see a long bill and a beige colouring to the bird but it was too far away to get a positive ID.
At Albert head lagoon there was 5 Western Sandpipers feeding on the near shore with 2 kildeer. In the grass were about 20 Savannah sparrows as well as a Lincoln's sparrow and an orange-crowned warber.
The rain still wouldn't let up so I decided to call it a morning and go home to dry off.

mt macdonald

hike up the draw

on Wednesday I hiked up Mt Macdonald. I took the straight up trail to the top through the draw that had the golden eagle nest in it. At the top it was nice and sunny with only a few little clouds around and very little breeze. There was a sharp-shinned hawk circling below me, it circled up past me and within a couple of minutes it was over 1000 feet above me.

Vaux's Swift 

It staggered abit in its soaring, and I noticed another one diving at it, it then folded its wings and dove like a rock, unable to keep up with it with my binoculars I lost it in the sky above. A few minutes after that a flock of Vaux's Swifts skimmed by me with one of them shooting by me so close I could hear its wing beats. They were all heading north , about 10 minutes later they did the same thing in the opposite direction. Next, a group of yellow-rumped warbler dropped in and landed in the dead pines nearby, they spent quite a few minutes feeding in the trees and looking at me as I pished at them. A red-tailed hawk I could hear somewhere but could not locate it. a few minutes later I saw a Red-tailed diving out of the clouds above doing a mimic of a golden eagle , swooping and diving. Another Sharp-shinned showed up high above me before I had to head down  to go back to work.

Mt Manuel Quimper

we are headed to the top of that hill

Hiked up Mt Manuel Quimper with my neighbour friend today.drove out to Saseenos this morning at 730 and parked at the end of Harbour View road. There is an old forestry lookout at the top of the mountain and I wanted to get up to see the view from there, and see what wildlife we could find. The Regional district is building a parking lot at the entrance to the park and have now allowed mountain bikes into the park, I believe it  is a big mistake. The first mile and half is dlimbing an old logging road. We came across a Ruffed Grouse while walking along the road .  I pished for awhile when I heard some chickadees in the trees above and managed to bring in a Warbling Vireo and a townsends warbler as well as many chickadees. From there we headed off road and hiked straight up to the summit over some rock outrcrops. From the rock outcrops we could see the Sooke Basin below through the trees. A Sharp-shinned hawk flew up from chasing a few juncos, and a loose flock of Stellers Jays flew from tree top to tree top in front of us, 22 in all.

half way up 

forestry lookout with Sooke Basin in the background

one of 50 red squirrels we saw or heard

the climb got steeper on the rock outcrops and soon we reached the 1500 foot level and the top where the forestry lookout is located . From there you can see a whole vista of the East Sooke and its Basin. The lookout was built in 1951 and is the last one left on vancouver island. it is empty inside except for a sleeping bag and a ladder to the loft . alot of graffiti inside as well. From there we hiked down the north side on a pretty good trail. We couldnt believe all the Red Squirrels we saw and heard on the trip. must have been atleast 50. they were everywhere. We ended up back on a logging road and walked the last 2 miles back on that to the car. In all it was a 6.2 mile hike and took 3 hours and 15 minutes
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=374532
this is the link to the map and trail we took
 also some more photos here
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/40391990

today I headed up Mt Finlayson for my excercise and I thought since I havent seen a Golden Eagle for a couple of months, I might see one from there. It took me 26 minutes to get to the top from finlayson arm road. My best time ever. I then went over to look over the cliff to goldstream estuary. While taking pictures of the valley bottom a small deer bounded out from the ledge below me and jumped across the crags in front of me. I thought what a great time for a GOEA to swope down on the little guy and knock it off the cliff. Oddly, a few moments later while perusing the valley for whatever I realized a golden eagle was gliding away from me toward the other side of the valley. I lost sight of it for a minute while I sat down to get a more steady look through my binocs. When I found it again it was away over on Goldstream Ridge, circling up and over the ridge top into the blue sky above . It took a minute or two to get another thousand feet up before it glided to the southwest over Skirt mountain and beyond. I then ran out of time and head to back home.