The “Pub to Pub” trail makes a great lunch time walk

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

We always love doing the so called “Pub to Pub” trail which is roughly half way between Campbell River and Courtenay since is a scenic trail with both river and ocean/beach views. We hadn’t done the trail for a few months since last fall and so with a sunny forecast we decided to walk on Tuesday, May 14 with some xc ski buddies and Heather’s sister Lisa who was visiting from Radium.    The trail gets its name from the fact that at one time 2 pubs were located close to the start and end point of the trail. Since the trail is just 3.5 km (1 way) it is suited to a variety of options. If you have young children or walkers that would find 7 km too long a hike, you could park a car at each end and just make the 1 way trip. You can see from the photo below that the trail surface is well maintained and is generally flat so is walkable for just about all ages. On this day we opted to pack a lunch and enjoy the views. 

 To get there from Courtenay drive north on Highway 19A and keep an eye out for the Oyster River bridge since you want to turn right on the next road (Glenmore Road).  Then travel one roughly 1 block and then turn left on Regent and look for a parking lot with a sign Oyster River Nature Park. The parking lot coordinates are 49. 52.232 N and 125 07.616 W.  There is parking for several cars but this area is popular so we try to go mid week to be able to get a spot. There are a few forks in the trail but bear to the left and you should be fine.  After about 1 km you reach the ocean and from there you follow the Jack Hames Trail to Salmon Point. You can walk the trail in either direction although we tend to walk it south to north most of the time. The ocean views are spectacular and we fully recommend this hike. See you on the trail. 

 

 

The Vaux's Swifts are back this year at the Courtenay Museum

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On Tuesday April 30  we headed down to a parking lot behind the Courtenay Museum to see if the Vaux’s Swifts that are in the area might fly down the chimney to roost for the evening. Evidently they have been seen coming to this chimney for the last few years in late April and early May but we had not checked out the action for this year. On this night we saw about 30 other people with their binoculars and cameras waiting and watching the for the swifts to gather their numbers and fly into the chimney.   The Vaux’s Swifts spend the winter in Mexico and breed in large hollow trees found in old growth forests in BC, Washington and Oregon. Because of this their numbers are in decline as logging removes their breeding habitat. 

 The birds feed on insects and their shape has been described as cigars with wings.  We arrived just before 8:00 pm armed with binoculars and a camera with a telephoto lens.  The birds arrival to the chimney seems to depend on the weather and so you don’t know when they might arrive but it usually anywhere from 7:30 pm to sunset. No sooner did we get there and we saw began to see a swarm of Vaux’s Swifts swoop over head and fly over the chimney. They then disappeared for a few minutes only to return again for another fly over. They do this arriving and departing routine repeatedly each time it seems that they gather a few more birds. Then on this night about 8:45 pm they began to spiral around and just like Santa they headed down the chimney. Presumably they like the rough interior of the chimney and spend the night huddled together along the edges of the chimney. It is hard to get an exact count of the numbers of birds that headed down the chimney on this night but it was likely between 400 and 500 birds !! How they all fit is anyone’s guess. Also below is a video shot a few years ago and it is an impressive sight if you have not seen it. Check it out !!