Hello all,

I took part in the Okanagan Valley Big Day Challenge on May 18th. The event
is a 24 hour big day. You must start and end within the Okanagan Valley
watershed. The Okanagan Valley is approx 200 km long valley in the Southern
Interior of BC, Canada. My team consisted of Gary Davidson (Nakusp, BC),
Dean Nicholson (Kimberley, BC) and myself (Kelowna,BC). Although we didn't
see any great rarities, other than the resident Kelowna Great-tailed
Grackle, we had no big misses. Below is the account of our day and the list
of birds we saw on the big day.

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Our first two species were FLAMMULATED and GREAT HORNED OWLS at White Lake.
>From there we headed in the boreal forest and encountered a full on snow
storm for much of the morning. Our owling efforts were fruitless. The dawn
chorus was taken in on McKinney Road, near Oliver. Highlights along this
birdy route were Gray Flycatcher, Boreal Chickadee, Pine Grosbeak, Fox
Sparrow, Brown Creeper, Lark Sparrow, Hairy and Pileated woodpeckers, and
many others. At the Harpur Ranch we racked up our waterfowl, including Wood
Duck, Canvasback and Greater Scaup. A very productive feeder in Rock Ck
produced a Downy Woodpecker, Rufous, Black-chinned and Calliope
hummingbirds, Red Crossbill, White-crowned Sparrow and White-breasted
Nuthatch. Along Road 22, near Osoyoos, our highlights were Bobolink,
Northern Waterthrush, Black-headed Grosbeak and Bullock's Orioles. As we
drove N. we made a brief stop on River Rd and had a great look at a
Yellow-breasted Chat. We arrived in Kelowna in the mid afternoon and got a
few much needed birds like Glaucous-winged, Herring, and California gulls,
Great-tailed Grackle, Pacific-slope Flycatcher etc. Vernon was great to us.
We added numerous species including Bonaparte's Gull, Common Tern, Black
Swift, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper, White-winged Scoter and
more!

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Here are the species:

001 Common Loon
002 Pied-billed Grebe
003 Horned Grebe
004 Red-necked Grebe
005 Eared Grebe
006 Western Grebe
007 Great Blue Heron
008 Turkey Vulture
009 Canada Goose
010 Wood Duck
011 Gadwall
012 American Wigeon
013 Mallard
014 Blue-winged Teal
015 Cinnamon Teal
016 Northern Shoveler
017 Northern Pintail
018 Green-winged Teal
019 Canvasback
020 Redhead
021 Ring-necked Duck
022 Greater Scaup
023 Lesser Scaup
024 White-winged Scoter
025 Bufflehead
026 Common Goldeneye
027 Barrow's Goldeneye
028 Hooded Merganser
029 Common Merganser
030 Ruddy Duck
031 Osprey
032 Bald Eagle
033 Northern Harrier
034 Swainson's Hawk
035 Red-tailed Hawk
036 Golden Eagle
037 American Kestrel
038 Chukar
039 Ring-necked Pheasant
040 Ruffed Grouse
041 California Quail
042 Virginia Rail
043 Sora
044 American Coot
045 Killdeer
046 American Avocet
047 Lesser Yellowlegs
048 Solitary Sandpiper
049 Spotted Sandpiper
050 Long-billed Curlew
051 Least Sandpiper
052 Pectoral Sandpiper
053 Long-billed Dowitcher
054 Wilson's Snipe
055 Wilson's Phalarope
056 Red-necked Phalarope
057 Bonaparte's Gull
058 Ring-billed Gull
059 California Gull
060 Herring Gull
061 Glaucous-winged Gull
062 Common Tern
063 Black Tern
064 Rock Dove
065 Mourning Dove
066 Flammulated Owl
067 Great Horned Owl
068 Black Swift
069 Vaux's Swift
070 White-throated Swift
071 Black-chinned Hummingbird
072 Calliope Hummingbird
073 Rufous Hummingbird
074 Belted Kingfisher
075 Lewis's Woodpecker
076 Red-naped Sapsucker
077 Downy Woodpecker
078 Hairy Woodpecker
079 Northern Flicker
080 Pileated Woodpecker
081 Western Wood-Pewee
082 Hammond's Flycatcher
083 Dusky Flycatcher
084 Gray Flycatcher
085 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
086 Say's Phoebe
087 Western Kingbird
088 Eastern Kingbird
089 Cassin's Vireo
090 Warbling Vireo
091 Steller's Jay
092 Clark's Nutcracker
093 Black-billed Magpie
094 American Crow
095 Common Raven
096 Tree Swallow
097 Violet-green Swallow
098 N. Rough-winged Swallow
099 Bank Swallow
100 Cliff Swallow
101 Barn Swallow
102 Black-capped Chickadee
103 Mountain Chickadee
104 Boreal Chickadee
105 Red-breasted Nuthatch
106 White-breasted Nuthatch
107 Pygmy Nuthatch
108 Brown Creeper
109 Canyon Wren
110 House Wren
111 Winter Wren
112 Marsh Wren
113 American Dipper
114 Golden-crowned Kinglet
115 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
116 Western Bluebird
117 Mountain Bluebird
118 Townsend's Solitaire
119 American Robin
120 Varied Thrush
121 European Starling
122 American Pipit
123 Orange-crowned Warbler
124 Nashville Warbler
125 Yellow Warbler
126 Yellow-rumped Warbler
127 Townsend's Warbler
128 Northern Waterthrush
129 MacGillivray's Warbler
130 Common Yellowthroat
131 Wilson's Warbler
132 Yellow-breasted Chat
133 Western Tanager
134 Spotted Towhee
135 Chipping Sparrow
136 Clay-colored Sparrow
137 Brewer's Sparrow
138 Vesper Sparrow
139 Lark Sparrow
140 Savannah Sparrow
141 Fox Sparrow
142 Song Sparrow
143 Lincoln's Sparrow
144 White-crowned Sparrow
145 Dark-eyed Junco
146 Black-headed Grosbeak
147 Lazuli Bunting
148 Bobolink
149 Red-winged Blackbird
150 Western Meadowlark
151 Yellow-headed Blackbird
152 Brewer's Blackbird
153 Great-tailed Grackle
154 Brown-headed Cowbird
155 Bullock's Oriole
156 Pine Grosbeak
157 Cassin's Finch
158 House Finch
159 Red Crossbill
160 Pine Siskin
161 American Goldfinch
162 Evening Grosbeak
163 House Sparrow

Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
Kelowna, BC
www.avocettours.com

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