On a very pleasant Thursday morning, a group of our Birders walked the length of what we term the Gate 88 trail to see what birds would show up.
This trail is at the top of the hill above Kye Bay and starts at the gravel parking lot situated at the top of Kye Bay Road’s hairbend curve leading down to the shoreline. The trail parallels CFB Comox’s fencing until ending at the military’s Gate 88. We heard plenty of bird song in the trees between us and the cliff leading down to shore-level but had a hard time pinpointing the birds hidden among the branches and leaves. We always enjoyed a sense of triumph if we sighted and identified the songster. Our final species count wasn’t a high one, but a number of the species were well represented – especially the Savannah and Chipping Sparrows, American Robins, Spotted Towhees and Yellow Warblers.
We ended up with a count of 18 species: Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, American Crow, Common Raven, Northern Flicker, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Savannah Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Anna’s Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Yellow Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler and Barn Swallow.
Photos by Dawn M.
1. group shot 2. Chipping Sparrows
3. American Robin 4. group shot
5. Savannah Sparrow 6. Yellow Warbler
7. Yellow Warbler singing 8. Gate 88 group shot
9. Song Sparrow 10. Spotted Towhee
