Weekend in Kamloops 2 – the sequel

Kamloops  grassland

What a great natural history weekend!! With Gary Davidson as driver, companion and guide we left Nakusp early Saturday morning for Kamloops via the Monashee Mountains and the good city of Vernon. We diverted south towards Kelowna to Roberts Lake before heading northwards via a variety of ponds and forests and grasslands before arriving in Kamloops. Sunday involved grassland birding around Kamloops before the drive home; this time east through Salmon Arm and to Revelstoke via Highway 1 before the southward drive to Nakusp.

The highlights? Almost too many to mention. But let’s start with the mammals. 

First my lifer – Moose! Sunday afternoon heading east on HW#1 we passed a number of signs with moose motifs optimistically suggesting that Moose cross the highway. I mused out loud that Moose would indeed be a good way to finish the weekend. Gary smiled politely at my naivety. Several more signs were passed until the idea well and truly faded when suddenly a moose absently ambled onto the highway. I don’t know who was more shocked. The moose looked up in bewildered surprise to find himself on a highway and that large vehicles were speeding rapidly towards him. In serious moose panic mode long limbs sprung energetically into action pumping him up and down on the spot until first gear was found and he stumbled off the road into the trees in an awkward fumbling run. It was one seriously strange animal in and an amusing encounter. I smiled for ten minutes at both my luck and the ‘photo’ of his baffled expression.

Mule Deer

The day before, Saturday, we saw another hind end disappearing quickly into the woods. My FOY Black Bear. Add to these two we saw two beavers – one outside Kamloops adjacent to a small wetland and the second, equally obvious, sitting outside his lodge just north of the ferry linking Revelstoke to Nakusp on Sunday. Good numbers of Mule Deer, a couple of American Red Squirrel, a single Yellow Pine Chipmunk and several Yellow-bellied Marmot created a good mammal list.

Great  Horned  Owl nest

Despite seeing a reasonable but brief view of Ruffed Grouse and enjoying views of the ‘well returned Osprey’, the birding started properly on Saturday at Roberts Lake. We went there initially because of reports of a few passage migrant waders. A few FOY Greater Yellowlegs plus American Avocets were the clear highlights. California Gulls were there too for my FOY; however I’m looking forward to closer views. A variety of waterfowl was there; most notably Ruddy Duck. Red tailed Hawk and Bald Eagles had fly bys.  Killdeer was the only other wader. Another FOY appeared, well was heard before it was seen, the Yellow headed Blackbird. This is a song bird but its song can be likened successfully to the mournful wail produced by a ‘tinned cow’, do you remember them? You tilted them and a strange mooing of sorts was emitted. 

Roberts Lake

Kamloops  grasslands

male Sharp-tailed Grouse

Other wetlands were checked throughout the day and finally we scored our FOY Lesser Yellowlegs – an addition to my North American list. I had missed the species in 2009 but had surprisingly seen it as a vagrant back in Australia. Eurasian Wigeon were seen in fields, again in the company of American Wigeon, my fifth sighting of this species this year. Good numbers of migrating White crowned Sparrows were seen throughout the weekend [and in Nakusp today, Monday].

Doing da dance....

Sunday started with a special treat; a visit to a Lek of Sharp-tailed Grouse. This species is pretty cool and is a genuine North American Chook. It shares its genus with both the Greater and the Lesser Prairie Chicken. One of the things these chook have in common is that the males lek on a Lek. Now if you have ever visited a Lek when Chooks are lekking you would like it. I loved it. The males all dance enthusiastically on a short flat piece of grassland and the idea is that the females cruise past, watch the dancing and, on the strength of a male’s performing prowess or his dominant position in the Lek choose a male for the mating. They then, like the spurned Bowerbird females of Australia, are left to raise eggs and chicks solo. The males dance is elaborate, noisy and enthusiastic and I was surprised at both the frantic burst of energy and the volume of the stamping as the birds rapidly pounded their feet into the grassland soil. I’ll let my poor photos and film illustrate the event however I encourage all to witness the event ‘live’. [It’s moments like these, and sadly many others, that I become almost violently disappointed with my sad excuse for photographic gear as the gap between what I witness and what I record becomes all too vast!] The male chooks were funny in the way that, like guys at a gay bar, they seemed to concentrate on the dancing and each other and ignored pretty much the feeding females strolling through.

grasslands

Snr Gary Davidson on a grouse search.....

The next stage of the morning involved walking high grasslands searching for even more Grouse. The Grouse search was unsuccessful but the walk was anything but. The grasslands abounded in Mule Deer that ran, walked or pronked away as we approached. Western Meadowlarks sang their explosive disorganized assembly of notes and Vesper Sparrows’ songs also added to our soundtrack. Small moving flocks of White crowned Sparrows, Yellow rumped Warblers [including a beautiful white throated, ‘Myrtle’, usually found further east], and occasional Juncos reminded us of the time of year. Harriers, Red tailed, a lone Rough-legged Hawk, several pairs of American Kestrels – the males colouring up attractively- and a distant but distinct view of my FOY Golden Eagle completed the raptors. Rocks supported occasional Horned Larks. Another highlight that I had been forewarned about was large flocks of Sandhill Cranes. In vast ‘V’s they flew over and we were treated to the sight, albeit distant, of a flock of some 500 plus birds on the ground occasionally identifying themselves through their trumpeting. Good views of drumming Red-naped Sapsuckers, kindly responding to Gary’s imitations was another little highlight. Mountain Bluebirds plus a few swallows; Tree, Violet Green and FOY Cliff probably rounded out the list.

Distant  Sandhill Cranes

The Yellow  belly of the Williamson  Sapsucker

The birding was not over yet as we sped off for another twitch for the Red-naped’s cousin – my second lifer for the day – Williamson’s Sapsucker. We quickly got great views of an obliging male who was industriously excavating a beautifully symmetrical hole in what has become a traditional nesting tree.   The female remained hodden in the woods but was, no doubt, closely observing the male’s labour. Enroute we scored an enchanting view of a Snowy Owl slowly sailing over the road – this was possibly the same bird I had seen a few weeks previously when, with Megan and kids, we arrived in Kamloops. Coming out from the Sapsucker Tree a large migrating flock of American Pipits passed us by, my second encounter with this specie.

Williamson 's Sapsucker

A great two days birding and almost impossible to remember all of the species seen without stealing Gary’s note book which I will soon do.