by Keith and Heather Nicol
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| The seas were almost flat calm on this day |
Sea kayaks are
great vessels for observing wildlife from seals to whales and they are also
ideal for observing shorebirds and ducks since they can get close to shore. We
have noted that recently various ducks have returned to the waters off of Comox
and Point Holmes offers a perfect launch point for seeing these new arrivals.
On Thursday, September 22 under clear skies and warm sunny conditions we
kayaked at just about high tide (about 4.5 meters) which we usually don’t do
since we find bird and marine life is sometimes better observed at lower tides.
We usually paddle toward Cape Lazo and
Kye Bay. However, most bird sitings seem
to occur away from where people and dogs are located so closer you get to the
sandy beaches of Kye Bay the fewer birds we typically see.
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| The pelagic cormorants seem to like the taller rocks |
On this day we
were pleased to see numerous harlequin ducks and also many common mergansers
seemed to have just arrived. Also many pelagic cormorants adorned some of the
taller rocks. Although we often see pelagic cormorants on our paddling trips,
we haven’t seen these quantities here for some time. As well many gulls occupied many sections of
sandy beaches along this route. It is always interesting to see what new
arrivals we can see and we look forward to our next kayak trip to Point Holmes.
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| A group of harlequin ducks swim past a common merganser on the rock |
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