Well it's been quite the year, a "warm-up" if you will for 2010. Simply by working in some fantastic areas like Fort Nelson and Revelstoke, mixed with my usual close-to-home birding in the Okanagan and three weekend trip to the coast, I managed a respectable 338 species for the year. Wow that was an awkward sentence; hopefully by writing things down everyday from now on I'll be able to enhance my literary prowess. Anyways... it would be hard to briefly sum up the highlights from this past year but here are a few notable bird memories:
-Finding an apparently legit Western Gull (adult) in Kelowna in February
-IDing 8 species of gulls on the roof of Memorial Arena in Kelowna at one time
-Almost driving past a sleeping Great Egret in Penticton because my passenger wasn't aware that it was an awesome bird for the area
-hearing a pack of wolves welcome the dawn near OK Falls on my first serious biking "Big Day" in the Okanagan (not birds but still amazing!!!)
-Witnessing both spring and fall migration in beautiful Revelstoke, BC
-After 3 weeks of searching, finally detecting Yellow Rails up in the Peace (on the last day)
-Finding all 3 species of ptarmigan and hearing the males vocalize (very cool)
-Radio-tagging a female Spotted Owl in Garibaldi (and seeing 13 other owl species this year!!!)
-Catching up with a few BC rarities like Indigo Bunting, McCown's Longspur, and Black Phoebe
-Finally getting out on a BC pelagic trip but somehow missing the South Polar Skua that EVERYBODY else saw!
-After years of never seeing one, finally lifting my Okanagan Valley Rusty Blackbird jinx by finding 1 at the Kelowna landfill and then another just north of Vaseux Lake!
Those are just a few of the high times, I also had a great year meeting new people and places, and reacquainting my self with old ones.
Here's to the new year!
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