Swan & Goose Count February 2nd 2011

What another wonderful day for the counters with perfect weather and record numbers of birds!
Six counters including Eugene who came all the way from Sydney, Australia, I didn’t know that the Aussies had heard of us, but I guess when you’re famous word gets around
We once again slid into Derrick’s truck and made the rounds, one of our first birds was the resident Red-tailed Hawk on the corner of Beverly and the TCH and then some Trumpeters in behind the rest stop along the highway. Most of the small water spots were frozen with a thin layer of ice which kept the duckies at bay. Two Mute Swans were tallied at the DU pond and were added to the two that I had at Quamichan Lake earlier. Somenos Lake had a nice group of Trumpeter’s and a smattering of Geese. We really weren’t ready for what was to come as we got to Mt. Sicker Road with a major group of swans being present, almost 280 birds the most that we have had at this location this year. In amongst the group was an immature Tundra Swan. We moved on and tallied another Red-tailed Hawk along Westholme Road, but the swans were all missing from this location and we didn’t see any more until Hwy18 where a group was spotted.
We made it back along the hwy and were heading for our rest break when we spotted a big group of geese behind the oil change at Beverly, as I was counting the 1st winter Glaucous Gull came into view, well Derrick abandoned us leapt out the truck and went off to snap a few pictures with traffic coming from all directions.
Sahilton Road was a bust with nothing seen and Koksilah Road west was not much better with a few swans hiding over in a far distant field. Three Red-tailed Hawks were spotted in the trees above Kelvin Creek
Not to be put off by the lack of birds we pushed on and were rewarded with over 150 swans at Bench Road. It was here that some of us were attracted to a hawk sitting high up on a dead snag, after much badgering i put the scope up and was rewarded with an adult Branch Hawk rarely seen in the valley, but some were certain that it was something other with more life in it.
Dougan’s Flats only gave us a few additions so off we went to St. Catherine’s Drive, this area has been swanless all winter, but is made up by all the Quail and dickie birds that are to be found here, a real treat for us counters.
Around to Koksilah Road east and it was here that we hit paydirt with an incredible number of birds, breaking all our previous records, birds were all over the fields with 26 Greater White-fronted Geese, four Dusky Canada Geese and of course the swans over 550 were counted add to these upwards of nearly 750 Canada Geese. We smashed all records at this location and it was just reward for all the weeks of hard work that us counters have put in, a sight that we could only wish to encounter again.
After the big numbers we were brought down to earth at Dinsdale’s and Cowichan Bay with hardly anything to be had.
We made our way back home when Derrick said what’s that in the tree above the old church, with memories of the Branch Hawk still embedded in my memory i was reluctant to look, but was forced out of the truck to inspect this dot in the sky, which fortunately for the driving chappy was a nice Peregrine Falcon, thanks my friend.
Back at our starting point a quick flyby Merlin zoomed over our heads and was gone in a second..
What a day with record numbers and lot’s of hawks we were spoilt rotten on this wonderful day.

Happy birding days
Derrick Marven