Birders,

I left the Okanagan Valley on Monday, May 23 after the big day brunch,
headed for Logan Lake. Rick Howie and I spent a couple days setting up some
plots and surveying areas at the mine. As I drove along Hwy 97d towards
Logan Lake I made a couple of quick stops.

The first stop was at an extensive marshy field where in the late afternoon
there were dozens of calling rails. I thought this was very interesting
since our big day team "off the rails" searched for hours for rails with no
luck. My best estimate for one small portion of this marsh was 20 SORAS and
10 VIRGINIA RAILS. I was straining to hear a Yellow but not luck.

As the light fell I had a feeling I was going to get a GREAT GRAY OWL so I
slowed down and drove into town slowly checking every fence post and
telephone pole along the way. It was a great surprise when I actually did
find a GREAT GRAY OWL! It was perched on a fence post 12 km E. of Logan
Lake. It was methodically checking the roadside for prey. It would sit on a
post for about 2 minutes, survey the surroundings then hop two posts down
for another survey. I had leisurely scope views of the bird! The next
morning I heard that Rick had seen one about 1.5 km E. of Logan Lake so this
would undoubtedly be a different bird.

Sincerely,

Chris Charlesworth
Kelowna