> Michael, since we're talking about southern Vancouver Island, what is the
> status of the skylark population there? I heard them once on San Juan
> Island and was amazed at their song. I've heard they are declining on
> Vancouver Island and was wondering if anything is being done about that.

I believe numbers have stabilized at around 60-80 birds the past few years.
Barb Begg keeps pretty close tabs on them. Perhaps Kevin Slagboom could check
with Barb and post back here. As to remediation measures: not much can be done
other than to afford them plenty of their preferred open fields. Lucky for them,
the bulk of the part of the Saanich Peninsula where they reside is under the
Agricultural Land Reserve designation so is difficult to convert to other uses.

Agree about the song. My first was on the isle of Sifnos in the Aegean many
years ago - a singing male circling at sometimes great height for 10-15 minutes
pouring forth an incredibly beautiful cascade of trills and notes.

- Jack

==========================
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca