Date: 14 April 2025
Time: 10:30-12:00
Tide at the beginning of count: 8.3 feet
Tide at the close of count: 5.2 feet
falling tide

Weather: cloudy, mild temperatures, wind calm, sea mild chop

Participants: Sandy & Dan Gray, Dave Erickson, Meghan MacIsaac, Toni Wykhoff, Liz Bredberg

Total brant counted: 1291

Zone 1: North area:

  • Qualicum Beach—Tourist Infor (Beach Creek), and the gazebo viewing stand.
  • Foot of Kincaid Rd. beach access
  • East end of Surfside Drive, Offshore view
  • Little Qualicum Estuary, west end of Surfside Dr. and mouth of Little Qualicum River

Total brant counted in area: 150, including 50 spooked by bald eagle surfside E

Other birds observed: 92 buffleheads, 11 mallards, 5 horned grebes, 3 bald eagle, raven, 4d loons, 2 red-necked grebes, brant flying northward, song sparrow, dispersed flock of divers, 18 red-breasted mergansers, 10 brant flying northwards at Seacroft, 2 common mergansers,

Violet-green swallows, 500+ Gulls, 36 scoters

1 pedestrian with large dog off-leash at water’s edge! (photos)

 

Zone 2: Central area:

  • French Creek Marina—east side view offshore and towards Parksville, view the creek mouth from the west side
  • Columbia Beach
  • Admiral Tryon Blvd. east; view offshore, and French Creek River mouth
  • Admiral Tryon West, beach access to tidal pools
  • West end of Seacrest Place (Apenes), off Eaglecrest Dr. at Pintail Dr

Total brant counted in area: 126

Other birds observed: small flocks of scoters, common mergansers hunting as a group, wigeon at FC mount, 1 yellowlegs,

Seacrest: Brant seen way out, pacific loons, scoters, Bonapartes gulls scattered, few other gulls, RB mergansers hunting along shore.

ALL BRANT OBSERVED WERE IN FLIGHT.

 

Zone 3: South area:

  • Rathtrevor Beach,
  • West end of Mariner Way—view offshore and to river mouth, may need to walk to river
  • Parksville Bay, Parksville Community Park—from the Labyrinth view offshore, sandbars, and west shore of PVBay

Total brant counted: 1015

Other birds observed:  100 dunlin, small raft of scoters, 1 bald eagle, assorted gulls, a second large murmuration of dunlin, 6 shovelers, 20 pintail, medium raft of scoters, 2 red-breasted mergansers. ~100 wigeons, 2 common loons, many gulls, 1 crow

– no dogs but 1 human got too close, spooked Rathtrevor brant.  Eagle spooked Mariner Way brant.

 

Photo courtesy of Jim Thorne