Photo review of the month of May

As anticipated, May proved to be one of the wildest and most eventful months yet. Below are some photos that I didn't have time to include on the blog earlier:

In order of appearance:

1) Steve Siegel of Miami, Florida filming boreal species near Dutton Creek above Okanagan Falls (although it looks like he is filming a yellow sign). He is one of the people responsible for getting bird footage for the 2011 film, "The Big Year." The plot has nothing to do with me, but if you see any shots of Evening Grosbeak, Say's Phoebe, Calliope/Rufous Hummingbirds, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Gray Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Long-billed Curlew, or displaying Ruffed Grouse... I was right there! I had the pleasure of showing Steve around the south Okanagan for a day so maybe my name will be in tiny writing at the end of the credits... probably not.

2) 3 Common Terns pose for birders on a piece of wood in the middle of the Juan de Fuca

3) Rick Toochin of Juan de Fuca Pelagics, shovels yummy fish-oil and cheerios into the sea, while the rest of the crew tries not to breath through their noses

4) A Tufted Puffin shows of the plumes to some happy seabirders near Swiftsure Banks

5) 2 shots of a confiding male Spruce Grouse I found while scouting the upper elevations for our BIG BIG DAY

6) The always comical-looking Acorn Woodpecker, so much sweet seeing one in the Similkameen Valley!

7) One of the Great Horned Owl chicks that frequented my parents' back yard for most of the spring










So obviously a great month! There were some misses of course (e.g. Black-necked Stilt) but hopefully all these things will fall into place. Like how come I haven't seen a Semipalmated Sandpiper or Willow Flycatcher yet??? With TIME I guess!

I'm at 316 now which seems very close... but it's mostly a tough slog from here on out! I'll probably still be in the 320s by the end of June, then July might get me into the 330s... August maybe the 350s... then it's one here one there.... a race to the finish!