Post by 10aciousfaith on Dec 30, 2023 9:18:46 GMT -8
Hello fellow birders!
I was asked to be in charge of this area and the plan was to do it with a lady named Michelle. She unfortunately became quite sick and had to miss her opportunity to take part in her 1st CBC. I did it on my own. There were 3 highlights in particular for the day: The first one was an invitation to enter a barn by the owner. He showed me how to get up to the top level to hopefully view some owls. I struck out then and so I came back later in the count but was unsuccessful once again. The cool part was that he invited me to come back any time. I will take him up on his invitation except I'll bring a flashlight to help me see better in the hard-to-see rafters.
The second highlight was observing some TRSW, 7 of them including two juveniles and a smaller, white bird that had joined them. "Is this a SNGO or some domestic one?" I knew I had to be able to see all of its features to know for certain. My thought was "this is a new experience for me!" It was behind a gentle slope of the field and so as I viewed the goose through my scope, all I could see at times was its head or its head, neck and upper body. Eventually it moved back enough from the slope to see the solid black portion of its wings. What a difference in size from the towering TRSW! I've never seen a single SNGO hanging out with trumpeters before-cool!
The final highlight happened after I used the local gas station and as I went outside I looked up hearing 2 AMPI flying NE over Matsqui Village. They were year birds. Shortly after I saw a Merlin bolting past the backside of some homes. Thanks to the MERL I had a 5 raptor day! It was fun to do the count on my own but I think next time I would appreciate some extra ears and eyes!
Damion
I was asked to be in charge of this area and the plan was to do it with a lady named Michelle. She unfortunately became quite sick and had to miss her opportunity to take part in her 1st CBC. I did it on my own. There were 3 highlights in particular for the day: The first one was an invitation to enter a barn by the owner. He showed me how to get up to the top level to hopefully view some owls. I struck out then and so I came back later in the count but was unsuccessful once again. The cool part was that he invited me to come back any time. I will take him up on his invitation except I'll bring a flashlight to help me see better in the hard-to-see rafters.
The second highlight was observing some TRSW, 7 of them including two juveniles and a smaller, white bird that had joined them. "Is this a SNGO or some domestic one?" I knew I had to be able to see all of its features to know for certain. My thought was "this is a new experience for me!" It was behind a gentle slope of the field and so as I viewed the goose through my scope, all I could see at times was its head or its head, neck and upper body. Eventually it moved back enough from the slope to see the solid black portion of its wings. What a difference in size from the towering TRSW! I've never seen a single SNGO hanging out with trumpeters before-cool!
The final highlight happened after I used the local gas station and as I went outside I looked up hearing 2 AMPI flying NE over Matsqui Village. They were year birds. Shortly after I saw a Merlin bolting past the backside of some homes. Thanks to the MERL I had a 5 raptor day! It was fun to do the count on my own but I think next time I would appreciate some extra ears and eyes!
Damion
