April 4, 2016 - Travel Day

For the last three years I have signed up for a three day Okanagan Birding Tour with a Kelowna based tour company; Avocet Tours. You can visit their web site here: www.avocetTours.ca

The tour is offered in early April and demand was so high that a second tour was added following ours. The company is owned by Chris Charlesworth, who is one of the predominant birders in the Okanagan region.

This is my fourth year on this tour. I was joined by my friend Mary-Jean who was on her first organized birding tour.

The first day was a travel day to Kelowna. My first stop was at Cultus Lake, where I picked up Mary-Jean.

My usual procedure on the travel day is to stop at a few locations on the way, hoping to see some birds ahead of the tour. The next stop was the Hope Airport, a small facility with grass runways and fences perfect for perching birds. I had good luck here the year before with Mountain Bluebirds, but this time it was quiet. One of the birds we did see was this Eurasian Collared Dove.


Eurasian Collared Dove - Hope Airport, Hope BC

After a few hours on the Coquihalla and the Okanagan Connector, we headed for Hardy Falls Provincial Park near Peachland. This is a reliable spot for American Dipper. There is a walking trail up a creek to the head of a waterfall, which has had nesting Dippers for years.

Our first sighting was in the parking lot. It was a Northern Flicker with a deformed beak. This is a occasional and unexplained occurrence with birds in Alaska, but is still rare further south. Scientists are attempting to identify the cause. This flicker appeared to be healthy, so perhaps it is overcoming its handicap.

Northern Flicker - Hardy Falls Provincial Park, Peachland BC

The water was running very high due to an early spring and we did not observe an American Dipper at the nest or anywhere on the creek. We did catch sight of one dark bird in the vegetation at the creek's edge, and were fairly certain it was a Dipper. However, we had no photos to confirm.

We carried on to Kelowna, and after checking in to the hotel, we walked to the nearby Mission Creek Regional Park. We read the map and picked a path to walk.

The first bird I took a photo of was a common and familiar one.

Black-Capped Chickadee - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC

There were good numbers of Swallows overhead, most likely both Tree and Violet-Green.

We looped around to the Turtle Pond trail, and hit the jackpot there. First up was a female Common Goldeneye.

Common Goldeneye (F) - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC

We then saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers close by. The male is quite gaudy.

Hooded Merganser - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC

Mary-Jean got off a clear shot of the female's subdued colouring.

Hooded Merganser (F) - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC by Mary-Jean Payeur 

We wrapped up the outing with a group of Pygmy Nuthatches. We had heard a Flicker calling and drumming on a tree, and Mary-Jean spotted the Nuthatches while looking for the Flicker. 

Pygmy Nuthatch - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC

Mary-Jean's super zoom captured this close-up in the challenging light. This bird was a lifer for her and a portent of things to come on the tour.

Pygmy Nuthatch - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna BC by Mary-Jean Payeur 

This ended our first day, the following morning we'd be meeting the group and embarking on Day 1 of our three day Okanagan birding tour.

April 5 - Tour Day 1 - Lake Country and Kelowna

The group met on Tuesday morning at the Apple Bowl parking lot in Kelowna. I had expected to have a reunion with a number of the ladies from the Kelowna Naturalists, but they were all signed up for the tour later in the week. There was one person who was familiar from last year, a gentleman named Nigel, who I had car-pooled with the previous year. Mary-Jean and I joined him again this day.

One of the other tour members was Monica from New Westminster, who I had seen at various times in the Lower Mainland. There was a couple from Vancouver Island and a number of birders from the Kelowna area. Our guide was Chris Charlesworth and his assistant was Mike Force, who I'd met briefly on last year's tour. A group photo will be included in a later post.

Our first stop was Mission Creek Park in Kelowna in hopes of seeing a roosting Western Screech Owl. Mary-Jean and I had been there the previous night and we headed for the same area. Chris could not locate the Owl so we had to settle for this Mourning Dove.


Mourning Dove - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna  BC

We'd spend most of the day on Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country (formerly known as Winfield), halfway between Kelowna and Vernon. In the afternoon, we'd return to Kelowna to visit Robert Lake. The weather was grey and overcast, which made it difficult to get nice clear photographs.

After viewing a distant  Bald Eagle through my spotting scope, the next bird was a Western Meadowlark. This is a very common Okanagan bird, and one that we would see numerous times. This was the best photo I managed on the day.


Western Meadowlark - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

While I was chasing Meadowlarks and Bluebirds, Mary-Jean and some others were observing some Killdeer and their mating behaviour. This later photo shows two of them with the male on the right performing a breeding display. There was another male to the left just out of the photo.


Killdeer - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

In the same area there were Bluebirds on the fences. I got some good shots of the male and female Mountain Bluebirds as shown below. There were also some Western Bluebirds, but good photos would have to wait until later in the tour.

Mountain Bluebird - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC



Mountain Bluebird (F) - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

While I was chasing Bluebirds, Mary-Jean was seeing her first ever Say's Phoebe. This is an attractive member of the Flycatcher family. It prefers the grassland habitats found in the Okanagan. It is a very tame bird and is quite approachable.


Say's Phoebe - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

Overhead, a Turkey Vulture was spotted. They are common in the Okanagan and have made their way west as far as Chilliwack.

Turkey Vulture - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

We proceeded up the hill a bit and walked down a trail cut into the hill side. Chris flushed a Grouse, which he believed to be a Dusky, but the group did not see it. Chris started using his Pygmy Owl call hoping to draw in one of those diurnal predators. It had the side effect of bringing in a group of small birds, whose intent was to mob the owl (Chris) and scare it off. Here are a couple of birds from the mob:



Golden-crowned Kinglet - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

Although we had success calling in a Northern Pygmy Owl last year, we had no response on this day. However, Chris did manage to call in a Red-naped Sapsucker. Photo conditions were poor, but eventually this striking Woodpecker came out in the open.

Red-naped Sapsucker - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

We headed up the road further and suddenly the lead vehicle stopped. Our driver Nigel eventually recognized that they were looking left and he spotted a family of Ruffed Grouse on the road side. I was in the back seat and was able to snap off three shots, the best of which is below.


Ruffed Grouse - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC

Mary-Jean was quicker on the draw and got this great profile photo:
Ruffed Grouse - Beaver Lake Road, Lake Country BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

We continued up the road until we reached Beaver Lake Resort. In the summer, this is a busy vacation spot with cabins on Beaver Lake. Today all the cabins were empty, there was snow on the ground and a mini-blizzard was about to occur. Chris had hoped to find Clark's Nutcracker, Gray Jay and Mountain Chickadee. He did hear one Chestnut-backed and one Mountain Chickadee.

The photo below taken by Mary-Jean shows the conditions.

For the last stop of the day we returned to Kelowna and visited Robert Lake. It's a good location to see a variety of ducks, but there is very limited access so mostly it's spotting scope only. Chris had seen American Avocet there two days earlier, but none were present today.

I did see my first Ruddy Ducks of the year, but I  had no worthwhile photos. However Mary-Jean did better, showing this Male.


Ruddy Duck - Robert Lake, Kelowna BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

Mary-Jean also took a nice shot of a Northern Pintail.

Northern Pintail - Robert Lake, Kelowna BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

We also stopped at a small pond by the Garbage dump where we saw a Greater White-fronted Goose mixed in with Canada Geese, a hybrid Bufflehead/Common Goldeneye Duck, and the first Yellow-headed Blackbirds of the year. The birds were all quite distant, here's an Iphone Digiscope of a Blackbird.

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Tutt's Pond, Kelowna BC

This ended our daytime birding. We made another trip up Beaver Lake Road at night but had no success finding Owls. It was cold and windy, and we were the only ones foolish enough to go out in the dark.

April 6 - Tour Day 2 - Kelowna and South Okanagan

We met again on Wednesday morning at the Apple Bowl parking lot. The assistant guide, Mike Force, had bad news and good news. The bad was that Chris would not be showing up here. The good news was that he was over at Mission Creek Park and had found the Western Screech Owl.

We piled into our cars and made the short trip. We joined Chris, who reported that the owl had flushed and he had not relocated it. However, someone in our group found it in a nearby cedar tree, fairly high up and very well blended into the tree trunk.

I was not able to focus on it with my camera, but Mike had set up his scope and I got this very poor IPhone photo through the scope. Although I had heard this bird before in 2014, this was my first look at one.

Western Screech Owl - Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna  BC

We now headed south with a quick Starbucks/Tim Horton's stop in Penticton. Our first destination was the Three Gates Farm, which was a B and B at one time. Although the bird feeders were empty there, Chris and Mike were able to call in a good variety of birds. Mary-Jean got three lifers in less than five minutes.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Three Gates Farm, Okanagan Falls BC

I was hopeful to see Cassin's Finch somewhere on the tour, but this female was the only one that was spotted. I was lucky to get a decent shot of it.

Cassin's Finch (F) - Three Gates Farm, Okanagan Falls BC

Another new one for Mary-Jean was this Mountain Chickadee.

Mountain Chickadee - Three Gates Farm, Okanagan Falls BC

Unfortunately, Chris discovered he had locked his keys in his Jeep and had to wait for a tow truck to come from Penticton. Mike Force was now the main guide.

We headed out along White Lake Road, which passes by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. It is also good Bluebird country, and I was able to photograph both Western and Mountain Bluebird males in full breeding plumage.


Western Bluebird - White Lake Road, Okanagan Falls BC

Mountain Bluebird - White Lake Road, Okanagan Falls BC

As we were driving to our next stop, we noticed significant raptor activity overhead. We pulled over and I managed to get this shot of a Golden Eagle being harassed by two Common Ravens (only one seen in this photo).

Golden Eagle and Common Raven - White Lake Road, Okanagan Falls BC

As we ate lunch, we were rejoined by Chris. Our next stop was Mahoney Lake, which was established as an ecological reserve to preserve a southern interior saline lake. Our quarry here was White-breasted Nuthatch, and we weren't disappointed. The only problem is it would not sit still and was very difficult to get a clear shot of it. This is the best I managed.

White-breasted Nuthatch - Mahoney Lake, Okanagan Falls BC

We now headed on to Green Lake Road to look for American Dipper, but no luck. Next stop was the McIntyre Bluffs above Vaseux Lake where we hoped to see Canyon Wren. Here's a shot taken by Mary-Jean showing the group on the Bluff, that's me on the left carrying my scope.

McIntyre Bluff by Mary-Jean Payeur

Chris deployed his amplified Iphone call and we did get some answers from high up on the rocks. A wren did finally appear and was briefly visible in the spotting scope. Mary-Jean got a view but it had moved on before I could get a look, but that was okay as I had seen one a couple of years before. There will be more on Canyon Wren in a later post.

While up on the Bluffs we did have a couple of fly-overs by the birds seen below.

Red-tailed Hawk - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC 

Turkey Vulture - McIntyre Bluffs, Oliver BC 

The last stop for the day was on the Osoyoos River Oxbows at Road 22 in Oliver. We drove out onto the dike, parked and took a walk. Chris scanned the fields for Long-billed Curlew with no success. He was also hoping for Bewick's Wren but all was quiet.

As usual, the birder's were checking the sky as soon as they could. I got a few of them to pose. The curly haired gentleman in the centre is Mike Force.

I did spot a pair of Common Mergansers on the River and got this photo of the male:

Common Merganser - Osoyoos River, Oliver BC

The highlight of this stop were Ospreys, my first sighting for the year. 

Osprey - Osoyoos River, Oliver BC

There are nesting platforms on the river and the Osprey's take advantage. They don't seem to have any fashion sense, as they will use whatever ugly materials they can find.

Osprey - Osoyoos River, Oliver BC

It was time to check in to our lodgings in Oliver and go for a nice dinner at a nearby golf course.
Mary-Jean had our server take this group photo. The woman to the left of Chris is his girlfriend Cindy who was 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time.

Group photo by Mary-Jean Payeur
Some of us returned to Road 22 for some late-night Owling. Chris was able to call in a Northern Saw-whet Owl, but we never were able to see it.

This ended Day 2 of the tour.

April 7 - Tour Day 3 - South Okanagan

We all stayed at the same place in Oliver, a nice resort on Tuc-el-nuit Lake. I had an unexpected guest in the morning giving me a wake up call.

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.

Northern Goshawk (Imm) - Venner Meadows Rd, Okanagan Falls BC

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 

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.