It was a beautiful early morning with the sea a mirror reflecting the clouds and mountains. Linda Hill and John Scull completed the final count of the season. The winter ducks and swans are gone, but the purple martins and common mergansers have arrived in numbers. We saw: Canada Goose 13; Common Merganser 26; Double-crested…
Crab dinner It was cold and windy on the south side of Cowichan Bay as Eric Marshall, Carol Milo, Linda Hill, Wilma Harvie, and Gail Mitchell counted birds while John Scull kept records. Here’s what was counted: Mute Swan 2 ; Surf Scoter 33; Bufflehead 102; Common Goldeneye 24; Double-crested Cormorant 2; Bald Eagle 1;…
Another wonderful day for the counters with finally some warmer weather. Seven counters left the dog park and two others joined us just down the road, when we finished we had 5 counters when we returned, now where did we mislay those other counters, who knows. If you should see any birders wandering…
Today was world woman’s day and we were joined by 4 lovely ladies for our count and to keep with equality there were also 4 men. This week we managed to just keep in front of the winter weather, you could see the snow coming down around the hills, but…
It was one of those days when the weather was not sure what it wanted to do, so we got a bit of everything except that white stuff, but there were many little piles left on our trip around today. It sure did feel more like spring as 8 counters headed out from…
“Plastic Pecker” 7 counters turned up at the dog park this morning and we were greeted with a Peregrine Falcon and a adult Bald Eagle, it was then that I knew we were into a good days birding. Today the weather forecasters got it slightly wrong as it was a…
It is hard to comprehend what we as counters had to put up with today, first of all our numbers of participants was down to just 6 and at one point I wondered if we would be greater than the number of swans seen. At times on the west side of town it…
South Side from John Scull We counted many birds and we had a record number of birders doing the counting on this beautiful cold sunny day. There were still lots of snow and ice in Hecate Park, which made the walk challenging, but nobody slipped. The birders were Christina Cutbill, Sue Fryer, Debbie Easson, David…
Morning snowbirds. This weeks count was cancelled because of the weather, we would have been hard pushed to park and access some of our usual spots, safety being the main concern for my friends. This is only the 5th time we have had to cancel which is not too bad in eight years. How quickly…
“Irish Courage” I arrived at the dog park to find that already two counters were out taking pictures up on the dike, I was proud of their early arrival and enthusiasm on this day. Another wonderful day for a swan count with brilliant sunshine and some good birds to boot. 11 counters headed out and…
“Another one bites the dust” Freddie would be proud of our achievement since we started this project, week after week we persevere under sometimes arduous conditions counting birds as we go. This week I hope we have turned the corner of winter as it was very pleasant when 8 participants set out from the…
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” The Good Today we found the rarest bird ever seen on the Swan & Goose count when a Gyrfalcon zoomed across the fields at the Hwy 18 park and ride, the bird did finally land about a mile away on top of a fir and Barry…
Here we go, another new year and the second half of this season and what a wonderful day full of sunshine and laughter. Six counters headed out from the dog park and one straggler met up with us at Drinkwater Road. A nice Belted Kingfisher stood guard over one of the few remaining open pieces…
The snow falling on the south side of Cowichan Bay was heavy enough to be very beautiful but not heavy enough to obscure our view of the birds except for some distant cormorants. We had lots of birders enjoying the weather: Adam, Jackie, Malcolm, and Fiona Taylor; Jane Bailey, Linda Hill, Carol Milo, John Scull,…
Seven eager counters turned up on this the first day of winter, did I say winter, so what was that we had last week? It was a lovely day with no wind and a nice bit of sunshine and for sure the swans knew it was winter as they turned up…