Birding is a big part of what A Rocha does internationally, and A Rocha Canada is no exception. We introduced two keen birders to you last week. Colin ‘Hawk-eye’ Conroy and Stan ‘Aves’ Olson are the leaders of the weekly birding expeditions. At 8 am every Thursday (weather permitting) they lead a band of enthusiastic keen beans through one of four locations in the Little Campbell watershed: Redwood Park, the Little Campbell Hatchery, the Little Campbell Estuary or the Campbell Valley Regional Park. Over the next two hours we quietly meander through forest, field, bramble, mudflat, wetland… eyes peeled and ears sharpened for any signs of bird life. Each bird spotted and identified is recorded down on the bird survey sheet. An average of about 30 bird species is observed each week. All the data from the past 6 years has been collated together and will ultimately used by Colin to measure the environmental health of the Little Campbell Watershed. Colin was grateful to have Anna to take over the helm of data entry, inputting the last 4 years of environmental data from the weekly bird walks in 2 days.
On the bird walks you have the reliables: Chickadees (both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed), American Robins, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, Mallard Ducks (native to Canada)… Less commonly sighted are the beautiful Purple Finches, the vibrant Varied Thrushes, the clambering Brown Creepers, the gargantuan Great Blue Herons and the majestic Red-tailed Hawks.
