Hi
We got off to a wonderful start to our annual count with record early number of both swans and geese.
Our day started by trying to find our way to the dog park, this is a true test of ones road rage, North Cowichan in it’s wisdom had blocked off nearly every road with what can only be described as a waste of our good property taxes, to rip up a road only to pave it again is beyond believe, heh but that’s what we pay them the big bucks for. Christina had been chatting up the young lad who was controlling traffic so that when it was time to leave, he gave her a wink and waved us straight out, such a nice lad.
Our first stop was the golf driving range where a goodly assortment of geese were counted (98).
Then it was along the highway to the boardwalk area for a few more geese to be added. Drinkwater Road was next up, but alas the lake was very slow with just a single Mute Swan and a half century of geese. As we left bells were going off in my head and I wondered if this was it, things got really slow, but with a release of the emergency brake the pace picked up considerably and the bells ceased.
Quist’s Farm was next on our list and it was here we scored our first Trumpeter’s with 9 adults and 2 immature. A large number of geese were tallied here (277)
Richards Trail was disappointing and with no crops being grown I can’t see that we will see many swans here this season.
From here we did our loop around the roads and stopped for a break, then on to Sahilton Road but our best bird was a male Northern Harrier. All in all our raptor count was not bad for the day with 2 Peregrine Falcons and 5 Red-tailed Hawks spread out over the course, we know it can only get better as the eagles move back in.
A stop on Koksilah Road west produced a whole bunch of Killdeer but for all our looking we could not find a Snipe, as we were about to leave I spotted a pair of Johnson’s on the road, they had stopped to see how we were doing before they headed off for lunch.
Talking of lunch we had a newbie with us today who had read that she had to bring along a snack, well Deb brought some wonderful chocolates which were devoured with many thanks, a bag of biscuits or cookies as they are called on this continent made the rounds, so this trip was not lacking in nourishment.
We hit Bench Road but all we could see were some tired old scarecrows. A large group of geese flew over as we were leaving and a few Cackling Geese were seen, I suspect that these guys were heading to Dinsdales Farm and were more than likely counted twice, but it’s early days so we let them get away with it.
Dougans had 2 nice adult Bald Eagles and 4 model airplanes and that was it.
As anybody who has been on our counts will know it’s no all about birds and this came into play when a small group of Shaggy Manes were seen along the side of the road, Curly was out of the truck like a flash and came back with a nice couple of handfuls and one dead Lucky lager. She then went on to tell us how she had been tempting her husband to eat any fungi she put in front of him, but he knows better and had seen the new life insurance policy and was not about to succumb to magic mushrooms.
Anyways back to birds. At St.Catherines Road we had our first Peregrine and Jim’s Pond had a nice group of geese with 2 Cacklers close to the road munching on grass.
Down through the bay we went and picked up a couple more Mute Swans and low and behold before us on Dinsdales Farm was the mother load of swans, never before had we seen such a group on the first count 111 adult swans and sadly only 4 immature, the younguns could be coming a bit later as I’m sure they have a struggle on their first trip south. A large group of geese were here also with at least 20 cacklers. Birds flew all around as a Bald Eagle passed over and our second Peregrine passed the other way, as I made my third look through the crowds hoping for a strange goose or swan a large gangly bird came into my vision a wonderful adult Sandhill Crane was in the thick of it, what a beauty, it even gave a trumpeter a little dig with it’s bill as it walked by. As we all admired the crane a couple of Marshalls turned up so it gave us great pleasure to brag about our find.
The Dock Road was our last stop and here after much searching I spotted a strange gull out on the log booms a nice white Glaucous Gull, a bit early for this species but we were happy to add it to our list.
A great day with wonderful weather and a great bunch of gals to spoil me. Life is good once more.
Derrick
PS, on Friday lunch time the Sandhill Crane was still with his big white buddies