Flowers, Trails and Owls – Oh My!

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On April 1 we did a blog post on the spring flowers found on the Tsolum River trails near the Exhibition Grounds in Courtenay. In that blog we reported on the carpets of fawn lilies and trilliums in bloom along the trails which really brightened up our walk.  On April 22 after a visit to the Comox Valley Farmers Market (which have now relocated to Exhibition Grounds for the summer and fall) we decided to check out the flowers again and look for an owl that people at the market had said they had seen there.  These trails are located behind the Exhibition Grounds off of Headquarters Road in Courtenay and there is lots of parking. Take the main access trail (really a road) toward the river and we found many clusters of fawn lilies on the trails to the right. You don’t need to walk very far before you see the flowers in bloom along the trail and under the trees.

 We were impressed that the flowers were still in bloom (see fawn lilies below) and even more abundant than when we visited on April 1 so if you missed them before there is still time to see these spring flowers. But on this day we were also treated to a baby Great Horned Owl that had been spotted by people we talked to at the Farmer’s Market. The owl was perched in a tree and when we first saw it a parent was also there. There were many people on the trail with either long telephoto lenses or binoculars and when we returned with our camera, the young one was there on its own. The owl on Saturday April 22 was located on a broken off tree (see photo above) near the horse pasture on the upper trail (away from the river) to your right as you enter the trails. We took a GPS reading from the trail and it is 49.706 N 125.015 W.  Not sure how long the young owl will be there but check it out if you are in the area. And the flowers are worth the trip in any case!