Post by paulos on Nov 5, 2021 13:19:37 GMT -8
I saw my first Bohemian Waxwing of the season a month ago now. With Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, Northern Shrikes and Snow Buntings coming through and ponds freezing over I think we are essentially into winter birding. Time for an update.
Late summer migration was a bit more subdued than I hoped. We are in the second year of high water levels here, so migrant shorebirds were harder to come by at the normal spots. I had to get a little creative and explore new places, and I did manage to see some of the regular shorebird migrants, including a decent number of Red-necked Phalaropes. I also came across two Stilt Sandpipers at the walk-in Goose Lake north of 108 Mile (along with my Cariboo year-first American Three-toed Woodpecker).
Here's a Wilson's Phalarope from Mud Lake, which also turned out to be one of the better local shorebird spots this year.
When I tried to hike nearby Big Timothy Mountain with my brother-in-law to find some higher elevation birds, we were stopped a minute into the hike by an aggressive Grizzly Bear. We walked backwards, bear spray cans outstretched, and had to return to the car. So instead we drove around the eastern part of the Cariboo near Horsefly. We encountered plenty of Spruce Grouse, and I found my first Cariboo Chestnut-backed Chickadees at Horsefly Bay on Quesnel Lake. There was a calling Swamp Sparrow in the grass, and the bay itself had 50-odd Pectoral Sandpipers and a good number of other shorebirds and ducks too distant to see without a scope.
Chestnut-backed Chickadees are usually restricted to the lower elevation cedar-hemlock forests like that around Quesnel Lake or Wells Gray park, but this fall a good number passed through the interlakes region. I found them regularly for several weeks at a worksite on Sheridan Lake. I'm curious to see if this will be an annual pattern.
I did manage to hike up Windy Mountain at the Cariboo/Thompson border north of Highway 24. I found Spruce, Dusky and Ruffed Grouse, as well as my Thompson-Nicola first Boreal Chickadees. It was also my second Chickadee Grand Slam day! And I guess a grouse three-run homer.
I made one trip to Becher's Prairie at Riske Creek and found the American Golden-Plovers and Black-bellied Plover I had come to find.
Pectoral Sandpipers at Roundup Lake on Becher's Prairie
A couple of weeks later another American Golden Plover showed up in my neighbourhood at Walker Valley. When water levels allowed for some exposed mud, the south end of Walker Valley was one of the better shorebird spots this fall.
On a few trips to Hathaway Lake, a personal favourite spot for migrant songbirds, I found migrant Fox Sparrows, a Magnolia Warbler, and a surprise juvenile Broad-winged Hawk!
I've been trying to explore some of the less-birded spots in the Interlakes area, and I took one long round trip down a forest road from Bridge Lake to Green Lake. A stop at the unreal Crater Lake Provincial Park, extensively burned in the 2017 fires, yielded by first Thompson-Nicola Black-backed Woodpecker and an out-of-place Double-crested Cormorant.
A Ruffed Grouse I encountered on the drive
A long October Big Day loop on the 9th ended at Canim Lake, where I found two male Rusty Blackbirds on the shore with a few ducks and late shorebirds.
In the summer I surveyed a few wildlife areas in the central Chilcotin. I was able to do a follow-up at two of the wetland sites (Chilcotin Marshes and Chilanko Marsh), with some of the usual fall migrants, and a few treats, including some Lapland Longspurs. On the trip I did some personal birding, finding my first Cariboo Pacific Loons at Puntzi Lake, and a year Clark's Nutcracker and Sharp-tailed Grouse further west. On my way home I was surprised by a Ring-necked Pheasant along the highway by Lac la Hache--my second such sighting.
Snow Geese at Chilcotin Marshes
Kokanee Bay at Lac la Hache has hosted Loons by the dozens since early October. I'm still hoping for a local Pacific Loon.
Last week reports came in of a Harris's Sparrow at Scout Island in Williams Lake (fittingly found by one Leslie Harris!). I made the drive up and found the young bird--my 235th bird for the Cariboo. That makes one more than my Fraser Valley list. This is my official birding home now.
I've also been focusing on birding nearby Walker Valley. With several new birds, including Surf Scoter, Mourning Dove and Tennessee Warbler, the species list for the south part of the valley is now up to 165. The north valley has been a fall favourite, with the odd Snow and Cackling Geese, both Swan species, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs and an American Tree Sparrow today (I'm up to 128 species there).
After the first big freeze a couple of weeks back, waterfowl and sparrow numbers are way down. I'm getting ready for a sparse winter, though hopefully one with some owls. Maybe I can find one or two more birds for my Cariboo year list, currently standing at 220.