Nature Cowichan

Hi Birders
Once again the weather gods smiled upon us and 5 counters got on their way.
It appears that us counters are fast becoming some sort of cult figures with a large following waiting with bated breath for word of what happened each week. There is talk of a book and we are currently in the process of contacting our publisher to see if we can match the likes of Harry Potter or James Bond.
I thought that it was going to be a little lean this week, but the swans had decided that they liked Cowichan hospitality so much that half had decided to stay over for a few more days. In a strange twist exactly half of the adults had stayed over from last week and about 75% of immatures. Canada Geese dropped by a long ways and we did see Geese flying north as we started our count.
After a few stops all we had to show for our work were some Canada Geese, but we soon found some swans at Mt. Sicker Road, this in turn settled down the counters into their usual swing of things and it didn’t take long to find 2 Red-tailed Hawks and 5 Turkey Vultures flying in the skies looking like they were having just as much fun as us.
We added about another 100 or so Geese before we hit Corfield/Sahilton Roads, here we were treated to a nice group of 130 Swans.
The large group of Swans off Koksilah west had all gone and it appeared as though the farmer had been spreading some sweat smelling liquid aroma, it is obvious that even swans can’t stand this stink.
Bench once again came through with nearly 100 swans but Dougan’s Flats was a total loss with just 2 Canadas to show for our keen eyes.
St. Catherine’s Drive one of our favourite spots showed many birds, but only a single California Quail tried to implant itself on the front of the truck.
Jim’s Pond had nearly a score of Geese and our favourite nags still had their blankies on letting us know in no uncertain way that the cold is still with us.
Koksilah Road east produced the most birds with a nice group of both swans and geese, two Cackling Geese were also seen at this location and were dully snapped by one photographer with great comparisons when caught standing beside a regular sized Goose. Here again we had Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vultures.
I have been told that taking a snap was not appropriate in this day and age of electronics and that i should refer to the pictures taken as expensive digital images, which ever way some gooduns were had.
Our day finished on the Dock Road where we finally caught up with some Mute Swans which were spied from the Cow-Bay Road but vanished on us at Hecate Park. It was almost certain that they wanted to be counted on the north side and not to be seen begging for tit-bits at the park.
With only one more count to go this term things are looking good for the Swans with increased numbers all round, it will take a few more years before we can get any good insight into if they are stable or going up and down.

This was my last count of the season as I will be under the influence of gas and pain medication at the time of next weeks count as I get my new bionic knee. I know it pains my fellow counters not to have me there to guide them, but my pain will be far greater then theirs.

Another great season achieved, thanks to all who took part and thanks to all our groupies for continuing to follow us weekly.

Good Birding
Derrick

The Cowichan Bay Herons are back. I saw 13 between 7 & 7.30 this morning (10th March) in the trees between Pavenham Road and Cowichan Bay Road. They flew off heading east.
ERIC MARSHALL

Hi Birders
Five of us set out on this wet and windy Ash Wednesday, the start of this count had to be the worst weather that we have encountered this season.
It was hard to get some of the counters to open their windows let alone get out of the truck, but in the end we had some sunny breaks and a nice rainbow out over Mt. Tzouhalem.
At the rest stop just south of the DU pond we had a Northern Harrier fly over and about 20 Swallows which were mostly Tree’s with a couple of Violet-greens thrown in for good measure. I’m sure the swallows wished they were somewhere more south on this horrible day.
With the wind Somenos Lake was pretty bare with just a couple of both swans and geese and a hand-full of Common Mergansers.
Along to Mt. Sicker Road where again numbers were low, but we did have a few Bald Eagles at this location.
Around onto Westholme Road we had a good find of nearly 40 Trumpeters and 45 Canada Geese.
The only thing noteworthy on Richards Trail was the American Kestrel.
Tom Windsor Drive produced 3 Canada geese and a single dead glove, not sure how long this poor black five fingure specimen had been laying there but it appeared to be very fresh.
It was then poor sailing all the ways round to Sahilton Road where we had just under 50 Swans with a single adult Tundra looking good in it’s nearly new plumage. 26 Greater White-fronted Geese were at this location along with 4 Dusky Canada Geese in amongst the 120 or so Canada’s.
At two locations on Koksilah west we had over 200 swans one of which had a collar, but the counter refused to get out in the torrential rain, what a wimp. With the immatures now changing their coats into a more adult look it was hard work trying to count them through the rain spattered window.
At Bench we had about 100 birds, here it appeared we might have missed some as i got a report of some birds hiding around the corner at Wilson and Soule Roads, oh well i will make sure this location gets checked next week, that’s if any are left to count.
Dougan’s Flats turned out to be our best spot of the day with over 150 Swans and 232 geese, 5 of which were Cackling Canada’s. The best was yet to come as we tried to enter the hwy a large raptor was circling the road, I yelled stop and upon inspection it was an adult Golden Eagle, it was joined by a Red-tailed Hawk and 2 Bald Eagles all going around in circles, a second adult Golden Eagle joined the group for a memorable day counting swans?
After much hoopla and a couple of pictures we were on our way to St. Catherine’s Drive where the single adult Tundra which was photographed last week was still in the fields with 11 Trumpeters. The bird sure does appear a lot whiter than the Trumpeters, someone mentioned Persil against another leading brand.
Koksilah East did not disappoint with a large number of birds. 01UK a collared Swan was at this location along with nearly 275 Trumpeter’s and 50 Canada’s with 1 White-front and 3 Aleutian Cackling Geese.
Along to Dinsdale’s Farm where we had just over 20 swans and nearly the same amount of Geese although 6 of the birds were Dusky Canada Geese.

What a day, one of our worst weather wise, but one of the best bird wise.
It was so warm and comfy in the truck that the female counters did not want to get out at Beverly and had to be ordered to vacate the vehicle.

Any mistakes in the final tally are not my fault as I only have ten fingers and 9 and half toes

Big thanks to all involved and especially Derrick the elder for the use of his truck once again, it sure does make for easy counting.

With just about three counts to go, most of you have missed some wonderful sights this season, you must get out more and enjoy what nature has to offer.

Derrick the younger

Hi Birders
It only happens about one time in seventy five but on this Wednesday morning those weather forcasters got it right.
I hadn’t shaved for many days in the hope that we would be blessed with some nice weather and for the most part it wasn’t bad. The day started with Derrick the elder picking me up from home and driving down to the dog park, this turned out to be a bit tricky as the wind had blown several large branches onto the road by the sewage lagoon on Tzouhalem Road, we slowly made our way past this only to get hit on the hood and windscreen by a large branch. Lucky for us it was no higher as it might have come through the screen, as it was it made a few scratches on Derricks window.
Anyways it was off to count birds with four trusty counters, the early stages found us wanting for Trumpeters with just a handful in our first two stops. We did manage to add a couple of Mute Swans at the DU pond and many Canada Geese in the marsh.
Mt.Sicker Road only had just over thirty swans and many gulls with the majority being Mew’s.
Tom Windsor Drive had a large group of geese and two Bald Eagles and a drifting Northern Harrier.
A photographic session on the bridge at Richard’s Creek found us getting some nice pictures of a male Wood Duck.
We worked our way along to Hwy.18 were just over 60 swans were easy to check from beside the road.
On Sahilton Road a group of 38 swans were close by and a group of geese that i had completely overlooked were counted by Derrick.
Koksilah West was once again a great spot for the Trumpeters with over 200 in one filed. Bench Road was a bust with the funny scarecrows apparently doing their job.
A mention about bulls in a field was met with some sarcasm, but they were just too far away to see the appropriate parts.
I suspect Dougan’s Flats was a little too open on this windy day for the swans as we could only find 14 a big drop from our usual numbers.
St. Catherine’s Drive supplied us with our next big flock with about 170 swans and just under a hundred Geese. I soon spotted a nice adult Tundra Swan and Derrick the elder managed to get some great pictures of the bird.
We did find some geese over behind Jim’s Pond which made for a little detour to our route, one counter made a comment about us going around in circles, well i been doing this for years, so whats new.
Koksilah Road East once again come through with a nice assortment of birds with over 170 swans and our first Cackling Goose. In the flock were an adult and immature Tundra.
We had to go around onto Wilmot to count some of the birds and Derrick quickly spotted a Northern Shrike which sat up on a fence post and then flew down and caught a vole, again Derrick managed some wonderful pictures of the event as it continued for several minutes, although us blocking the road did not go down well with some of the other car drivers. We must get one of those Bird Watchers on Board signs to put in the window for these counts.
Dinsdale’s Farm had a nice assortment of birds and 27 Greater White-fronted Geese stole the show here.
The bay was too windy for most birds and we recorded a duck here, pun.
We encountered 3 Northern Harriers, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, several Bald Eagles and our last bird of prey was a nice adult Cooper’s Hawk on the Dock Road.
The rainbows were just tremendous as the weather switched backwards and forwards from sun to rain.
We stayed dry for the most part except on one occasion when one of the counters did not want to open his window for fear of getting wet.
Once again wood came into play with a rare Wood Cormorant spotted along the Dock Road this followed on from the earlier Branch Hawk seen a few weeks back, goodness knows what this counter will turn up next time?
I have noticed by comparing from last years count that numbers are up, with the immatures doing doing far better. Also of note is the comparatively close numbers over our last three counts with immatures being almost the same.

Good Birding
Young Derrick

Hi Birders
It had to happen sooner or later, no silly not the big one, but the rain what finally hit us on Wednesday, not much but enough to keep some of the counters packing a brolly, one of which was open, it is this brolly that I blame for the rain.
Well 5 of us got off to a good start with many geese in the school fields. A few Trumpeters were seen in Somenos Marsh and the pair of Mute swans were on the DU pond.
Somenos Lake was deserted with just a single adult Trumpeter although the two Song Sparrows that were paddling in the rising lake were nice, guess even birds have to wash their feet now and again. We made our way along to Mt Sicker Road but I’m afraid the farmer has stopped the birds from feeding here and there was only a single immature swan feeding, it could be injured in someway?
Along with the lack of waterfowl was the lack of eagles at this normally good location.
We worked our way around through Richard’s Trail and once again we saw the American Kestrel sitting on the hydro wires.
Highway 18 had a nice group of swans which made for easy counting and finally Somenos/ Drinkwater had a small group also.
We stopped at A&W for our pit stop and then we were on our way to Sahilton and Courfield Roads were we hit on one of the largest groups of swans we’ve ever encountered, 400 birds were counted and two had neck collars which were easy to see, they being our old friends UK24 and UK01 who seemed to have teamed up in the same group for once.
Koksilah Road west added over 170 swans and a few geese, but Bench Road only found what appeared to be a family group of 6 swans.
Dougan’s Flats had a monster bunch of Geese and i was not about to try and count them as most were hidden from view so an estimate was made and totalled over 300. We also had just over a 100 swans in the fields.
It was on to St. Catherine’s Drive where we finally got a few swans for the winter with a bakers dozen. But where were the Quail? None were seen for the first time, but I’m sure they were there in the underbrush.
Koksilah east had just over 50 swans and then it was onto Dinsdale’s Farm where a medium size flock of Canada’s had 28 Greater White-fronted Geese in tow,
No birds at all were registered off the Dock Road so our day was done so we thought until a pair of adult swans were seen in Priest’s Pond, it must be a bit tricky for these birds to get in and out of this highly vegetated area.

Thanks to all counters and big thanks to Peggy for once again doing the driving duties, it sure makes for good looking when your up in the van.

Good Birding
Derrick

What another wonderful day for the counters with perfect weather and record numbers of birds!
Six counters including Eugene who came all the way from Sydney, Australia, I didn’t know that the Aussies had heard of us, but I guess when you’re famous word gets around
We once again slid into Derrick’s truck and made the rounds, one of our first birds was the resident Red-tailed Hawk on the corner of Beverly and the TCH and then some Trumpeters in behind the rest stop along the highway. Most of the small water spots were frozen with a thin layer of ice which kept the duckies at bay. Two Mute Swans were tallied at the DU pond and were added to the two that I had at Quamichan Lake earlier. Somenos Lake had a nice group of Trumpeter’s and a smattering of Geese. We really weren’t ready for what was to come as we got to Mt. Sicker Road with a major group of swans being present, almost 280 birds the most that we have had at this location this year. In amongst the group was an immature Tundra Swan. We moved on and tallied another Red-tailed Hawk along Westholme Road, but the swans were all missing from this location and we didn’t see any more until Hwy18 where a group was spotted.
We made it back along the hwy and were heading for our rest break when we spotted a big group of geese behind the oil change at Beverly, as I was counting the 1st winter Glaucous Gull came into view, well Derrick abandoned us leapt out the truck and went off to snap a few pictures with traffic coming from all directions.
Sahilton Road was a bust with nothing seen and Koksilah Road west was not much better with a few swans hiding over in a far distant field. Three Red-tailed Hawks were spotted in the trees above Kelvin Creek
Not to be put off by the lack of birds we pushed on and were rewarded with over 150 swans at Bench Road. It was here that some of us were attracted to a hawk sitting high up on a dead snag, after much badgering i put the scope up and was rewarded with an adult Branch Hawk rarely seen in the valley, but some were certain that it was something other with more life in it.
Dougan’s Flats only gave us a few additions so off we went to St. Catherine’s Drive, this area has been swanless all winter, but is made up by all the Quail and dickie birds that are to be found here, a real treat for us counters.
Around to Koksilah Road east and it was here that we hit paydirt with an incredible number of birds, breaking all our previous records, birds were all over the fields with 26 Greater White-fronted Geese, four Dusky Canada Geese and of course the swans over 550 were counted add to these upwards of nearly 750 Canada Geese. We smashed all records at this location and it was just reward for all the weeks of hard work that us counters have put in, a sight that we could only wish to encounter again.
After the big numbers we were brought down to earth at Dinsdale’s and Cowichan Bay with hardly anything to be had.
We made our way back home when Derrick said what’s that in the tree above the old church, with memories of the Branch Hawk still embedded in my memory i was reluctant to look, but was forced out of the truck to inspect this dot in the sky, which fortunately for the driving chappy was a nice Peregrine Falcon, thanks my friend.
Back at our starting point a quick flyby Merlin zoomed over our heads and was gone in a second..
What a day with record numbers and lot’s of hawks we were spoilt rotten on this wonderful day.

Happy birding days
Derrick Marven

Once again we were treated to a wondrous summer-like weather, if any of you are planning something outdoors choose a Wednesday.
Three of us took off in the capable hands of Peggy, who’s driving had to be seen to be believed, never before have we got round the route in such great time. We were sorry that our good friends the Marshall’s sat and waited for us at the rest stop, but we were already on Koksilah West at the time they were waiting, in fact I was home having nibbles before 2pm. Really though it had a lot to do with the lack of birds to the north.
This week we found that the birds had split up and moved around a bit with some swans picking totally new fields to graze. It could be that they are now really choosing some rich vegetation to build up some fats for the long flights ahead.
The north end of our route was very slow although a nice find on Richard’s Trail was the female American Kestrel that appears to be hanging out in that area for the winter.
We did have a pair of Mute Swans at the DU pond along with three Trumpeters.
A nice flock of swans were found along side Hwy18 to the west of Somenos Road and made for easy counting. Our old friend UK24 was in this flock although it’s neck band is fading fast, not sure we will be able to read it if it turns up next year.
No birds at all in the Sahilton Road area, this was not surprising to me as early that morning there was a large group of marauding dogs going across the fields.
It was then onto Koksilah West and once again a group of swans played hard to get in the fields below the Kelvin Creek. But surprise surprise as we found a nice flock further along near where the deer get moved around the field close to and opposite the Bright Angel Park.
Onto Bench where the largest flock was found and again a nice find was a group in a field nearer the Hwy; this group had a nice adult Tundra Swan in it and another collared Swan UK01, i think this was the first time we’ve seen this bird.
Dougans Flats had the birds spread out all over with many different parts of the area containing groups of both swans and geese. The sun played havoc in identifying adults from immatures at this location, sometimes i wish that we could get a cloudy Wednesday.
Jim’s Pond finally came through with some geese and then it was on to Koksilah East where the swans were hiding behind a small hill in the fields, but a quick ride around to Wilmot Road found it easy for counting and another surprise as there were 30 Greater White-fronted Geese a small increase in our earlier numbers.
Down to Dinsdale’s Farm where a large group of Canada Geese were waiting for us and again another surprise as there were four more White-fronts mixed in with the almost 300 Canada’s.
Along the Dock Road we did find the Mute Swans this week with 6 being seen along with 3 Trumpeter’s.
Not the numbers of last week but none the less a good count.
Thanks to my two associates for a nice day counting, some of you reading this must really try to get out once for a count we always find something good to see and have a laugh now and again while doing this highly scientific data collecting, if you come please make sure you bring sunglasses and sunscreen.
Happy Birding Days
Derrick

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