After a busy summer of tripping and volunteering with a couple of organizations that mean a lot to us we decided to unwind a bit by spending a weekend in the RV at Pedder Bay. With the recent heat wave, it was kinda nice to crank up the air conditioning when we arrived on Thursday afternoon and spoil ourselves with good food, drink and catch the latest episode of Big Brother on the TV. Ahhhh … Glamping!
Friday morning, we decided to head out in our play boats and spend some time in the water doing rescues and to see how our rolling was after using out touring boats for the past couple of months. We went through a number of self, assisted and finally a few rolls before heading out to circumnavigate Bentinck Island. It’s not often that we get conditions so perfect like on this day and seeing Race Rocks so close was tempting even with the ebb starting to build. No problem … we’ll head there tomorrow.
No we won’t! Later that afternoon the first indication of a change in our summer weather pattern arrived with increasing westerly winds arriving from the Sooke Basin and through the RV park during the night. The next morning it was pretty obvious that we wouldn’t be making a run out to Race Rocks as it was blowing 35+ kts out there.
Instead we grabbed our camera gear and went for a hike (birding) around Pearson College UWC via the Galloping Goose Trail and finally back to Pedder Bay via the road leading to the RV park. As we were walking along the road we noticed a number of small traffic cones at trailheads and decided to follow one in hopes of maybe spotting a few birds. To our surprise we came across a very fine netting strung up between two poles and immediately we knew what it was. It had been placed there by the Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) and sure enough further along the trail we came across a number of their volunteers collecting migrating data and banding birds that happened to find their way into the nets.
Intrigued by what was going on we were welcomed to stay and watch the process and it wasn’t long before a couple of stunning yellow birds were brought to the station to be processed. It was really interesting to watch how the handlers took care of the birds while carefully weighing, determining the age, sex and applying a band before releasing them. The following morning, we stopped by for another visit and we had the opportunity accompany the Bander in Charge to check the nets and I positively identified one as a Fox Sparrow. Pat myself on the back!!
Long story short …. After arriving home, we checked out the RPBO website, joined their organization and will be volunteering some of our time in the near future. It actually works out well since they are located Pedder Bay and Rocky Point and we stay at the RV park several times a year so it’s a good way to experience birding on a different level.
Fore more about the Rocky Point Bird Observatory check these links out
http://rpbo.org/
http://rpboblog.blogspot.ca/
Friday morning, we decided to head out in our play boats and spend some time in the water doing rescues and to see how our rolling was after using out touring boats for the past couple of months. We went through a number of self, assisted and finally a few rolls before heading out to circumnavigate Bentinck Island. It’s not often that we get conditions so perfect like on this day and seeing Race Rocks so close was tempting even with the ebb starting to build. No problem … we’ll head there tomorrow.
 |
| Race Rocks less than 1 nm away. No wind, hot, and the sound of sea lions barking. :-) |
No we won’t! Later that afternoon the first indication of a change in our summer weather pattern arrived with increasing westerly winds arriving from the Sooke Basin and through the RV park during the night. The next morning it was pretty obvious that we wouldn’t be making a run out to Race Rocks as it was blowing 35+ kts out there.
 |
| Race Rocks from the RPBO site. Quite a difference from the day before. Photo courtesy of Rocky Point Bird Observatory on Facebook. |
Instead we grabbed our camera gear and went for a hike (birding) around Pearson College UWC via the Galloping Goose Trail and finally back to Pedder Bay via the road leading to the RV park. As we were walking along the road we noticed a number of small traffic cones at trailheads and decided to follow one in hopes of maybe spotting a few birds. To our surprise we came across a very fine netting strung up between two poles and immediately we knew what it was. It had been placed there by the Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) and sure enough further along the trail we came across a number of their volunteers collecting migrating data and banding birds that happened to find their way into the nets.
 |
| Yellow Warbler about to be released |
Intrigued by what was going on we were welcomed to stay and watch the process and it wasn’t long before a couple of stunning yellow birds were brought to the station to be processed. It was really interesting to watch how the handlers took care of the birds while carefully weighing, determining the age, sex and applying a band before releasing them. The following morning, we stopped by for another visit and we had the opportunity accompany the Bander in Charge to check the nets and I positively identified one as a Fox Sparrow. Pat myself on the back!!
Long story short …. After arriving home, we checked out the RPBO website, joined their organization and will be volunteering some of our time in the near future. It actually works out well since they are located Pedder Bay and Rocky Point and we stay at the RV park several times a year so it’s a good way to experience birding on a different level.
Fore more about the Rocky Point Bird Observatory check these links out
http://rpbo.org/
http://rpboblog.blogspot.ca/
2016 Paddle #36 - Pedder Bay
Distance: 6.36 nm (11.77 km)
YTD: 318.49 nm (589.84 km)
Distance: 6.36 nm (11.77 km)
YTD: 318.49 nm (589.84 km)
A great way to spend a couple of days! RV Glamping sounds like another nice way to have access to good kayaking areas and yet really enjoy your surroundings without the fuss of tenting in the wind and rain..Home away from home... sound lovely! Cheers!.. Heather
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