OakBayIslandsERWardensReport2023Oak Bay Islands Er#94 wardens Report 2023
Use the link above for the complete set of photos with this report
Oak Bay Islands Ecological Reserve
Wardens Report – 2023
Marilyn Lambert, Phil Lambert, with notes from: Michael Sheehan, Mike Jackson and Jacques Sirois
Continuing boat, and other, issues meant that I wasn’t able to get out to the islands as much as I would have liked. Fortunately, now that there are two other Wardens, the islands were visited several times during the year. The highlight of the year was the discovery of Pelagic Cormorants nesting on one of the Chain Islets. On July 9, 2023. a group of birders was out on a whale watching boat and when they passed by the Chain Islets, they spotted the nesting cormorants. There has not, to my knowledge, been a confirmed report of nesting cormorants in the Chain Island since 2007, so this is very good news.
May 15, 2023
On a beautiful Spring day, Mike Jackson, Jacques Sirois and I ventured over to the Oak Bay Islands area to survey birds around the islands. Mike has the perfect motor boat for doing bird surveys through the rocky, shallow areas around the Chain Islands. He is also well versed in traversing this area in a kayak. Aided by Mike’s portable GPS plotter and local knowledge, we had a safe route planned for our survey through the islands. We surveyed all the rocky islands within the Chain Islets and Great Chain Island KBA and that fall within the Oak Bay Islands Ecological Reserve area. We did not note Pelagic Cormorants setting up nests on Islet 5 within the Chain Islets area. A report of the birds seen on this survey was submitted to eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S138794667
On Great Chain Island we met the crew from the Guardians of our Salish Estuaries (formerly, Guardians of the Mid-Island Estuaries Society) who were busy addling Canada Goose eggs. This work is being done under permit with BCParks (I think). I can’t find a report on the work that was done this year, but hope they sent a report to BCParks
August 27, 2023
A trip out to the islands to follow up on a report from a group of birders on a whale watching boat that had observed Pelagic Cormorant nests on one of the Chain Islets. Phil and I were able to get out to the Islets and found the nests on Islet #5 within the Oak Bay Islands Ecological Reserve. We had not seen any cormorants nesting in the reserve for a very long time, so this was very good news. We estimated that there were 4 or 5 Pelagic Cormorant nests, some still containing chicks.
September 1, 2023
I was invited to join a group of birders (Geoffrey Newell, Jacques Sirois, Marie O’Shaughnessy and Noah Kaefer with the Songhees Marine Team) going out to do a survey of birds around the Oak Bay Islands and Trial Islands. Funds for this survey were provided by BCNature through the IBA program. This was the first survey, and more are planned for 2024. The purpose of these surveys is to record and photograph wintering birds in the Chain Islands Important Bird Area and the greater Oak Bay Islands archipelago. It was another glorious day to explore these beautiful islands. We travelled approx. 25kms and recorded all the birds seen in the area. Photos were taken by Marie O’Shaughnessy and the bird lists were submitted to eBird. Links for eBird reports:
Oak Bay Islands – https://ebird.org/checklist/S149100951
Trial Islands – https://ebird.org/checklist/S149137921
Chatham/Discovery Islands – https://ebird.org/checklist/S149100959