Some say I have a gift for this and others just think I’m lucky, but the way I slipped that wonderful count day in among two stinkers, well you be the judge. This week saw a bumper crop of counters with three vehicles heading off with 10 counters and picking up Carol who had decided to get a head start on things at Somenos. At the golf driving range we got a nice group of Canada Geese three of which had neck collars, it is wonderful that the owners allow the geese to cut the grass for them, saves them a lot of time and energy, plus their mowers would get bogged down in the mud. The goose collars were 008F, 050F and 071F all of these are from the mid island program who get sent down to eat our grass instead of theirs. Our next stop got our first Trumpeters beside the creek at Somenos 16 adults were feeding in among the Canary grass. Then it was off to Somenos Lake where we got a couple of Eagles and a Milo sp. There were just a few Geese on the far side so we were off again Hwy bound and a Red-tailed Hawk was sitting on a dead snag waiting to be counted, it was hard going with Quist’s Farm devoid of count birds, but all was not lost as 4 Trumpeter’s flew over heading south. Westholme Road produced a couple of Ring-billed Gulls mixed in with about 100 Mews. We once again stopped at a new spot at this nice ladies house and was greeted by a big shaggy woofter carrying a football, so we gave him a few dribbles with the ball and he was one happy dog. We managed another 16 Trumpeters before we moved on to Richards Trail here we got 12 adults and 1 immature, but the highlight was very acrobatic American Kestrel that put on a great show for the counters. As most of you know by now the sight of a nice bird brings everyone to a stop and the shutterbugs are out and clicking, we are grateful for their wonderful images that adorn my report. Off we went again and along Herd Road was a major flock of Geese with two Snow Geese in attendance. We were now well behind on time and so Barry gave it some welly and we went down Hwy18 getting a couple of Red-tailed Hawks as we went. We arrived at A&W with the sad news that they will be stopping selling chickens drumsticks as of next week, not sure what a couple of the counters will do as they appear to live on these things. Because we were late arriving all the rugrats from the school were there and so it was an extended break which turned out very good as I counted a Red-tail Hawk a Northern Harrier and several Bald Eagles going up on the thermals.
Off we set for Boy’s Road and the trees were adorned with many Bald Eagles, last season at the same time we had about three times as many eagles, so it’s not just the Trumpeters that are missing. We always miss many Bald Eagles that are out of sight along the rivers. Are these two species working together to frustrate the counters? A local Barred Owl was seen before we headed off. Sahilton Road added a few more Eagles and that was it. It was here that we started to loose those ladies who like to straggle behind and add all sorts of rare species for the list, this week they tried to hoodwink me with some far off owl, but I’m afraid that fuzzy picture did not fool me, you see I’m a wise old owl. All of the west side was a bust with just two Trumpeters up on Bench Road, our first of the year for this location. At this point others tried to take over the lead position, this is not allowed and i see we will have to put our foot down and put a stop to this.
St.Catherine’s Road was next with a large flock of geese being in attendance, many trying to hide behind the far off trees so a little leader guess counting was done, but still there were at least 250 out there. Koksilah Road east gave us our first geese of the season at this location with 20 birds added.
As we came down through the back of Cowichan Bay Dorothy who had been doing a wonderful job with the tally sheet left it in the hands of Eric and she headed off looking for a little puddle, which she had found last week. Those Bay people do the funniest things.
Dinsdale’s Farm and a wonderful sight of 7 incoming Swans was captured by the camera folks and a small group of geese huddled in the far off field. There was this strange guy out in the field who I thought was one of those fungi people looking for some rare and hallucinating species, but it appears he was a bird watcher and he had found the first record of a Red-tailed Kite for Canada, Barry managed to get wonderful shot of this incredible find.
Down the Dock Road we headed and 2 Eurasian Wigeon were mixed in with their American cousins. Our first Mute Swans were added and a few more Trumpeters were far off over the other side of the mill.
Our day was done and we had 75 Trumpeter Swans for our hard work, way down from previous years at this time, but still nearly 3 times more than last week. The same went for the Bald Eagles, so things are looking up.
Photo credits
American Kestrel, Christina Cutbill
Barred Owl, Kurlene Wenberg
7 Swans a Flying, Zan Stenhouse
Purple Finch, Barry Hetschko
Red-tailed Kite, Barry Hetschko
Take Care
Derrick