It is nice to see the shorebirds returning at Point Holmes

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Sea kayaks are great vessels for observing wildlife from seals to whales and they are also ideal for observing shorebirds, ducks and other birds. One of our favourite places to paddle is at Point Holmes since it offers ready access to scenic paddling and a variety of shorelines from sandy beaches to rocky headlands. With the sunny, warm weather of late we have been sea kayaking on a few occasions and our most recent outing was on August, 28 and we weren’t disappointed. We almost always head around Cape Lazo toward Kye Bay since this is where you tend to get the best bird sitings. Throughout the summer our bird sitings have been minimal as birds head away to nest. But they are now returning and this day we saw lots of bird activity which we were pleased with.

 

On this day saw a couple of dozen sanderlings (shorebirds) which have just returned to this area (see photo above) and also saw 2 bright billed oystercatchers. They are so distinctive with their bright orange-red bills (see photo below).  We have rarely seen oystercatchers at Cape Lazo so we felt this was a real treat, especially one that seemed to like to balance on one leg.  Also the harlequin ducks have begun to make their back to Cape Lazo after being gone all summer and we saw 20-30 of those birds. Kayaks seem to be good for viewing birds since we seemed to be able to get closer to these birds in our boats than we might have been if we were walking along the shore.  We went a tide of around 3.8 meters which meant that many rocks that seals might haul out on were under water. A bit of a lower tide seems to be better for viewing seals hauled out on rocks. Another bonus of paddling at Point Holmes is the fact that the boat launch has a web cam that lets you see what the wave conditions are along the shore. It can be viewed at: http://www.pointholmesrecreation.ca/rampcam/. It is always interesting to see the variety of birds and other wildlife in this area and we look forward to our next kayak trip to Point Holmes.