Uplands Park Birding – Sunday, December 29-2013 (9:00AM)

Announcement from Dave Newell:

Geoffrey’s next regular Friends of Uplands Park birding trip is on Sunday, Dec. 29 meeting in the large parking area out at the end of Cattle Point at 9:00 a.m.  Sea Birds such as loons, and grebes are plentiful here in the winter.  Hope to see you there!
Note the 9:00 a.m. start.

November 2013 birding below.

Victoria–Cattle Point, Capital, CA-BC
Nov 24, 2013 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 kilometer(s)
Comments:     sunny, calm, mid-tide
48 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  50
American Wigeon  90
Mallard  7
Harlequin Duck  12
Surf Scoter  15
Bufflehead  30
Hooded Merganser  15
Common Merganser  10
Red-breasted Merganser  1
Pacific Loon  4
Horned Grebe  1
Red-necked Grebe  3
Brandt’s Cormorant  28
Double-crested Cormorant  18
Pelagic Cormorant  17
Great Blue Heron  2
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
Black Oystercatcher  9
Black Turnstone  13
Surfbird  2
Common Murre  2
Pigeon Guillemot  1
Marbled Murrelet  10
Rhinoceros Auklet  5
Mew Gull  13
Thayer’s Gull  2
Glaucous-winged Gull  20
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  1
Anna’s Hummingbird  12
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  2
Northwestern Crow  125     in a few large flocks flying over ocean from Discovery Island
Common Raven  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  12
Red-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  2
Pacific Wren  9
Bewick’s Wren  5
Golden-crowned Kinglet  18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
American Robin  10
Spotted Towhee  20
Fox Sparrow  7
Song Sparrow  8
Golden-crowned Sparrow  8
Dark-eyed Junco  8
House Finch  17
Purple Finch  3

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15803013

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org<http://ebird.org/>)

Oak Bay Christmas Bird Walk – Saturday Dec 14, 2013 (8:00AM)

From Dave & Geoffrey Newell;

All day Oak Bay Christmas Bird Count next Saturday, Dec. 14  Starting at 8:00 a.m. at the foot of Rutland Road (the ocean end of the street).

Geoffrey, Jean and I, David, have been involved with the Oak Bay Count for the past 11 years.  It is an event that we anticipate all year long and are sorry when it is over.  We start at the foot of Rutland Road (the ocean end), just three blocks north of Cattle Point, on Beach Drive at 8:00 a.m. and watch for ocean birds there for about 10 minutes, then head into the middle of Uplands Park for about 30 minutes, then go out to the end of Cattle Point, then back into Uplands Park.  Afterwards, we follow the ocean heading south to Willows Beach to the Oak Bay Marina.  We have lunch there somewhere between 11:15 and 12:00.  After lunch we go to the Victoria Golf Course, McMicking Point, Anderson Hill and end at the Chinese Cemetary in south Oak Bay at about 3:30.

You can come for the whole day or for just part of the day.  You do not need to be a pro.  You just need to know how to count!  Please dress warmly and bring a lunch.

Rubber boots are usually necessary inside of Uplands Park.  We usually get around 66 species.  The high has been 78 species.  Note the 8:00 a.m. start.  In the past there has been a request of $5.00 for participation in this annual event.  Money will help cover the costs of this national and international birding event.

Here are some photos from Wayne – Hummingbirds on a Snow Day in Oak Bay (Dec 5-2013):

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GOERT Newsletter Features Uplands Park “Nipping Aliens in the Bud (and Elsewhere)”

The GOERT News (Dec 6- 2013  ) features the GOERT Best Practices Workshop held for Friends of Uplands Park Steering Committee Members and Oak Bay Parks Department staff back in October 2013.  Read the story at  http://www.goert.ca/news/2013/12/nipping-aliens-in-the-bud-and-elsewhere/

PDF of article at GOERT News (Dec 6-2013) – NIPPING ALIENS IN THE BUD (AND ELSEWHERE)

Image featured in this story at http://www.goert.ca/news/wp-content/images/Uplands-inv-BMP-wkshp_CM-id-Carpet-Burweed_cj1058_web-600×399.jpg

 

 

 

 

Carrina Maslovat shows how to identify carpet burweed (photo: C. Junck, GOERTS)

“Ivy Off The Oaks” – Volunteer Stats & More Photos

From Margaret Lidkea, Co-Chair of FOUP
Re: November 30-2013 “Ivy Off the Oaks” Event:

 THANK YOU FROM THE FRIENDS OF UPLANDS PARK:

Despite the rain, 26 people participated for 51 hours of volunteer work!!! This will help the Oak Bay Parks Department to apply for a federal Habitat Stewardship Project grant. It was especially lovely to see 5 Oak Bay Secondary School members of their Environment Club participate and having a good time. And the Tolias family with their 2 little ones creating their sense of place in the natural environment.

Thank you also to Isabel Cordua-von Specht for picking up several large bags of dog poo in this area of Uplands Park. She also asks people she sees in the park with dogs to please remove the bags and to take another doggie bag that someone has left behind. Such a positive approach!

Kathleen has posted photographs of the event at https://friendsofuplandspark.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/friends-of-uplands-park-ivy-removal-impressive-november-30-2013/

As Kevin Webber (our Ivy Event organizer) says, please join us again in invasive plant removals and also at our programs and celebrations during the year, that will be posted on the website.

Grade 12 students looking for a volunteer opportunity to complete the Grade 12 requirements can contact FOUP to arrange for the hours needed. Please phone Margaret at 250-595-8084…FOUP has the tools, expertise and the permission from our partner, Oak Bay Parks.

Photos from Margaret of Volunteers from the Oak Bay Secondary School Environment Club :

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Friends of Uplands Park Ivy Removal Impressive (November 30, 2013)

Kevin Webber, organizer and inspiration for our first Friends of Uplands Park Ivy Removal on November 30-2013 sends his thanks:

Big thanks to those of you who came out in the rain to participate in the ivy removal event today.  I’m impressed by the amount of material we were able to gather and all your hard work has certainly paid off in helping to ensure the ecological integrity of the park. I’m recording the region we worked in, what species were there, what was done, and what remains of the invasives. I look forward to more events with you all in the future!

From Kathleen:  Indeed, a  very successful and fun event. A hard working group enthusiastically took on very intensive workout with the ivy in the gentle drizzle. We also experimented with making ivy wreaths and our intrepid poop scooper picked up an amazing amount of poop in the area of the Midland entrance and this was much appreciated by those of us tromping around removing the ivy. Here are some photos.  I took many more photos but given the drizzle and my preoccupation with hauling tarps of ivy, the settings somehow got changed and many photos are blurred. So please send me photos if you have good ones.

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