Reminiscing in the Okanagan Valley

Jaime at Vaseux Lake

Four years ago, I was living out of a two-man orange tent, in the interior of British Columbia. No, I wasn’t a fruit-picking hippie from Quebec, but was part of a small team of biologists, scouring the rocky hills for rare plants and animals. I hadn’t met Jaime yet, but unknowingly, she grew up in the same place.

A sagebrush hill near
Penticton

The Okanagan is a long valley in the heart of southern BC. It is extremely dry and arid in the south, a little pocket of desert, where you can discover cactus, sagebrush and rattlesnakes. In the rest of Canada, it is probably only comparable to Grasslands National Park of Saskatchewan.

I loved my time here. It was my home away from home. The warm weather and rocky landscapes reminded me of Australia, and the wildlife is the most exciting I’ve seen in Canada…

Canyon Wren at Vaseux Cliffs
 (Photo: Thor Manson)

It was dusk as we descended the notorious Mt. Anarchist into the United States/Canada border town of Osoyoos (ah-soy-yoose). We had arranged to meet with local birder Thor Manson the next day at Road 22 (where else!). Thor charitably scouted ahead of us, and with sharp eyes, tied down birds for us so that we could see them after our eventual arrival. Thor also let us use his images of the animals we saw, as our camera had died (it's fixed now).

Bighorn Sheep at Vaseux Cliffs
(Photo: Thor Manson)

Cycling north to Kelowna brought back many memories. The three lakes (Vaseux, Skaha and Okanagan) looked the same, and I could still pick out the exact ponderosa pines and cottonwoods where I had listened for young Lewis’s Woodpeckers calling from their nests.

American Tree Sparrow in Osoyoos
 (Photo: Thor Manson)

Tonight, enthused by Jack Black’s knack for owl calls (we had just watched the movie ‘The Big Year’ at the cinema), we strolled down a dirt track beside Mission Creek to summon a Western Screech-Owl. We soon realised that a Saturday night is not the quietest time to listen for their subtle calls, so predictably gave up.

Chukar at Vaseux Cliffs
(Photo: Thor Manson)

The road signs now boast Vancouver…we are almost there.

New Birds:

280. American Dipper
281. Bohemian Waxwing

282. Clark’s Nutcracker

283. Northern Goshawk

284. Western Bluebird

285. Brown Creeper

286. Pacific Wren

287. Chestnut-backed Chickadee

288. Steller’s Jay

289. Northern Pygmy-Owl

290. Varied Thrush

291. Mountain Chickadee

292. Common Redpoll

293. Pygmy Nuthatch

294. California Quail

295. American Tree Sparrow

296. Canyon Wren

297. Chukar

298. Glaucous-winged Gull

New Mammals:

32. Yellow-pine Chipmunk

33. Bighorn Sheep

34. Mountain Goat

New Reptiles:

8. Wandering Gartersnake

9. Northern Alligator Lizard