Hearing the call of the birds, and counting them
Ken Thomson of the Alouette Field Naturalists has his scope aimed at a cottonwood on the north side of the South Alouette River, east of Jerry Salina Park.
“Northern goshawk, largest accipiter [forest hawk] we’ve got. Pretty plumage, lots of white.”
The bird’s body resembles snowy owls at Boundary Bay.
Today’s annual December bird count is the 39th for the AFN. I’ve joined Ken, his wife, Joan, and Kees Vandenberg in an area he and I counted 20 years ago.
I was eager to learn all I could from Kees and his wife, Duane, who’s counting on Codd Island. Both know birds by size, shape, color, or flight pattern, and can coax them from cover by imitating songs.
Thomson is equally skilled, but has gone high tech with a bird caller that he calls “generic.”
At Jerry Salina pond, Ken counts bufflehead ducks and hooded mergansers. “Smaller versions of the common merganser.”