New Birds in Sooke

Whiffen Spit Park on the west side of Sooke is a nice walk that has a path gong down a narrow strip of land that juts into the ocean.  This proved to be a lovely walk with crab boats about, a seal and some new birds all for us. I've always wanted to see Brandt's geese and at a little park in Sooke I got my way. There was a large flock eating seaweed close to shore.  They were quite shy but as we sat quietly we ended up with them pretty near by. I like their pretty necklaces.

I've seen Mountain Bluebirds up in the higher cut blocks in the interior but  never on the coast. This female allowed Geordie to get quite close while she flew and hopped about a small area.  They are  rare on the coast and on Vancouver Island. This one must have been passing through as part of the Spring Migration.

The same area also yielded a mystery shore bird. Geordie and I after much debate and pondering of bird books had tentatively identified this fellow below as a Rock Sandpiper. We were corrected by Geordie's Dad, Peter. It is in fact a Black Turnstone.  Shorebirds are shy and fast and hard to ID and I am bad with them. The group that was feeding on the rocks right at the water was shy but we still got in for a close look before they flew off.