2011 Strathcona Bird Search

A beautiful day for the 20th annual Strathcona Park Bird Search - a couple of us, members of the Comox Valley Naturalists Society, went up to Paradise Meadows this a.m. to count for a couple of hours.

There is still about 2 m. of snow in the meadows, covering practically all the trails.  A few visitors were exploring but not venturing too far. So far it's not too bad walking on top of the snow, but as things warm up it will actually get more tricky, as the snowbanks melt from underneath.  At one area  the boardwalk was exposed, showing some damage due to the weight of the record amount of snow over the winter.

16 species of birds counted today:
Pileated woodpeaker: 1 (above - to my mind, the bird of the day - had a great view of it making quite a racket excavating a tree cavity)
Red-breasted sapsucker: 1
Hairy woodpecker: 1
Northern flicker: 1
Olive-sided flycatcher: 2
Common raven: 1
Gray jay: 9 (always great to see these guys!)
Chestnut-backed chickadee: 6
Red-breasted nuthatch: 3
American robin: 4
Varied thrush: 6
Hermit thrush: 4
Dark-eyed junco: 16
Chestnut-backed chickadee: 6
White-crowned sparrow: 4
Pine siskin: 12

A few marsh marigold are appearing in the wettest areas. Along the road up the mountain, pink heather, lupins and swamp lantern (skunk cabbage) were blooming. In a roadside pond, we saw a female goldeneye - unfortunately not within the park boundary, so we didn't add it to the count.  Also on the roadside -  a pile of recent bear scat - so the bears are awake!