Birders,

I had a delightful tour in the South Okanagan today with Mireille Poulin and
her friend Josie, from Montreal. The day began with fog and low cloud, but
that soon burnt off giving way to brilliant sunshine and bright blue skies.
Birds were everywhere! It was like spring birding. Our grand toal was 86
species! Excellent for November. The two ladies got many lifers today since
this was some of their first birding in the West. Lifers for them included
Northern Pygmy-Owl, Canyon Wren, Rock Wren, Lewis's Woodpecker, Say's
Phoebe, Chukar, Steller's Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Western Grebe, Mountain
Chickadee, and Pygmy Nuthatch. Below is our list of bird and those that are
interesting will have locations included.

*RED-THROATED LOON 1 at Vaseux Lake
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Trumpeter Swan
Canada Goose
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 1 female at Osoyoos Lake near Haynes Point
Ruddy Duck 1 female at Vaseux Lake
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk 1 imm. along River Road
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin 1 leucistic bird chasing Lewis's Woodpecker along Black Sage Road!
What a sight!!
PRAIRIE FALCON 1 at the "Throne"
CHUKAR 6 at Vaseux Cliffs
California Quail
VIRGINIA RAIL 3+ calling at Hack's Pond on River Road
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
THAYER'S GULL 1 first yr. at N. end of Osoyoos Lake on sand bar.
Rock Pigeon
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE 8 on Ferko Rd in Cawston
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl 1 on White Lake Road
Northern Pygmy-Owl 2 at km 15 on Venner Meadows Rd. Another at top of
Irrigation Ck Rd
Belted Kingfisher
LEWIS'S WOODPECKER 1 along Black Sage Road, about 1 km N. of Southern Plus
Feedlot.
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
SAY'S PHOEBE 1 at barn on Road 22.
Gray Jay
Steller's Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
ROCK WREN 2 (1 singing and another calling) at Vaseux Cliffs. Seen only feet
in front of us.
Canyon Wren many singing at Vaseux
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET 1 along River Road
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
Bohemian Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Shrike
European Starling
AMERICAN TREE SPARROW 1 on Black Sage Rd
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Pine Grosbeak 2 on Venner Meadows Rd
House FInch
Red Crossbill
Common Redpoll many on Venner Meadows Road and flock at Vaseux Lake
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

A great day of birding once again,

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