July 9th - Cadboro Bay (#55)

I went for a morning paddle around the bay. Conditions were nice and calm and sunny. My primary purpose was to do a census of the Canada geese that are along the shores of the bay. They are currently molting, so will not fly and are easy to count. I counted 217 geese between Cattle Point and Cadboro Point. Only 5 were clearly young birds. In addition I saw a nice assortment of sea and shorebirds (rhinoceros auklet, black oystercatcher, killdeer and a good number of purple martins at the yacht club

https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S91492903

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 580 km

April 25th - Cadboro Bay (#43)

I went for a quick solo paddle around the bay on the surf ski. I stopped for a chat with Kellie and Eric at their new house. The sea was rippled and I saw relatively few birds. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S86391998 Interestingly, no buffleheads today - looks like they may have all gone!

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 445 km

February 13th - Cadboro Bay in snow (#17)

I went for an afternoon paddle because I could! :) There was ~8 inches of snow in the street walking down to the beach but the bay was reasonably calm. I managed a good birding session with 14 species (https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S81273597) in spite of the visibility. No one else on the water today and the RVUC boats were under snow (see below)

a view of the bay - click to enlarge

another view of the bay - click to enlarge

Dighies @ RVYC - click to enlarge

my track - click to enlarge

5 km, YTD 154 km

January 30th - Cadboro Bay (#10)

I went for a relaxed birding paddle around the bay, stopping to try to get photos of some of the species I saw. I managed 20 species in the 6.5 km paddle and got some photos which are attached to the list. The photos are not portraits but I think are good enough to confirm the ID of six species.   https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S80156654 

Horned grebe in winter plumage - click to enlarge

pigeon guillemot in winter plumage - click to enlarge

4 double-crested and 3 pelagic cormorants plus two black turnstones - click to enlarge

Three ancient murrelets

Pigeon guillemot and Cadboro Point - click to enlarge

my route - click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 93 km

January 16th - Cadboro Bay (#6)

I went for an afternoon paddle with the surf ski - conditions were very nice for a relaxing putter along the shores, looking for birds. It was pretty cloudy around and there were no views of the American volcanoes!

I managed to clearly ID 20 species: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S79365059

I took my Canon S1 with 10x zoom in its waterproof case and was able to use a couple of shots with it to positively identify a common loon by size and the partical white neck band as well as confirm the common goldeneye.

Common Loon - fuzzy but the neck band is visible - click to enlarge

click to enlarge

9 km, YTD 47 km

January 6th - Cadboro Bay (#3)

I decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon and get out for a short, relaxed paddle. Conditions were nice  for birding and I think I may have seen the first example of a red-breasted merganser where I was confident I could see the red breast! https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S78802149

click to enlarge

5km, YTD 28 km.

January 3rd - Cattle Point (#1)

I went for an afternoon paddle out to Cattle point thinking that the winds had dropped and wanting to get my first paddle of the year in. There was some wind, resulting in a bit of lumpy water. I ran into Dennis and Sue who were just back from a few days at Portland Island in their sailboat.

I am also trying to take ID pictures of some of the birds I see so that I can practice with this old Canon S1IS. A few results below. At least some of the pictures are in focus and not too blurry!

Hooded mergansers and a surf scoter - click to enlarge

Oystercatchers and black turnstone - click to enlarge

Greater yellowlegs - click to enlarge

glaucous-winged gull - click to enlarge

I saw 15 or so species: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S78621510 no murrelets!

click to enlarge

5 km, YTD 5 km

December 14th - Cadboro Bay (#94)

I went for an afternoon paddle and bird around the bay. Conditions were nice and I saw a good number of birds. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S77494101 

birding while kayaking is a challenge as many birds seem to be spooked by kayakers and it is hard to get a good look at some birds...

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 817 km

November 20th - Flower Islet (#90)

 Monica and I went for a short morning paddle around Flower Islet. Conditions were good with winds in the 5 knot range. We had nice views of common/red-breasted mergansers, hooded mergansers, buffleheads and Canada geese.

click to enlarge

4 km, YTD 763 km

November 19th - Cattle Point (#89)

I went for a late morning paddle out to the point and back. Still working on some bird ID, but I can confirm marbled murrelets, long-tailed duck, pelagic cormorant, bufflehead, hooded merganser and horned grebe.

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 759 km

November 14th - Cadboro bay (#88)

 I went for a quick morning paddle to avoid the predicted winds. Conditions were glassy to begin with but began to get windier by the time I had finished. By the time I went back to the beach later the wind had gone from ~5 kph to ~20 kph. I decided to take my binoculars so that I could check out some of the birds I have been seeing more closely. I got a good look at a horned grebe (I was not sure before whether what I was seeing was horned or eared). I also got a good ID on both marbled and ancient murrelets. You can see on the track where I stopped to ID birds! :) 

Bird list for the morning:

Bufflehead, harlequin duck, horned grebe, hooded merganser, pelagic cormorant, black oystercatcher, surf scoter, pigeon guillemot (watched one come up with a shrimp!), ancient and marbled murrelet, Bonaparte's gull, belted kingfisher

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 753 km

November 11th - Cadboro Bay (#86)

I went for a brisk afternoon paddle (Av speed 7.8 kph) to take advantage of calm conditions and the rain having stopped. Birds today included horned grebe, mew gull (distinctive white spot on the primaries and they were feeding on small fish at the surface), ancient and marbled murrelets, glaucous-winged gull, black oystercatcher, great blue heron, bufflehead, harlequin and hooded merganser.

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 742 km

October 21st - Cadboro Bay (#77)

 I took the surfski out for an afternoon paddle around the bay. Conditions were nice and there was a decent ebb building in Baynes combined with a northerly wind. I saw a few nice birds: pelagic cormorant, mew gull, glaucous-winged gull, great blue heron, harlequin duck and bald eagle to name the ones I noticed!

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 643 km

August 3rd - Cadboro Bay (#64)

I went out for a quick spin around the bay before lunch. The surfski is definitely a fast kayak! Lots of people out on the water for this holiday Monday! Looking back from Cadboro Point it is nice to see Oak and Cadboro bays out in front of me all the way down to the Oak bay Beach Hotel and Gonzales Point.

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 515 km

July 27th - Cadboro Bay (#62)

I went for a nice short evening paddle. Sunny and calm with good views of Mt. Baker but not Mt. Rainier. A few other paddlers out - mostly SUPers. made it to 500 km! :)

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 503 km

July 21st - Flower Island (#61)

I went for an evening paddle around the bay on the surfski. It was a bit windy and I wanted to check if the seal pup was around. I chatted with my friends who had seen it on their beach, but it was gone this morning... who knows where. You can see that the SW wind slowed me down a lot crossing the bay from Flower ti "Island 7". I saw a few pigeon guillemots feeding in the bay.

click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 497 km

July 10th - Cadboro Bay (#57)

I went for a nice morning paddle around the bay on the surfski. There was a bit of wind from the S but not too much - overcast sky. Tide was medium-high and not too much current. I saw several black oystercatchers calling and flying around between Cattle Point and Jemmy Jones.

click to enlarge

8km, YTD 474 km

June 22nd - Cadboro Bay (#52)

I paddled over to RVYC to join Greg, peter, and Tony for a surf ski paddling session. I was using a Greenland paddle as I had lent my wing paddle to Tony, but it worked well. Amazingly clear views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier as well as some distant mirages. Good to get out!

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 418 km

June 18th - Cadboro Bay (#50)

I took the surfski out for an afternoon  jaunt around the bay. Conditions were very nice with a slight Southerly breeze and not much current. I saw Tim out rowing and we had a chat by Staines islet. Visibility was good as I could see both Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier. I also had a good view of Oak Bay Marina and the Oak Bay Beach Hotel as I went from Cadboro to Cattle point. This was paddle #50 of the year! My original goal, assuming lots of ship-based trips was 50 paddles and 500 km, but I suspect I will be close to this by the end of June!

click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 392 km

June 3rd - Ten Mile and Cattle Points (#46)

I went for an afternoon jaunt out to get some exercise in the surf ski. I had a short chat with Sam, who was running a SUP class and then made my way out to the point. There was a solid flood building and 5 to 10 knots from the south. It was cloudy all around and I thought that there could be rain over Saanich, but the clouds dissipated. No sign of Mt. Baker or Mt. Rainier!

click to enlarge

9 km, YTD 341 km