“Another one bites the dust”
Freddie would be proud of our achievement since we started this project, week after week we persevere under sometimes arduous conditions counting birds as we go. This week I hope we have turned the corner of winter as it was very pleasant when 8 participants set out from the dog park. Not big numbers this week and as we worked our way around the route nothing rare and exotic showed it’s face until the very end. The lakes were still mostly frozen and only small pieces of flooded fields had any water. The raptor count did well this week with 3 Merlins seen, a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a good number of Red-tailed Hawks, 5 of which were in a couple of kilometers along Hwy 18.
Geese numbers were about the same as last week, but the swans dropped down a bit, Malcolm and Karen managed to find our missing birds #100 up at Tansor crossroads, but these birds are out of our count area so are not listed in the final tally. We try to stick to our route where possible as it could become an all day event and I have to be home for my 3:00pm snooze or I get really grumpy. Swans were spread out over most of our route with no big flocks encountered. The same could be said for Geese except for along Boy’s Road where a major flock was seen flying and landing between Boys and Modeste Roads.
This week we were lacking a couple of our giggly photo girls so it was left to Barry to carry the load, I too brought along my little point and shoot and tried my hand at a few portrait photo’s. This did not go down well, you know that look a adult eagle gives you when you get too close, well I got that from Barry. You did sign the waiver didn’t you mate. It was nice to see Christina back aboard after her holiday visits from family members and her camera came in good at the end.
A very rare rubby duckie was spotted in a tree along Telegraph Road, I think it was trying to escape as I heard on the news that they were being recalled, I think the last thing he wanted after migrating all this way was to be sent back to China. Have you ever wondered what happens to all this stuff that gets recalled, what happened to all those air bags?
The best bird of the day was the last when over on a dike from the Dock Road was a Golden Eagle, this bird has been around for a couple or three weeks and has treated many shutterbugs to some wonderful shots, unlucky for us it was just a bit too far away for any decent shots, but we did get a record portrait. Not sure what it is feeding on down there but I think it goes well with orange.
I would just like to remind you who read this little ditty that we travel approx. 85km working our way out towards Crofton and then back down to Dougan’s Lake it takes us about 5 hours in total with a short break at A&W. Our group usually consists of about 8-10 people and we have had about 35 different participants over the years, some from as far away as Ontario and Alberta.
Photo Credits
Golden Eagle by Christina Cutbill
Rubber Duckie by Barry Hetschko
Merlin by Barry Hetschko
Mute Swans by Barry Hetschko
Evil Eye by Derrick Marven
Merry Counters by Derrick Marven
Until the Robins sing
Derrick
Comox Valley Swan Count tallies for January 24th:. This weeks Trumpeter tally was 830 adults and 175 juveniles for a total of 1005. In comparison, the total tally for the same period in January 2016 was 1561 swans.