Greetings,

A family excursion took us over to Saturna Island BC on Friday, April 9.
Although not quite as birdy as expected, the trip was still a lot of fun.
I've posted a few photos of birds, flowers and butterflies at
www.birdinfo.com/Saturna_image.html

At Swartz Bay ferry the Pigeon Guillemots put on quite a show. There were
about 16 individuals present, hissing and carrying on in all manner of
behaviour.

Saturna itself has quite a few good spots for bird and flower viewing. We
started at the General Store near Lyall Harbour where a Pacific-slope
Flycatcher was calling, the first I had encountered this year. At the park
at Winter Cove, we found masses of blue-eyed mary, white fawn lilies, a
Red-breasted Sapsucker and a few singing Townsend's Warblers. By the time
we had finished there, it was lunch time, so we headed over the mountain
ridge to the bistro at the Saturna Island Vineyard. It was really hard to
tear ourselves away from there - great view, nice wines and a few raptors
keeping us company overhead. A painted lady flew by at close range.

Eventually we managed to get going again and drove up to the summit of Mt.
Warburton Pike and Brown's Ridge. Last summer we had encountered a Rock
Wren and Vesper Sparrow here, but no such luck today. However, there were
quite a few Turkey Vultures and Bald Eagles soaring along the ridge, and a
migrant Northern Harrier. Got some great views of Red Crossbills too.
Trying to see a hooting male Blue Grouse turned out to be futile. Four of
us managed to narrow down its location down to three trees, but we could not
find it even though it never stopping hooting! We encountered three more
painted ladies up there - maybe it will be a big flight year. I rarely see
this species before the end of April. Also up on the ridge were at least 6
propertius duskywings.

Our last daylight stop of the day was East Point (surprisingly at the east
end of the island). Guy Monty had reported a mass of Bonaparte's Gulls
there the previous day, and sure enough there they were. We tallied 7,000
of the beauties, milling around in the tide tips. Five or more Bald Eagles
were in the flock as well, low over the water. I couldn't tell if they were
after the gulls or fish.

A fantastic sunset at Lyall Harbour finished up the day for us.

Cheers,

Michael G. Shepard
North American Bird Information Web Site: www.birdinfo.com