Birders,

Ryan Tomlinson and I met Trevor Forder at the Nature Park in Salmon Arm this
morning. The day began warm and sunny but by the late afternoon we were
engulfed by a full on rain storm. Birding was great in Salmon Arm, as usual!

On the way to pick up Ryan I made a brief stop at Robert Lake where I
counted no less than 16 STILT SANDPIPERS!.

Shorebirds from Christmas Island to Nature Park

*UPLAND SANDPIPER 2
GOLDEN-PLOVER 1. Too far to ID.
Semipalmated Plover 4
Killdeer 350
Greater Yellowlegs 60
Lesser Yellowlegs 205 including 1 albino.
Solitary Sandpiper 18
Spotted Sandpiper 20
*SANDERLING 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 50
Western Sandpiper 20
Least Sandpiper 40
Baird's Sandpiper 250+
Pectoral Sandpiper 8
*STILT SANDPIPER 19!
Long-billed Dowitcher 15
Wilson's Phalarope 1
Red-necked Phalarope 150
Wilson's Snipe 30

The UPLAND SANDPIPERS were the biggest highlight. We scanned the grass for
them for about an hour before they called a liquid "qui qui qui", then
lifted into the air and flew SW. We had a pretty good look through the scope
as they flew nearly right over head. A high count of 19 STILT SANDPIPERS was
also impressive! SOLITARY SANDPIPERS of both "Solitarius" and "Cinnamomea"
races were studied at close range at the wharf! The Cinnamomea subspecies
breeds farther north and has buffy / cinnamon spotting on the back, while
"Solitarius" breeds further south, having white spots on the wing feathers.
See Paulson's "Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest". The albino LESSER
YELLOWLEGS was seen well with both Greater and Lessers from the nature park.
The bird was Lesser size with a short, needle like bill. The GOLDEN-PLOVER
was too far away to ID. It was straight out from the nature park.

Other birds we saw along the foreshore included:

Am. White Pelican 2
Clark's Grebe 2 ad.
Merlin 1
Franklin's Gull 5 juv.
Bonaparte's Gull 10
Common Tern 10
Black Tern 1
Least Flycatcher 1 "chebecking" along trail to Christmas Island
Northern Waterthrush 1 at Nature Park, 2 in willows near wharf.
Clay-colored Sparrow 1 at Nature Park.

We then drove down Canoe Beach Road, racking up CASSIN'S, WARBLING and
RED-EYE VIREO, NASHVILLE WARBLER, WESTERN TANAGER and a few other species.

Rawlings Lake (E. of Vernon)

STILT SANDPIPER 4 juv. (#39 stilt sandpipers for me today!!)
Eared Grebe 100+
Yellow-headed Blackbird 100
Ring-necked Duck 5
Lesser Scaup 2
Sandhill Crane 2

Dee Lake Road

SPRUCE GROUSE 5. Female with 4 large chicks on side of road.
Townsend's Warbler
Gray Jay


Our final total for a day's birding.....122! (19 shorebirds!)

Chris Charlesworth
Kelowna, BC

_________________________________________________________________
Powerful Parental Controls Let your child discover the best the Internet has
to offer.
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines
Start enjoying all the benefits of MSN Premium right now and get the
first two months FREE*.