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.