My second annual Great Canadian Birdathon started out a lot more comfortably than the first (when I slept in a rainy, slushy bivouac). This time, I woke up in my own warm bed, which gave me a boost and I was on my way to Kootenay Pass by 5am. During the 50 minute drive I did not see a single vehicle on either of the two major highways, making it feel like some sort of zombie movie or one of those post-apocalyptic thrillers about a deadly pandemic.
Back to reality though…my plan was to drop my car at the pass and embark on foot and pedal, which was only possible because friends Graeme and Keyes were heading to Creston that day and offered to shuttle my vehicle down. Logistical win in my hope for an all human-powered bird count.
The mountains are what makes this worth it. Few birdathons can start as high as 1900 metres on a ridgetop. Unfortunately, the inside joke us Kootenay folk enjoy is that you might be on a mountain, but the alpine is still far away, or in another region. That was the case here and I didn’t get any alpine birds, being in the trees the whole time, but I did get all of my expected targets including Boreal Chickadee, Pine Grosbeak, White-crowned Sparrow, Cassin’s Finch, Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Barrow’s Goldeneye (on Bridal Lake), with an unexpected surprise of a Dusky Grouse scaring me by flushing in front of my feet. The snow was firm with easy travel. Another highlight was a set of not-so-fresh grizzly tracks.
This is not to say I didn’t get excited about the drop down into the Creston Valley, where a great avian diversity can be found. I saddled up while realizing I had left my helmet in the (now in Creston) car, so I took it easy on the 35km descent, stopping periodically to listen for species that would be difficult lower down. These included: Lincoln’s Sparrow, Townsend’s, MacGillivray’s, Wilson’s, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Steller’s Jay, Varied and Swainson’s Thrush, and some others. The Creston Valley that awaited below is awesome for wetland and open-country birds but it is not easy to find forest species there, and it gets windy and/or hot in the afternoons. Therefore, I had to focus on those during my descent. During the hour or so, I peered over at the adjacent Summit Creek to look for one of our most beautiful species, the Harlequin Duck that winters on the coast but nests beside fast-flowing creeks. Finally, lo-and-behold, a male was sitting on a rock mid-torrent: species 35 or so. I would have a nice picture here if I decided to bring my camera, but with a hot and sunny forecast it doesn’t lend itself to photography (bird pics here are from other forays)- not to mention I had to keep moving, and continue to Golden that night for work. Therefore my day was shorter than last year, but I was off to a good morning.
The four species of Chickadees in BC (clockwise from top left): Chestnut-backed, Boreal, Mountain and Black-capped
Birding is a true pastime, not a sport per se, so when you allocate some kind of objective to it other than simple, meditative nature time, you often come across with a hollow feeling of “What’s the point of all this?” I get that way when hunger sets in. Regardless, I was trying to beat my last year’s total of 118 species, not to mention I had this not-for-profit component, so I shut off my mind and focused on the fact that, by 9am I already had four species of chickadee under my belt. Pastime or not, nobody said I wasn’t competitive.
Spotted Towhee
Now in the valley, I switched to shorts and set off to Leach Lake at a more leisurely pace. This place is exceptional and I recommend a visit here for even non-birders. A month earlier I had spent a night here with the family to experience the marsh before the notorious mosquitos set in. Even at the end of May in a heat wave there were still no mozzies to be found, but by mid-June Creston becomes nearly uninhabitable for mammals.
Song Sparrow
Heading along the dyke I encountered a colony of Bank Swallows in a sandbank that were surely awaiting the mosquito hatch. This species is now listed as threatened because they are on the decline. This fact wouldn’t be known if it wasn’t for all the monitoring conducted at the various bird observatories throughout North America—all part of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. Anyway, shortly I heard my first Gray Catbirds of the season, and then the symphony of Least Flycatchers that live in the cottonwood groves. Other species along the dyke included: Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Wood-Pewee, American Redstart, Mourning Dove, Eastern Kingbird and others. When I arrived at the open double-track above the wetlands I could finally pull out my scope to look over the marsh.
A Gadwall, better known for its call note than its flamboyance
Over the next couple of hours I bumped around the wetland complex scanning through the increasing heat haze for ducks and other birds. The best of the lot were: Yellow-headed Blackbird, Pied-billed Grebe, Redhead, Red-necked Grebe, Black Tern, American White Pelican, American Bittern (possibly my best species of the day), and Virginia Rail.
Getting the scope on part of Leach Lake
By noon I had to retreat back to the highway, but I had around 95 species under my belt. I was still missing a few, but with a quick visit to the Creston Valley Wildlife Centre I picked up Willow Flycatcher, Barn and Cliff Swallows, Downy Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, and both Rufous and Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the feeder. Now I had a hot 15km ride along the highway to Lower Wynndel Road, which is a nice place to find Western Kingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and sometimes Bobolink (which I did find, thanks to a recent record I saw on eBird).
Bobolink, a grassland bird that doesn’t mix with agriculture well
At this point I was approaching Duck Lake via Channel Road. Some usual forest birds would be difficult to detect during a hot afternoon and I didn’t find Veery or Orange-crowned Warbler on my day, which would be easy in the twilight hours. I was lucky, however, to hear a single Pacific-slope Flycatcher at 3pm.
Northern Shoveler
Duck Lake itself is the primo birding hotspot in the Kootenays but now it had high water so there was little chance for finding any lingering shorebirds. If I did this route two weeks earlier I might add a dozen species of shorebirds to my list, but mid-May is too earlier for many songbirds, so it’s a trade-off. The only species I added here were a couple of flyover California Gulls, Western Grebes, and a lone Northern Shoveler, and by 4pm I had to double back to the Wynndel store where my car was parked. Thankfully, the eBird app I use on my phone keeps a fairly decent record of the species for the day, and I had already topped my 2020 tally. I took a minute to think of any more birds that had eluded me, a couple of which would be easy given more time. They included: House Sparrow, Turkey Vulture, Calliope Hummingbird, California Quail, Sandhill Crane, Blue Jay, Townsend’s Solitaire, Wilson’s Phalarope, Forster’s Tern, Mountain Bluebird, Ruddy Duck, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Collared-Dove and any of the accipiter hawks. With the notion that next year I might do even better, I triumphantly climbed the only hill of the day, just before the store, picking up a cooing dove just before the cold beer fridge at the Wynndel Store. I was really happy with the day, my legs were torched and… did I mention the beer fridge?
I ran out of water but found a piece of Hubba Bubba in my pocket
My totals for the day were 125 species observed over exactly 100km of biking.
Thanks everyone for reading and donating, if you did. If not, please feel free to help me get to my total of $1000 to help the efforts at the Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory. Donations are tax deductible. Here is the link: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/bird-studies-canada/p2p/birdathon21/team/the-wandering-tatlers/member/steves-birdathon/
Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory 