Week 24 350 and beyond
After arriving in Grand Forks on Sunday, Monday was our “catch up on everything day”. Laundry, pictures, video, blog, grocery shopping, car cleaning. We did it all and still managed a walk down the road and added 3 birds to the list. Jerry worked hard trying to get pictures of birds that insisted on staying high in the tall conifers or hidden in shrubs. The Hummingbirds were a bit easier but still very quick. Right now there are only two species at their feeders, Black-chinned and Calliope, but the Rufous Hummingbirds should be arriving any day. On the way out to our bunkie just after 10 I heard a Common Poorwill in the hills behind the house. We had planned to drive up the road to listen for them but were lazy after our busy day so it was nice that it was right there for us. Bird #350 for the year!.
Tuesday we headed to Osoyoos to look for the Okanagan specialties. First up was a Williamson’s Sapsucker on Wagonwheel Road. We walked up and then back down the road and Jerry saw something fly into a Western Larch (the tree they nest in). We carefully looked through the branches and then the bird, a Williamson’s Sapsucker flew out and across the road, too far for us to re-find it. We waited around and then I walked further up the road while Jerry stayed hoping it would be back for a picture. I heard another Sapsucker tapping on a tree and texted Jerry to come up. We tried hard to figure out where we were hearing it and then used binoculars to scan carefully to see if we could find it. Finally Jerry had it in view for a moment, snapped a picture and managed to get a poor quality but record shot.
We drove up the road adding common birds as we went, Mountain Bluebird, Pygmy Nuthatch, and MacGillivray’s Warbler. We heard and saw a Say’s Phoebe, Cassin’s Vireo and had a quick glimpse of a Clark’s Nutcracker. Jerry got pictures of some of them but others we will have to wait until we see them in other locations.
Our next specialty was Gray Flycatcher which has been easily found at the 10 km sign on McKinney Road outside of Oliver for a number of years. Sure enough we drove up, parked and walked up the road a bit, then down and heard it singing. Finding it is always more difficult but after 15-20 minutes we did and Jerry managed a few pictures under difficult lighting and distance. The shape of the bird is discernible but little else.
Continuing north we stopped at the cliffs above Vaseux Lake for White-throated Swifts and had no problems seeing and hearing them. Pictures, again, are difficult as they are flying very high or landing in crevices high in the cliffs. We scoped some to see if we could take a digiscope pic but we don’t have an attachment for our phone and we just cannot line the phone camera up with the scope. I meant to get one for this trip but somehow it got forgotten.
This is usually the spot we also hear Canyon Wren but it was very quiet. The temperature was between 31-35C so that might have had something to do with it. We will have to try for it again or along the cliffs on our next drive through.
We opted to visit a bit of a shady area along the lake and saw and heard Bullock’s Oriole and also added Cassin’s Finch to top off the day at 11 more birds added to the year list.
Wednesday morning the forecast was for temperatures in the 30’s again so we opted to bird locally early morning. We drove 3 kms up the Forestry Road at Gilpin and managed to see a very distant Lewis’s Woodpecker that kindly stayed on a branch long enough for me to get the scope out so we could have a decent, confirming look at it. The road started to get pretty rough and we were just hearing and seeing the same birds so we opted to head back down rather than punish the car with conditions more suited to a 4 wheel drive than a Prius! On the way back we drove about 3kms up Sand Creek Road from my brother’s driveway and added Red-naped Sapsucker at the beginning of the drive.
Thursday we stayed local again and chased down a report that Canyon Wrens had been seen in Grand Forks the end of May. We drove to the base of Observation Mountain and walked a very short distance and heard a Canyon Wren – I love when it works out like that. Even better there were two, clearly feeding nestlings in a nest inside an old mine shaft in the side of the mountain. We enjoyed watching them for a while and Jerry took lots of pictures. We walked farther on the trail hoping to get better pictures of some of the common species but were not too successful. We also saw a couple of White-throated Swifts flying around the cliffs. Another bird that we had driven to the Okanagan for but was now 5 minutes from my brother’s.
The reality is that birds are everywhere but if birders tends to go to the same places where a species is reliably being seen then many places go unreported. When I have limited time I don’t want to leave it to chance that I see a species so I go where most of the reports are. But clearly, Canyon Wrens and White-throated Swifts can be anywhere along cliff faces so now we know, and other birders know, that they are in the Grand Forks area.
We then decided to climb Observation Mountain, a 778 meter summit but we only needed to climb 220m over 2km so a pretty steep hike up to the summit. It took us two hours up and back with some stops along the way.
We are trying to do some of these uphill hikes in anticipation for the big one we need to do in Newfoundland in September to get a Rock Ptarmigan and I could see from this hike that I am not ready LOL. Part way down on the narrow path I suddenly heard a familiar rattle and saw movement that brought me to a complete stop. A rattlesnake!
As is usually the case, the snake moved off into the brush and after a quick check to make sure all was clear we went on down the path. We took a walk around the family compound in the late afternoon hoping to hear and see a Western Flycatcher. It ‘s song has shown up on Merlin a number of times but each time it is limited and we do not hear it ourselves or see the bird and so it has remained off our list. It is frustrating to know that a bird is out there but we just have to be patient for it to make an appearance.
Friday Jerry was out in the driveway early and within minutes he had a Western Flycatcher right above him singing and easily identifiable and staying still for a picture. He came and got me, ( I was still brushing my teeth), and I got to see it as well. Finally it could be added to our year list.
We headed down the driveway again to see if we could get pictures of some of the birds we have heard and caught glimpses of. My brother has 23 acres with many mature trees that are really tall so trying to see the birds near the top gives us warbler neck just like at Pelee. We have heard all the birds but getting a picture is challenging. We spent 30 minutes or so listening to Cassin’s Vireo (the Western version of our Blue-headed Vireo) and finally got to see two of them foraging and Jerry managed some pictures of them.
A bit further and Rufous Hummingbird came up on Merlin. This is the last Hummingbird we are waiting for but we did not hear it or see it so it was not added to the list. We hoped that it might show up at the feeders up at the house later. Jerry took some pictures of a few other birds we still need pictures of and we returned to the house to bird in the best way possible. Sitting in the shade, by the feeders.
We had not been sitting long when the brilliant Rufous Hummingbird showed up! What a stunning colour. The throat is golden in the sun. I was super excited to finally see this hummingbird. We had great looks as it sat on a branch and visited the feeder multiple times.
We now have seen all the species I expected to see in this area and just have a few more pictures to get of birds around here. Saturday we did a few hikes with Darryl and Cathy and had an exciting moment when Cathy saw a Grouse but it turned out to be a Ruffed Grouse and not the Dusky Grouse that would be a lifer for us.
Sunday we had laundry and research to do in anticipation for our trip back into the Okanagan and up to Kelowna where we have 6-8 species we are hoping to see. We went for a short hike to Cascade Falls just outside Grand Forks but did not add any new birds. Time to move on…
Week 24 20 species added 366 species for J&E