Birding continues in and around Nakusp.

Last weekend the birding highlights involved not one but two morning walks near Hills, an area between Nakusp and New Denver. Gary Davidson, Nakusp birding scout and legend, has been inspiring some of the good New Denver folk to take to the skies, metaphorically speaking, and to enhance their knowledge of all things avian. Now this inspiration has taken the form of some formal talks and a series of outings. Some of the talks I had the pleasure of enjoying and, in addition, I’ve been invited to ‘help’ with the field excursions. Now two walks? Well quite simply given the number of keen participants from New Denver we had to divide to conquer. Hence the Saturday walk and the Sunday walk. The results of the walk are below [new Nakusp birds for me in bold];

species	Saturday	Sunday	comments
Canada Goose	x	x
Snow Goose	x	x	very uncommon in this area
American Wigeon	x
Mallard	x	x
Northern Shoveler	x	x
Green-winged Teal	x	x
Ring-necked Duck	x	x
Bufflehead	x	x
Common Goldeneye	x	x
Common Merganser	x	x
Horned Grebe	x
Pied-billed Grebe		X
Red-necked Grebe	x	X
Western Grebe	x
Bald Eagle		X
Cooper's Hawk		X
American Kestrel	x
Ruffed Grouse	x		seen by a few driving out
Sora	x	X	heard only both days
American Coot	x	X
Killdeer	x	X
Spotted Sandpiper	x
Wilson's Snipe		X	heard only
Ring-billed Gull		X
Belted Kingfisher	x	X
Rufous Hummingbird		X
Northern Flicker	x	X
Pileated Woodpecker		X
Hammond’s Flycatcher	x	X
Cassin’s Vireo	x	X	seen day 1, heard day 2
Steller’s Jay	x		heard only
American Crow		X
Common Raven	x
Tree Swallow	x	X
Violet-green Swallow	x	X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	x	X
Black-capped Chickadee	x	X
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	x	X
Red-breasted Nuthatch	x	X
Pacific Wren	x	X	heard only
Golden-crowned Kinglet	x	X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	x	X
American Robin	x	X
Varied Thrush	x	X
European Starling	x		seen in fields driving out
American Pipit	x		seen in fields driving out
Orange-crowned Warbler		X
Nashville Warbler		X	heard only
Yellow-rumped Warbler	x	X
Savannah Sparrow	x
Song Sparrow	x	X	heard only
White-crowned Sparrow	x
Dark-eyed Junco		X
Red-winged Blackbird	x	X
Pine Siskin		X
	43	43