PETER BLOKKER
For The Morning Star
We had a successful count on Dec. 17, thanks to the 60 people who participated.
There were 93 species sighted, our highest count since 2012, and more than 25,000 birds counted.
The weather was reasonable though there were snow flurries in the afternoon, which made visibility poor. Temperature was around zero and there was light snow cover.
Highlights:
One Canyon Wren sighted by Rick Bonar near Cosens Bay gate at Kal Lake was voted “Bird of the Day;”
Margaret Mackenzie’s team were runners-up with one Northern Saw-Whet Owl.
Other interesting sightings:
Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail (not seen at every count);
1,011 Common Mergansers (unusually high number for the count);
12 Wild Turkeys (seem to be increasing);
1 Pacific Loon on Okanagan Lake;
3 Great Blue Herons (usually a few stay over the winter);
5 Golden Eagles;
1 Peregrine Falcon;
1 Glaucous Gull (rare gull for our count);
1 Northern Saw-whet Owl;
2 Northern Shrike;
1 Canyon Wren (voted Bird of the Day);
7 White-throated Sparrows (seem to becoming more common);
1 Yellow-headed Blackbird;
220 Common Redpolls (not seen at every count).
Peter Blokker is the Christmas Bird Count Coordinator for North Okanagan