The Next Generation Naturalist’s Yearbook Part 3
The final summaries of the Next Gen Naturalist Activities: Skeetchestn Rivers Walk Trail Quaaout Lodge
Continue reading →Gary Hunt
Would You Like To Help Monitor Sandhill Cranes?
Sandhill Crane monitoring in the Douglas Lake Plateau Important Bird Area Rick Howie, a member of the Kamloops Naturalist Club, has provided us with instructions on how best to monitor the Sandhill Crane migration. He has also created a recommended route map along with the data forms to record your sightings. The annual migration through the Kamloops area is approximately from April 1 to May 15. Sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) migrate across the Douglas Plateau in spring and fall with a small number of breeders scattered across the plateau during … Continue reading →
Anna’s Hummingbird Overwinters in Kamloops
The Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) formerly bred only in the southern two thirds of California and the Baja regions with post-breeding dispersal in many geographic directions. Their breeding range increased north and eastward and by the late 1940s and 1950s, wintering birds were appearing on southern Vancouver Island with the first confirmed breeding record there in 1958. They have now become year round residents in southwestern BC with many breeding records from southern Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser Valley. The first interior record was from Penticton in October of … Continue reading →
Sandhill Cranes: The Voices of Spring
Contributed by Trudy Frisk with an introduction by Margaret Graham All photos by Rick Howie With the arrival of spring, it won’t be long before the Sandhill Cranes start their migration from their wintering grounds in the south and stop briefly in the Kamloops area for a rest as they head for their breeding grounds further north. The annual sandhill crane migration through B.C.’s Interior is one of the oldest in North America. Much information for the article comes from the International Crane Foundation and from wildlife biologist Rick Howie, … Continue reading →
Kamloops Christmas Bird Count Results
Submitted by Rick Howie (Compiler) It was a blustery, snowy day on Dec. 21 , 2020 for our 41st annual Christmas Bird Count first started in 1979. The club had been doing a half day count for a few years prior to this but we made it a full day Audubon count in 1979.The temperatures in the valley bottom ranged from 0°C – 1°C under cloudy, snowy conditions with winds brisk throughout the day. Temperatures at higher elevations in the count circle were likely 2-3 degrees cooler.
Continue reading →Leucistic Red-Tailed Hawk Photos From Barb Zimonick
Club member Barb Zimonick had the good fortune to photograph a rare condition in birds called leucism. Here is how Barb describes the sighting. I saw this bird on Oct 11, 2020 while driving up O’Connor Road, west off Westsyde Road just before Jamieson. It was sitting in a tree-top quite far away but the white caught my eye. At first, I thought it might be a snowy owl since that is the only white bird of this size familiar to me. However, the photo screeched hawk. I really did … Continue reading →