Birders,

Dick Cannings, and his son Russell and I did a big day of sorts today (Feb
23) in the Okanagan Valley. We thought it would be interesting to see just
how many species could be racked up in February, a month considered by many
birders to be the slowest month of the year. Read on to find out more..

Our first stop was along the McLean Ck Road, near Okanagan Falls, where
after just a few seconds of calling, a WESTERN SCREECH-OWL answered at about
4 25 AM. From there we continued S. to the Shuttleworth Ck Road. The first
stop produced a distant GREAT HORNED OWL and then after a little "tooting" a
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL answered. We climbed higher and ventured onto the
Venner Meadows Road where a BARRED OWL called at around km 15. Back on
Shuttleworth Ck Road, at Rabbitt Lake, a BOREAL OWL uttered a brief "skieu"
call, then moments later broke into its full song. Hearing this haunting
call made us briefly forget we were standing in the middle of the boreal
forest at about 6000 ft, with temperatures nearing -15 degrees Celsius. As
dawn broke, we retuned to Venner Meadows Rd and called in a NORTHERN
PYGMY-OWL. We later found a BARN OWL N. of Osoyoos. 7 species later, a very
successful owling outing.

As dawn broke on the Shuttleworth Ck Road, the first forest birds began
waking up. We ran into small numbers of PINE GROSBEAKS, a GRAY JAY, BROWN
CREEPERS, WINTER WREN, 2 BOREAL CHICKADEES, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, a
RUFFED GROUSE and a Three-toed/Black-backed Woodpecker drumming in the
distance. A few brief stops along the way down the Irrigation Ck Road
produced some lower elevation forest birds like RED CROSSBILL,
WHITE-BREASTED and PYGMY NUTHATCHES, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, a HAIRY WOODPECKER
and numerous calling CHUKAR and CANYON WRENS on the Vaseux Cliffs.

Vaseux Lake was not covered with waterfowl as it sometimes can be, but there
were a few ducks nonetheless. Included were small numbers of RING-NECKED
DUCKS, GREATER SCAUP, AMERICAN WIGEON, HOODED and COMMON MERGANSERS,
GREEN-WINGED TEAL and a few TRUMPETER SWANS. Overhead was an adult BALD
EAGLE and an immature GOLDEN EAGLE.

On schedule, we then headed south, with bright sunny skies and a cool north
wind, towards Osoyoos. A stop a Hack's Pond produced 4 or 5 VIRGINIA RAILS,
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS and 2 KILLDEER hunkered down in a pasture. The Road
22 area was rather quiet, however we did manage to find NORTHERN HARRIER,
BARROW'S and COMMON GOLDENEYE, WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and
some more CHUKAR on the "Throne". At the N. end of Vaseux Lk, scoped from
Black Sage Road we had one of the day's best birds, a gorgeous YELLOW-BILLED
LOON with 2 COMMON LOONS. Haynes Point rewarded us with at least 4
RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, but little else. An unsuccessful trip to the sewage
pond to find the Long-tailed Duck was disappointing, however, as a
consolation prize we got many NORTHERN SHOVELERS and some LESSER SCAUP. The
Richter Pass, where recent sightings of Mountain Bluebird and Say's Phoebe
had enticed us, was dead! After seeing a male WOOD DUCK on a lagoon in
Osoyoos, we decided to abandon the south and head N. Along the way, we drove
along Orchard Grove Road, off Black Sage Road, S. of Oliver. On top of a
conifer sat one of the best birds of the day, a Richardson's race MERLIN!
This was the first specimen of this subspecies any of us had ever
encountered in the valley. A loop through the White Lk area was rather
quiet, but produced nice looks a numerous NORTHERN SHRIKES.

Once in Penticton, we headed for the Yacht Club and found a nice mixed flock
of AMERICAN ROBINS, WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and CEDAR WAXWINGS feeding in the
Russian Olives on the hillside. The LEWIS' WOODPECKER in Trout Ck was on his
usual tree at Powell Beach.

We finally arrived in Kelowna, hours behind schedule, since we had decided
to take a more relaxed approach to the second half of the day. The sun was
setting at Maude Roxby, where we added a first year GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. At
Rotary Beach, an immature TUNDRA SWAN was our solo addition. The
Thomson-Brook Ponds on Gordon Road were very kind to us. We got our main
target species, at least 2 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS. Other additions here were
a RING-NECKED PHEASANT and MOURNING DOVES.

The final tally, unofficially, 94 species! Not bad for a cold February day.
Our most significant misses were Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker and
any accipiters. We logged about 405 km. How about some competition next
year??

Chris Charlesworth (on behalf of myself, Dick and Russ Cannings)
Kelowna, BC
Penticon, BC

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