Only Linda Hill and I were there to do the count without a telescope. It was chilly and overcast, but the sea was perfectly still, reflecting the sky and the mountains, We were accompanied on our walk along the shore by two river otters. We saw on the south side of Cowichan Bay:
71 Bufflehead; 11 Common Goldeneye; Â 2 Hooded Merganser; 20 duck sp.; Â 1 Western Grebe; 14 gull sp.; Â 5 Double-crested Cormorant; Â 1 Belted Kingfisher; Â 1 Northwestern Crow; 28 Rock Doves
John Scull
With calm sea state at high tide, Kurlene Wenberg observed these 7 waterbird species on the north side of Cowichan Bay:
11 Double-crested Cormorant; 6 Trumpeter Swan; 302 American Wigeon; 33 Bufflehead; 16 Common Goldeneye; 2 Common Merganser; 8 Gull Sp.
On a pleasantly cloudy December 8 evening, Jim & Lyn Wisnia observed in the Verdier Point area:
11 Surf scoter; 43 Bufflehead; 47 Common goldeneye; 14 Barrow’s goldeneye; 1 Hooded merganser; 39 Red-breasted merganser; 2 Pied-billed grebe; 14 Horned grebe; 2 Marbled murrelet; 14 Mew gull; 13 Glaucous-winged gull; 13 Gull sp.; 4 Pacific loon; 3 Common loon; 1 Brandt’s cormorant; 2 Pelagic cormorant; 1 Double-crested cormorant; 1 Northwestern crow; 3 Common raven.
The Marbled Murrelets made up for the lack of Western Grebes.
As the evening darkened in the Mill Bay area:
126 American wigeon; 3 Surf scoter; 28 Bufflehead; 1 Common goldeneye; 2 Barrow’s goldeneye; 2 Mew gull; 22 Glaucous-winged gull; 4 Gull sp.; 80 Canada goose; 7 Mute swan; 51 Mallard; 4 Goldeneye sp.;