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| The Butchart Gardens |
One last day,
spent primarily on Vancouver Island.
Vancouver Island
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| Map: Google Maps |
Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off the
coast of Canada, Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. A relatively
small town, Victoria proper has only 86,000 residents and the metropolitan area
has 368,000, making it the 15th most populous Canadian metropolitan area (I
dare you to name 14 other Canadian metropolitan areas).
Named after Queen Victoria, Victoria is one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest, with British settlement beginning in 1843.
The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, Parliament Buildings finished in 1897 and the Empress hotel opened in 1908. The city's Chinatown is the second oldest in North America after San Francisco's.
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| Collage:Wikipedia |
We didn’t visit any of those, but I have also
visited Victoria before (if I hadn’t, I would have stayed longer; I probably
should have stayed longer).
Before European navigators arrived in the late
1700s, the area was home to several Coast Salish peoples,
including the Songhees. Spanish explorer Juan Pérez visited in 1774 and James
Cook came in 1778. Hudson's Bay Company opened a trading post that was named
Fort Victoria in 1843 and the Songhees established a village across the harbor.
The crown colony was established in 1849 and, between 1850-1854, a series of
treaty agreements were made with indigenous communities to purchase land upon
which to build a town in exchange for goods.
When news of the discovery of gold on the British Columbia
mainland reached San Francisco in 1858, Victoria became the port, supply base
and outfitting center for miners on their way to the gold fields, mushrooming
from a population of 300 to more than 5,000 within a few days. Victoria was
incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1866, the island was politically united with
the mainland and Victoria was designated the capital. It became the provincial
capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871.
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| BC Parliament Building, 2012 |
In the latter half of the 19th century, the Port of Victoria
became one of North America's largest importers of opium (legal and unregulated
at the time), serving the opium trade from Hong Kong and distribution into
North America. Opium trade was regulated in 1865 and outlawed in 1908.
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| View from Vancouver Island, 2012 |
After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in
1886, Victoria lost its position as the commercial center of the province to
Vancouver. The city began cultivating an image of genteel civility within its natural
setting, aided by the impressions of visitors such as Rudyard Kipling, the
opening of the popular Butchart Gardens in 1904 and the construction of the
Empress Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908.
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| On the ferry, 2012 |
A real estate and development boom ended just before World
War I, leaving Victoria with a many Edwardian public, commercial and
residential buildings that have greatly contributed to the city's character and style.
Because it is on an island, Victoria has mild, rainy winters
and cool, dry and sunny summers despite its northerly location.
In fact, it
averages only 10.2 inches of snow annually, about half that of Vancouver.
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| The island is alive with flowers |
As a result, Victoria is the "City of Gardens," with
many flowers that bloom during the winter and early spring, including crocuses,
daffodils, early-blooming rhododendrons, cherry and plum trees.
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| Monkey Puzzle Tree |
Victoria and
its surrounding area are home to many rare, native plants found nowhere else in
Canada, including Garry oak, hairy manzanita and Canada's only broadleaf
evergreen tree, Pacific madrone. Many of these species are found as far south
as southern California and parts of Mexico.
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| Victoria is a garden city |
The city's chief industries are technology, food products,
federal and provincial government administration and services, investment and
banking, online book publishing, public and private schools and universities,
light aircraft manufacturing, engineering, architecture and telecommunications.
Victoria is a major tourism destination with more than 3.5
million overnight visitors per year who add more than a billion dollars to the
local economy. An additional 500,000 daytime visitors arrive via cruise ships that
dock at Ogden Point near the city's Inner Harbor. The ship we arrived on in
Vancouver docks at Victoria every other year. We had to take the ferry from
Vancouver for our visit.
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| BC Ferry |
Maber Flats
We started our last day on Vancouver at Maber Flats, a marshy
farming area, where we saw a couple of different kinds of birds – none new to
me.
There were, as there always is, some Song Sparrows …
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| Song Sparrow |
... and some California Quail …
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| California Quail |
But, I spent most of my time photographing an adorable
little Marsh Wren that was posing ...
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| Marsh Wren, a great balancer |
... singing …
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| A very vocal bird |
... and singing more ...
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| VERY vocal |
… and collecting nesting material among the dried-out
cattails that filled the marshy areas.
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| Getting ready to build a nest |
Observatory Hill
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| Observatory Hill is home to many Chestnut-backed Chickadees |
Then, it was on to Observatory Hill, where I did encounter
several Lifers.
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| Olive-sided Flycatcher |
Observatory Hill in Saanich is the home of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, which was built in the early 1800s. It is now a National Historic Site of Canada, commemorating the many discoveries about the nature of the Milky Way made at this world-renowned facility. It remained one of the world's main astrophysical research centers until the 1960s.
We went looking for two specific birds and we were not
disappointed. First, we almost immediately saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher,
although it took a while for it to find a perch in the sun rather than against
the sun.
Fortunately, flycatchers have a habit of returning time and
again to the same spot high in the tees. So, this one posed nicely.
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| After a lot of backlit poses, this Olive-sided Flycatcher landed in full sun |
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| Chickadee close-up |
Next was one of the cutest birds we saw on Vancouver Island: the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
This tiny little relative of Mountain, Black-capped,
Boreal and Carolina Chickadees lives almost exclusively along the U.S. Pacific
Coast, with some additional small territories in Alberta, Canada, and Idaho, Washington,
Oregon, Montana and northern California.
We saw some initially and then Bryan played some Pygmy Owl
calls. This counter-intuitive strategy actually works at attracting birds.
I
would have thought that the little birds would hide, afraid of a predator. But,
instead, they become curious and hop out to check on what’s happening. It worked with the Chickadees, attracting quite a few.
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| And that red breast! |
A Northern Flicker even peeked out of its nest …
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| Male Red-Shafted Northern Flicker: "Wassup?" |
Although, by far, the most prevalent inquisitor was the
Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
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| You can see that chestnut back here |
The final surprise was a Golden-crowned Kinglet ...
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| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
It is
pretty easy to see where this bird gets its name – it has a very distinct
golden crown that it perks up when it is excited ...
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| Here you can see both gold and orange |
... it was excited ...
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| Jumping from branch to branch |
... and, it certainly flashed that crown around ...
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| Crown up! |
Bryan and I walked through the woods looking for a Pygmy
Owl, but none surfaced. So, off we went to our next stop.
The Butchart Gardens
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| The Butchart Gardens |
After spending the early morning birding, it was time to
head for our primary destination: The Butchart Gardens, a group of floral
display gardens in Brentwood Bay north of Victoria. By far the area’s most
popular tourist destination, The Gardens receive over a million visitors each
year.
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| The colors are striking |
The gardens started as the private grounds of the home of Robert
Pim Butchart, a cement manufacturer, and his wife, Jennie. In 1904, they
established their home and, in 1907, they hired Japanese gardener Isaburo
Kishida to design their garden.
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| The variety is astounding |
In 1909, when the quarry that had provided limestone for the
cement business was exhausted, Jennie turned it into the Sunken Garden, which
was completed in 1921. In 1926, they replaced their tennis courts with an
Italian garden and, in 1929, they replaced their kitchen vegetable garden with
a large rose garden. In 1939, the Butcharts gave The Gardens to their grandson
Ian Ross on his 21st birthday. Ross was involved in the operation and promotion
of the gardens until his death 58 years later.
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| Brilliant Gardens |
To mark the 50th anniversary of The Gardens in 1954, underground wiring was laid to provide night illumination. To celebrate the 60th anniversary in 1964, the Ross Fountain
was installed in the lower reservoir.
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| Ross Fountain |
In 2004, two 30-foot totem poles were installed to mark the 100th anniversary and The Gardens were designated as a National Historic Site.
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| Orca seat on the Carousel |
The Butcharts still own The Gardens;
the owner and managing director since 2001 is the Butcharts'
great-granddaughter Robin-Lee Clarke.
In 2009, the Children's Pavilion and the Rose Carousel were
opened.
The Carousel “menagerie” has two chariots and thirty animals including bears, horses,
ostriches and zebras. They were carved from solid basswood and took months to
complete.
In 2008, The Gardens introduced the Jennie B, an
electrically driven 12-passenger boat that offers tours of the local coastlines
in the summer.
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| The tour harbor |
In the early days, weekly symphony concerts were hosted by the
Butcharts. These were often held for guests of the family, but later attracted
a larger audience. Now, The Butchart Gardens provide a wide range of local
entertainment, from jazz to classical music. The Weeds, a band made up of staff
members from The Gardens, sometimes plays during the Summer Season. Firework
shows accompanied by show tunes are offered on summer Saturday evenings and, during
winter, lights and seasonal decorations adorn the gardens along with an
ice-skating rink.
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| Even the greenery is brilliant |
The Gardens were lovely. It was too early for roses, but the
tulips were in full bloom.
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| Spring tulips |
When we first entered the Gardens, we saw a Rufous
Hummingbird and a really pretty bright green and black European Wall Lizard.
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| Bryan introduces himself to a European Wall Lizard; it responded by biting him; it wouldn't bite me |
An
introduced species, the lizard is found throughout the gardens, we saw just this
one.
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| Brilliant green and black |
And, although there weren’t a lot of birds, there were a two
great finds. When we first arrived, we saw some Chestnut-backed Chickadees
…
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| Chestnut-backed Chickadee making a statement |
… and Song Sparrows …
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| Mama Song Sparrow taking food to her chicks |
... both enjoying the spring leaves and blossoms ...
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| Chestnut-Backed Chickadee |
I also got a great shot of a Robin actually getting a worm. You hear about it, but you don’t often get this shot.
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| Early bird! |
Then, we got to the really good stuff.
We were enjoying the flowers, the fountains and the gorgeous
landscaping. I had just taken a photo of Sue and was posing with her so that
Rick could take our picture when Bryan called to let us know he had found a Red-Breasted
Sapsucker (a real beauty), so we ran to the other side of the Garden (that's why I have no picture of me in the Gardens).
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| Red-breasted Sapsucker |
I couldn’t remember if I had seen a Red-breasted Sapsucker before, but it turns
out that I had when a rare vagrant turned up in Colorado Springs last year.
They are normally found only along the Pacific Coast. I had to struggle to
photograph that one. This one, however, put on quite a show.
It posed …
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| In the trees |
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| On a bench |
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| On the ground |
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| And even on one of The Butchart’s Gardens' iconic totem poles |
We spent quite a bit of time taking pictures, attracting a
rather large crowd of other park visitors as we did.
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| Gorgeous |
When we finally moved on, the Sapsucker was still performing
for the audience.
As we were wending our way through the Japanese Gardens, we
heard a shrill (and very loud) call. It was a Varied Thrush!
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| Varied Thrush with a snack |
And, here’s an interesting theme – I had seen one of those
before, too. It was in Colorado Springs last year at the same time (actually the same day!) I saw the
Red-breasted Sapsucker. And, that bird – a really beautiful bird – lives only
along the Pacific Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe they traveled to Colorado together.
We took a few pictures before it flew off. But, it never changed its pose much, so all my pictures look almost the same. Here's what the one in Colorado Springs looked like ...
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| A bird where it doesn't belong |
And, of course, where there are flowers, there are bees. I saw
two types: a Tricolored Bumblebee and a Yellow-faced Bumblebee.
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| Left, Tricolored Bumblebee; right, Yellow-faced Bumblebee |
But, all good things must end and we had to return to
Vancouver for our flight home early the next morning.
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| Beautiful flower |
We took the ferry back, hoping that the sunshine would hold.
It did not. I covered ferry sightings in my last post.
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| BC Ferry |
Centennial Beach
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| Bald Eagle |
We capped off the day with a quick stop at Centennial
Beach on Boundary Bay. We were hoping for shorebirds, but several people were
walking dogs and no shorebirds, except a couple of Mallards and Great Blue
Herons, were to be found.
So, we headed to the Marshes, where we saw some more
Northwestern Crows …
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| Northwestern Crow |
… some of which were harassing a Bald Eagle.
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| The Eagle is telling the Crow to back off |
We saw a Pacific Northwest Spotted Towhee, which has much
smaller and fewer spots than its cousins here in the lower 48.
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| Notice that the Northwest Spotted Towhee has almost no spots |
One of the best captures was a cute little Common
Yellowthroat, posing in the marshes. They are such quick little birds, it’s a
good day when you can get a picture.
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| Common Yellowthroat |
And, we were lucky to spend some time with an absolutely gorgeous male Rufous Hummingbird ...
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| Rufous Hummingbird |
... that was uncharacteristically sitting still ...
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| Marvelous! |
Final Thoughts
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| Pigeon Guillemot |
So, that was our Pelagic birding trip. I thoroughly enjoyed
it ...
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| Laysan Albatross |
I saw 37 NEW birds and got some better photos of birds I had
seen before ...
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| Immature Bonaparte's Gull |
I made some new friends ...
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| Our group |
I went on and learned a great deal about guided birding
trips ...
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| Island Scrub-Jay |
I reminded myself that cruising for cruising sake is not for
me ...
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| Star Princess |
I am now interested in more Pelagic birding and hope
to get some more new birds when I go to Svalbard this month and Cuba in November.
Thanks, Sue, for inviting me (at least you got some pictures in the Gardens)!
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| Sue at The Butchart Gardens |
Trip date: May 7-14, 2019
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