This morning Ryan Tomlinson and I left Kelowna shortly after 3 AM and
headed E. up Hwy 33 towards Big White Mountain. We were just curious about
how well the route might work for a future big day route, staying entirely
within the Central Okanagan Valley (Kelowna / Lake Country / Westbank /
Peachland). We stayed out in the field for a bit more than 12 hours and
didn't try as hard as we would on the Big Day Challenge...but nonetheless,
our total was pretty good.

Big White Road

Birding along Big White Road was impressive. The dawn chorus was filled with
Hermit and Varied thrushes near the Big White Village. On our way down we
tallied an impressive 22 Hermit Thrushes, 10 Boreal Chickadees, 6 Fox
Sparrows and a few Gray Jays, Steller's Jay, Townsend's Warblers, 2 Brown
Creepers, and a few American Pipits doing flight songs on breeding
territory. A major highlight for us was finding a male Three-toed Woodpecker
excavating a nest hole. From Hwy 33, take Big White Road for a short
distance to the first cattleguard. The Three-toed was excavating its hole in
a fir on the S. side of the road about 150 M. beyond the cattleguard.

McCulloch Road

We did very well along this route as well, tallying a few hard to get
species for the Kelowna area like Canyon Wren, Black-headed Grosbeak and
White-throated Swift. The Canyon Wren was singing on Layercake Mountain.
Other interesting things we got on the way down included a Lazuli Bunting,
Hairy Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatchers, numerous Veeries, a few
Pacific-slope Flycatchers, 2 Vaux's Swifts, Common Loon, Red-necked Grebe,
Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Waterthrush etc.

Mission Ck (Casorso Rd)

Very disappointing here, since we missed most of our targets; Least
Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Gray Catbird. We did add Rufous Hummingbird and
Wood Duck here though.

Acland Pond and Scandia

We were happy to add the Great Egret at Acland and the Great-tailed Grackle
at Scandia to the list.

Robert Lk & Alki Lake

By now we had picked up my little brother Connor. Things were pretty quiet
at Robert Lake. All that was of real interest were 4 Wilson's Phalaropes. A
return trip in the evening produced 2 American Avocets. Alki Lk was
unproductive..although it did give us Blue-winged and Green-winged teal,
American Wigeon and Gadwall. The entrance pond at the dump had a male Common
Goldeneye and a few Greater Scaup, but no gulls. The return trip in the
evening produced a Bald Eagle and finally a Herring Gull.

Beaver Lk Rd

A short drive through the grasslands produced our Western and Mountain
bluebirds, as well as amazing looks at Lazuli Buntings.

Westside

We again struck out on the Westside. Our attempts for Clay-colored Sparrow
were fruitless. We did manage to add Clark's Nutcracker, Common Merganser,
Osprey, Barrow's Goldeneye, Ring-billed Gull. A very nice singing male
Black-headed Grosbeak was along Elk Road in Westbank.

Various

We then doddled around Kelowna for the final hour adding Glaucous-winged
Gull and Cinnamon Teal to the list. Our total was 133. I think with some
owling and a slightly earlier date, this route could turn up 140-150
species. We had lots of big misses...Kingfisher, Virginia Rail,
White-breasted Nuthatch, Pied-billed Grebe, any accipiters, Merlin,
shorebirds, owls, Black-chinned Hummer, Marsh Wren, but otherwise did very
well.

The List

001 Common Loon
002 Red-necked Grebe
003 Eared Grebe
004 Great Blue Heron
005 GREAT EGRET
006 Turkey Vulture
007 Canada Goose
008 Wood Duck
009 Gadwall
010 American Wigeon
011 Mallard
012 Blue-winged Teal
013 Cinnamon Teal
014 Northern Shoveler
015 Green-winged Teal
016 Redhead
017 Ring-necked Duck
018 Greater Scaup
019 Lesser Scaup
020 Bufflehead
021 Common Goldeneye
022 Barrow's Goldeneye
023 Common Merganser
024 Ruddy Duck
025 Osprey
026 Bald Eagle
027 Swainson's Hawk
028 Red-tailed Hawk
029 American Kestrel
030 Ring-necked Pheasant
031 Ruffed Grouse
032 California Quail
033 Sora
034 American Coot
035 Killdeer
036 American Avocet
037 Spotted Sandpiper
038 Wilson's Snipe
039 Wilson's Phalarope
040 Ring-billed Gull
041 California Gull
042 Herring Gull
043 Glaucous-winged Gull
044 Rock Dove
045 Mourning Dove
046 Vaux's Swift
047 White-throated Swift
048 Calliope Hummingbird
049 Rufous Hummingbird
050 Red-naped Sapsucker
051 Downy Woodpecker
052 Hairy Woodpecker
053 THREE-TOED WOODPECKER
054 Northern Flicker
055 Pileated Woodpecker
056 Olive-sided Flycatcher
057 Western Wood-Pewee
058 Hammond's Flycatcher
059 Dusky Flycatcher
060 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
061 Western Kingbird
062 Eastern Kingbird
063 Cassin's Vireo
064 Warbling Vireo
065 Gray Jay
066 Steller's Jay
067 Clark's Nutcracker
068 Black-billed Magpie
069 American Crow
070 Common Raven
071 Tree Swallow
072 Violet-green Swallow
073 N. Rough-winged Swallow
074 Bank Swallow
075 Cliff Swallow
076 Barn Swallow
077 Black-capped Chickadee
078 Mountain Chickadee
079 Boreal Chickadee
080 Red-breasted Nuthatch
081 Pygmy Nuthatch
082 Brown Creeper
083 CANYON WREN
084 House Wren
085 Winter Wren
086 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
087 Golden-crowned Kinglet
088 Western Bluebird
089 Mountain Bluebird
090 Townsend's Solitaire
091 Veery
092 Swainson's Thrush
093 Hermit Thrush
094 American Robin
095 Varied Thrush
096 European Starling
097 American Pipit
098 Cedar Waxwing
099 Orange-crowned Warbler
100 Nashville Warbler
101 Yellow Warbler
102 Yellow-rumped Warbler
103 Townsend's Warbler
104 Northern Waterthrush
105 MacGillivray's Warbler
106 Common Yellowthroat
107 Wilson's Warbler
108 Western Tanager
109 Spotted Towhee
110 Chipping Sparrow
111 Vesper Sparrow
112 Savannah Sparrow
113 Fox Sparrow
114 Song Sparrow
115 Lincoln's Sparrow
116 White-crowned Sparrow
117 Dark-eyed Junco
118 Black-headed Grosbeak
119 Lazuli Bunting
120 Red-winged Blackbird
121 Western Meadowlark
122 Yellow-headed Blackbird
123 Brewer's Blackbird
124 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE
125 Brown-headed Cowbird
126 Bullock's Oriole
127 Pine Grosbeak
128 Cassin's Finch
129 House Finch
130 Red Crossbill
131 Pine Siskin
132 American Goldfinch
133 Evening Grosbeak
134 House Sparrow

Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
725 Richards Road
Kelowna, BC
V1X 2X5
www.avocettours.com

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