The birders group visited Mount Washington yesterday and found 25 species, the highlight being the continuing male Hermit warbler. The complete list is below:
Sooty Grouse
Wilson's Snipe
Band-tailed Pigeon
Rufous Hummingbird
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Barn Swallow
Pacific Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
MacGillivray's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Tanager ... See MoreSee Less
Have you wondered about the fencing that’s appeared in the estuary?
Jennifer Sutherst of Project Watershed explains:
“The fencing is part of a project that the K'ómoks First Nation is undertaking in the Estuary to fence out non-migratory Canada geese from sensitive salt marsh habitat. These geese were introduced to Vancouver Island by the Canadian Wildlife Services as a game species for hunting. However their populations have continued to grow unchecked and, as they don't naturally migrate, they have started to impact the vegetation in estuaries along the east coast of Vancouver Island. This is the same vegetation that salmon and other species rely on for their life histories. Plus once they eat the salt marsh plants, including grubbing out the plant rhizomes, then we start to lose the sediment that the salt marsh platforms are built on. The geese have discovered our Estuary and in the past few years the resident population has grown from around 200 birds to over 1200 at the last count that I'm aware of. We are now seeing some major negative impacts to the habitat from this herbivory. The exclosure fencing prevents the birds from entering into the fenced areas and feeding as they require a fair amount of room for take off and landing. More fencing is planned to be installed this year.” ... See MoreSee Less
