Cowichan Valley Naturalists

Hi Birders:
Another incredible day both for birds and weather was had by the counters this week. Our day started with 7 of us leaving the dog park in two cars and it was not long before we found another stray standing on the side of the road, Bob, so we took him along as we didn’t want him loose on the hwy.
For the most part Somenos was all about Canada Geese and we soon had about 80 on our list. Tree Swallows were flying over the willows at the lake trying their hardest to catch a few bugs.
We then headed up the highway to Quist’s Farm where we picked up just over 60 Trumpeters and just under 100 Canada Geese. I single Killdeer was down in the field and was well spotted by the girls. Westholme Road had about 20 swans, but I could not get a good enough look at them to tell how old they were so they went down as adults. Richards Trail had a few Geese, the fields were now very dry and lacked habitat for waterfowl. A single Anna’s Hummingbird was seen on Tom Windsor Drive and I think this is possibly the first Anna’s we have ever had while doing the count, Barry has allowed a wonderful picture of one from his garden, see attachment. Herd Road was a bust except for a Red-tailed Hawk which was one of our record high count for this season #10, Barry took a wonderful picture of one of the hawks and it is attached. We then went along to Hwy 18 where a nice group of Trumpeters were in the fields, just under 70 were counted and in amongst them was a pure flock of 29 Cackling Geese, now where did they came from, who knows, migrants already?
We stopped for lunch and yes you guessed it chicken legs was on the menu. From here we hit Boy’s, Sahilton and Corfield Roads where over 100 Trumpeter Swans and just 40 Canada Geese were noted. A few Bald Eagles were added on these three roads although overall adult eagles were way down while immatures were right on average.
We know headed over to the west side of town and although we looked very carefully we could only come up with just over 70 Trumpeters all the way through Bench Road , Dougan’s Flats had none, but did hold 350 Canada Geese.
St.

Wandering Goose

St. Catherine’s Road had a nice flock of 86 Trumpeters and while we watched a big female Coopers Hawk flapped across the fields, this in turn had us spot our first of the season Turkey Vulture off in the distance. We now descended on Koksilah Road east where just as we got there the farmer was out on his four track scaring all the birds away with Trumpeters and geese going in all directions, this would really mess up our numbers as I’m sure there were big numbers to be had, but hold on, a lot of the birds were heading towards Cowichan Bay and as luck would have it they were waiting for us to count them, both in the east side of the bay and along the Dock Road. We will never know how many we missed, but we did have our highest count of the season with over 720 Trumpeters counted.
One of the swans in the bay was a near adult Tundra Swan which had moulted into it’s nice white plumage but it’s bill was still in the immature stage and very bright at that, a distant photo is attached, you very rarely see a bird like this in our area.
Our good friend Peggy Smith sent me some interesting details that I think you’ll enjoy.

I checked with BBL on Tundra Swan
P927 we saw Jan/Feb 2013. He has since been seen :

01/21/2014 4.9 mi. SW from Burlington, Skagit County, WA

02/20/2014 10.8 mi. W from Tulelake, Siskiyou County, CA – Lower
Klamath NWR

It’s always fun to follow a collared swan we’ve seen.

The nice fellow at BBL also sent a map showing the reported movements
of P927.

Peggy
Map attached (Picture1.png).

It always amazes me how far these birds travel for breeding and lunch, we in turn only move a a couple of rooms for our delights.

That’s it we only have 3 more counts before we chase butterflies, so enjoy the winter and keep looking.

Derrick

South Side of the bay
The early hour and time change seem to have limited the size of the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre team. However, Dave Aldcroft, Gail Mitchell, and John Scull were there and counted:
2 double crested cormorant
17 great blue heron
2 canada goose
40 trumpeter swan
30 mallard
4 northern pintail
58 green winged teal
99 bufflehead
53 common goldeneye
1 barrow’s goldeneye
3 hooded merganser
1 mew gull
1 thayer’s gull
18 gloucous wing gull
3 unidentified gull
6 northwestern crow
2 common raven
There were a total of 371 waterbirds of 14 species observed on the North Side of Cowichan Bay
on March 8, 2015 by Bob Nation, Daryl Johnson, Kurlene Wen, Christine Gilbertson and Carol Hartwig.
Great Blue Heron 1
Canada Goose 9
Mute Swan 8
Trumpeter Swan 12
American Wigeon 18
Mallard 73
Buffleheads 90
Common Goldeneye 9
Common Merganzer 5
Hooded Merganzer 3
Bald Eagle 3
Mew Gull 20
Unidentified Gull 114
Northwestern Crow 6

Total birds 327

This week iI managed to pull myself loose of the apron strings and join the other 6 participants and I was so pleased I did as it was a wonderful count. What was so surprising was the number of swans which was almost identical to last weeks count, with 496 adults and 184 immature, add to this two other species of swans and 3 species of geese.
A Northern Harrier greeted us at the corner of Beverly St. and the Hwy and a flock of Ruddy Ducks were out on Somenos Lake, but no swans were in the Somenos area this week. We did add over 200 Canada Geese for Somenos before heading north, several Bald Eagles were seen along the way and along Westholme Road about 25 Trumpeter Swans were hiding down in the marsh. Surprisingly we had 4 Red-tailed Hawks along this area. Bald Eagle numbers bounced back up this week overall with over 30 being recorded.
It then went slow until Hwy18 where over 50 swans were in fields opposite the golf course and who should be with them than the Sandhill Crane, this guy or gal sure get’s around.
We also got good looks at a nice flock of swans between Drinkwater and Auhenichie, 74 in total.
After our break it was onto Sahilton and Corefield Roads where we managed another 150+ swans and 22 Canada Geese. Geese were in low numbers this week with some already setting up nesting locations and some moving north or just hiding from our counters.
We now headed to the west side of town and Koksilah Road where a group of 60 Swans were nice and near to the road for us to count. Riverside Road was next and in the flock of 140 swans was a nice adult Tundra Swan which poked it’s head up over ridge for us to admire.
Dougans Lake flats had another 80+ swans and about 125 Canada Geese, but it was here that this strange wet stuff cascaded down out of the skies and many decided to hide in the vehicle leaving muggings out side to do the counting. I could see through the raindrops the collared Swan which I assumed to be 01UK.
Over on St.Catherine’s Drive we were met with a lovely surprise as 14 little Cackling Geese were close at hand and out over the fields a Greater White-fronted Goose played hide and seek behind a bramble patch. We then picked up our second adult Tundra Swan which showed well the little yellow tear drop just above its nostrils. These good birds managed to drag out Kurlene from the vehicle and straight away she had a smallish hawk up on top of a fir, I quickly got the scope on the bird and let Kurlene tell everyone that it was one of senior Derricks tree hawks. I have to admit I had made a mistake along Herd Road where I had brought everyone to a sudden stop for a Northern Flicker that I thought was a hawk, so it happens to us all, at least mine had feathers.

During our recent counts I had noticed how one of our team Christina had this fixation with any chickens that she saw around our route, her salivating over these barnyard introduced species was becoming very obvious, I just thought it was some sort of fetish, but sadly no, this was a major addiction to deep fried chickens legs and especially the ones sold at A&W’s. It all started mildly with just one leg a week, but now she was on two a trip and not only that she has now turned San into a drumstick junky, I do hope that the rest of the group can show some sort of restraint or I will be forced to implement a white meat only bird count.

Cowichan Bay gave us our third swan species of the day with 4 adult Mute Swans and 2 immature and along the Dock Road another 15 Trumpeters were found.

Our day was done and we all had a good time with lot’ of neat things to see.
With just 4 more counts to go until we call it quits for the season, if you’re going to get involved, you better make it soon.

Derrick

Eight birders — David Aldcroft, Diana Aldcroft, Kathy Coster, Pamela Williams, Robin Lawson, Gail Mitchell, John Scull and Tony Sneep — counted birds in intermittent showers.
Horned grebe 1
Double crested cormorant 10
Mute swan 2
Green winged teal 1
Greater scaupe 10
Surf scoter 4
Bufflehead 58
Common goldeneye 52
Barrow’s goldeneye 4
Hooded merganser 9
Thayer’s gull 1
Glaucous winged gull 15
Northwestern crown 1
168 birds, 13 species were observed, along with 3 river otters fishing in the estuary.

There were 327 waterbirds of 16 species observed on the North Side of Cowichan Bay
on February 8, 2015 by Daryl Johnson, Kurlene Wen, Christine Gilbertson and Carol Hartwig.
Horned Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Canada Goose 2
Trumpeter Swan 10
Surf Scoter 8
Buffleheads 100
Common Goldeneye 8
Common Merganzer 8
Hooded Merganzer 2
Bald Eagle 4
Mew Gull 13
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Thayer’s Gull 1
Unidentified Gull 164
Common Raven 1

Total birds 327

There are times when life throws you a wobbly and such is the case for me lately, for the second time in as many months I have got the flu bug and had to stand down this week and let the troops do the job that they have been trained for.
They turned in a masterful count with record high count of swans #669 for the season and good numbers of hawks and eagles. Eleven birders turned up this week and a three car convoy took off from the dog park. What was lacking was any real report of what they got up to, Dorothy and Eric pulled out at lunch knowing all too well that the day was going to be long and left Kurlene in charge, talk about leaving the fox in charge of the hen house. A big thank you goes out to Daryl who took over the tallying of numbers, good job she has lot’s of fingers and toes with the high count this week.
I know they saw the Sandhill Crane this week on Sahilton Road and the American Kestrel at the exhibition grounds, with the majority of the swans located on the west side of the route, but that was it.
It is left up to me to fill in the report with what I have seen and heard while hacking away at home. During this time I have managed to give my beloved the bug and so I have not been able to rely on her support, finding things have been a task most unusual to me and locating a new box of tissues is like looking for a Great Gray Owl on Quadra Island.
A sad report has come out of Washington State with over 40 Trumpeter Swans dying in just a couple of areas this winter, presumed to be from lead poisoning, this comes from years of lead shot being used by hunters. The authorities are trying to identify the bad areas and will try and persuade the birds to forage elsewhere.
Lead shot is now banned in this country for waterfowl hunting, but it has, as usual, taken a long time for those in power to enact this ban.
There are areas in our valley that the swans and geese use on a every day basis that are littered with lead shot, Cowichan Bay, Somenos Marsh, Swallowfield Farm, Richards Trail have historically been hunted using lead and one can only assume that this deadly metal lies in wait for any foraging bird to ingest. Some of the worst cases of lead poisoning come when birds are forced to congregate in a single area to feed instead of spreading out in many locations.
Areas that have historically grown vegetables in the valley have seen lead shot used to disperse foraging birds from the crops, goodness knows what that has done to us that eat local produce.
I have watched as the population of Mute Swans have slowly diminished in Cowichan Bay from a once high of nearly 250 birds to present day numbers of less than 20. I am not saying this is due to lead, but it does seem strange that it would happen here where the birds have congregated each winter for many years.
We can only hope and pray that a terrible disaster does not hit our area and that the once endangered Trumpeter Swans can enjoy our hospitality here in the valley for years to come.

I am now starting to feel a little drowsy after finishing up my third bottle of cold medicine which, I might add, has no affect on this bug that I’ve got, but one can only hope and pray that this plague relinquishes it’s hold on my body and that I can return to counting birds instead of sheep.

Until next week.
Derrick

Hi Birders
Once again we had a tremendous day with one after another great birds, they just kept coming much to the enjoyment of the 7.5 birders present this week, I say .5 because Bob once again slept in and was picked up at A&W. He must have known that it was going to be a long day and needed all the rest he could get. One of our participants mentioned that she had been away to a retreat, well at the end of the day I was ready to take in one of these restful places. Another one of our ladies had a list a mile long of what she wanted to see, didn’t she know this was a bird count not a big day, anyways at the end I think we managed to find most of what she wanted, let’s hope next week she doesn’t come with a whole new list of species.
Hawk numbers were really good with 2 Northern Harriers, 2 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Sharp-shinned , 1 American Kestrel and an amazing 3 Peregrine Falcons, now that don’t happen very often in the valley. Eagle numbers dropped a bit but we did see a mated pair sitting by a nest which was nice.
Trumpeter Swans # 591 dropped a bit but were still in good numbers and we got some nice close up looks this week.
This week we finally caught up with the neck collared Trumpeter that had been seen for several weeks and it was nice and close and was confirmed as we thought as 01UK which has been around now for several years.
A single adult Tundra Swan (photo attached) was up on Riverside Road much to the delight of the lady with the big list although it took the photographer a while to home in on the bird.
Canada Geese went up and we were lucky to spot a single Cackling Goose flying over Sahilton Road with a small group of Canada’s. A single Snow Goose had now moved back to the south and was seen loafing in a field off St. Catherine’s Road, this guy sure moves around.
You should be aware that most of the Geese roost in the Somenos area overnight, so it must be a toss up about who decides which way to go in the early morning.
The Sandhill Crane was once again off Koksilah and Bench. This got me to wondering, what will happen in the spring, will the crane take off with the Trumpeter’s or will it hear some of it’s own kind fly over heading north and head up to join them? If we could only know.
This week saw the return of a group of Mute Swans to the north side of Cowichan Bay and I counted 16 adults and 4 immature.
There was a lot of bleating on our route today (photo attached) so it has to be spring. Altogether Aah.
As our day came to a close down on the Dock Road we were hoping for another look at the Short-eared Owl, but sadly it did not put in an appearance this week, but the big consolation prize was a Northern Shrike that hunted right out in front of us until a Northern Harrier came cruising over and disturbed it.
That was it our day was done and so was I, the pressure of finding birds and keeping the troops in order at least for the first 5 minutes of count had taken it’s toll on my body, it was 4:00pm and I

still had to face you know who back home.
Once again a big thank you to Barry for his excellent photo’s
Take care and keep looking.
Derrick

Hi Birders
This week we only had 7 people for the count, which meant only two cars, so to give him some experience of being in close quarters within the ladies car Barry was dispatched to the back seat. He seemed to come out of it pretty well unscathed although his photography payed a heavy price with no pictures this week.
As we were about to leave a man drove in and leaped out of his truck and asked if we were birders, it appears that he had just seen a Northern Hawk Owl, he gave me excellent details of who he had phoned and his prowess of identifying owls, the location was given and so we headed off knowing only too well that we would get side tracked once again this week.
We worked our way along Somenos Marsh but sadly not many birds were evident, after this we made this sudden detour to look for the owl, we checked the area but nothing was found, a couple of the ladies also checked again at the end of the count with no luck. So who knows?
This week saw an upturn in the Bald Eagles and I wonder if they knew that there could be some early salmon coming in.
We hit Somenos Lake and saw nothing big and white, a few Canada Geese were added and the star of the show was a seal that had worked it’s way up Somenos Creek and was enjoying the spoils of the lake. This is not the first time seals have been seen up in the lake, but it is always a nice surprise when we see one. The White-throated Sparrow was not seen but I have added a picture taken by our good friend Ann Nightingale who added it to her big year list on Tuesday. Ann is trying this year to see as many birds as possible on Vancouver Island an enviable task.
Our next stop was the exhibition grounds where the American Kestrel has been holed up for a couple of weeks or more, well after causing some chaos with big rigs and other motorists with less understanding natures, we finally saw this little beauty on the fence line. An early in the week picture is attached taken by Kurlene, I think you’ll like this one.
Most of all the swans had departed the north end of our count with just 30 birds found up on Hwy 18 along with 5 Greater White-fronted Geese and over 200 Canada Geese. I am not inferring that the swans have headed north in fact they were moving further south in the valley for greener pastures.
After our break we headed off down Sahilton Road but the best we could muster was a family group of 4 immature and 1 adult swan.
We headed over to the west side of town and I was dreading our next stop because it is the hardest place to count swans and as you might have guessed there was a big flock hiding behind the shrubs and trees. I did my best to count them with Dorothy behind me jotting down the numbers and when all was done we had added 131 swans to our meager total.
On we pushed up to Bench Road where there was a good number of swans and the Sandhill Crane, as I started to count I spotted the farmer come our and get in his truck, I’m sure he was watching out for us, I frantically counted the swans before the farmer set about dispersing them far and wide.
I was now concerned that many birds had headed out to locations for which we had not visited yet and there was the chance that they would get counted twice, this came to the fore when we hit Willmot Road where Sandra the Sandhill Crane was standing in the field with many trumpeters.
Along Koksilah Road east a lovely female Northern Harrier glided along beside the car giving us excellent views, but no swans were to be had.
I made an executive decision to count the swans on Willmot Road but not anything on Dinsdales farm on in the south end of Cowichan Bay. As it turned out it seems the numbers were not bad, but these are the perils of counting things with wings that farmers take a dislike to. One good thing was the appearance of an adult Tundra Swan what was nice and close in the field at Willmot. We did count a flock of about 200 Geese on Dinsdales Farm and a few Trumpeters in the bay.
That was it our day was over and for the most part we did manage to dodge the worst of the rain.

Good fun was had by all and until next week keep your bins at the ready.

Derrick

We did it again a wonderful day full of good birds. 11 birders set out this week, with the return of Eric and Dorothy and new boy Keith I was hoping that some sort of normality would ensure, but it was not to be, because as the day went on all hell broke loose with the troops.
This week again saw an increase in Swan numbers with the immatures again leading the way with 177 recorded, we have not seen this many younguns for several seasons. Goose numbers went up with one large flock numbering 550 birds.
Our count started at Somenos Marsh where it was very slow with 32 Swans and only 16 geese, it was then off down Drinkwater Road where a nice group of dickie birds were congregated on one of the bends; we sat and waited to see what was there and a lovely little White-throated Sparrow appeared in the ever increasing crowd of feathered seed eaters. Then down at the lake we were treated to over 200 Ruddy Ducks on the far side of the lake, one of the bigger flocks seen here in many a year. Also over the far side were 7 Greater White-fronted Geese in a Canada Goose flock.
Down the Hwy we went and along to Crofton Road where over 100 swans were counted, then it went really slow with hardly any raptors except for a nice look at a Peregrine Falcon along Westholme Road that shot off over the fields hoping to catch lunch.
Hwy 18 had a few swans and a group of Canada’s numbering just under 300 and then we spotted the Snow Goose (photo attached) right in the middle of the pack, this is not the first time we have spotted this bird here and it just goes to show how far these birds wander as the Snow Goose has been at Cherry Point Beach roosting for at least three weeks. A few swans and geese were counted along the Drinkwater Road fields and then it was time for our break.
Next on the agenda was the Boys/Sahilton Road area where we soon found the Sandhill Crane with a large group of swans on Modeste Road, this young bird is feisty and was seen too attack a swan that got in it’s way (photo attached)
Our next stop was along Koksilah Road west where we added 15 swans and we had a hawk identification course; some thought it was a cone and others thought it was a Coopers Hawk but after close study with the scope at full power and a few field mark details we was given the name of old Red-tail.
Bench Road that has seen some unsavory disturbance of birds lately had over 200 swans and a few geese. Dougans Flats was once again slow with just over 20 swans.
St Catherine’s Road was just filled with birds and when the dust settled we had 55 Swans and over 550 Canada Geese.
It then went slow again until we got down the Dock Road, just over 15 swans were seen and a few old friends were out on their bikes. It was here that anarchy took over, as we headed back down the road I once again saw the Short-eared Owl (photo attached) coursing the field and then a second bird, the car screeched to a halt and we were out and looking, it turned out the second bird was a female Northern Harrier (photo attached) and it was having a battle royal with the Owl, we watched as they played tag and then split apart, luckily the Harrier landed on a hydro pole (photo attached) where those with big lens got to have their way with this approachable bird. Then the owl landed and everyone started disappearing up the road, my calls to retreat went unheard and only a few of the group remained to look after the cars and cookies. Time went on and after what seemed an eternity the group returned, but then they wanted to do some swapping of seats in the vehicles, Jana had enough of us men and jumped in the female car and sent us Christina, who I had always thought was the leader of the felines, was she a spy sent to check out out numbers ?
We finally made it back to the dog park and I escaped to head home with my tail between my legs to face “she who must be obeyed”; well of course it did not matter what I said, coming home at this un-godly hour did not quell her temper, she ranted on about how could any birdwatchers have so much luck and use this as an excuse to stay out. I just crawled into my corner where I will stay until next Wednesday.

Big thanks to Jana and Barry for the photos

Have fun
Derrick

Shorebird Count – Cowichan Bay – Sunday January 11th, 2015

A high number of 18 species of waterbirds were observed in the fog on the North Side of Cowichan Bay by Daryl Johnson, Bob Nation, Christine Gilbertson and Carol Hartwig.
Horned Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Canada Goose 6
Trumpeter Swan 26
American Widgeon 3
Mallard 74
Surf Scoter 6
Buffleheads 89
Common Goldeneye 7
Hooded Merganser 2
Bald Eagle 2
Mew Gull 12
Thayer’s Gull 2
Unidentified Gull 148
Northwestern Crow 1
Common Raven 3

Total birds 386

South Side count
An unusual number of both birds and birders on a foggy morning. Robin Lawson, Theresa McKeown, Gail Mitchell, Dave Aldcroft, Linda Hill, Kathy Coster, Pamela Williams, Hillary Stead, Kirk Holmes, and John Scull saw:
8 Horned Grebe
17 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Canada Goose
120 Trumpeter Swan (finally on this side of the bay)
2 Mallard
15 Greater Scaup
63 Bufflehead
47 Common Goldeneye
9 Hooded Merganser
1 Thayer’s Gull
29 Glaucous-wing Gull
3 Unidentified Gull
3 Northwest Crow
Total 318 birds

What a turnout for this count, it took a long time to sort out who was going in what car and in the end 11 birders set out in three cars. We had photographers in one car and a couple of snowbirds from Edmonton in another and of course the professional counters in the lead car. Before we left the Somenos area we had been treated to Northern Pintail, Gadwall and just under 150 Canada Geese. A Marsh Wren was well photographed at the rest stop along the highway and the Red-winged Blackbirds were already on territory singing up storm, could it be spring already. Out on the lake a group of 70 Ruddy Ducks are hanging in.
At Quist’s Farm a large group of 150 Canada Geese were seen and along towards Crofton Road we had over 70 Trumpeter Swans who’s numbers resembled last weeks count as did many locations this week. There was a single dead adult swan at Quist’s, who knows how it died, hopefully old age. Westholme Road had 18 Trumpeters and then we hit the wall until we hit Hwy 18 where over 30 swans and 126 Canada Geese were found. A little, possibly female Sharp-shinned Hawk was up in the trees off Drinkwater Road and a group of 70 Canada Geese were just down in fields near Somenos Road.
At this point in my report I know that sometimes I hear lots of good and sometimes totally useless information as we ride around our route, such was the case last week when it was brought to my attention that men with big bellies make make better lovers, I was always told that men with bald heads were best, but the husband of the lady that told me this tale is not that well endowed, with hair that is, go figure. I can assure you that you heard it here first, with leg bands and neck collars and feathers it is the much maligned male birdwatcher that holds the title of best lover. He can identify a female of the species from hundreds of yards away.

We hit A & W for our break and a lively chatter insured, before I broke it up and we headed off over to Boy’s Road where a few eagles were counted. Their numbers are starting to go down now as breeding pairs set up territory and others head north for the herring spawn. We cut across on Modeste Road and we were treated to a wonderful group of Swans and Geese right next to the cars, over 200 swans and just under 100 geese which had 3 Cackling Geese hiding in their shadows. We then hit Sahilton Road where a pair of adult Bald Eagles sat together right over the road, Kurlene opened the sun roof and a few snaps were taken of a pair of eagle bottoms, I suggested that we shut up the roof quick just in case one let fly with a spray of whitewash. Further down the road a male Eurasian Wigeon which has been down there for about 4 weeks obliged our Edmonton friends with a lifer and I hope a few pictures.
Our next few stops failed to find much and so we hit Bench Road where a nice group of just over 80 Trumpeters were down in the field and along with them was the Sandhill Crane back on location where it was first found. Another surprise way down the field was a neck collared swan and it was possibly 01UK who was spotted by our good friend Peggy the week before, alas it was too far away to confirm the number.
Dougans Flats added a few swans, but this year this area has not seen the birds of past counts, mainly due to hunting and the model flying fraternity.
St Catherine’s Road had a nice assortment of swans, but they were playing hide and seek around a group of trees, I’m sure we missed a few but still added another 50 to the total. We failed to find our visitors their California Quail who have been at this location many times. Koksilah Road east added another 60 swans before we took the road down to Cowichan Bay to finish the count. The bay is really starting to thin out with birds as time moves closer to migration with just the Buffleheads and Common Goldeneye showing in numbers.

That was it, the rain held off and we all went home happy, although a little late again, oh well when your having fun, time doesn’t matter.

Derrick

The top cat was back this week and this old moggie was not going to allow the antics of last week, so I rounded up the troops in the car park and told them in no uncertain terms the fun was over and that the 6 counters were to follow my instructions to the fullest, they in turn just laughed at me.
Our count had a wonderful day with many great sightings and good numbers of birds. Just under 500 Trumpeter Swans and an almost identical number of Canada Geese as last week at 804.
Somenos Marsh did not show us too much this week, but the lake was different with over 100 Trumpeters and a nice group of Ruddy Ducks over on the far shore.
We left here and headed along the highway and we hadn’t gone a km when I spotted some swans on the west side of the road, we all jumped out right in front of the Toyota dealership binoculars at the ready and peered over the road and I was astounded to see 24 Great White-fronted Geese along with over 50 Trumpeters. I looked around to see 2 car salesman heading back to the warmth of the office, I guess they thought we were looking at the second hand car lot, then realized we were only birdwatchers.
Then on to Quist’s Farm where a few swans were had along with some Bald Eagles and small flock of Killdeer which were disturbed by a over flying eagle.
It was then that I gave in to the ladies wishes, yes I do have a soft spot for them. Due to last weeks diversion along Crofton Road Ithought that it would be best to check this location out again and we were rewarded with just under 60 Swans, if some of you look at the files this number is added into the Quist total for my easy adding.
It then went slow for the next few stops with just a few flocks of Canada Geese added. 5 swans were added along Drinkwater Road in fields that were contentious over the Christmas period because of hunting.
After our break we headed over to Sahilton Road, but sadly this area has not been good for a while now and only offered up a few birds.
It was here that the ladies started to turn on the charm and flaunted truffles and chocolate covered berries at me and sadly I succumbed and was under their witching control.
We headed for the west side and ended up on Riverside Road due to a tip from our trusted driver who had spied some big white birds in a field, when we arrived we found 19 adults and 7 immature swans. More truffles were forthcoming and I was truly hooked.
Bench Road was next and as has been the norm the swans were way down the field making hard to count, let alone identify, but in the end we had just under 50 swans and 60 geese.
Dougans Flats gave us another 25 swans, but nothing else.
St Catherine’s Road came through with a nice assortment and 26 adults and 23 immature made for a great percentage.
We hit Koksilah Road east and found a few birds and then moved around to the other side on Wilmott Road where we were lucky to spot another group of swans, so we lept out of the vehicles and this time it was obvious who it was who caused so much trouble last week as she left the rear end of her vehicle stuck out in the road, blocking two pedestrians from their afternoon walk. By this time I was across the road and had spotted our second bonus of the day, the Sandhill Crane was there with his Trumpeter buddies, I quickly alerted the group and many distant and misty pictures were taken. I was going to mention here about Deb, but she is such nice person, Deb your problem is safe with me, so sad.
Down into the Bay we went and spotted a Sharp-shinned Hawk just before we turned onto the Dock Road and out in the bay we had just 3 Swans and not much else to spout about. Kurlene tapped me on the shoulder and told me she thought she had a Northern Harrier across the other side of the road, but she mentioned some light patches in the wings, well this pricked my ears up as Short-eared Owls have light patches in the wings. These two species can be hard at times to tell from a distance. We slowly drove back down the road and then magically I spotted the tell tale moth like flight of a a Short-eared, so cars were abandoned and all were out to watch this wonderful owl go back and forth in front of us before it darted into the grass and sat just out of sight for a while before taking off back over the fields to look for it’s supper. A few snaps were taken, but it would have been nice if it had come closer. Finally at the end of the road a immature Coopers Hawk decided to be really friendly to us and sat and admired us from a oak tree.
What a fitting end to a wonderful day, everyone left with a smile on their face and i have to admit we run about an hour late this week due to unforeseen circumstances, which we will take any week.
There are a few pictures attached this week, big thanks to Barry.

Happy Birding
Derrick

The first count of the new year is under our belt, but not without a few problems, firstly I went down with a bad bout of the flu and was unable to take part, but I did manage to get down to drop off the tally sheets and the walkie-talkies and I new then that trouble was afoot. There was poor Bob surrounded by 4 women, I put my trust in Kurlene to run the route and make sure that all went smoothly. Not sure if it was the medicines that I was taking for the flu or the thought of Bob being left in the lions den, but I had nightmares that night which involved thousands of swans in Somenos attacking the group and dragging them off.
I awoke in the morning and was relieved to find a e-mail from Kurlene with details of the count. It appears that they had found high numbers of swans this week with over 550 birds in total. The two best areas were once again Sahilton and Bench Roads.
The trouble is that when the cats away the mice will play as was the case this week as the group went off the route to a location just up off the Crofton Road where they added over 50 swans, they also appear to have had so much fun that the count took nearly 2 hours longer to complete. Add to this the total disruption of traffic flow somewhere when they all vacated the vehicle in the middle of the road with doors wide open to view a Coopers Hawk, this in turn caused some road rage as drivers voiced their opinion of the birders.
The group also failed to register the locations of the raptors so you will note a few gaps as too the whereabouts of just under 100 hawks and eagles.
There is also a gap for the 1st of January as I have yet to complete the Christmas Bird Count numbers, hopefully all will be back to some normality next week
This is a short report this week as I am still suffering from the affects of the flu and the lack of information about what really took place this past Wednesday. But I hope to be well enough for next weeks count where i will attempt to whip the troops back into shape, I think we will start with a few pushups in the dog park before we leave for the count.

Take care and a Happy New Year to all

Derrick

I have finally been well enough to tackle the vast numbers of birds that were counted on our count.
The number of people in the field was a healthy 54 and feeder watchers an unhealthy 10, but these are still good for our area overall.
We managed 110 Species and 27,819 total birds which is average for our count
Anna’s Hummingbirds went down for the first year for a while, but were still good at 159. Eurasian-colored Doves increased to a new high of 129 and 100 Band-tailed Pigeons counted in one flock was exceptional and could well be a new record.
Numbers for passerines was very average although Spotted Towhees put on a good show.
A single Snow Goose was found at Cherry Point and a Canvasback was in the sewage lagoons. Ruddy Duck numbers were very low at 78 with only 8 birds counted on Quamichan Lake where there is usually hundreds.
Loon numbers were a little better this year with 8 Red-throated Loons a encouraging sign. 27 Western Grebes were seen from Cherry Point, maybe one day they will return in their hundreds.
Hawks and Eagles put on a good show with 2 American Kestrels found this year.
Gulls were very average except for 2 Ring-billed and 4 Herring Gulls which were nice for the spotters
Owls were down, but 2 Northern Pygmy Owls were found, which is a hard bird to see most times in the valley, not sure if these were visual or heard birds.
Woodpeckers were up with nearly 270 in total with 27 Red-breasted Sapsuckers and 15 Pileated Woodpeckers
7 Yellow-rumped Warblers put on a good show with most along Somenos Creek where it is a bit warmer and bugs abound.

Bird of the day was a Hutton’s Vireo found by Jeremy G. out in the west-end of town.

The weather was very kind to us this year with dry conditions and afternoon sun making it very pleasant to be out in the field.

A very big thank you to all the counters for coming out and a major thank you to Jennifer Goodbrand and all the other people that helped out with the food and drinks at the roundup. I should also mention “She who must be obeyed” who now has the t-shirt thanks to Sheila, my lovely wife has waited on me hand and foot during this bad bout of bird watchers flu.

The Duncan Count roundup is regarded as one of the best in Canada for the food and service that is given to the counters, well done all.

Happy New Year

Derrick Marven

The top cat was back this week and this old moggie was not going to allow the antics of last week, so i rounded up the troops in the car park and told them in no uncertain terms the fun was over and that the 6 counters were to follow my instructions to the fullest, they in turn just laughed at me.
Our count had a wonderful day with many great sightings and good numbers of birds. Just under 500 Trumpeter Swans and an almost identical number of Canada Geese as last week at 804.
Somenos Marsh did not show us too much this week, but the lake was different with over 100 Trumpeters and a nice group of Ruddy Ducks over on the far shore.
We left here and headed along the highway and we hadn’t gone a km when i spotted some swans on the west side of the road, we all jumped out right in front of the Toyota dealership binoculars at the ready and peered over the road and i was astounded to see 24 Great White-fronted Geese along with over 50 Trumpeters. I looked around to see 2 car salesman heading back to the warmth of the office, i guess they thought we were looking at the second hand car lot, then realized we were only birdwatchers.
Then on to Quist’s Farm where a few swans were had along with some Bald Eagles and small flock of Killdeer which were disturbed by a over flying eagle.
It was then that i gave in to the ladies wishes, yes i do have a soft spot for them. Due to last weeks diversion along Crofton Road i thought that it would be best to check this location out again and we were rewarded with just under 60 Swans, if some of you look at the files attached this number is added into the Quist total for my easy adding.
It then went slow for the next few stops with just a few flocks of Canada Geese added. 5 swans were added along Drinkwater Road in fields that were contentious over the Christmas period because of hunting.
After our break we headed over to Sahilton Road, but sadly this area has not been good for a while now and only offered up a few birds.
It was here that the ladies started to turn on the charm and flaunted truffles and chocolate covered berries at me and sadly i succumbed and was under their witching control.
We headed for the west side and ended up on Riverside Road due to a tip from our trusted driver who had spied some big white birds in a field, when we arrived we found 19 adults and 7 immature swans. More truffles were forthcoming and i was truly hooked.
Bench Road was next and as has been the norm the swans were way down the field making hard to count, let alone identify, but in the end we had just under 50 swans and 60 geese.
Dougans Flats gave us another 25 swans, but nothing else.
St Catherines Road came through with a nice assortment and 26 adults and 23 immature made for a great percentage.
We hit Koksilah Road east and found a few birds and then moved around to the other side on Wilmott Road where we were lucky to spot another group of swans, so we lept out of the vehicles and this time it was obvious who it was who caused so much trouble last week as she left the rear end of her vehicle stuck out in the road, blocking two pedestrians from their afternoon walk. By this time i was across the road and had spotted our second bonus of the day, the Sandhill Crane was there with his Trumpeter buddies, i quickly alerted the group and many distant and misty pictures were taken. I was going to mention here about Deb, but she is such nice person, Deb your problem is safe with me, so sad.
Down into the Bay we went and spotted a Sharp-shinned Hawk just before we turned onto the Dock Road and out in the bay we had just 3 Swans and not much else to spout about. Kurlene tapped me on the shoulder and told me she thought she had a Northern Harrier across the other side of the road, but she mentioned some light patches in the wings, well this pricked my ears up as Short-eared Owls have light patches in the wings. These two species can be hard at times to tell from a distance. We slowly drove back down the road and then magically i spotted the tell tale moth like flight of a a Short-eared, so cars were abandoned and all were out to watch this wonderful owl go back and forth in front of us before it darted into the grass and sat just out of sight for a while before taking off back over the fields to look for it’s supper. A few snaps were taken, but it would have been nice if it had come closer. Finally at the end of the road a immature Coopers Hawk decided to be really friendly to us and sat and admired us from a oak tree.
What a fitting end to a wonderful day, everyone left with a smile on their face and i have to admit we run about an hour late this week due to unforeseen circumstances, which we will take any week.
There are a few pictures attached this week, big thanks to Barry.
Sorry if this weeks post is a little large, hope you all enjoy it.

Happy Birding
Derrick

2014-15 Swan and Goose Count.xls

2014-15 Raptor count.xls

The first count of the new year is under our belt, but not without a few problems, firstly i went down with a bad bout of the flu and was unable to take part, but i did manage to get down to drop off the tally sheets and the walkie-talkies and i new then that trouble was afoot. There was poor Bob surrounded by 4 women, i put my trust in Kurlene to run the route and make sure that all went smoothly. Not sure if it was the medicines that i was taking for the flu or the thought of Bob being left in the lions den, but i had nightmares that night which involved thousands of swans in Somenos attacking the group and dragging them off.
I awoke in the morning and was relieved to find a e-mail from Kurlene with details of the count. It appears that they had found high numbers of swans this week with over 550 birds in total. The two best areas were once again Sahilton and Bench Roads.
The trouble is that when the cats away the mice will play as was the case this week as the group went off the route to a location just up off the Crofton Road where they added over 50 swans, they also appear to have had so much fun that the count took nearly 2 hours longer to complete. Add to this the total disruption of traffic flow somewhere when they all vacated the vehicle in the middle of the road with doors wide open to view a Coopers Hawk, this in turn caused some road rage as drivers voiced their opinion of the birders.
The group also failed to register the locations of the raptors so when you view the attachments you will note a few gaps as too the whereabouts of just under 100 hawks and eagles.
There is also a gap for the 1st of January as i have yet to complete the Christmas Bird Count numbers, hopefully all will be back to some normality next week
This is a short report this week as i am still suffering from the affects of the flu and the lack of information about what really took place this past Wednesday. But i hope to be well enough for next weeks count where i will attempt to whip the troops back into shape, i think we will start with a few pushups in the dog park before we leave for the count.

Take care and a Happy New Year to all