As we enter the final two weeks of our count the swans are departing and we wish them well on their arduous trip north. Our adult swan numbers dropped by half today down to just 220 and they took a few immature with them although most of the young are still here fattening up before they leave.
7 birders set out today and it was very slow going for the first half of the day, Dorothy was having trouble staying focused without any numbers to crunch and this affected her ability to know left from right, with some wayward instructions to the following car, but as soon as she had some numbers to write all corrected itself.
Raptor numbers were not bad and a good number of Red-tailed hawks were tallied. Immature Eagles really dropped as more and more birds head up island for the fishing.
We did have some nice birds to look at today with many Swallows and our first of the year Yellow-rumped Warblers along Tom Windsor Drive. A few Great Blue Herons were around Somenos from the Hwy. and a pair of Pied-billed Grebes. The Western Grebe continued on Somenos Lake with only a female Common Merganser for company.
The raptor girls found an obliging Rufous-sided Towhee which posed for the camera and the Red-winged Blackbirds were singing at all wetlands.
We did see a few Anna’s Hummingbirds but we have not run into a Rufous yet on our travels.
Our first real group of Trumpeters were down Boys Road, but a young man was digging the ditches and we were blocked from checking properly. Another small group were on Sahilton Road and a couple of Red-tailed Hawks round out that side of town.
I have always wondered what drives our Trumpeters to leave, we have all these nice wetlands to breed in and all these yummy fields full of food, so why go traveling up north for seven months?
Koksilah Road west had just under 50 swans, but this week Bench Road dropped down to just 27 birds. Dougan’s Flats had a monster flock of 650 Canada Geese which were spread out right across the fields. St Catherine’s Road had two flocks of swans one close in and another far out numbering 33 individual. Koksilah Road east came through with 70 Trumpeters as we headed for the home straight.
It was amazing this week to see people getting out of the vehicles, you could tell that my talk with the weatherman had straightened out the sunshine, which in turn had boosted the temperature. I have to admit that when we reached the Dock Road the breeze coming up the estuary was a little nippy which for the middle of March is to be expected.
Dinsdale’s Farm had over 100 Trumpeters and 3 Mute Swans that looked out of place out in the field.
As we ventured down the Dock Road the over wintering Northern Harrier was coursing along the side of the road. We added 6 more Mute Swans out in the bay before we headed home to the dog park.
With just one more count for the season and the weather changing we wonder if any swans will be around for next week, but we will do our duty and check that all is well.
Photo credits
Disturbed Anna’s Hummingbird by Eric Marshall
Great Blue Heron by Zan Stenhouse
Rufous-sided Towhee by Kurlen Wenberg
Red Crossbill by Christina Cutbill
Good Birding
Derrick
