Hi All
Seven eager counters turned up on this lovely sunny day and things couldn’t be better, two cars left the dog park and it was not long before we were counting Geese on the school playing fields on Beverly, another group of geese caused a bit of a discussion at the golf driving range as my quick estimate was shot down as being too low, well what do I know about counting Geese?
This week Guelph University sent a spy from Ontario to check on our scientifically run count, many pictures were taken and we hope we passed the test with flying colors; thanks for coming along Ariel.
There were no major surprises this week with numbers dropping for both waterfowl and raptors although geese once again hit high numbers with the main concentration all in one location along Sahilton Road despite hunting and dogs being in this area all week.
2 Mute Swans on the DU pond at the Forest Museum was a nice surprise.
A Northern Harrier passed us by on the Cowichan Bay Dock Road but all in all the only high number for raptors were the Red-tailed Hawks. We continue to hit a blank with accipiters they must all be sitting around feeders.
Here are our final totals in song, please sing along at this festive season.
On this seventh week of our count my counters gave to me:
1364 Canada Geese Feeding
341 Trumpeters Trumpeting
41 Bald Eagles Hunting
10 Red-tailed Hawks Sitting
6 Mute Swans Swimming
2 Cackling Gooses Cackling
1 Northern Harrier Coursing
and a yellow thing in a cottonwood tree
Thanks to all the counters for their good humor and their good company.
Have a great holiday.
Derrick