Coastal Waterbird Survey: Sunday, April 8th, 2018. Cowichan Bay South. A light rain fell as Kathy Coster, Linda Hill, Gail Mitchell, and John Scull saw the birds listed below. It was wonderful to watch the two osprey carrying construction materials to their nest site. 74 Bufflehead; 2 Hooded Merganser; 12 Double-crested Cormorant; 7 Great Blue…
Today (28th March) marked the end of the counting season it also happened to be our 170th count since we started our quest. You will notice the theme of today’s count is all about the swans because that is why we started this back on March 22nd 2009. Many counters have come and gone and…
Today was the last count of the season and 8 people set out with much munchies to eat thanks to Jane and birthday girl Helen. As expected numbers were low with just 63 Trumpeter Swans, 1 Tundra and 3 Mutes. Weather was just perfect and light was great for pictures if only we could have…
It was literally a real swine of a day, the numbers dwindled, the sun and heat was unbearable and we never really saw any good birds to take pictures of. We knew that the Trumpeters would leave eventually but it is always sad to see them go as they have brightened our lives for the…
Cowichan Bay South The birders on this beautiful sunny morning were Linda Hill, Kathy Coster, Wilma Harvie, Gail Mitchell, John Scull, and his visiting son Charley Scull. The tides were strange, with high tide at 2:30 am and slack water until 11 am. The birds we saw were: 30 American Wigeon; 4 Mallard; 110 Bufflehead;…
If I was to predict the number of Swans and Geese that we would find today on the count like the weathermen predicted the weather I would have ended up with egg on my face. 80% chance of rain they said and what did we get, one of the best days of sunshine and temperature…
Today was a day of Do-si-do, farming smells and Otter nonsense, 6 eager counters faced what I thought was a lovely day although two of our team needed some goose fat rubbed into their bodies to stay warm, fishes blood comes to mind. This week we had a new lead driver in Jane and what…
You know that when things are going well there always comes a time when they don’t, we have been blessed with incredible weather on Wednesdays for as long as I can remember and today it came and bit us in the bum. The rain was trying even before the left the dog park and the…
There are times when it is best to bite your tongue when someone says something bad, as was the case this day when one of the 7 counters present said the “S” word, one should always think before opening his or her mouth, didn’t he realize that this was a Wednesday. We took off under…
The next survey will be at 9 am on Sunday, March 11. Cowichan Bay: Kathy Coster, Linda Hill, Gail Mitchell, Barry Hetchko, John Scull, and Leslie Hodgson were joined by Dorothy and Eric Marshall on a beautiful midday in Hecate Park to survey the south side of Cowichan Bay. 2 Mute swan; 2 Mallard; 9…
It was Wednesday and of course the weather was just perfect with sunny skies and great visibility. In spite of this Barry and I were left out in the cold on this Valentines day as we were the only counters to turn up. We had purchased Valentines day chocolates and cards for our…
Such lucky counters to be out on a day when the weather man said rain and it didn’t happen, just overcast, which is just how I like it for counting birds. Big crowd this week as 10 people showed up; the word as gone around that we are having to much fun with citizen science….
Oh! what a day as 6 counters headed out into the floods. Swans turned into Geese, Sealions headed inland, naturalists headed for higher ground and at North Cowichan headquarters councilors were seen doing the stop the rain dance. and the counters kept going, what a wonderful group they…
This year we had great weather with no rain or snow, the temperature early in the day was a little nippy but by mid-day had warmed up nicely. We had 118 species seen with some rare sightings. This is our highest species total since 2007. The Northern Mockingbird obliged by staying around for more than…
At the dog park there was much happiness and laughter, not sure if it was my return of the lovely sunny weather that came with me. 7 eager counters set out and 1 other joined us later. A few geese here and a few geese there…