“Just one of those wonderful days”
It had to happen, the weather finally caught up with us, a dull dreary day with spattering’s of rain, but with all bad things there was a silver lining and oh did we have some silver today.
Our day started at the dog park where 7 counters set out and we had not gone a km when the lead car was looking at a wonderful Northern Shrike, this shrike was so intrigued with us as we sat watching it. I came closer so that Barry was able to get a few snaps of this lovely bird. As we admired the shrike a crackerly voice came over the walkie-talkie exclaiming that those lovely raptor ladies had some Common Redpolls back behind us, we of course had driven right past these birds because we were checking the fields for swans and geese and most times don’t bother to look up. We arrived back to find the ladies out of their vehicle with cameras shooting off pictures of these rare birds for Vancouver Island. I am afraid with bad light and many branches the photos were nothing to write home about, but were good enough for confirmation purposes. It is ironic that the first time a large group was ever found on Vancouver Island it was in this same location, how neat is that?
After all this excitement it was back to the counting of the waterfowl and it was not long before our numbers started to grow. This week saw another rise in our swan numbers but a major decrease in Canada Geese. Somenos Lake offered about 15 Ruddy Duck and some more geese, but not one swan was in sight. A couple of Pied-billed Grebes and a very small number of sundry duck species were seen. We headed off down the highway in high hopes of something bigger and better, well bigger came in the shape of our first Trumpeter Swans along Westholme Road and the ladies found a Sharp-shinned Merlin, this is another species that can change it’s shape and it’s pedigree while you look at it. Along Westholme is a small holding that has a few sheep and some piggies, the sheep were up and feeding while the pigs were all in a pile lying on top of each other with trotters and ears all over the place, they had all decided that with the incoming weather it was best to cuddle up and cure the bacon in one large lump, while marinating in a pile of mud, put it like this they looked happier than the sheep anyways, thus the old adage “happy as a pig in you know what.” Richard’s Trail came and went with lots of water but lacking in what we were looking for. Our tally sheets were looking decidedly thin as we arrived at A&W, but those rapets showed us a picture of a Northern Harrier that we had overlooked on Tom Windsor, so all was not lost. After a hearty meal of chicken legs, egg salad sandwiches and homemade cookies we were on our way again. Boy’s Road area added a few more swans and some much needed Bald Eagles. A small group of California Quail ran up a driveway and huddled together for a group photo. It was time to head off to the west and find some swans. Koksilah Road did not disappoint with a major group of swans to get us counting. It is good to see that this farmer is leaving the swans to feed in his fields. We worked our way around to Bench where again we were greeted to a major flock of over 280 swans, our list was now starting to look good. It was at Bench that we found, which for me was the bird of the day in the form of a very dark Red-tailed Hawk of the Harlan’s form, with totally dark body and a mottled tail, it was such a shame that the bird was so far away and on such a dark dismal day as I would have liked for one of our photographers to have got a good picture, oh well you can’t have everything. Dougan’s and St.Catherine’s had just a few more swans and it was not until we hit Koksilah Road east did we find another big group of 160 birds. We were now well over last weeks total and heading over the 700 mark for the day. The rain was now coming down good as we headed for our last few stops, a Cackling Goose sat out in the open at Dinsdales Farm and to finish off our day we reached the Dock Road for a quick look at some distant Mutes and Trumpeters.
We had a wonderful day for birds and our worst day for weather, but smiles were seen all around, so everyone was happy.
Photo credits
Common Redpolls, Zan Stenhouse
Northern Shrike, Barry Hetschko
Baldy fierce, Christina Cutbill
Young Eagle, Zan Stenhouse
Derrick