Hi Birders
Two carloads of festive birders headed out this week in warm but dull weather, I was hoping that our numbers of swans would increase and I was not disappointed as we had over 400 Trumpeters. What was surprising was the number of immature which went way up, with a ratio of over 30% against adults. This is the best showing we’ve had for some time. Our Goose numbers went up again with several big flocks with the majority being in the Somenos area and the north end of our count.
Before we started off the walkie-talkies were handed out and it was not long before I was on the mike letting the following car know about a adult Northern Shrike at the rest stop near the DU pond. From here we headed down to Somenos Lake and as soon as we got out of the car I asked if everyone saw the Shrike, they exclaimed what Shrike; well it appears that if you don’t turn on the walkie-talkie you will not hear my lovely birding voice relaying my wonderful observations.
Meanwhile out on the lake a few Ruddy Ducks were had and many Double-crested Cormorants rested over the far side. From here it was on to Quists Farm where we could see some swans down on the Westholme side. A large group of geese were seen along with some elusive Killdeer which hunkered down as a Bald Eagle flew overhead. Along Westholme we manged to chalk up just under 20 swans and along Richards Trail another 36 were added, the number of ducks along the know flooded fields was tremendous and as long as the hunters stay clear we should get good numbers hanging around for our Christmas count.
This week we finally caught up with the Canada Goose with the white neck collar and got it’s full number O99T, I have not heard back yet but I’m sure it was banded at the Parksville community area, this bird has now been around in the same location for several weeks, so it didn’t go far once it arrived.
After our break we headed down Boys/Sahilton roads where we had many Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks which this week reached 10 in total for the whole area. Many Trumpeters were seen and we ended up with over 200. The group in the following car who had now found the wonders of the walkie-talkie let us know that the lead car had passed a pair of Red-breast Sapsuckers, we of course were counting swans on the other side of the road and were not looking for woodpeckers. A nice male Eurasian Wigeon was spotted in a flooded field and through the scope most got good views of the annual visitor.
Once again we were unable to find many swans on the west side of town although a small group of 20 on the corn fields made for close examination, a few more Eagles were tallied before we got to Bench Road where the swans were once again way down the field after much eye watering looking through the scope I counted over 100 birds with over 60 Canada Geese. Dougans Flats had a handful more swans but that was it until the Dock Road. In Cowichan Bay we had a nice pair of female Greater Scaup and a Horned Grebe, the following group who were now lagging way behind got woody, the roosting Great Horned Owl, and further down the road a nice Peregrine Falcon which sat high up in a fir tree.
Along the Dock Road we failed to find much except a few Bald Eagles until we started to leave when a pair of Northern Harriers came over the road; rare to see two together so high in the sky doing their familiar flap and glide flight.
That was it we were done and it was time to call it a day, a nice total of birds and a great troop of watchers who can now get on with Christmas without worrying about birds, well maybe one who will need some tending before being eaten.
I wish you all a great holiday and we will resume the search in 2015.
Derrick