When mid to late May comes around the Birdathon is always in the back of my mind. With numerous bouts of inclement weather which brought much needed rain and hastened migration I saw a perfect window to get out and count some birds on May 26th. Birdathons and Big Days tend to require lots of planning, strategic targeting, and moving quickly from one site to the next. I have never been good at or really enjoyed the narrow focus of this aspect of Big Days so this year I decided to take a different tact. Much like working at the TLBO I really enjoy letting the birds come to me with no expectation and enjoying the myriad moments of intimacy and discovery which that entails.
Dawn out on the dyke
With that in mind I decided to instead to a single hotspot Big Day (Birdathon) this year. I chose Leach Lake which is nestled against the eastern slopes of the South Selkirks and just north of Highway 3 as it crosses the beautiful Creston Valley. My dear friend Craig first introduced me to the magic of this location many years ago and much to my chagrin it has been four years since I have been back. Compared to my home on the coniferous rocky cliffs of Kootenay Lake, Leach Lake is a network of dykes and wetlands replete with bulrushes, tall cottonwood stands, sumptuous birch, willow and hawthorn scrub, and expanses of sussurating grasses. You could spend days wandering the dykes and exploring the pockets of scrub but I had limited time and took the traditional approach of walking north along the main dyke with a foray east at the midway point along a dyke that bissects the best of the marsh breeding habitat and then north all the way to the big bend in the Kootenay River.
View from the midway dyke looking west
As seems to be the theme with these Birdathons I slept fitfully arising finally at 3am to make myself a stove-top espresso on my trusty WhisperLite to the early forest songs of Hammond’s Flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrush, Western Tanager, Cassin’s Vireo and Violet-Green Swallows. As I walked through the retired Summit Creek Campground the majestic cedars were vague silhouettes in the predawn darkness. As I neared the bridge a lone bat winged its way overhead no doubt finishing off the night’s work of foraging before retiring prior to the coming dawn.
Least Flycatcher
Yellow Warblers have been arriving in some numbers over the past week and with such excellent breeding habitat they were singing everywhere from the lush deciduous vegetation for a final tally of 116 across the entire 10km. I will pull you away from the scene for just a moment to qualify something as counting numbers of birds especially along this route is very challenging and mine are all the best estimates that I could make as I made my way along the dyke. Almost certainly there is some double counting but the more likely scenario is that I under-counted the most numerous species as it is always better to err on the side of caution and be more conservative in your estimates. Least Flycatchers whose song sounds like a punchy “che-bek, che-bek, che-bek” are sparse in most portions of my region with the exception being Creston. During the breeding season if you venture out into the vast swathes of cottonwoods you are instantly besieged by the song of this pithy little flycatcher and Leach Lake is no different as I would log 93 individuals on the day.
Top of the Icterid food chain: Yellow-head Blackbird
The whistling and rattling calls of Bullock’s Orioles paired with the liquid undulating song of Black-headed Grosbeaks punctuated the dawn chorus as the sky lightened to the sound of California Quail blurting out their favourite metropolis, “Chicago, Chicago”. As I neared the network of wetlands Pied-billed Grebe, Sora, Virginia Rail, Wilson’s Snipe, Trumpeter Swan and Sandhill Cranes took over the soundscape with the metallic grating calls of both Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the background. As I listened to all of the varying calls the low percussion-like song (pump-er-lunk) of two American Bitterns came from the southern cattails. These nesting grounds are extensive and represent only a portion of the wetlands of this type in the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area. The waterfowl diversity is exceptional with over 21 species during the course of the morning. The highlight of this group for me were two male Canvasbacks which have only a handful of nesting records in the valley. A single male Northern Pintail, along with a few male Lesser Scaup were also a delight. Birding is so situational as I counted a total of 55 Ruddy Ducks which breed in the valley but are very scarce to the west on the main lake where I live.
Six of a group of 11 Sandhill Cranes in flight
Wetlands are a breeding ground for insects which in turn attracts aerial insectivores which as a group have been declining globally. I encountered five of the common swallow species (Bank, Tree, Violet-green, Northern Rough-winged, and Barn) with Cliff being the only outlier. Summit Creek jumped its banks and eroded a portion of the dyke last year which caused the humans some concern but the Bank Swallows didn’t seem to mind. The slightly tumultuous weather also brought two of the possible swift species (Vaux’s and Black) as their scimitar-like wings cut through the air making them stand out in stark contrast to the broader slower wing beats of the swallows as they foraged overhead. Flycatchers are also in the group of aerial insectivores and as I mentioned Least was the dominant species. I was fortunate enough to encounter many Western Wood-Pewees and Eastern Kingbirds, two groups of Hammond’s Flycatchers (in the conifers at both the start and finish), a handful of newly arrived Willow Flycatchers along with both a lucky Olive-sided and Dusky Flycatcher whose song drifted down from the western slopes.
The ever plucky male Ruddy Duck
One of the major draws of Leach Lake is that it is one of the most reliable places to see Black Terns. These sleek black bodied birds whose wings are a mix of black, grey and white are never a sure thing so it was a very BIG moment of excitement when a buoyant dark shape resolved itself into my only Black Tern of the day. Nearby I surveyed the Double-crested Cormorant colony which has grown over the years as they continue to take over what was once solely a Great-blue Heron rookery. I counted more than 10 herons present on nests amidst the raucous mess that are breeding cormorants.
Double-crested Cormorant colony
I had intimate encounters with all three of our breeding species of hummingbirds. Rufous was the first as a male zipped around the scrub chasing away any songbird which deigned to try and inhabit his territory. On the banks of the Kootenay a male Black-chinned was displaying no doubt to a concealed audience of one so I stopped to quietly enjoy the show. As I turned a petite green shape flitted through the willows nearby. Binoculars in hand I watched as a female Calliope Hummingbird flitted from one catkin to another as if feeding until I realized that she was collecting the seedy down to line her nest up on the west slope.
One of three Red-tailed Hawks of the day
The morning’s experience ended with 108 species comprised of 2,444 individual birds during 6 hours and 40 minutes of effort over 10 kilometres. Though birds were the reason for the day’s outing I encountered numerous mammals including the aforementioned bat of unknown species, a Skunk, White-tailed Deer, many Elk, a Beaver, River Otters, Muskrat, and a Coyote. As many of you know I can become very distracted by butterflies and with an 8km walk back to my car and the temperature rising it wasn’t hard to keep myself occupied. Common Ringlets, Common Alpines, Common Roadside Skippers and Western Arctic Skippers were out in force with two Mylitta Crescents, a Silvery Blue, Western Tailed-Blue, and a very worn Painted Lady.
My Birdathon is once again this year a fundraiser for the Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory. As in years past both myself and Avery make up the team the “Wandering Tatlers”. Stay tuned for Avery’s Birdathon which will be conducted in the Yukon later this week! We are aiming to raise $3000 again this year and donations of all sizes are welcome and deeply appreciated. There are two ways to donate to the TLBO, for donations under $250 we ask that you donate through our Birdathon and these funds will go towards our 2025 program. For larger donations please consider contacting us by email at tatlayokobirds@hotmail.com for instructions on how to donate directly (via cheque or eTransfer) to the Tatlayoko Field Station Society as these funds will be immediately available for use in 2024. All donations will receive a tax receipt.
To make a donation via the Birdathon you can visit our team page at: Sachi’s Birdathon for the TLBO
If you want to see the eBird checklist for my Big Day which lists all the species that I saw follow the link: 2024 Birdathon
Once again thank you for your time and attention to our efforts to spread an abiding love for your avian friends.
Happy Birding,
Sachi
Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory 