49.303243,
-119.534895
We camped overnight at the side of the road, next to the
Vaseux Lake conservation area; a small reserve coated in reedbeds and willow
woodland, ideal for potential migrant species. This is where we started our
day, but we had very limited success with very few passerines in the bushes.
As a result we decided to explore the cliff faces behind the
reserve for Canyon Wren but unfortunately they eluded us, despite hearing them
singing at numerous locations. The cliff faces did have some good birds but the
fact that they were on the shadow side of the rising sun probably affected
their productivity.
We also had a drive round some of the farmland above the
lake, by the time which we visited was in open sunshine, and here we had a few
more birds. We spent another hour driving along these roads, scanning the
fence-lines and bushes for anything, as well as scanning the cliff faces for
Canyon Wrens or any roosting raptors.
We returned to the Vaseux Lake conservation area late
morning and had much more success with birding. The warmer conditions clearly
benefitted many of the songbirds and made them much easier to spot within the
willow woodland. Because the site was so small though, we did not spend an enormous
amount of time on our return visit.
Highlights
White-throated Swift
- Our bird highlight for the morning! It was nice to catch up with this
species, as it was one that we thought we would be too early to see. They were
extremely smart, a lot smaller than we had thought they were going to be.
Coyote - We awoke
in the morning, after spending the night camping by the side of the main road.
Our campsite overlooked an area of open marsh, and 10 minutes after we awoke, a
Coyote sauntered out into the open. It wandered around quite content for the
rest of the time that we spent there.
Wolf - It turned
into quite the morning for large mammals; in addition to the Coyote we also had
Bighorn Sheep, and then topped off with a Wolf resting from the sun under the
cover of a medium sized shrub. It sat there for some time before it decided to
get up and wander off. A truly amazing encounter!
-California Quail
-White-throated Swift
-Marsh Wren
Species List:
Vaseux Lake: Canada Goose, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Redhead,
California Quail, Red-necked Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Northern Diver,
American Coot, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Turkey Vulture,
Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Bonaparte’s Gull, Mew Gull, Northern Flicker,
Red-naped Sapsucker, Merlin, American Kestrel, Mourning Dove, Rufous
Hummingbird, White-throated Swift, Steller’s Jay, Black-billed Magpie, American
Crow, Northern Raven, European Starling, Marsh Wren, Black-capped Chickadee,
Tree Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western Bluebird, Brewer’s Blackbird,
Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Warbling Vireo, Say’s Phoebe, Western
Kingbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Cassin’s Finch, Spotted
Towhee, Vespers Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Coyote, Wolf, Bighorn Sheep, Red-eared Slider, Steller’s Orange-tip,
Shuttleworth
Creek Road
49.3239044,-119.4935796
Once we had finished birding around Vaseux Lake we headed up
into the mountains above the Okanagan valley to an area of woodland that could
potentially hold breeding Townsend’ Solitaire. Unfortunately we had no luck
with that species, and the woodland was generally quiet except for the
occasional wave of warblers that passed through; but only composed of Audubon’s
and Nashville. There were a number of songs and calls echoing around the
woodland but sadly we were unable to identify the majority. We only spent an
hour working the woodland before we moved on.
Highlights
Dusky Grouse - The
highlight of our visit to this area was undoubtedly one of these mid-sized
gamebirds strolling down the middle of the path. It was our first real look at
a grouse, after the brief views of Sooty we had at Manning Park; it was nice to
be able to really get a look and a solid identification!
-Dusky Grouse
-Chipping Sparrow
-Brown Elfin
Species List:
Shuttleworth Creek
Road: Dusky Grouse, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Turkey Vulture, White-throated
Swift, Northern Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Audubon’s Warbler, Nashville
Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-bellied
Marmot, California Tortoiseshell,
Brown Elfin,
Route 5A
50.154672,
-120.616854
In order to make good time on our journey to the next site,
we headed off north early afternoon. Our next destination was the small town of
Kamloops, a two hour drive from Okanagan. The majority of the journey was on a
single road, the 5A, which helpfully passed a number of lakes and small water
bodies that we could stop and scan over. So we enjoyed a rather relaxed
journey, with frequent stops for casual birding.
Highlights
Trumpeter Swan: The
only new birds for us on this journey were a distant pair of these large swans
on the first lake that we came across. We were optimistic for pelicans, so when
we spotted two large white birds we were extremely excited, but when they
turned out to be swans we would be lying if we said we weren’t a little
disappointed.
Wildfowl: What
was really awesome was that every small lake we passed had really good numbers
of wildfowl on it. There was a really good variety of ducks on offer, as well
as coots, divers and grebes, including our first Black-necked Grebes of the
trip.
-Brewer's Blackbird
Species List:
5A: Trumpeter
Swan, Canada Goose, Ruddy Duck, Redhead, American Wigeon, Shoveler, Mallard,
Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Goosander, Black-necked Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe,
Red-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Great Northern Diver, American Coot, Bald
Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Killdeer, American Kestrel,
Collared Dove, American Crow, Northern Raven, Clark’s Nutcracker, European
Starling, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Nashville Warbler,
Audubon’s Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Western Meadowlark, Brewer’s
Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, White-crowned
Sparrow, Muskrat,
No comments:
Post a Comment