Howdy tweeters- Happy New Year;
I finally made it back to Seattle after being snowbound in rural Saanich for
5 days. We had 65 cm of snow in one night breaking the record set in 1916. I
shovelled enough snow for a lifetime. Luckily the Victoria Christmas bird
count happened before all the white stuff. We had 146 species officially
which is the second highest count for the area. The best bird for me was an
adult Northern Goshawk. Others in our team saw a Swamp Sparrow too. We also
got 4 species of owls; Saw-whet, Screech,Barred and Great Horned. I can't
imagine what it would have been like in the snow. Anyway a great day and
I'm bummed I missed the Seattle count but there is no reasoning with Mother
Nature.
Tracee Geernaert
tracee at iphc.washington.edu