Today started out with myself getting a reality check, the holiday credit card bill came through the door, who spent all this money I ask? It was off to the S&G count feeling a little low, heh but I arrived at the dog park to be denied access, workers were doing the footpaths, you know that work which was supposed be finished back in November, yer right! The S&G team were assembled across the road awaiting my arrival, their smiling faces soon had me feeling much better but it was obvious they didn’t get a bill like mine or they wouldn’t have been smiling. Off we went to count in the warm temperatures that have encompassed the valley.
This week saw a decline in Bald Eagles and Swans, where have they all gone, here we are in a nice valley with warm temperatures and green grass, what more could they want?
Somenos Lake had some good numbers of both Swans and Geese, but any of the ducks seen last week had gone. Quist Farm was gooseless, but a nice Eurasian Wigeon was spotted by the girls, also here was a pair of Lesser Scaup. Westholme produced just two Trumpeters so we quickly headed along to Richards Trail where for the first time this season we found a nice group of swans, all they wanted was a nice bit of water to paddle in.
We slowly worked our way around the route not finding much more in the north end until we reached A & W where I spotted a nice immature Coopers Hawk sitting on a hydro pole over towards Wendy’s, great looks were had through the scope. After a short break we headed off south and along Sahilton Road where we saw a group of 14 Eurasian-collared Doves sitting in a tree and further down the road a nice group of Trumpeters. Two Northern Harriers were seen in the area. More swans were found on Boy’s Road before we headed off west to Koksilah Road, we checked fields but came up a little short. Bench was empty so we headed off to Dougans Flats which had many swans and a bumper group of geese, the sun and mist made for bad viewing and all we could do was to estimate numbers and call them all Canada’s. From here on in we failed to find any more swans and the only compensation was about 100 Canada’s on Jim’s Pond.
The Dock Road was good with both Mute and Trumpeters on the far side of the bay. We had looks at Greater Scaup,Common Goldneye and Surf Scoter diving for goodies. A group of swans were sunbathing on the banks of the river by the longhouse on Tzouhalem Road. Our final stop was a small field by the Cowichan River that had just 3 swans.
Next week Dorothy and Eric will be doing a Iguana and Tortoise survey while we carry on with Swans and Geese.
Take care
Derrick