From the north side:
Kurlene Wen, Bob Nation, and Daryl Johnson did the Coastal Waterbird Survery
on Oct. 12th, 2014. Overcast skies, and calm seas made the birding fairly
easy on Sunday morning.
Birds seen:
Double-crested Cormorant 7
Horned Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Trumpeter Swan 2
Mute Swan 35
Mallard 52
American Wigeon 414
Surf Scoter 27
Mew Gull 74
Glaucous-winged Gull 6
Gull species 112
Belted Kingfisher 1
Common Raven 1
From the south side:
The entire bay was smooth as glass and reflecting the mountains. Beautiful. Robin Lawson, Kathy Coster, Jenny Holden, Gail Mitchell, and John Scull gathered at 9 am to enjoy the morning and an animated discussion about distant grebes.
We saw western grebes, double crested cormorants, great blue herons, canada geese, mute swans, common mergansers, glaucous-winged gulls, belted kingfishers, northwestern crows, and a common raven.
There were extra treats. A flock of about 50 double crested cormorants flew over the bay but didn’t land, we saw some golden crowned sparrows in the bushes by the boat launch, and there were harbour seals and river otters in the water along with the birds.
The next Coastal Waterbird Count is scheduled for 8:30 am on Sunday, November 9.
The bird counts are sent to Bird Studies Canada and the results of all past counts can be viewed at http://www.cowichanestuary.ca/wildlife/birds/
John