For those who are interested the Victoria Christmas Bird Count took
place on Saturday Dec 17 in monsoon-like conditions (heavy rain and very
warm temps). I did not attend the post-count gathering but rumour (rumor for
the Americans) has it we once again exceeded the Vancouver total of 134 by at
least 7 (not that there is any competition or anything but thats two years
running). I'm not sure if all areas have reported in but as of Saturday night
we had 141 species. It was a surprise to me because we were down in numbers
in our count area. The best bird was a American Bittern on Viaduct
Flats (only the second time in many years). Likely we owe its presence in our
count area to the workings of a beaver. The flats have progessed from a muddy
farmers field to a full grown wetland. Other highlights included 5 Virginia
Rail on Quicks Bottom one of which almost ran across our feet. We also had high
counts of Common Snipe. Nine birds were huddled together in the pouring rain
sort of like the observers.

Tracee Geernaert
tracee at hal.iphc.washington.edu
IPHC PO Box 95009
Seattle, WA 98145
206 634-1838