Cowichan Valley Naturalists

Hi
I have to admit that it was something I didn’t know was going to happen, after slogging around on the Christmas Count I was feeling good, so it came as a shock when going out to feed the birds on Tuesday morning that I slipped, stumbled and then fell, putting a dent in my duff and hitting my noggin on a rock wall knocking myself silly and causing blood to sliver down my neck. My knee was twisted and my ankle was turned over and I couldn’t move. As I lay prone in the torrential rain with seed scattered about my torso, Junco’s and Chickadees pecked at my body. I knew then that I had to make it to the house before the local crows spotted me and set to on my eyeballs. So there you have it, I was unable to make the count on Wednesday as I was skulking in bed, but three trusted volunteers came through and scored big time.

Here is Bob’s shortened report:

Ten A.M. at the Dog Park, only 3 participants, no data sheets, no news and no Derrick! But no rain, either, so the small band pressed on, and soon tracked down a message that Derrick was temporarily out of action. A flurry of creative photo-copying provided some ad hoc data sheets, and we were off on the usual route, not too far behind schedule. The loop north of Duncan produced little to slow us down, except for over 150 Ruddy Ducks on the far side of Somenos Lake, still hanging out there after their Christmas Count appearance.

Swan numbers picked up smartly as we swung south through Sahilton, Koksilah and Riverside/Bench Road areas. And at last, more perched Bald Eagles and a couple of Red-tailed Hawks. By the time we motored north again, Cowichan Bay estuary was brilliantly lit by the low sun in the west. Distant ducks looked gorgeous, but there was naught for our swan and goose totals. Nevertheless, the final count for Trumpeter Swans was a satisfying 463 birds.
Bob Nation

Until the next count
Derrick

Hi
With only one participant willing to brave the weather, I was dragged screaming and kicking from my sick bed to accompany old Derrick along for the count.
To say the weather was bad, is I think an understatement, let’s say it was the worst we’ve ever had on a count by far. With the truck in either 4 high, 4 low or 2 wheel drive we sloshed and squelched our way around the route. The road was flooded up on Hillbank Road, but along Richards Trail no snow, guess those winds blowing up the mountainside from the banana growers in Maple Bay would not allow the white stuff to enter the area.

Some of the highlights were a Merlin on Westholme Road and a Peregrine Falcon eating prey on Cowichan Bay Road above Dinsdales Farm.

Trumpeter Swans were about average for this season and the Canada Goosies numbers went up a bit.

Their was a great sighting of small Greater White-fronted Goose seen at the corner of Beverly and TCH, seen through splatterings of snow and sleet and two Cackling Geese. I’m sure there could have been more, but you could only have the window open for 5 seconds at a time.

Best of all was saved for Koksilah Road east where we were treated to hundreds of geese with top spot going to 26 Great White-fronted Geese and at least 40 Cackling Geese.

I find it hard to type while huddled back in my comfy bed.

There will not be a count next Wednesday the 26th as the holiday rest period kicks in and the following week will have us in a rest period after the Duncan Xmas Bird Count. I will add the numbers in from the count on the 1st January as not to leave a gaping hole in count.

Our next count proper will be on January 9th, let’s hope for some sunshine.

Derrick
under the blankies.

Hi Birders:
Unfortunately, our stalwart leader Derrick, was unable to man the helm on the weekly Wild Goose Chase and Swan Count today. So I offered to pitch in along with Eric the dutiful driver and wife Dorothy, always sharp eyed for perching raptors whilst recording the accurate tallies for the day. On another threateningly grey, very late Autumn day we were accompanied by Christina a newer resident from Radium Hot Springs in the stunning Columbia Valley. She was not forewarned of CVNS’s very active birding activities like I was when I moved here last year, but has just now joined the “chase” in this Valley so highly bestowed for Nature. Christina managed to ensure that Dorothy did not fall silent in the back seat when distracted with scribing/tallying duties and raptor watch. Husband Eric soldiered on, driving in varying weather conditions that saw wondrous sunshine and verdure in the Valleyview by Dougan Lake etc between rain downpours.

I spotted a Boney at the Great Wall of Somenos on the way in – a winter plumage Bonaparte’s Gull behind the PetroCan 7-11 Gas Station where Derrick earlier reported a Glaucous and Herring Gull this week. The very active Victoria birder, Mary Robichaud, reported she could not find those Gulls Tuesday, but did get some 8 Long Billed Dowitchers all of which eluded my survey. A quick side trip up to Art Mann Park on the way in showed all the wildfowl flushed further up Quamichan Lake with a returning boater. The winter resident Ruddy Ducks were out of my binocular range, with lost Scope still languorous in Victoria for this forgetful retiree to retrieve.

As we wandered up the highway stopping at Somenos Lake boat launch, things seemed quite quiet with the occasional daft Coot and a few White Breasted Mergansers (American in my youth, but now Common) rafting lazily on the Lake teasingly on the edge of binocular challenged range. But as we hit the Westholme area the Swans suddenly popped up. My Eastern senses could not tease out the larger (than in Ontario) Western Cackling Geese in the throngs of Canadas but we were very happy to find an ominous looking Goshawk holding watch nearby. A couple of female Pheasants threw off this Easterner with their surprising flavian, light phase as they perched on the corral beside the barn suggesting a more recent domestic origins by Richards Trail. Reconsideration makes me realize their wildness. A huge number of Pintails nearby seemed to illustrate they felt safe from hunters here, but the mere sound of my conversation voice flushed a hundred or so.

A quick pit stop at A&W allowed a picnic break and onwards south after the heavy rain squall that timed nicely with our stop. A trip down Sahilton Road pleasantly showed up a brace (aerie) of eagles. Again the lack of Scope challenged our binoculars but the sun again smiled upon us to improve our view. Naturally I had to check these rarities (for this Ontarion) online with pics + guides but certainly we had our Golden Eagle with presumed youngsters. Christina let it slip that she has several times noted the Golden Eagle young in the nearby area in the past couple of years that now seemed to have come to maturity. All of this has escaped this recent birder’s knowledge but nice to have the 3rd FOI (first of Island) bird in one short trip. Then on to the lovely Valley and then abortive trip around Cowichan Bay Village for Swans. The California Quail on St. Catherines again showed in sunny conditions – both sides of the road where the feeders once drew in the White Crowned Sparrows etc. Finding a Killdeer at the Great Wall of Somenos upon return was a fitting end to a productive outing (Mary reported 2 the previous day on eBird but no Bonaparte’s). No Shrikes or Harriers this day, but a fun tour with fine company.

– Robin Lawson

Hi This week we once again had good weather to start and rain to finish. I sat patiently waiting for the participants to arrive and as 10.00:am drew near there was know one to be seen, then finally they started to arrive and when we were ready to leave we had six participants in two cars. I jumped in with Eric and Dorothy while Bob handled the other ladies not literally of course. This week saw a new enthusiastic rooky arrive with a vehicle with a large metal platform attached to the back of her car, for just a minute I thought this was for me to travel on the back and shout out the species as we sped along the highway. Anyways off we went and we only went 400 yards before we lost Bob as we skipped around school district 79’s yard so that we got a good look at the golf driving range, here we counted a small group of geese. On to Somenos Marsh where we recorded our first adult Trumpeter Swan, this bird has been in the same spot for a few days, so I hope it’s not injured. As we approached the DU pond, low and behold there was Bob parked up with his two ladies, he quickly followed on behind as we headed down to Somenos Lake. The birding was slow on the water with just Doubl Crested Cormorants and a single Common Loon. We then headed down the highway to the Quist farm where a nice assortment of ducks and geese were present, but no swans. Then it was on to Westholme Road where 10 adult swans were seen, only two participants found me in amongst the tall broom, but others could hear me calling out the numbers. Don’t forget the pruners next week. Richard’s Trail came through with good numbers of all waterfowl species and just over 160 swans and about the same amount of geese were counted. We were very lucky when I spotted an adult Tundra Swan motionless between two clumps of grass and it gave the group lovely looks for all to enjoy. After this it was all geese as we headed to our rest break at A&W. One high lite was at the top of Auchanchie Road where a large group of Pine Siskins where feeding on seed heads down in a field and kept flying up and sitting on the fence, I of course scrutinized these in the hope of finding a Common Redpoll, but it was not to be. Corfield and Sahilton Roads were next, but we bombed out and all we had for our troubles was 4 Trumpeters and a large female juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk and our one and only Northern Shrike which sat up on the hydro lines looking for it’s afternoon snack. The Sharpy was a first since I started counting raptors last year. Off to the west we went and we only found 3 swans on Koksilah west. Nothing at Bench and so we were on our way to Dougan’s Flats where the motherload of Canada Geese were stationed. Almost 800 were dutifully counted in the rain with not a swan to be seen. Nothing was seen all the way through to Dinsdales Farm where two trumpeters had the vast area to themselves. Cowichan Bay has had a nice bunch of swans for the past couple of weeks and we manged to find 10 Trumpeters and 8 Mute Swans over towards Khenipson Road. Lot’s of ducks and gulls were out on the water which is good for the soon to begin waterbird survey. Our numbers have increased a little from last week and we hope that the big numbers will start to move down the island as the weather gets colder. The eagles in Cowichan Bay are showing well on the low tides, but seem to disappear as the water rises, these past two early mornings have seen over 50 in the bay towards the mill from the Dock Road.
On a side note this Friday morning a adult Peregrine Falcon was chasing American Robins along the Dock Road. Another rare sight was a Short-eared Owl that was being harassed by Common Ravens, this bird kept circling up and up trying to get away from this pests and in the end it glided out over Dinsdales Farm. It was strange to see this species so high in the sky as they are usually seen coarsing the fields or sitting on the fence posts. The Ravens soon turned their attention to a juvenile Northern Harrier that came gliding down beside the river and the marauding bunch chased it across the bay. The Ravens soon returned to feast on the dead Salmon that have really started to wash down river into the estuary. That’s it until next week. Happy Birding Derrick

Hi
Our day started out with just three counters meeting at the dog park, a bit disappointing to say the least. Anyways we had a nice Red-tailed Hawk being harassed by crows in one of the last standing trees in the path of the Great Somenos Dike.
We soon found some geese with a reasonable sized group at Beverly and the TCH and as we passed Somenos Marsh a group of swans flew out to the south.
At Somenos Lake we found another group of geese and a few Trumpeters.
Onwards we went along the highway and we found some swans that would be hidden along Westholme Road if we hadn’t done a bit car maneuvering back and forth along the highway.
At Norm Quists farm a large group of geese were seen in the fields along with several species of ducks.
We headed around onto Westholme where we found a nice group of swans, but our viewing area was very overgrown with broom and it was lucky we didn’t have any short people with us as they would not have seen a thing.
Along Richard’s trail we hit paydirt with nearly 70 swans feeding in the fields and a good average of immature with 14 compared to 54 adults.
It tended to dry up from here with just a few raptors and our first Northern Shrike of the day.
A quick stop at A&W yielded another adult Bald Eagle while the other lads nipped in for a coffee and water the plants.
Along Sahilton Road we picked up 4 more adult swans and then it was off to the west where things were very slow until we hit Dougan’s Flats and it was here that we found our second Northern Shrike and our largest flock of geese.
Back along Koksilah east found another large flock of geese and along Wilmot Road an even larger flock, but sadly they were all large species and we were unable to find any Cacklers or White-fronts.
Down into Cowichan Bay we headed and I thought I saw a swan in Dinsdale’s Farm but it turned out to be a man investigating something down in the grass, it must have been something magical as he continued to be bent over scouring the sod. I bet he wasn’t looking at goose pellets.
Off to the Dock Road we went and I was surprised to see so many Trumpeters over towards the mill, they were joined by 3 Mute Swans. It was here that we had one of the best sightings of the day, as i was scanning the swans a flock of gulls passed through my scope vision and it turned out to be a flock of about 40 Bonaparte’s Gulls, this is very late for this species to be in our area.
As we headed for home along the Dock Road we had our third Shrike for the day a fitting finish to a lovely sunny fall day.

Lets hope we have more people next week.

Derrick

Hi Birders
The last count of the season has come and gone and we had almost an identical number of swans as the last count last season. Swans were found in only four localities this week with the main flock on Koksilah Road west and even these were trying their best to hide from us.
This season has seen a major decrease in the number of swans down over half from what we recorded in our first year 2009/10, what this means i don’t know, maybe birds stayed further north or possibly they passed us by and headed further south. We can only hope that they return to us next time.

This season we also counted raptors and from my personal files the numbers of eagles appear to be low in the valley this year, maybe due to the lack of fish being available to feed on. We will have to wait and see how the numbers stack up next year for comparison.

Many counters came and went this year but overall we had a good attendance and the hard core counters kept coming back for more. Most weeks we had at least 6 people come out and at the worst only two vehicles were used. I have to thank the drivers for the use of their cars and trucks without them we could not achieve our counts each week.
A real big thank you to A&W for the use of their facilities at our halfway point, not sure what it would have been like without this little room to use.

To all counters a big thank you for your company and for those little details that I added into my report each week, the feedback that i have received has been all good and supportive.

This week we had some nice sightings with the Red-breasted Sapsucker and Downy Woodpecker stand off at nest holes on Drinkwater Road at Somenos Lake being the high-lite also here was my first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the year. Another first was the female Brown-headed Cowbird on St. Catherine’s Drive most surely an over wintering bird that went undiscovered this winter or young lady eager to get north for the lads. The Northern Shrike that caused a major turn around on Herd Road our first along this road. Thanks to senior Derrick for his keen eye.
We battled the weather this week, but it was not as bad as the forcasters had foretold, being caught in just a couple of major showers.
We were greeted at our meeting place by a woolly Mute Swan splashed across the front of birthday girl Helen, a nice sweater find for her, as it turned out this was the only one we saw this week.

Listed Below is how our first three years have gone, make of it what you will, but for me personally I think we need a few more seasons under our belt before making any assumptions from the data

Cumulative totals for all weeks added together.

>>>>>> Trumpeter Swan A >>> immature >>>> Canada Goose
2009/10 >>>> 10,473 >>>>>>>>> 1,951 >>>>>>>> 12,765
2010/11 >>>> 8,888 >>>>>>>>> 2,140 >>>>>>>> 18,104
2011/12 >>>> 5,524 >>>>>>>>> 1,002 >>>>>>>> 21,236

Average per week

2009/10 >>>> 557 >>>>>>>>>>>>> 102 >>>>>>>>> 672
2010/11 >>>> 488 >>>>>>>>>>>>> 112 >>>>>>>>> 953
2011/12 >>>> 276 >>>>>>>>>>>>> 50 >>>>>>>>> 1062

Let’s hope Shaw does not mess this up as it gets transmitted to you.

Until next season good birding and good health to you all

Derrick Marven

Dear Birders
Four D’s and a E, it is possible that these were my grades when I left school back in England many moons ago, but no, these are the first initials of the participants in this weeks survey. While 2 D’s and an E kept watch for birds, two D’s were doing a crossword; it is no wonder that for the first half of our count in the northern sections not many birds were counted. I must admit that 1 D dragging herself away from four down did spot a Eurasian Wigeon and then a Pied-billed Grebe in Somenos Marsh, but this D missed completely the Tree Swallow sitting on one of my nest boxes, the first to set up home this year.
Before I get into too much waterfowl I have to comment on the raptors for this week which put on a good show with 30 Bald Eagles, 4 Turkey Vultures and 3 Red-tailed Hawks. Quist Farm came through with 13 Bald Eagles which seem to like these fields and trees for some reason.

Several times this week my birding skills were called into question only to be accepted on further investigation and identity proved, the penalties will be payed next week; the last count of the season. So I missed a few swans, so what.

Anyways, I was surprised to see that our count was not missing too many swans for this week as I had thought that many had left already, although adult numbers were down, maybe some eager adults had left for northern climes in anticipation of getting the best nesting spots.
With good warmer weather forecast for this weekend you might want to look up now and again while cutting the grass or whatever you do outside on warmer weekends.
Our first swans of the day did not come until we were on Highway 18 heading towards Drinkwater Road, 10 birds were feeding in a large field.
The next group came in a new field off of Sahilton Road where over 150 were fattening up on the new grass.
Corfield Road once again had the Common Teal the Eurasian counterpart of our Green-winged Teal and also another Eurasian Wigeon, I think we ended up with four for the day. Here we had our first of the year Killdeer playing with the ducks.
Koksilah Road west had a few swans and Bench Road came through with over 50. Dougan’s Flats had a handful of swans in a far off field and over 250 Geese, our largest flock of the day.
We quickly nipped around to St.Catherine’s Road where we picked up another 45 swans and a few dickie birds.
Koksilah Road east was next with over 170 swans and 130 geese. Because of the lack of exercise made by the counters I made them get out on Wilmott Road to walk back and forth while I checked the swans, in doing so I found our old friend 01UK, the neck banded swan, feeding away with it’s buddies.
Onwards and down through Cowichan Bay village a soaring Turkey Vulture was spotted and at Dinsdale’s Farm 7 Great-white-fronted Geese were seen with 135 Canada’s.
We did the Dock Road without much success and then headed home seeing another 3 Turkey Vultures soaring up towards Mt. Tzouhalem.

Next week sees the last count of the season and so if you think you’re missing something be at the dog park at the corner of Lakes and Beverly at just before 10:00 am.

Big thanks to my CVNS friends for reminding me that it is my wedding anniversary this weekend, good job as I had forgot, I was sure to end up as Cassowary food if it was not for their lovely card; she who must be obeyed was very impressed.

Good Birding
Derrick

Hi Birders
Not sure what we have done to deserve the weather we have been subjected to this week, wind, rain, even a bit of sunshine, but nothing stops the swan and goose counters. Five hardy souls set out from the dog park and it was not long before we started counting geese with over 150 before we had left Somenos Marsh. As two of us fought our way through the wind and rain at the foot of Drinkwater Road I suddenly saw a strange bird on the water just off the end of the floating viewing platform, lucky for the two of us it was the Red-throated Loon still lurking from last week. It took one look at these rain sodden specimens and dove never to be seen again, I guess it headed into the willows which were knee deep in water. Daryl had noticed that the bird had a slight hint of red on the neck.
A quick stop at Tim’s to get rid of one of the cars, we were on our way north, much tugging and fondling was taking place in the back seats as we headed up the highway, these seatbelts sure cause a lot of trouble for those with much too much clothes on.
Surprise surprise no swans or geese at Quist’s farm just a few forlorn immature Bald Eagles sitting on the ground. Onwards we pushed with wipers working overtime, but all we could add was another 90 geese before the halfway mark.
Once again we stopped at Tim’s to retrieve a car and then onto A & W, not sure whats with my fellow counters, they love these fast food outlets on a rainy day.
Sahilton Road was next and finally we added some swans to our list with just under 100, nice and close for good viewing.
Next we headed over to Koksilah Road west, but 5 measly swans was all we could find. On Bench Road we did a little better and picked up 45 swans, but where were the big flocks that we have become used too, had they left already?
Dougan’s Flats produced the lost flocks with over 500 geese and 175 swans. It was here that we had our one and only Red-tailed Hawk, well spotted Bob.
St Catherines Road had 8 swans and a nice assortment of Sparrows and my sharp eye spotted a Northern Shrike down the fields hunting from a fence post.
Onwards we pushed and yes it was still raining cats and dogs, Koksilah Road east came next and another 100+ swans were added to our ever growing list.

We headed down into Cowichan Bay where a Polster Sp. was seen along the waterfront, it had a camera at the ready in case a log started to roll from the new and improved wave buster, trouble was it had taken a hammering just a couple of days before and did not look too healthy.

Dinsdale’s Farm had a nice assortment of waterfowl, with over 70 swans and nearly 300 geese, how do they know that the hunters are finished for the season? Off in the far field I had spotted some Greater White-fronted Geese so a quick trip around into the campground had a us nice and close, this was nice for Robin who had never managed to catch up with this species in the valley. 10 were found a new high total for the season.
We finished our day along the Dock Road where I spotted another Northern Shrike way out in the field hunting from a log. Just 3 Trumpeters and 2 Mute Swans were all we could find and so the day was over and the counters could finally go home and dry out and wouldn’t you know it as soon as I opened my front door the sun came out.

We had noticed this week that the immatures are really starting to turn white, this makes it all that more harder to distinguish them from the adults.

Oh well, two more counts to go before our white ghostly friends depart for the breeding fields of Northern British Columbia and all points north.

Thanks to Bob for driving and to Daryl for the meticulous number punching, and to Robin and Sheila for their good company, until next week.

Good Birding
Derrick

Hi Birders
Talk about Rag, Tag and Bobtail, that was the swan and goose counters this week. I arrived at the dog park with just Daryl waiting, after few minutes Bob turned up to let us know that he would meet us half way round later on. So into the car the two of us got only to see a carload coming into the car park. We stopped got out of the car and were greeted from some Manitobans in shorts and T-shirts, gladly away from the cold chill of the mid-provinces, but they were only going to join us for the first quarter as they were heading off up island.
Finally we got under way and our first bit of luck was a Northern Shrike sitting on the poles at the golf driving range, but it flew off before I could let the others know.
On to Somenos Lake where the prize of the day was found diving over near the far shore a Red-throated Loon only my second ever sighting for the Somenos area and just to the left of it 98 Ruddy Ducks all lined up in a row.
We soon moved on to the Quist Farm area where to our surprise 11 Decoys were feeding in the field, closely watched by a camouflaged tent. Here we did have some Trumpeters in a nearby field all 13 of them.
We bid our farewells to the Winnipeg group and had a little chuckle about their hockey team as they headed off up the highway.
Daryl by this time had fallen asleep with the lack of birds to write down, but I soon awakened her with 55 Canada Geese on Tom-Windsor Drive.
That was it, A & W here we come and waiting for us was Bob, did I ever tell you Bob has trouble with electric door windows, he would push the button when he saw a good bird and the window would open when we were two miles further down the road. Yes Bob you will be getting a bill.
On Sahilton Road the fields were devoid of anything to count, but a lovely breeding plumaged Ring-billed Gull put on a nice show, it even stood beside a adult Mew Gull for mantle color comparison.
Daryl was now starting to doodle with her pencil from lack of entries, this was all to change quickly as we hit Koksilah Road west and just under 75 trumpeters were found. Bench Road had 9 and Wilson Road had 80 swans, Heh we were now on a roll.
For the first time in a while Jim’s Pond had geese, 12 made into our book.
Then it was the turn of Koksilah Road east and oh my was there ever a group of birds, over 200 swans and an estimated 500 geese were spread out over the fields towards Wilmott Road. Hiding in amongst the thronging crowd were 9 Greater White-fronted Geese.
After that it was all down hill with just two more Trumpeters counted off the Dock Road, Cowichan Bay.
It was here that Bob tried to emanate me and dive into the estuary, Daryl as quick as a sloth, tried to stop him and all the days tally sheets took off in the wind, I have had to work around mud spots to bring you these numbers.

With just three more counts to go we can expect the Swans to start leaving soon and our numbers will decrease each week, but there could be new arrivals coming soon from down south, so one never knows what to expect on the Cowichan Valley mad Swan and Goose count.

Oh we do have some fun on these counts, most of you don’t know what your missing and I don’t even report on the real juicy bits.

For those who don’t know who Rag, Tag and Bobtail are, punch it into your search engine. It’s one of those quaint British expressions for a motley crew.

Today’s numbers on all on the attached excel files.

Happy counting
Derrick

Hi Birders
There are times when one wishes they had stayed at home instead of going out birding in such horrible weather, but not so for those hardy counters who join us each week. Having said that one less than hardy counter did not want to get out of her car, she fumbled with her backpack making all sorts of excuses not to get out in the rain. Finally she exited the car, only after 1 minute she lept back in. Next year we must find some hardier counters to help us out.
This week we had two vehicles to hold all the counters and we got off to a very slow count with the scorer mentioning that she was getting paid for nothing this week. Swans were few and far between, with just two on Somenos Lake and 18 at the Quist Farm. Immature eagles put on a good display this week and i think the adults are starting to chase off the younguns as courting starts to happen. Adults will not allow the rugrats to stay around once nesting starts in earnest.
We quickly found ourselves back at A&W with Eric getting us around in record time. At the end of this season we will loose our A&W sponsorship, they feel that the use of their toilets and the buying of the occasional hot chocolate does not warrant their participation. So if you would like to sponsor us to the tune of $15 a week for gas, that is at $1.35 a litre, I will personally see to it that your company gets mentioned each week in my report that goes out nation wide each week. Cheapest advertising anywhere.
Back to counting, the Sahilton Road area was a bit of a bust with just 13 swans and just over 200 geese, so it was over to the west side of town to see if we could do any better. At two locations we managed to pick up over 80 swans, oh did I mention the snow, not much but enough for me to ask about Eric’s tires.
Bench Road came through with over 100 swans in two locations and then it was on to Dougan’s Flats where we found over 200 geese and another few swans.
St.Catherine’s Road was devoid of what we wanted to count, but the dickie birds put on a great display at a local feeder and a group of California Quail idled across the driveway.
We pressed on not to be put off by the weather and the lack of birds, Koksilah Road east once again increased our tally with 150 swans and just under 200 geese. I was lucky to spot a adult Tundra Swan on the edge of the group, more than likely the same bird I had seen just two days earlier in Cowichan Bay. The birds at this location have to be seen from both Koksilah and Willmott Roads for best viewing.
The Cowichan Bay area left us twiddling our thumbs with hardly anything seen, this in part has to be due to the Goose hunting extended season which I’m afraid has a major impact on the swans trying to fatten up for the long haul north. So much for the protection of an endangered species like the Trumpeter, being forced off their feeding ground just so a hunter can make bit of goose pate.
Our day ended with numbers down a bit from previous weeks, but with the weather conditions this is not surprising. Did I mention that when I got home the sun came out, damn.

Happy counting
Derrick

Dear Birders
And this is why you should never let Swan & Goose counters go out for four hours un-supervised:

Derrick

PS. well done counters a record number of swans for the season.

On 22nd February four stalwart birders set off swanning around the Cowichan Valley with a borrowed scope. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, but, sadly, with wind cut like a whetted knife. The worst problem though was not the wind but that we were leaderless – Derrick was not feeling up to guiding us, so we felt like four lost souls.

The first part of the tour yielded very little in the way of feathered fliers. The recorder claimed the right to stay cowering in the vehicle rather than brave the biting wind and it seemed the birds were in agreement as no raptors, very few eagles and not many swans showed their heads. By the time we reached Richard’s Trail we were so desperate for something …anything…to record that we listed two domestic geese on a small farm pond.

The day livened up however when we swung on to Herd Road and a rank amateur claimed that two birds flying high above, then perching in fir trees were golden eagles. A long delay followed as the scope was trained on these magnificent birds, the bird book studied and the argument grew more and more heated and almost led to blows. Peace was restored when the driver agreed to take their portrait though a long-focus lens and forward the result to Derrick for his decision. (Did I mention that without Derrick’s leadership we are lost?)

Continuing along Herd Road another eagle was spotted and the back seat passengers begged the driver to stop so the bird could be studied. Only the driver was aware that 200 yards previously we had passed a hitch-hiker hopefully thumbing for a ride and that he was now joyfully pounding down the black-top after us, so grateful that we had stopped. When he was only a few yards behind the car the driver gunned the engine and we tore off leaving him confused and angry.

As we neared our A & W pit stop we spotted a helicopter in Somenos Marsh and felt obliged to list it as an unusual species as we had so little else to record.

On Wilmot Road we struck (as one of our members termed it) the Mother Lode! Over 300 swans!! In her enthusiasm our Dedicated Daryl waded through the smelly ditch over her ankles in her efforts to make an accurate count. As the weeks pass it is growing more difficult to distinguish the immature swans as their feathers whiten and they look more like their parents. Surprisingly when the counters compared their totals the numbers were always close.

Derrick GET WELL QUICKLY, we can’t do this without you!

DOROTHY

Hi
This week I put into the weather forecasters for some nice skies and boy did we get some, according to the square box the Cowichan Valley was the warmest place in Canada.
Seven counters got under way and it was not long before we found our first swans at the rest stop beside Somenos Marsh with 17 birds present.
We quickly made it around to the lake but with just a few swans, our attention was drawn to a big flock of Ruddy Ducks in front of the far shore, I started to count and when I had finished my total was 85, what a lovely show.
Onwards we went with Sheila telling us about the good numbers of swans that were at the Quist Farm, but when we got there just 12 were visible, these birds seem to be there one day and gone the next.

As always on our route many little bits of useless information get banded around the vehicle and this week was no exception, crossword puzzles had been mentioned many times before and this week saw some comments of just who puts them together and their mental state. I personally don’t bother with such things except to find the six differences in pictures in the TV guide, now there’s a challenge, I have got it down to below 30 minutes now. I was told that sleeping with ones Blackberry under ones pillow is good if you wake up and remember all the things you forgot that day you just punch in the info and go back to sleep. I would have trouble with this as all my pennies are under my pillow and if I wake up I just start counting after about a $1.50 I’m snoring again.

Enough of this dribble, we worked our way around to Tom Windsor Drive and by this time we were well on our way to 500 Canada Geese. The local Red-tailed Hawk sat on a hydro pole for us all to see.
Hwy. 18 had one swan for the second time this season, this called for drastic action so we made for A&W to see if we could shake off this lack of swans. After a quick break it was on to Corfield and Sahilton Roads, Peggy threw a bit of a loop here and took us around some shops before she found Sahilton. We soon found over 150 swans and over 600 Canada Geese in the fields, also here were our over wintering Greater White-fronted Geese all 8 of them looking wonderful under the bright sunshine.
Behind one of the farms on Koksilah Road west we found another 36 swans, we were now on a roll and it was not long before the numbers climbed substantially with another 85 swans around the Bench and Wilson Road areas.
We then hit a dry spell with not much found until Jim’s Pond where for the first time this season we had some Canada Geese.
Off of Telegraph Road we added both numbers of swans and geese and then to Koksilah Road east where once again this week found many birds with nearly 150 swans and 400 geese.
Dinsdale’s Farm was dead and only a few swans were found on the Dock Road. As the party got back in the van a posse of Common Ravens flew over and disturbed a Northern Shrike out of one of the fields, but none of the others got to see it as it done a disappearing act.
Our day ended with:
2 Mute Swans
504 Trumpeter Swans
1669 Canada Geese
8 Greater White-fronted Geese

15 Bald Eagles
7 Red-tailed Hawks

There was a general lack of dickie birds this week with hardly any seen on our travels, that’s what happens when the sun shines.

A job well done by all.

Thanks to Peggy for the driving and to Bob,Daryl,Dorothy,Eric and Sheila for their great company.

Derrick

Hi
This week I had great expectations of some large numbers having gone up island and seen a big flock of swans at Quist’s Farm on Sunday.
Things don’t always happen the way you think as was the case as we started our count, Somenos Marsh had 27 swans near the rest stop on the highway, but the lake fell short with just 5 birds of which I only saw 2. The group of Ruddy Ducks had increased on the lake with a nice line of birds spread out in front of the far shore. By this time our goose numbers had risen to over 150 and the two Mute Swans were on the DU pond were to be our only ones of the day.
We headed north hoping for the large group, but the fields were bare with not a swan in sight and so the saga began as we travelled all the way round until Drinkwater Road where 8 swans were sitting down in the fields. By this time panic had set in and crying was heard from the rear seats, not sure if this was for the lack of swans or Bob trying to find his seat-belt hole.
After a very quick rest at A&W we headed on to Corfield and Sahilton Roads and again no swans were found. At Corfield we got out of the van to look for Evening Grosebeaks that suddenly disappeared as soon as they saw us, but one lucky counter who still has some hearing could detect them far off in the distance. Daryl decided to walk the rest of the way down the road while the rest jumped in the van, she was like one of those sniffer dogs on the trail of a hidden bounty and as it turned out the prize was at the end of the road with a lovely male Common Teal, this is the European counterpart of our Green-winged Teal. It so happens that it was a life bird for Daryl and my 100th species for this road which is only .39km long. So at least a couple of the people were happy.
On we pushed around Koksilah Road west where we found 26 swans and 2 Canada Geese, we were now on a roll and on arrival at Bench Road we found our just deserts with over 200 swans and around on Wilson Road another 60. In with the group off Bench was 01UK the neck banded swan from Alaska.
Dougan’s Flats had a few more swans and over 100 geese.
On St.Catherine’s Drive we watched some California Quail parade down the Road while a large group of Golden-crowned Sparrows played hide and seek in the brambles. My sharp eye spotted a Coopers Hawk trying to dry out on a fence post, it suddenly took flight and landed along the edge of the field and run around like a chicken looking for it’s lunch no doubt.
Anyways on we went to Koksilah East where the Peregrine Falcon of the tundras sub-species sat high up in a tree, but no swans. The dark form pealie had been seen by Daryl mid-week on the mainland, but I have never seen one on the island.
Around on Wilmot we found a major group of geese which contained 1 Cackler and 8 Greater-white Fronted Geese, this was the first time we had seen these for a while.
Dinsdale’s farm was a bust and the Cowichan Bay Dock Road failed to find us our Mute Swans this week.
All in all not a bad day for such wet weather, oh did i fail to mention the rain, well yes it did rain but funny as it was every time we had to get out of the van it seemed to slow up.
Our Swan numbers are way down from last year at the same time, we only counted 352 adults and 55 immature, compare this to last year on Feb. 9th when we had 806 adults and 159 immature, so where have they all gone, this is one of the mysteries of bird migration?
As you might have guessed with the rain our Raptor numbers were very low.

Thanks to Peggy for doing the driving and to Sheila, Daryl and Bob for their good company.

Happy Birding
Derrick

Hi all naturalists
This weeks count was attended by 6 counters and the weather gods smiled upon us today with clear skies and moderately nice temperatures.
The count this week saw numbers similar to last weeks with a rise in Canada Geese and amazingly the same number of immature Trumpeters.
We counted the geese around Somenos Marsh and then headed towards the lake but on arrival we could only find 1 Trumpeter, was this a sign of things to come we wondered?
Out on the lake a small group of Ruddy Ducks were spotted and from what I could observe they all looked like males, but they were a long way away and some counters put them down as brown blobs.
We moved on to Quist Farms, but again no swans. Over on Westholme we were lucky to find a small group of 35 swans so all was not lost in the north end.
Richards Trail was a bust with nothing to count, but there were lots of duckies in there.
We headed on and it was with surprise that a sharp eyed counter spotted some swans in a field on Herd Road, a location that we have never had them before.
It then went cold again with no more sightings before our regular stop at A&W, here i spotted a couple of flying eagles which i added to the list of raptors which was suffering a lack in numbers at this point.
On to Sahilton Road saw the swans hiding down in this far off field for which we don’t have access too. But what was this, a gray blob sitting in a tree just above the swans, it must have been half a mile away but I was convinced it was a shrike and just as we were about to leave it flew down and was not seen again.
Koksilah Road west produced a few swans and Bench Road came through with over 90 swans in three locations; it really is a hit and miss with this location this year. Past years have been reliable for good numbers in the Bench fields.
Dougan’s Flats had a pitiful number of both swans and geese so it was on to St. Catherine’s Drive were it was nice to see a small group of swans and another Shrike. Lot’s of Sparrows at this location and a single Steller’s Jay a rare species this winter in the valley. An Anna’s Hummingbird sat up nicely in a small tree for all to view.
A new spot on Telegraph Road found 5 swans and 100 geese.
We moved slowly along to Koksilah Road east where there were just over 90 swans, this has been one of our most reliable spots this winter for swans and geese.
We worked our way down through Cowichan Bay admiring the new nature center and viewing platform as it quickly takes shape. What a great asset to Cowichan Bay this will be when it’s finished.
Dinsdale’s Farm found the mother load of Canada Geese and so I challenged the counters to each make a count and we would take the average of all numbers, well they ranged from 750-1000 so we settled for 850. These numbers will certainly drop in the coming weeks as the month long goose hunt starts soon.
The Dock Road had our usual number of Mute Swans and there were few Trumpeters out there also.

After recent comments in the newspaper I decided for the 10 minutes that we were there in the bay I would count the species out on the muddy and murky waters and in the hedgerows, I GRANT you I was worried that we wouldn’t see anything based on the news article but I came up with 26 species in and around us as we stood there and this from six senior citizens whose hearing and eyesight is not what it used to be.

Enjoy the sun
Derrick

Hello Birders
The day started with 7 birders meeting at the dog park, one was sent packing as he had a nasty cold, didn’t want him contaminating the van.
With senior Derrick away counting Zebras and Hippopotami, Peggy had the honors of driving us around our route and what a wonderful job she made of it, getting round in almost record time, thanks Peggy.
As usual we encountered plenty of geese in Somenos with 200 being recorded, now that’s a good round figure. 2 Red-tailed Hawks were also seen. The mated pair of Mute Swans were breaking ice at the DU pond. Just over 20 swans were counted in Somenos and we had a couple of Lesser Scaup swimming out on the lake with some Common Mergansers.
Quist Farm came through with a nice showing of Bald Eagles (20), a few Trumpeters and a large gaggle of geese.
On Westholme we got a nice bunch of swans and the family with 5 immatures was at this location.
Richards Trail produced nearly 40 swans and a large group of geese; only the second time this season we’ve had geese here.
Nothing much happened after this, so we headed around to A&W for our P & T break.
Sahilton Road came through with nearly 150 swans, but no geese!
On Corfield Road a resident Peregrine Falcon flew sharply passed us and out over the highway.
Koksilah Road west had a few hiding swans, but our sharp eyes counted them.
Dougan’s Flats were a big disappointment with no swans although there was a large contingent of geese way out in the fields.
We whisked our way around to Koksilah Road east where we hit a good number with nearly 130 swans, two of which were adult Tundras although one of these garnered much debate, myself thought caution was the best way to go with this bird, but those with much more experience in these matters out voted me and so we registered two.
At this same location our second Peregrine Falcon of the day sat proudly up on a dead snag looking down at its next tasty meal below; Mallard possibly.
Dinsdale’s Farm had a major clump of geese with one skulking Cackler in their midst. Not wanting to count this mob I decided a good estimate would more fitting. It is strange that the swans have vacated this location as a group are usually there early in the morning when I pass by, I wonder if they may roost out on the fields at night.
We finished our count as usual on the Dock Road adding a few Mute Swans to our days total. Most of the ducks have now left the bay as the food source slowly diminishes.

What was discouraging this week was the lack of immature swans, we had one of our lowest ratios to adults ever recorded.
This week saw our second highest count for swans and our second highest count for geese this season, not bad for a bit of a rainy day.

Well happy birding and we’ll see you all next week

Derrick