To all our followers.
This past Wednesday we managed to gather all of the regular participants who partook in the Swan count this past season and headed off up to Nanaimo for a bit of birding and lunch at the Crow and Gate. 11 of us left the dog park and headed up the highway to our first stop at Cassidy Airport with high hopes of getting some scarce vagrant, but it was a bit breezy and most birds were staying low down in the vegetation all except a multitude of Tree and Violet-green Swallows who must have wondered what had happened to that nice warm weather of a few days ago.
We left and headed straight to the Nanaimo Estuary where our first bird on Raines Road was a immature Red-tailed Hawk, it is strange but not many immature birds tend to stay through the winter in our area so it was a nice surprise to see, We added a few other birds along the road before we reached the estuary, here the wind had picked up a bit and some looked a little reluctant to get out of the vehicles, but in good old swan counting form all were out and huddling together. Many dozens of swallows were back and forth along the river and it took a while before Kurlene informed us that a Rough-winged Swallow has passed us by, a few of us got to see it before it eventually headed up and down the river, 4 Greater Yellowlegs were out on the gravel bar and even they were hunkered down from the stiff breeze. Up on the viewing tower we got close together in hopes of not dispersing any heat out into the air. A flock of about 60 Cackling Geese ventured high up heading north-east. It did not take long for all to decide that enough was enough and we climbed down to get out of the wind. A lovely breeding plumage male Savannah Sparrow posed for a few snaps, one of only a handful of passerines brave enough to venture out of the undergrowth.
As we were about to leave Bald Eagles and another Red-tailed Hawk took to the skies and circled overhead while a Belted Kingfisher sat lifeless along the river hoping for some fresh fish.
We slowly headed back along Raines Road and a Red-breasted Sapsucker was pecking around a hydro pole while a hardy Rufous Hummingbird hung onto the hydro line for dear life.
At this point I had already two inquiries about when were we going to eat so we headed slowly for the Crow and Gate where we were greeted with the sound of House Sparrows. It was not long before we were all seated around one massive table and our scrumptious lunch was before us, this year for refreshment I had to settle for water as not to upset the old knogging which has not been behaving itself of late. I thought some compassion would ensue, but the young lady beside me swug down sleeve after sleeve of lovely looking British ale. We had our picture taken by a nice lady who I suspect had not seen a cell phone before, like me she was challenged with the use of modern technology. Sadly she managed to catch me saying cheese or trying to get a bit of pie out of my teeth.
There was one strange occurrence when this young chap started hitting on one of our ladies, he held her hand and said that she reminded him of his first love, this made our friend blush a little, but sadly for her it did not go any further. One other lady at our table quipped “some woman have all the luck”
At this point I thought it best if we vacated the premises, who knows what would have happened if the one swigging all the beer had been closer to the action.
We headed off back down Yellow Point Road checking a few spots as we went and then a wonderful sight caught my eye and I quickly suggested that our driver turn around so that we could view the awesome sight. Thousands of Shooting Stars were blooming on this gentle sloping lot, I have never seen so many gathered together, my biggest flock ever. As the shutterbugs blasted off the cameras I stayed beside the vehicle and it was just by chance that I looked behind me and saw some Easter Lillies blooming Erythronium to the botanists among us. What I thought were more Shooting Stars dotted among the white petals turned out to be Lady Slippers, once again the most I have ever seen in this province there must have been 50 or more, what a delight.
Anyways back to birding we headed to Doole Road in the hopes of seeing a Black Duck, but all we got got were black horses, the whisperers among us managed to get the them over, what a lovely group of horses they were. Meanwhile one avid birder had meandered down the road and was beckoning the group to join her, she had found a nice group of 7 Greater White-fronted Geese a species that we had trouble finding our our counts. A single way off bird siting high up in the fir showed all the jizz of being a Red Crossbill so I made our lister add them to our ever growing list of species.
We moved on while one of the other car loads, you know the one that was always lagging behind during our swan counts stopped to check out some duckies and they added a few more species to the list.
We had decided to give the airport one more try and waited patiently for the others to catch up, but it was all too much for Bob and Helen who had danced the away the night before and were ready for a nice comfy chair and so we said our farewells as Eric and Dorothy took them home.
It was still blowing when we reached the airport and even the swallows had given up, but all was not lost a Killdeer sat put in a trailer park surrounded by bunnies and just as we left a spring plumage Chipping Sparrow worked the fenceline picking up something to eat.
That was it, our wonderful day was over, hugs all round to our wonderful team who have been a joy to be with over the past winter months. We ended up with a little over 30 species on this breezy day.
Big thanks to all for their support.
A few pictures are included for your enjoyment.
Derrick