Date: 24 March 2025
Time: 9:40-11:42
Tide at the beginning of count: 11.9
Tide at the close of count: 11.9
turning tide
Weather: rain, calm sea, 8C
Participants: Linda Horspool, Susan Knoerr, Bonnie Mullin, Jane Osborne, Sandy and Dan Gray, Dave Erickson, Liz & Jim Thorne, Meghan MacIsaac, Helen Davidson, Tom Whitfield, Toni Wyckoff, Liz Bredberg
Total brant counted: 1314
Zone 1: North area:
- Beach Creek
- Seaside Nature Park
- East end of Surfside Drive, Offshore view
Total brant counted in area: 0
Other birds observed: 4 harlequin ducks, pacific loons, common loons, 1000 gulls, (short-billed, Icelandic, California, sps), 11 oystercatchers, bald eagle, 50 bufflehead, common mergansers, red-breasted mergansers, wigeons
Zone 2: French Creek Marina to Seacrest
- 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
- Foot of Johnstone Rd.
- Seacrest Road
Total brant counted in area: 1149
Other birds observed: “overwhelming number of gulls—easily 10,000”, rafts of scoters, 25 harlequin ducks, bufflehead, goldeneye, mixed flock of divers 3000, American wigeon, mallard, 4 greater yellowlegs, raft of 1000 pacific loons, red crossbills, California quail, flicker, 25+ eagles
Zone 3: South area:
- Rathtrevor Beach
- Mariner Way
- Parksville Community Park
Total brant counted in area: 165 (74 flying south)
Other birds observed: 2 robins, 40 bufflehead, 2 bald eagle, +++ gulls, 9 horned grebe, 36 common loons, 12 common merganser, 1 red-breasted merganser, 40 goldeneye, pacific loon 160+, 1 killdeer, 8 pintails, 30 green-winged teal, 8 horned grebe, 200 dunlin, 2000 scaup, 2000+ raft of surf scoters, 1 greater yellowlegs, 1 black-bellied plover, 2 mallards, 10 crows, 8 canada geese, 1 red-necked grebe, 5 common grebe (?), 1 guillemot, 4 chickadees, 4 house finches
Photo courtesy of Jim Thorne