Hi birders,

Being Halloween, I decided to go trick or treating today. I visited all of
my favorite Kelowna locations, hoping for a lucrative haul. I was not
disappointed.

My day began at Sutherland Park. No treats, but a trick. All of the usual
diving ducks decided to play a gag on me, and they were off hiding
somewhere. All I found of interest was a first winter THAYER'S GULL out on
the log booms.

Feeling a little jipped, I then visited Maude Roxby with high hopes of
hitting the mother lode. No such luck. Another trick. This time in the form
of a flock of flying CANADA GEESE with two tantalizingly small geese mixed
in. The brief view was not good enough to make the call of whether or not
they were Cacklers. The equivalent of a bag of popcorn (not great, but
better than nothing), came in the form of 14 TUNDRA SWANS and an adult
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL.

The treats then started rolling in. I made a quick stop at the weedy fields
along K.L.O Road where there were many sparrows. Amongst about 50
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS was a single AMERICAN TREE SPARROW.

Cornish Road, in Rutland was my next target. I welcomed the biggest treat of
the day, 4 CACKLING GEESE, amongst 150 CANADA GEESE. Although I've seen them
before, I counted these as my lifers since they were the first I've seen
since the species was split.

I then ventured into the snow covered hills E. of Kelowna along Hwy 33. A
stop at Hwy 33 and Pyman Road, overlooking the vast grasslands, produced the
mother lode I'd been hoping for. When traffic noise subsided, I could hear a
flock of SNOW BUNTINGS calling amongst the grass. Unfortunately, I never saw
them. Overhead 2 finches flew by, both calling; a CASSIN'S FINCH and an
EVENING GROSBEAK. I scanned the grasslands with my scope and was rewarded
with a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and a patrolling NORTHERN HARRIER. As if this stop
hadn't already produced enough, an adult NORTHERN SHRIKE powered past, then
I spotted an adult GOLDEN EAGLE perched on a fir tree! Wow.

The final stop of the day produced one last bit of "eye-candy". A NORTHERN
PYGMY-OWL came in for close inspection of my imitation on Philpott Road. All
in all, I'd say the treats outnumbered the tricks. Perhaps this will become
an annual event!

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