Birders,

Mike Force and I ventured to Salmon Arm today and enjoyed some excellent
birding. The weather did cooperate, and we only encountered rain showers
while driving. The species total for the day and the overall abundance of
birds was impressive.

We started our birding along the Vernon Commonage, making a brief stop at
Rose's Pond where a female HOODED MERGANSER was seen loafing on a log. The
next stop, the gully just N. of Rose's Pond had an impressive assortment of
birds including ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, SPOTTED TOWHEE, GRAY CATBIRD,
WARBLING VIREOS, LAZULI BUNTING, ad. COOPER'S HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, HOUSE
WREN, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. We then made the traditional
stop at the intersection of Commonage Rd and Bench Row Road, where we found
at least five CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, despite the habitat disturbance. Other
birds there included CHIPPING SPARROW, VESPER SPARROW, LAZULI BUNTING,
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER, and GRAY CATBIRDS.

Our first stop upon arriving in Salmon Arm was the Nature Park at the foot
of Narcisse Road. Birds covered the flats in front of us and we spent a few
hours scoping through them. Here's a list, with estimated numbers:

Western Grebe 50
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN 2
Great Blue Heron 10
Canada Goose 250
Wood Duck 30
American Wigeon 5
Mallard 500
Gadwall 25
Blue-winged Teal 10
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 5
Merlin 1
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
American Coot 20
Killdeer 250
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 100
Lesser Yellowlegs 60
Long-billed Dowitcher 18
Baird's Sandpiper 25
Least Sandpiper 50
Semipalmated Sandpiper 200
Wilson's Phalarope 20
Herring Gull 5
California Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 800
FRANKLIN'S GULL 4
Bonaparte's Gull 50
BLACK TERN 2 imm.
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 1
BLACK SWIFT 20
Northern Flicker 1
American Crow 50
Black-billed Magpie 1
Tree Swallow 5
Violet-green Swallow 5
N. Rough-winged Swallow 5
Bank Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 100
Black-capped Chickadee 5
Marsh Wren 1
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 10
Yellow Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Yellow-headed Blackbird 25
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1

Next we visited Christmas Island and walked the trail (approx 2 km). Again
lots of birds...here are the additions:

Pied-billed Grebe 3
CLARK'S GREBE 1 ad.
Cinnamon Teal 1
Northern Shoveler 1
Redhead 5
Greater Scaup 5
Bufflehead 3
Common Goldeneye 1
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Merganser 10
Ruddy Duck 3
Northern Harrier 2 juv.
Wilson's Snipe 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
ALDER FLYCATCHER 1 male singing "free-bee-ya" song near outhouse. Also
calling "pip".
Willow Flycatcher 5
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 10
Red-eyed Vireo 4
Warbling Vireo 1
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 25+
Western Tanager 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 5
Bullock's Oriole 3

The final stop was at the Salmon Arm pier where we found another adult
CLARK'S GREBE, 100 BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS and a BELTED KINGFISHER to add to the
list. On the drive home there were 3 SWAINSON'S HAWKS on powerpoles along
Old Vernon Rd in Kelowna. That's all for now.

Sincerely,

Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
725 Richards Road
Kelowna, BC
V1X 2X5
(250) 718-0335
c_charlesworth at avocettours.com
www.avocettours.com

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