Early November Birding

The email from Gary claimed ‘RBA – maybe’. RBA stands for, as every birder is aware, Rare Bird Alert. So he had my attention.  And the ‘maybe’ was not much of a negative.

Gary had dropped in to Burton as he drove to Kamloops as is his practice and this time he spotted something interesting, which has also been his practice. Distant gulls and distant swans and ‘maybe’ one of the gulls was a Sabine’s. 

Now a Sabine’s would, for me, be a lifer. Swans are rare on Arrow Lakes so always worth a little chase.

The email arrived on Friday afternoon and sadly with the rain and approaching dark it prevented me from an immediate half an hour drive to Burton.

But Saturday morning to Megan clucking, ‘You sad little nerd’, I left, by myself armed with bins, scopes etc [but no friends] into the darkness and rain that was Saturday in Nakusp. Bill Miller played on the stereo on the way down, appropriately enough ‘You are the Rain’ was the first track to play accompanying the splatter of drops on the windscreen and the beat of the wipers.

I checked the Burton Campground out first and saw a noisy pair of Bald Eagles. And  then on the lake the swans appeared, in the distance, gently honking and then they flew north – thirteen of them - and, as luck would have it, well beyond scope-able distance. 

A dreadful photo of a distant Glaucous Gull

ditto

So onto the bridge and the view of the lakes and the flats. The first bird seen save the customary Mallard and a flocks of Bufflehead, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye and a couple of distant female Scaup was a single large Gull. Its wing tips were pure white, its legs red, its eye white. A Glaucous Gull. My first for this year.  My first for Nakusp. And only my second sighting in my life. A good bird in short. Post script - I didn't realise exactly how good as Gary has checked his thirty year records for the greater Nakusp area which reveals no records for Glaucous Gull - so a great bird indeed!!

Canada Geese, some pretty small, were on the flats and I tried to unsuccessfully to turn one or two into Cackling Geese but never quite managed it. Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser were also about. 

And then a small Gull flew in the distance. Could this be a Sabine’s? Ah, no. First winter Boneaparte’s. Another good bird. Red winged Blackbird flew over. Flicker flicked by. Song Sparrow sung and I saw a few Dark eyed Juncos doing what Juncos do. 

Tundra Swans

Well satisfied by my morning I headed home and rounded a bend in the road and spied the swans. Luckily I could find a road down and got pretty close to them and identified them as Tundra Swans; only my second sighting and my first in the Nakusp area.

 

So a great morning out! 

Post script - Sunday i had the job of transporting my son and friends to Revelstoke for junk food and an aquatic centre visit to belatedly celebrate his 12th birthday. It was raining [although perhaps i don't need to emphasise that point too much..] At any rate it wasn't a birding day - I didn't even feel motivated to take binoculars. [I did take a couple of birding books however to browse through while the delights of cold climate indoor swimming were enjoyed.]

Snow Bunting - taken by Gary Davidson!

Now finally to the point; a lifer! A pair of Snow Buntings, seen repeatedly at the Ferry carpark on the Revelstoke side while waiting. Classic!