Lardeau walk

This Monday, the Kaslo Area Birders sponsored a walk of the Lardeau. Of course, I immediately thought about how it compared with the Beaver Creek walk sponsored by the West Kootenay Naturalists only two days earlier. The geography was different, so the birds were different. Well, there were commonalities such as the buffleheads and the bluebirds, but, other than a few species such as those, there was surprisingly little overlap. I will credit the Kaslo Birders with offering a much better view of Mountain Goats, but as birds were the object of the exercise, this shouldn’t count for much (except among those of us who are partial to such things).

As with the earlier walk, a great many species were recorded, but I only show a handful of those that looked aesthetic through the lens of my camera.

The day begain with a view of about thirty female elk and one male. Here are three of the many females.

and the one male (is that a smile on his face?).

Common to both walks (and everywhere else) were Dark-eyed Junkos.

Here is where the Kaslo Area Birders excelled: a good view of Mountain Goats.

The Horned Grebes in breeding plumage were a really nice touch, but they were far out on the Lake.

Good views of the Mountain Bluebird were common to both walks (it is that time of year).

But, Kaslo delivered the better Say’s Phoebe.

Curiously, the Lardeau still has coots.

This walk also offered osprey (ho-hum) and a distant kestrel, but the Northern Harrier was a nice touch. Here are two views of it as it chased a Red-winged Blackbird.

Finally, the Nats walk gave me my first Spotted Towhee and Meadow Lark. This walk offered a nice variation with the Yellow-rumped Warbler.