South Side of the bay The early hour and time change seem to have limited the size of the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre team. However, Dave Aldcroft, Gail Mitchell, and John Scull were there and counted: 2 double crested cormorant 17 great blue heron 2 canada goose 40 trumpeter swan 30 mallard 4 northern pintail…
This week iI managed to pull myself loose of the apron strings and join the other 6 participants and I was so pleased I did as it was a wonderful count. What was so surprising was the number of swans which was almost identical to last weeks count, with 496 adults and 184 immature, add…
Eight birders — David Aldcroft, Diana Aldcroft, Kathy Coster, Pamela Williams, Robin Lawson, Gail Mitchell, John Scull and Tony Sneep — counted birds in intermittent showers. Horned grebe 1 Double crested cormorant 10 Mute swan 2 Green winged teal 1 Greater scaupe 10 Surf scoter 4 Bufflehead 58 Common goldeneye 52 Barrow’s goldeneye 4 Hooded…
There are times when life throws you a wobbly and such is the case for me lately, for the second time in as many months I have got the flu bug and had to stand down this week and let the troops do the job that they have been trained for. They turned in a…
Hi Birders Once again we had a tremendous day with one after another great birds, they just kept coming much to the enjoyment of the 7.5 birders present this week, I say .5 because Bob once again slept in and was picked up at A&W. He must have known that it was going to be…
Hi Birders This week we only had 7 people for the count, which meant only two cars, so to give him some experience of being in close quarters within the ladies car Barry was dispatched to the back seat. He seemed to come out of it pretty well unscathed although his photography payed a heavy…
We did it again a wonderful day full of good birds. 11 birders set out this week, with the return of Eric and Dorothy and new boy Keith I was hoping that some sort of normality would ensure, but it was not to be, because as the day went on all hell broke loose with…
Shorebird Count – Cowichan Bay – Sunday January 11th, 2015 A high number of 18 species of waterbirds were observed in the fog on the North Side of Cowichan Bay by Daryl Johnson, Bob Nation, Christine Gilbertson and Carol Hartwig. Horned Grebe 2 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Blue Heron 1 Canada Goose 6 Trumpeter Swan…
What a turnout for this count, it took a long time to sort out who was going in what car and in the end 11 birders set out in three cars. We had photographers in one car and a couple of snowbirds from Edmonton in another and of course the professional counters in the lead…
The top cat was back this week and this old moggie was not going to allow the antics of last week, so I rounded up the troops in the car park and told them in no uncertain terms the fun was over and that the 6 counters were to follow my instructions to the fullest,…
The first count of the new year is under our belt, but not without a few problems, firstly I went down with a bad bout of the flu and was unable to take part, but I did manage to get down to drop off the tally sheets and the walkie-talkies and I new then that…
I have finally been well enough to tackle the vast numbers of birds that were counted on our count. The number of people in the field was a healthy 54 and feeder watchers an unhealthy 10, but these are still good for our area overall. We managed 110 Species and 27,819 total birds which is…
The top cat was back this week and this old moggie was not going to allow the antics of last week, so i rounded up the troops in the car park and told them in no uncertain terms the fun was over and that the 6 counters were to follow my instructions to the fullest,…
The first count of the new year is under our belt, but not without a few problems, firstly i went down with a bad bout of the flu and was unable to take part, but i did manage to get down to drop off the tally sheets and the walkie-talkies and i new then that…
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%…