Hello everybody;
Some of you may know either one or both of these two things :
1. I finally purchased a Canon 400 f/5.6mm lens
2. I am going to Australia in December
These are the two reasons I haven't been active on my blog for the last few months, as well as balancing school and three sports, on every day of the week. Alright, now I'm just making excuses. Of course, being an ever-craving birder, I have scampered around the Okanagan on various escapades over the last month. Here are some of the tales and photos.
On October 19th, on a whim, I decided to head south to Penticton, to twitch the Lesser Black-backed Gull that has been showing nicely on the waterfront near the pier. Nearing the location in early morning, a pack of nasty butterflies were rising up a storm in my stomach; the tension was heating up to get the bird! As we were pulling up the edge of the parking lot, I could not believe my eyes. There, sitting on the sand, visible from the car, was the Lesser BB Gull. Tearing open the car door, I poised my freshly purchased lens, ready to fire. Suddenly the gull flock took off in a flurry of wings. I shot away, and below is the first shot I ever took with the lens, of the LBBG. Okanagan lifer #250 and B.C. lifer #303!
Lesser Black-backed Gull
This photo does not do it justice, as it's really a very looking sharp bird. This gull is a "third cycle" immature, which means it is in its third year. Lesser Black-backed Gulls take four years to fully mature into adult plumage.
After that excitement, I met up with Russell Cannings at the wharf, and we headed down to Skaha Lake, feebly trying to re-find the Black Scoter reported last week by none other than himself.
There were no scoters of any kind out there, but I tested out the new lens on a fly-by Ring-billed Gull.
Ring-billed Gull BIF
Heading back over to Okanagan Lake, we scoped various waterfowl such as Surf Scoter, ( finally a scoter sp. for the day ), Red-necked, Western, Pied-billed, and Horned Grebes...
Horned Grebes - Penticton waterfront
... and around 15 other species of ducks and grebes. We then hiked around the esplanade trails behind the yacht club, grabbing some goodies such as Bewick's Wren, ( scarce in the Okanagan ), 13 Western Bluebirds, migrating Sharp-shinned Hawks, and a late Wilson's Warbler :
Wilson's Warbler - several weeks late for its fall migration
But unanimously, the best bird of probably the entire fall for me so far, was a Dusky Flycatcher, found foraging in a flock of juncos on the north side of the esplanade. Why is this significant? It was the second latest record ever recorded in Canada, by almost two weeks. Russ and I, to say the least, were incredibly ecstatic. Thankfully, I managed to take a some half decent shots of it, including this one, albeit a tad obscured by branches.
Dusky Flycatcher - you should be in Mexico!!!
After a good morning of birding around Penticton, Russ and I parted ways, and I headed for Peachland for the afternoon. My mom's friends live way up the mountains that loom above the town of Peachland, and we decided to pay them a visit. Spruce and Douglas Fir trees abound up there, and the slopes and gullies that make up the terrain create a beautiful scenic look to it. So, I deduced, while I'm there, I might as well see there are any birds up there. First off, while still in their backyard, I heard a small group of White-winged Crossbills chattering it up in the massive cone-bearing evergreens that line the property. An unexpected surprise, and one I didn't think would come down that low in mid-October. From there, I embarked on a two hour extreme solo hike, with walkie-talkie in hand, down the various trails and gullies in the vast forest. I didn't bring my camera, as the hiking was too treacherous for anything to risk getting broken! Scenario - walking down a slope, falling, and my camera in pieces. Point in case, I didn't dare bring it. All three nuthatches, Red Crossbill, and Pygmy Nuthatch were tallied right off the bat. A few minutes later, another random late Wilson's Warbler, and a slightly late ( for the Okanagan ) Spotted Towhee were spotted low down in a riparian creek bed. Then, scanning a far away ridge produced a migrating Northern Goshawk, and suddenly, a gorgeous Golden Eagle glided right over my head, also headed south. This spiel, without any pictures to keep you awake, is getting too long, so I'll leave it at this.
To sum it up, some of the other birds seen on the walk were Western Bluebirds, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee ( another scarce sight in the Okanagan ), and various other nick-nack species.
It turned out to be a fantastic day, with a lifer, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, and over 75 species on the day list.
A couple days later, on October 23th, I captured this Black-capped Chickadee with an orangey autumn backdrop, signaling it is definitely fall.
Black-capped Chickadee
To my good fortune, this picture was chosen to be posted on the front page of the website Castanet.net, Kelowna's homepage.
On Saturday, October 25th, I birded hard around Kelowna, seeing a somewhat respectable 65 species, and finding the Okanagan's latest ever House Wren! I'm sorry, I could not manage a photo.
Well, here are some other photographic highlights of the day :
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Munson Pond
There was a hyper flock of seven of these Ruby-crowned Kinglets at Munson Pond. These guys hardly ever pose for longer than 0.5 of a second, but in migration, they sometimes, albeit rarely, come close as they feverishly glean the foliage for food.
Song Sparrow - also at Munson Pond
Male Gadwall - Rotary Marsh
Gadwalls absolutely love wetland ponds, as they forage among the vegetation at the bottom to feed. Also at Rotary Marsh was a very distant Pacific Loon and this Brown Creeper.
Brown Creeper camouflage
Common Raven silhouette - mouth of Mission Creek
Song Sparrows are too hard not to photograph, so here's another one taken that day.
Song Sparrow - Thomson Brook Marsh
And finally, a Red-tailed Hawk posing for a split second at the Kelowna Landfill :
Red-tailed Hawk - Alki Lake Landfill
Last Saturday, on November 1st, I met up with Chris Charlesworth, Russell Cannings, and Reid Hildebrandt, a birder from the Northwest Territories, and we journeyed around the Central Okanagan, seeing almost 80 species of bird, and nailing most of our targets.
We were birding at a high pace, so there were few photographic opportunities, but here are some of the few I got :
Northern Shrike - They are back! These two pictures are backlit, but the two levels of contrasting bokeh turned out.
Great Horned Owl - We found a roosting pair of these strikingly patterned birds in a grove of willows.
Northern Pygmy-Owl - This beauty flew right overhead from a giant fir tree, landing in this bare cottonwood, and starting calling persistently.
Well, this is what I've been up to lately, and it will only get better in about three weeks when I'll be in Australia!
P.S. Sorry about the widths; they're all wonky. ;)
