Blog Posts

Rare Birds in the Cranbrook Area

13/11/2017

The East Kootenay has had a couple of rare bird sightings in the last two weeks. The first was an Anna's Hummingbird first seen by residents on Clearview Road in the Wycliffe area. Four verification pictures were sent to the British Columbia Field Ornithologists (BCFO) and confirmed as an ANNA’s by Mel Hurting, the BC Rare Bird co-ordinator.

The second was a female Northern Cardinal first seen by Katrin Powell and identified by Greg Ross again confirmed by the BCFO rare bird committee. The Northern Cardinal (once thoroughly investigated by the BCFO rare bird committee) will be the first accepted sighting in British Columbia.

Anna's Hummingbird photos - Lyle Grisedale
Northern Cardinal photos - Katrin Powell

The BC Rare Bird Blog regarding the Northern Cardinal can be viewed here =
bcbirdalert.blogspot.ca/2017/11/rba-northern-cardinal-in-cranbrook-nov.html

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Little Big Day Archive Post

15/4/2017

Following is an archive post of past Little Big Days, as we revamp our web page a bit.

Total LBD 2016 – 144 Total
Species in bold were not seen on the 2015 LBD
Check out the species seen in 2015 but not in 2016 at the bottom of page.
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis
Trumpeter Swan
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Dusky Grouse
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Sora
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Wilson’s Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove
Great Horned Owl
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Vaux's Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’ Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Wiliamson’s Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet Green Swallow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Blue Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Pacific Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsends Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
Cassin’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Brewer’s Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Lazuli Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Cassin's Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Species seen in 2015 but not this year 2016
Eurasion Wigeon
White-winged Scoter
Semipalmated Plover
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowleggs
Forster’s Tern
Black Tern
Eastern Kingbird
Steller’s Jay
Swainson’s Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cerar Waxwing
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Fox Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Evening Grosebeak

LITTLE BIG DAY Winners and Total Species List below
Saturday, MAY 23, 2015

A beautiful, sunny, hot day for everyone. This year our lowest temperature at 6AM was 3°, soaring up to 27° in the afternoon.
We enjoyed our meal and count-up at the Marco Polo Restaurant in Cranbrook as the great bird stories fluttered about.
Five teams took part, raising $125.00 to be donated to an environmental cause in the Kootenays.
The total number of species seen by all of the teams was 140, compared to last year’s 139.

The winning team, Cooper’s Hawks, Dianne, Dean, and Audrey found 114 species followed by the Winnowing Wonders with 108 species. Special note to the Biker Hiker Birders for using the bike & hike method and finding 66 species. Congratulations to everyone!

Cooper’s Hawks
Dianne, Dean and Audrey
Spotted 114 species

Winnowing Wonders
Peter, Virginia and Phil
Spotted 108 species

Columbia Lakers
Elaine, Sandi, Peter and Brian
Spotted 97 species

Morning Doves
Greg, Sue, Glenda and Helga
Spotted 85 species

Biker Hiker Birders
Ruth, Jan, Carol, Karen, Shirley, Jim and Laura
Spotted 66 species

Species List LBD 2015 – 140 Total
Bold species are seen this year and not last year.

Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Trumpeter Swan
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
White-winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Ruffed Grouse
Sora
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Wilson’s Snipe
Wilson’s Phalarope
Bonaparte’s Gull
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove
Vaux's Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’ Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet Green Swallow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Steller's Jay
Blue Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsends Solitaire
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Cassin’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Cassin's Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow

reposted / relocated by (Dianne C.)

2017 Winter Social

5/3/2017

Ruth and Jackie did a great job in organizing our Winter Social this year. Naturalists from Cranbrook and Kimberley met at the Kimberley Nordic Club Trails for x-country skiing and snowshoeing, than afterwards gathered for the social and a fantastic potluck dinner.

RMNats AGM and Presidents Report

21/1/2017

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The Rocky Mountain Naturalists held their Annual General Meeting on January 18, 2017. The new executive now included; Greg Ross, BC Nature Director, Linda Hastings, Treasurer, Helga Knote, Vice President, Virginia Rasch, President, Marianne Nahm, Secretary and George Rogers, Past President.

President’s Report, Rocky Mountain Naturalists. 2016

The Rocky Mountain Naturalists have had a very active year once again. We hiked, biked, canoed/kayaked, snowshoed and more. A huge thank you go out to all the hard working people that make our club great. This includes all the members of the Executive, which I think you all know. Susan Walp for putting out such an informative Kestrel, Tara and George Freitag for their coordination of all the work at Elizabeth Lake, Paula for keeping us all up to date on the variety of outings through-out the year. We are getting more new people who have been stepping up to be leaders of the outings. This is great as we all have that special place to share with the club. I also would like to thank Sue Ross for looking after the membership duties, and all the people who chair the many committees on various topics that have been emailed out to all members.
Paula and I attended the BC Nature AGM in May this year that was hosted by the Comox Valley Nature Society. They had great field trips and lots to choose from, interesting speakers, the people who ran the event did a great job and the food was good too.
This year’s AGM (Canyon to Alpine) is being hosted by The Lillooet Naturalists Society from May 4th to the 7th of course in Lillooet BC. The registration and itinerary you will find in the BC Nature Winter magazine on pages 29-30. The RM Nats have decided to put up a little cash to help fund members who might be interested to attend these meetings by offering up to $600.00 maximum per year in allotments of $150.00 each for travel expenses per membership.
Just a note to say our Bylaws have been registered and are now in the books.
We had an amazing turtle day on April 25 with over 500 people turning out to learn about our Western Painted Turtles. Over 220 students from area schools early in the day and 300 plus visitors from the public in the afternoon. A big thanks goes out to Greg for all he does with the turtle habitat and all the other volunteers that were there that day to make it all go smooth. Please see the reports that were emailed out for the final numbers of nest sites and so on.
On June 17th we went up the valley to Dry Gulch Provincial Park to enjoy our 2016 Club Camp. We had a good turn out and went to John Zehnder’s Ranch and he toured us around his property where we saw some great birds, old buildings and much more. Then we had member Randy Hopkins take us birding up to the Wilmer area which is pretty much his back yard. Again a great outing. Smokies on the open fire, need I say more?
In September we had our annual garage sale and a big thanks go out to Max and Candace for hosting again and to all the volunteers that spent time during the day, helping to set up, sell items and take down after. It was a great success with over $800.00 raised for The Rocky Mountain Naturalists Memorial Scholarship Fund. A good time was had by all who were there.
Now these are just the highlights as I see them. Let’s all pull together to do it again this year.

Thank You; George Rogers.

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Christmas Bird Count #117

10/1/2017

Cranbrook
Fifteen field observers in four teams and 10 feeder watchers participated on the Cranbrook Count on the 28th of December, 2016. Temperatures were chilly that day, starting at -8 C, and snow depth was up to a couple of feet; but the roads were clear. After a warm autumn and the late arrival of snow, the chill set in quickly the beginning of December.

You can see more details regarding both the Cranbrook and Kimberley Christmas Bird Counts on our Bird & Nature Counts /Reports page.

Kimberley
Fifteen field observers in 5 teams braved the clear bitter morning temperature of -32 C to go count birds from Wycliffe to Wasa, Kootenay Reserve to Kimberley. A couple of us even cross-country skied the Rails to Trails. Six feeder counters helped us out, too. The warmest it got was -18 C.

RMN Club Camp in Radium

27/6/2016

Our annual spring club camp in June was well attended in Radium this year. Most stayed at the Dry Gulch Provincial Campground (don't be fooled by the name is was a beautiful spot) and others stayed in nearby hotels. We enjoyed two evening meals together, early morning birding and various trips. Guided by RMN member Randy Hopkins we visited the Zehnder Ranch which included a walk around and lots of great birding. We also visited the Wilmer area overlooking the Columbia Valley and a couple of small lakes. A mixed hiking/biking trip to the Old Coach Trail with many beautiful overlooks again of the Columbia Valley, this time from the east side.

Little Big Day (Kootenay Style)

20/5/2016

A beautiful, sunny, warm day for everyone. This year our lowest temperature at 6AM was 3°, creeping up to 22° in the afternoon.

We enjoyed our meal and count-up at The Heid Out in Cranbrook as great bird stories fluttered about.

Four teams took part, raising $105.00 to be donated to an environmental cause in the Kootenays.

The total number of species seen by all of the teams was 144, compared to last year’s 140.

The winning team, Cooper’s Hawks, Dianne, Dean, and Joe found 119 species followed by the Craned-necked Out-of-timers with 92 species. Special note to the Pedal and Paddle team for their environmental endeavor, getting 80 species and The Tea Party for their stories of their actual bush tea party, good china and all, and having 74 species
Congratulations to everyone!

Cooper’s Hawks
Dianne, Dean and Joe
Spotted 119 species

Crane-necked Out-of-timers
Greg, Sue, Glenda and Helga
Spotted 92 species

Pedal and Paddle
Ruth, Kent, Karen, Tara, Jim and Laura
Spotted 80 species

The Tea Party
Cathy, Audrey and Andrea
Spotted 74 species

You can see more detail on our Bird & Nature Counts page HERE.

Turtle Day - Over 500!

8/5/2016

Yes, over 500 people attended the "Turtle Day" at Elizabeth Lake on April 25th! The Rocky Mountain Naturalists and the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program did a GREAT job! Thanks to the local schools (3) and classes (8) that attended, 220 of you, and the public, for coming out. There were 4 stations displaying various aspects of the turtles live cycle.
Here are a few pictures.
(Gerry Warner Pictures)

Salesbury Deep Woods Snowshoe

25/1/2016

A handful of semi-experienced snowshoers didn't mind the huffing and puffing as we trekked the 5 or 6 km loop through the Salesbury Deep Wood trail up past Lumberton. Our mission was to find and identify any animal tracks we might come across and we did, Lynx, Moose, Snowshoe Hare and Squirrel.

Birding 2016 eBird Goals

17/1/2016

Tell us your birding goals or results in the comment section. Did you keep track? How many species did you see?

January
Our club is wonderfully varied in interests and skills. For those of us who are more 'avid' birders, or for those wishing to practice their birding, winter is a good time to view our resident species.

On average, 51 species of birds have been recorded on eBird for the East Kootenay over the past six years.

This year, 56 species have been recorded in the regional district.
EBird EK

There are higher than usual numbers of Pine Grosbeak and White-winged Crossbill. Numbers of Bohemian Waxing are lower than usual.

Of all the species that have ever been recorded, there are still a couple of dozen we could get in January. Since our club is not doing a 'Winter Challenge' this year, perhaps you would like to focus on getting these for the monthly list and adding them to eBird (for eBird beginners, I recommend starting with the 'Incidental' or 'Stationary' types of checklists - correct species, date, time, location, and duration are all you really need).

Here are the possible species we could add to the January list:

TRUS NOPI GWTE RNDU HOME RBME DUGR PBGR RNGR TUVU GOEA NOHA NOGO AMCO KILL MODO BDOW NSWO NHOW ATTW AMKE HOLA BOCH PYNU MOBL BRTH CEWA WCSP WTSP BRBL GCRF CAFI HORE AMGO

For those not familiar with these abbreviations, take a guess! Consider this a quiz! Browse a bird guide or the eBird Web page linked above for clues!

Happy birding!

February
31-Jan-2016

Way to go team of 30 eBirders! You have recorded above average species for January with 68 species - 17 species above the average of 51!

And the muffin prize goes to the contributors to Wardner--Ha Ha Creek Rd hotspot with DOUBLE the number of species compared to the closest hotspot (number-wise) of Marysville. To collect your muffin ..... P-)

FEBRUARY eBIRD GOAL: 52. And it's a leap year! Go!

Dianne C.
Kimberley, BC

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