More November Birding

LIFER - HARRIS'S SPARROW!

I’ve just had a great morning birding south of Nakusp; at the village of Fauquier to be precise [and a few places in between]. 

Gary Davidson had had the heads up the day before. A past student had phoned him up and reported a very interesting bird at a feeder at her house. Gary had quickly gone down south to Fauquier, saw the reported rare bird and while excitedly digesting its appearance, discovered another rare bird in the same yard! Now obviously excited about these ornithological oddities, he wrote emails announcing them to the Kootenay bird chat community and the BC interior bird chat community and was sitting on my couch waiting for me to arrive home from school on Friday afternoon…. Now, oblivious to all this excitement I went to the pub as one does on a Friday pm. So it seems I had my celebratory drinks early….

So Saturday morning, the temperature hovering at the zero mark, Gary gallantly and graciously agreeing to return, we made our way to Fauquier to try to rediscover the said rare birds. Now I was quietly confident although we had had a few times where these little twitches didn’t work out exactly as planned. Today worked wonderfully well. 

Anna's Humminbird

Anna's Hummingbird - just starting to reveal a little pink colour on the ear coverts

Again Anna's!!

We stopped at the assigned address and there was action at a feeder on the side of the house. Song Sparrows were the obvious dominant species. Black-capped Chickadees were also noisily attending as were some vocal Steller’s Jays. And then, on the ground, my target, a larger, paler sparrow with a pink bill. A Harris’s Sparrow -  a rare bird for the lower BC and a lifer for me. 

Harris's Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow showing breast pattern of a typical wintering bird

After a while enjoying this bird we went deeper into the same backyard for the other target.

And it, too, was astonishingly easy. Perched conspicuously on a vine bush was a Hummingbird. To be more precise an immature male Anna’s Hummingbird was perched there, occasionally flying to the nearby feeder by the back wall. Anna’s is a resident species further west in southern Vancouver Island and the adjacent areas of the extreme south western mainland and there are even a few hardy residents in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. But here in the wet and cold Kootenays they are practically unknown – so a great bird indeed.  It seems the bird has been in and around the village for at least a fortnight – visiting a series of hummer feeders that the locals had optimistically and fortuitously left up. Certainly without artificial feeding the bird would have died. Gary left instructions on how to rig up a heated feeder for the bird in the hope that the bird can last the winter with a little bit of local help. 

Cackling Geese in among the much larger Canada Geese

Tiny darker Cackling Geese

Strange Cackling goose with strange white 'head-dress'.

After trying to photograph the birds we went down to the nearby Golf course to count the Geese and see what else was aboot. There were a couple of Coot, some Mallard and a few Bufflehead, a pair of Flickers and the ubiquitous Song Sparrows in or adjacent to the Sewerage Ponds. A few Juncos darted into some bushes as we drove in. And on the course itself there were some 300 Canada Geese, one with a pretty amazing head dress of white feathers. But with them were six Cackling Geese – yet another uncommon species. 

For Jim Andrews - a Golf Course - Canada style!

A quick final cruise around the streets of Fauquier revealed a couple of Robins who were feasting on some bright red Mountain Ash berries but with them were some seventy five Bohemian Waxwings – my first for this winter.

Flock of Bohemian Waxwings

The trip down also revealed a Hairy Woodpecker – my first for my Nakusp list. The trip home revealed another new Nakusp bird – a Northern Pygmy Owl, that rudely flew away after I tried to take its picture.

Burton had a number of Mallard, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers and with them a lone male Hooded Merganser, both Goldeneyes – Common and Barrow’s, Canada Goose, a lone Tundra Swan and a lonely Herring Gull plus a dipper.   

Close-up of Anna's

Spicer’s Farm, our final destination before calling it a day, was quiet – a Pacific Wren or two and a few Golden-crowned Kinglets being the highlights.

Harris again because I can...

Snow Geese at Crescent Bay - from last weekend!

More Geese! - Greater White-fronted Goose [Geese] at Brouse - pic by Gary Davidson.

Gary Davidson's superior photo - yes it is the same Anna's Hummingbird!

 All in all a great morning!!
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