Screech-owls in the Chilcotin? I thought this was a species of the coastal
slope in BC or locally in the s. Okanagan?
Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA

>Hi folks,
>
>I had an opportunity to visit Chilko Lake, B.C. earlier this week. The
object of my trip was to see the spawning escapement of sockeye salmon as
part of the evaluation of the fish run and of their management, so I did not
have a lot of time to go birding - but I did get out for a few strolls at
the lower end (North end) of the lake and along the river.
>
>Here's a very short list from September 24-25:
>
>Common Loon - one in basic plumage, one molting into basic
>Red--necked Grebe - 3 or 4 on lower lake
>Great Blue Heron - 2 along river
>Canada Geese - one flock of 75 flying high toward SE, looked/sounded like
medium-sized birds (Lessers/Taverners subspecies?)
>Common Merganser - about 35 along lower lake, maybe another 12 along the river
>Mallard - saw maybe 15
>(?) Scaup - one female out in the lake
>Osprey - one bird caught a fish (whitefish?, trout?) along lower lake
>Bald Eagle - only saw a few along the river or lake feeding on
fish/carcasses - most were flying past, catching the thermals and heading
north (down-river) or south (toward the coast mountains?)
>Red-tailed Hawk - one at ranch 1 mile down river
>Blue Grouse - one seen in stand of Douglas fir/spruce
>California Gull - about 50 in area, maybe 1/2 adults
>Herring Gull - 2 adults in flocks, feeding on fish carcasses
>Screech Owl - one heard at Chilko Lodge
>Belted Kingfisher - 2 seen at lower lake
>N. Flicker - saw and heard 2, but not well enough to tell if red-shafted or
yellow-shafted...
>Three-toed Woodpecker - 1 in spruce/lodgepole/aspens
>Raven - maybe a dozen in the area, don't know if they were moving past or
resident
>"Common" (can it be an "American" crow in Canada?) Crow - abundant, feeding
on salmon carcasses on the river's banks.
>Gray Jay - several small flocks
>Mountain Chickadee - saw a few birds in pines/brush
>Black-capped Chickadee - saw a few along river riparian area, near lodge
buildings
>Red-breasted Nuthatch - common in pines/firs/spruce
>Ruby-crowned Kinglet - several mixed in flocks of
warblers/nuthatches/chickadees
>Robin - not too many, mostly in aspen/cottonwoods along lakeshore, river
>Cedar Waxwing - several flocks of about 15-20, mostly juveniles
>Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler - saw 2 in flocks of 'Audubon's' warblers
>Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler - abundant, flocks feeding and moving
constantly through riparian areas - willows, cottonwoods/aspen, conifers -
along the lake and river shore.
>Brewer's Blackbird - a flock of about 25 at Chilko Lodge, another flock of
~10 at ranch to north
>Starling - about 6 in blackbird flock at lodge
>Red-winged Blackbird - 2 in willows along river
>Oregon Junco - common
>White-crowned Sparrow - common in brush (buffaloberry/serviceberry/rose)
thickets
>White-throated Sparrow - 2 juveniles in white-crown flocks
>Song Sparrows - relatively common along 'riparian' areas, especially in
brush along river
>Lincoln's Sparrow - 1 in brush along river
>Chipping Sparrow - 1 in lodgepoles in flock of juncos/warblers (isn't it
kind of late for them?)
>Red Crossbills - several small groups flying over the canopy
>
>Also, a brief glimpse of a sparrow that I can only guess from my first
impression might have been a clay-colored. It had a distinct buffy-white
central crown stripe, and an 'ear patch'. Unfortunately, it disappeared
into the brush before I could get a better look. Is Clay-colored Sparrow
likely in the Chilcotin?
>
>I've probably left out a species or two, as I was scribbling notes on back
of fish reports... Wish I'd had a lot more time to bird the area.
>
>The amazing spectacle was the tens of, hundreds of thousands of spawning
sockeye salmon. The lower mile of the lake and the upper 3 miles of river
were absolutely Red with fish! This group of fish spawn below the lake;
when the fry hatch out next spring, they swim *upstream* into the lake (how
did *that* behaviour evolve?) to rear for a year, before they 'smolt' and go
down the Chilko and Chilkotin to the Fraser and spend most of the rest of
their life in the ocean. They return as 4 or 5 year olds to the Fraser and
make the journey back to the gravel of their youth, to spawn and die (lots
of carcasses on the beaches - thank goodness the weather wasn't too warm).
And the circle is completed. What a success story!
>
>Downstream a couple miles from the sockeye spawning area was a half-mile
stretch of river where they counted about 10-12,000 chinook spawning earlier
this season. The gravel in the river had a 'scalloped' appearance from the
action of all those big fish moving the gravel around.
>
>I can only imagine that the Columbia River would have similar spectacles,
had we not destroyed the ecology of the river with the dams. Lewis and
Clark saw Condors feeding on salmon carcasses along the lower Columbia
almost 200 years ago - what else have we lost?
>
>It was interesting that there were relatively few eagles taking advantage
of the bounty - kind of like expecting to see wall-to-wall eagles on the
Skagit when the fish are spawning, then seeing more at the landfill when you
return home from your birding trip than you did in the 'eagle sanctuary'....
Bears were not uncommon - I only saw tracks and sign of black bears, but a
few other people saw the animals themselves and one pair of canoeists saw
what they thought was a yearling grizzly (their description was good, but
we're waiting for their film to be developed..).
>
>One final note: Just when I think that logging practices here in
Washington stink, I see what is going on with the forests of B.C. Flying
north past Howe Inlet and Sechelt, I was amazed to see the logging that has
taken place on slopes of more than 70%!! How do the choker-setters keep from
falling off the mountain?!?? Clear up to timberline! The mass-wasting and
land-slides from the huge clearcuts and off the logging roads are terribly
apparent from the air. Are the huge rafts of logs down in the salt chuck
(destined for the orient? or for the pulp mill in Powell River?) worth the
loss of bird and salmon habitat? Isn't there a better way to log? If there
isn't, should this kind of 'forest practice' be continued?
>
>Jon. - I'm done ranting now - Anderson
>Olympia, Washington
>festuca at olywa.net
>