I had a bit of ham left from making my lunch and made a friend for life.
The group set out and made a quick stop at Road 22 for another unsuccessful search for Long-billed Curlews.We then set out to try to find a Chukar at Richter Pass.
Mary-Jean and I were the last to leave Road 22. When we got to the Highway 97 intersection, she spotted an American Kestrel out her window and snapped off this wonderful shot. We'd seen one the day before for her lifer, but this was the only photo of the bird.
American Kestrel - Highway 97, Oliver BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
Once again we were behind the group and had to catch up. To make matters worse, we made a quick stop at Spotted Lake, a highly alkaline lake visible from the highway. The group had agreed to stop there, but there was no sign of them. Mary-Jean snapped this shot of a Yellow-bellied Marmot and we got back in the car to find the others.
Yellow-bellied Marmot - Spotted Lake, Osoyoos BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
We found the group stopped further on up Highway 3 west of Osoyoos. We were looking for Chukar, an imported game bird that has established a stable population in the South Okanagan over the last 75 years. It is the national bird of Pakistan. We did see one bird, but it disappeared too quickly for photos. Here's a photo from the same location in 2014.
Chukar - Highway 3 near Osoyoss - April 2014
On the way back to Osoyoos the group did stop at Spotted Lake. Chris didn't expect to see any birds there, but we got Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal and Gadwall on the lake. We also spotted a Vesper Sparrow in the brush. I got a good look at it with the scope, but no photos. All the ducks were in scope range only.
I was getting a bit frustrated with all these First of Year birds with no photos.
After stopping at Timmy's in Oliver for brunch, we set out for our last stop near Okanagan Falls. We were heading up the logging roads East of OK Falls (they're in pretty good shape) in hopes of seeing Williamson's Sapsucker, Barred Owl and up higher, possibly Boreal Chickadee.
Our first stop was on a side road. Chris had barely got his recorded woodpecker drumming sound started and we had a female Williamson's Sapsucker come in. She stayed up pretty high, but this shot is not too bad.
Williamson's Sapsucker (F) - Venner Meadows Rd, Okanagan Falls BC
This breed of Woodpecker is sexually dimorphic, the male looks quite different from the female. The male did come in as well a bit lower on the snag, another so-so photo.
Williamson's Sapsucker - Venner Meadows Rd, Okanagan Falls BC
Chris tried calling in a Barred Owl, but no answers came back. However, as we were leaving, one of the birders in a leading car spotted a Northern Goshawk perched in a tree just off the road. We all piled out and got good looks and photos. You can tell this is an immature bird by the brownish colour and the speckles on the breast. Adults are a blue-gray with a grayish-white breast with no barring.
I had seen Goshawk on previous tours, but only high in the sky. This was my first reasonably close look at one.
Mary-Jean used her optical zoom to get a closer look at the Goshawk.
Northern Goshawk (Imm) - Venner Meadows Rd, Okanagan Falls BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
After the Goshawk flew out, Chris heard a Brown Creeper nearby. Nigel, one of our fellow birders that we had car-pooled with, got very excited as he'd never seen one. We located it and had great looks and photo opportunities. It was also a lifer for Mary-Jean.
Brown Creeper - Venner Meadows Rd, Okanagan Falls BC
Our next destination was higher up the main road. Chris hoped to find some Boreal Chickadees t higher elevation. This bird has eluded me so far, and one of the other birders from the coast was in the same boat. We stopped at various locations and Chris did his Northern Pygmy-owl call, which tends to attract small birds to mob the owl. We did see plenty of Red-breasted Nuthatches and a few Mountain Chickadees, but no Boreal.
Red-breasted Nuthatch - McIntyre Creek Rd, Okanagan Falls BC
Red-breasted Nuthatch - McIntyre Creek Rd, Okanagan Falls BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
The calls by Chris also brought in a Pacific Wren. I struggled to locate it, but Mary-Jean was on it and took this fantastic photo. She was the only one to get a shot and Chris used it for tour report on his blog.
Pacific Wren - McIntyre Creek Rd, Okanagan Falls BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
We also had a Gray Jay come in and mimic Chris' Pygmy Owl call, perhaps correcting his syntax.
Gray Jay - McIntyre Creek Rd, Okanagan Falls BC
Just before we gave up and went back down the mountain, we took a couple of group photos. The first was done with my auto-timer so we could all be in the photo.Chris is the man in black to my right.
Mary-Jean and I also did an auto timer photo.
At the bottom of the mountain we parted company with the group as they were heading back to Kelowna. We had decided to stay one more night as it would have been a late departure and driving the Hope-Princeton in the dark is never fun. We booked rooms at a nice lodge near Vaseux Lake that I had stayed at before. It also happened to be a good birding location.
However, we weren't finished for the day. On the way back to Oliver we stopped at the Vaseux Lake board-walk. It was quiet there, but we did see a Great Blue Heron, our first for the trip. We then went back up to the McIntyre Bluffs in hopes of seeing the elusive Canyon Wren I had missed the day before.
All I had to call the wren was my un-amplified IPhone, but we did get responses. At one point we saw a small bird fly across our view and we were pretty sure it was the Wren.
This photo of a Common Raven flying over the cliffs shows how difficult it is to locate a small bird like a Canyon Wren in the rocks.
Common Raven - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC
We did see and hear Western Meadowlarks and MJ and I both took pretty much identical photos of this one singing. This was taken from the car, which usually makes a good bird blind.
Western Meadowlark - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC
Finally, we had no problems seeing a herd of fourteen California Bighorn sheep which were feeding on the bluffs. Mary-Jean captured this one while we were above the sheep.
California Bighorn Sheep - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
I got a nice close-up of these two from just about eye level.
California Bighorn Sheep - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC by Mary-Jean Payeur
I got a nice close-up of these two from just about eye level.
California Bighorn Sheep - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC
That ended the wildlife viewing for Day 3 of the tour. We'd do a bit more on the way home the next day, worthy of one last post. You may need to click on the older posts link below to see it.
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