Birders,

Ryan Tomlinson and I left Kelowna shortly after 6 AM. After making the
routine stop at Tim Horton's for coffee we headed straight for White Lake,
with the rising sun illuminating the clear, blue sky.

Our first stop on the White Lake Road was just N of the lake itself near the
entrance to the observatory. We heard a hooting BLUE GROUSE in the distance.
A nice start. Other birds seen along White Lake Road included 4 WESTERN
BLUEBIRDS, 4 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, an immature NORTHERN SHRIKE, 2 SAY'S
PHOEBES, and a NORTHERN HARRIER. The Twin Lakes Road was also productive. We
added 2 more calling BLUE GROUSE! Other noteworthy birds here included 3 ad.
NORTHERN SHRIKES, perhaps a migration push for this species, and a male
PILEATED WOODPECKER. Along the Fairview Road heading towards Oliver we got a
calling GREAT HORNED OWL.

We then headed for the Richter Pass, W. of Osoyoos. Just N. of the Elkink
Ranch we heard a calling CHUKAR up on the hillside, a nice year bird.
Another BLUE GROUSE hooted in the distance and a CANYON WREN sang at the
ranch itself.

We hiked for 2 hours at the top of Anarchist Mountain in the burn. Twenty
HAIRY WOODPECKERS, 10 DOWNY WOODPECKERS and numerous NORTHERN FLICKERS
allowed great looks. A pair of BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS were undoubtedly the
highlight woodpeckers of the hike. We also flushed a female BLUE GROUSE from
the side of the road. It flew into a fir and let us get incredible views. A
short distance further, a displaying male RUFFED GROUSE obligingly strutted.
Other interesting birds on the hike included WHITE-BREASTED, PYGMY and
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, a VARIED THRUSH and 2 CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS.

The late afternoon and evening was spent birding along Road 22, the southern
end of Black Sage Road and walking along the W. dyke S. of Road 22. Birding
was incredible here. We had over a dozen AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS along Black
Sage Road. Overhead were hundreds of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS and some TREE
SWALLOWS. Near where the large powerlines cross over the river, S. of the
"cliff swallow' bridge we found the same huge flock of blackbirds Doug Brown
also scanned through today. We found many of the same birds. As soon as we
arrived we got up to 8 BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS in the scope. Soon after, I
spotted the female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. Then, while scanning through the
blackbirds I spotted a female RUSTY BLACKBIRD! I yelled to Ryan that I had a
Rusty and he, at the same time, yelped out GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW! I got
onto the sparrow and had a great scope view, then Ryan returned and
eventually saw the pale eyed female RUSTY BLACKBIRD amongst hundreds of
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS and EUROPEAN STARLINGS. There was
also one very interesting blackbird amongst the crowd. I always scan for
Tricolored Blackbirds in the south Okanagan, since this species has been
moving northward, now breeding only a few hours south of us in Washington. I
did find a blackbird that had nothing more than very whitish wing patches
and concealed dark red epaullettes. I was able to scan through the flock of
over 500 birds and find this individual 3 or so times. The bird had much
whiter wing patch borders than the typical Red-wingeds. Just something to
think about when scanning through those icterids. At the end of the dyke
were singing MARSH WRENS and a singing WINTER WREN. A pair of GREAT HORNED
OWLS dueted as we walked back to the truck.

Our day total was 72 species.

Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
725 Richards Road
Kelowna, BC
V1X 2X5
Canada
Phone (250) 718-0335
Fax (250) 765-6019
Email: tours at avocettours.com
Website: www.avocettours.com