South Side of Cowichan Bay.
We met by the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre in Hecate Park at 3 pm on a breezy Sunday, September 8. John Scull, Linda Hill, Kathy Coster, Donna Zipse, Ken Bendle, and Pamela Williams were joined by Derrick Marven and his telescope. Derrick seemed to be with us to polish his arithmetic and birding skills while waiting for the start of the swan and goose count.
Here are the birds we saw:
32 Mallard; 41 Common Merganser ; 13 Glaucous-winged Gull ; Â 5 gull sp. ; Â 3 Double-crested Cormorant;Â 1 Great Blue Heron;; Â 1 Osprey ; Â 6 Northwestern Crow
North side Cowichan Bay
Here is our rather dismal count – Daryl and Kurlene
Double-crested Cormorant, 1; Great Blue Heron, 1; Turkey Vulture, 2; Osprey, 1; Unidentified shorebirds, 100 approx.; Unidentified gulls, 82
Lyn and Jim Wisnia saw the following waterbirds on Sunday evening:
Verdier Point
Bonaparte’s gull, 2; Mew gull, 1; Ring-billed gull, 1; Glaucous-winged gull, 6; Gull sp., 85; Double crested cormorant, 4; Great blue heron, 1.
Mill Bay
Glaucous-winged gull 9; Gull sp., 15; Pelagic cormorant, 1; Great blue heron, 2; Belted kingfisher, 1.