Hi Swansters
Once again we were blessed with fine weather, but we were let down by the swans this week. Not sure what has taken place, many of the swans have just up and left, it’s for sure they know something we don’t. With a high count of just 102 Trumpeters today we are down over 400 birds from the corresponding count last year and well down from last weeks tally of over 250.
Goose numbers fared well with over a 1000 Canada’s counted along with 9 Greater White-fronted Geese on Sahilton Road and 1 lonely adult Snow Goose on Dinsdale’s Farm, I shouldn’t say lonely as the Snow had over 250 Canada’s for company.
As we venture our merry way around our route it is amazing how many people old Derrick knows, just as soon as he stops on the side of the road, logging trucks, motor homes and all sorts of 4x4s, big trucks and cars sound their horns and wave vigorously out of their windows, he sure is a popular fellow and we should be thankful that we have him on our count.
Many eagles were tallied this week with 75 bettering last weeks total, but other than 8 Red-tailed Hawks no other other raptors were seen.
A large white blob in a tree along Herd Road brought my identification skills into question and I beckoned the driver to stop so that I could put the peanut gallery in it’s place, Bald Eagle was called from the back benches completely overriding my sighting of a Red-tailed Hawk. When the dust had settled we had two Red-tails sitting near each other with no Bald Eagle for miles.
We ventured on failing to find much of anything, Sahilton Road had a few swans and that was it until we reached Dougans Flats where the main flock of nearly 500 Canada Geese were found with 5 Cackling Geese mixed in.
Dinsdales Farm as i mentioned had good numbers of Geese, but there is a real problem brewing in this area with people running their dogs across the fields and allowing their four legged pets to chase the birds.
THIS IS AGAINST THE LAW.
This is a silly practice as they have the dike around the fields and the dog walking area in the large maples opposite the tennis courts.If you’re down that way and see this happening please take down their licence plate number and call the conservation office at 1-877-952-7277. This also applies to any infractions against wildlife by man or beast that you may encounter while out.
Our day ended on the Cowichan Bay Dock Road watching the duckies and a nice adult Western Gull which I found while counting hawthorn berries.
Thank you to my 9 hardy companions for a great day and we hope to see you all next week for another installment of the wild goose chase.
Oh i nearly forgot this week we were treated to some lovely cookies with m & m’s embedded in them, better than those dry old crackers that float around the truck now and again. I know I will pay dearly for this remark?
Derrick