A golden mantled ground squirrel near a mountain lake in the Okanagan region.
One of the best things about moving to new locations is that we get a whole new set of sights and sounds when it comes to animal and bird life. After our short stay in the Niagara region to complete an 18 month contract in Buffalo we finally committed to our long term plan to get to the west end of North America.
This has been a goal of ours to try to build out a way to make nature and landscape photography our semi-retirement plan. The first stage was to get out here and find a location to purchase some land. We figured it would take a year or two of traveling around British Columbia before we would find that ideal location to be a base for photo trips and possibly a nature retreat.
Varied Thrush
Our first short stop was in the Nelson area of the Kootenays. After a long cross-country drive, this was also the area that we started to find and photograph birds and animals that were new to us. Hiking (or if necessary snow-shoeing ) along the rail trail above Nelson I found a couple of small birds flitting about in the trees. The first on a snowy day was the Varied Thrush followed by a pair of Pine Grosbeaks taking some mostly frozen fruit from the trees.
This trail was also were I caught my first glimpse of a Northern Pygmy Owl, but it would take a trip to the college grounds in Castlegar to finally get a clear shot.
Northern Pygmy Owl on a cold cloudy day near Castlegar, BC
Down along the lake in a creek bed I saw an American Dipper diving into a rocky stream and back out. This is a bird I had seen on a few nature shows and it was just as interesting to watch in real life. Even in town amongst a bunch of loud Canada geese I found a single Greater White Fronted Goose.
After a month in the Kootenays, we headed toward the Okanagan Valley. It soon became evident that this was not only a place for retirees to migrate too, but it was also a great location for birds of prey to spend the cold months. Eagles, Hawks, Harriers, Owls, and Falcons could be found along the river and up on the edge of the cliffs. Most of those birds I have seen before but the Peregrine Falcon was a first for me, and I was lucky to find where they were going to nest in the spring.
Peregrine falcon flying over the cliffs east of Osoyoos, BC
With the exception of a few Bighorn Sheep and Coyotes, at first we didn’t see anything new from the mammal side of the animal kingdom. The first one that was new to me was a rather large rodent. The Yellow-Bellied Marmot can be found along skree fields, in rocky areas and up in the mountain fields. Another rodent-like mammal was a uniquely marked chipmunk that turned out to be a very cute Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel.
We did finally happen along a family of Mountain Goats on the highway up towards Kelowna one afternoon. A very good excuse to stop along the side of the road and pull out a long lens. I’m really hoping to get more chances to see these beautiful creatures in the fall.
A pair of Mountain Goats just off the road north of Penticton, BC
With spring migration I started to see a lot of smaller birds that were also new to me. The list of new birds is pretty long but was interrupted when I went back to work, putting a hold on day outings. On that list are Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks and Brewer’s Blackbirds up in the mountainous areas. Canyon Wren along the cliff edge and Clark’s Nutcracker in the wooded areas. Say’s Phoebe, Yellow Headed Blackbirds, Yellow Breasted Chats, Spotted Sandpipers, a Cassin’s Finch, Bullock’s Oriole, a Red-Naped Sapsucker, Violet-green Swallows, Bohemian Waxwings, Black-billed Magpies, Willow Flycatcher, and a Bewick’s Wren by the creeks and lakes.
As for birds of prey, one of my favorite subjects, I kept track of the pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting in the cliff face, a Golden Eagle, a good shot of a male Northern Harrier, and a number of different morphs of Red-Tailed Hawks.
As you can tell, in only a couple months with just a few hikes and weekend walks I have managed to find a wide assortment of animals and birds that were completely new to me, not to mention the plethora of nature that I have been able to shoot that may not be new but is always interesting to get to know better.
I’m still looking forward to getting some more interesting interaction shots. Eagles and Osprey fishing, Bighorn sheep, elk, moose and deer in rut this fall. Hopefully I can get some more bear shots, maybe even a grizzly. The mammals that continue to be elusive but hope to capture in the next couple of years are bobcats, lynx, wolverines and badgers. On the bird side I continue to look for some of the more rare owls in the neighborhood and maybe a woodpecker or two. With this search, maybe we’ll even find that even more elusive piece of land to build on.