“lumps and bumps”
On this lovely day when I went without a coat for the whole trip myself and 7 fellow counters saw and heard some wonderful sights.
This week we had a new driver, with Kurlene afraid to fill her vehicle up with gas in case the price dropped down, Zan took the wheel and did an admirable job, just a few bumps as she got used to the backroads and potholes, such is the life of a swan counter/driver. Taking orders from their beloved leader is a prerequisite for this position and Zan followed my instructions to the letter, I can see her getting this job again. Our good friend Dixie joined us this week and it was nice to show her some birds that maybe she had never seen before, her smiling face was most welcome on our route.
Numbers of swans were very good with just over 600 counted and even the Goosies went up a bit this week.
Our day started at the dog park where Barry spotted a lump in a tree on Lakes Road, this turned out to be a nice Peregrine Falcon our one and only falcon for the day.
Along the highway at Holmes Creek the shout went up for a Swallow, I missed it our first of the year, the bird disappeared over the willows and was gone. On the DU pond below the Forest Museum we had a pair of Mute Swans, they appear to be setting up for the upcoming breeding season, these birds have bred there for many years.
Out on Somenos Lake there was this strange grebe that kept laying it’s head and neck back on it’s body, at first Ithought it was a Horned Grebe doing some strange mating ritual, but then it sat bolt upright on the water and low and behold it was a Western Grebe a very rare visitor to the lake.
A few Ruddy Ducks continued over the far side of the lake and the Canada Geese were counted, so we headed back up Drinkwater Road where our driver come spotter said, there’s a woodpecker on the tree and there way down low was a nice Red-breasted Sapsucker, this of course drew all the photographers out from both vehicles and many images were taken. With the amount of time taken we could have done with a stop and go girl to help with the traffic.
Anyways we were off to the races as my old dad used to say with two good species seen with high hopes of more to come.
At Quist’s Farm came our first Trumpeter Swans with 9 adults and 1 immature, no more were added until we reached Hwy 18 where 14 more were out in a field opposite the golf course. Eagles were soaring up in the sky above the road along with many Common Ravens who were taking in the favorable thermals on this warm day.
It was about now that one of our party piped up about her husband lifting his night gown and showing her his lump, at this point I had to remind her that this was a family bird count and not like some episode of Dr Phil.
After a quick lunch break at A&W we were on our way again and it was not long until we hit the birds of the day when the radio crackled that the quasi raptor car had spotted a Western Meadowlark along Sahilton Road, after a fast turnaround and a glimpse at a male Eurasian Wigeon we joined the others and watched not one but two Western Meadowlarks and for those with hearing they sung also, for some this was the first time they had heard this wonderful song, a herd of Starlings dislodged them from their perch and so we moved on. I nearly forgot along this road a Killdeer was heard calling, they will be nesting soon.
Over we went to the west side of town and a few Trumpeters were found in a field with a couple of hundred American Wigeon along Koksilah Road west, it wasn’t until we hit Bench did we find a major flock with over 300 swans made up with 274 adults and 48 immature. I detected a sense of urgency amongst the flock as most were feeding, fattening up as the north beckoned them to come, within the next couple of weeks many will leave on this journey to the breeding grounds. As luck would have their journey should be good with conditions up north being very favorable with open water and semi mild conditions. The suspected 01UK was again in the flock but was far to far away to identify with certainty.
Dougan’s Flats had it’s usual group of Canada Geese and St. Catherine’s Road added another 20+ Trumpeter’s.
Koksilah Road east came through with many swans with a good ratio of adult to immature 96-35. We were on the home stretch and it was a surprise to find another good flock of Trumpeters to bolster our numbers on Dinsdale’s Farm with over 100 birds with an even better ratio of 60 adults to 41 immature.
Our last stop was a little colder as the evening breeze pushed up along the Dock Road, we added 7 Mute Swans and 8 Trumpeters and another surprise was our second Eurasian Wigeon who swam out from the river into the estuary. A pair of Gadwall were also at this location.
It was a great count full of good humor and laughter and best of all the birds put on a great show for us on this lovely early spring day.
We head into March with just 4 more counts to do and we wish the swans a safe journey north as they start to leave us.
Photo credits
Western Grebe by Barry Hetscho
Red-breasted Sapsucker by Barry Hetscho
Bob and Dixie by Barry Hetscho
Until next time
Derrick