Peak Season For Trumpeter Swans

I’ve recently introduced my toddler to the story of the “Ugly Duckling” by Danish poet Hans Christian Anderson. He loves the way the ugly duckling (actually a misfit swan living with a family of ducks), eventually turns into a beautiful swan. It is a story of personal transformation that still inspires today.

Swans are age-old symbols of grace, beauty and fidelity (they mate for life). The three largest swan species of the northern hemisphere are the Mute Swan, Trumpeter Swan and Whooper Swan. The Whooper Swan is the national symbol of Finland, and five flying swans symbolize the Nordic countries. Continue reading »

Filed under Nature Writing | Tags: Bird Watching, Comox Valley, Swans, Trumpeter Swans | Comment (0)

‘Tis the Season for Christmas Bird Counts

For birders, the Christmas season isn’t about staying warm by the fire. Every year, thousands of birders across Canada get up at dawn to brave the elements for a full day of birding on a freezing winter day. This tradition is known as the Christmas Bird Count.

The requirements are simple: warm, water proof clothing, binoculars, a spotting scope, bird book, field check-list, lunch, a thermos of tea and good supply of cookies. At the end of the day, the birders gather for a potluck dinner, to tally up the numbers and species of birds seen, and share stories about the day’s adventures.

Christmas bird counts have been going on for more than a century. American ornithologist Frank Chapman of the Audubon Society organized the first bird census on Christmas day, 1900. At this time, conservation was a new concept, and scientists were just beginning to be concerned about declining bird populations. Chapman changed history when he proposed that rather than shooting birds, they be watched and counted. Continue reading »

Filed under Nature Writing | Tags: Bird Watching, Birds, British Columbia, Christmas Bird Count, Comox Valley, Vancouver Island | Comment (0)

Leaf Watching: The Comox Valley Top Five

My toddler son is keen to collect fallen leaves, clutching fistfuls in each hand and sorting them by shape and colour. He doesn’t know which trees the leaves belong to yet, but I am happy that he is out noticing things and exploring nature.

Most of the broad-leaved deciduous trees (trees that shed their leaves in the fall) are actually easy to recognize with practice. To start with, here are brief descriptions of the “top five” kinds of leaves that one is likely to see in the Comox Valley this fall.

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)

The bigleaf maple has the largest maple leaves in all of Canada, and the large yellow and rusty fall leaves provide some of the best fall colours in our area. Bigleaf leaves are deeply five-lobed. The brown V-shaped winged seeds fly down like little helicopters.

Maple trunks and limbs are often covered with luxuriant clumps of moss and ferns. The porous, calcium rich bark encourages plant growth. Douglas maple (Acer glabrum), is the only other common maple species in our area. This is a much smaller, more shrub-like tree that grows to ten metres high. Continue reading »

Filed under Nature Writing | Tags: Bigleaf Maple, Comox Valley, Garry Oak, Leaves, Pacific Dogwood, Red Alder | Comment (0)