Hi Birders
There are times when one wishes they had stayed at home instead of going out birding in such horrible weather, but not so for those hardy counters who join us each week. Having said that one less than hardy counter did not want to get out of her car, she fumbled with her backpack making all sorts of excuses not to get out in the rain. Finally she exited the car, only after 1 minute she lept back in. Next year we must find some hardier counters to help us out.
This week we had two vehicles to hold all the counters and we got off to a very slow count with the scorer mentioning that she was getting paid for nothing this week. Swans were few and far between, with just two on Somenos Lake and 18 at the Quist Farm. Immature eagles put on a good display this week and i think the adults are starting to chase off the younguns as courting starts to happen. Adults will not allow the rugrats to stay around once nesting starts in earnest.
We quickly found ourselves back at A&W with Eric getting us around in record time. At the end of this season we will loose our A&W sponsorship, they feel that the use of their toilets and the buying of the occasional hot chocolate does not warrant their participation. So if you would like to sponsor us to the tune of $15 a week for gas, that is at $1.35 a litre, I will personally see to it that your company gets mentioned each week in my report that goes out nation wide each week. Cheapest advertising anywhere.
Back to counting, the Sahilton Road area was a bit of a bust with just 13 swans and just over 200 geese, so it was over to the west side of town to see if we could do any better. At two locations we managed to pick up over 80 swans, oh did I mention the snow, not much but enough for me to ask about Eric’s tires.
Bench Road came through with over 100 swans in two locations and then it was on to Dougan’s Flats where we found over 200 geese and another few swans.
St.Catherine’s Road was devoid of what we wanted to count, but the dickie birds put on a great display at a local feeder and a group of California Quail idled across the driveway.
We pressed on not to be put off by the weather and the lack of birds, Koksilah Road east once again increased our tally with 150 swans and just under 200 geese. I was lucky to spot a adult Tundra Swan on the edge of the group, more than likely the same bird I had seen just two days earlier in Cowichan Bay. The birds at this location have to be seen from both Koksilah and Willmott Roads for best viewing.
The Cowichan Bay area left us twiddling our thumbs with hardly anything seen, this in part has to be due to the Goose hunting extended season which I’m afraid has a major impact on the swans trying to fatten up for the long haul north. So much for the protection of an endangered species like the Trumpeter, being forced off their feeding ground just so a hunter can make bit of goose pate.
Our day ended with numbers down a bit from previous weeks, but with the weather conditions this is not surprising. Did I mention that when I got home the sun came out, damn.
Happy counting
Derrick