Shuswap Christmas Bird Count report from Rick Howie

Yesterday (December 29), we conducted the Shuswap Christmas Bird count around the west end of Shuswap Lake. It had snowed hard the night before but travel on the secondary roads was pretty good. The 4×4 helped in places. While stopped counting a small cluster of birds, I was able to capture a few images of all of the species making up the group.

Varied Thrushes are fairly common in these wetter forests of the Shuswap but not usually so abundant in the winter. This year, they were conspicuously present in many areas resulting in our highest count ever during the 40 years I have been doing this survey.

The ever-present Northern Flicker is always a visual delight.

Briefly, a Pileated Woodpecker flew in and perched on a nearby power pole. A few clucks and it dove into the deeper forest in search of a meal.

American Robins have been very abundant this mild winter and there were 6 in the trees near me.