Bicycle Birdathon 2025

The alarm jarred me awake to blackness and as usual it took me a few seconds to remember why I was getting up at 2:30 in the morning.  It was birdathon day!  I staggered out of bed and immediately looked outside to assess the weather—it had rained very heavily early in the night but I was hoping things had lightened up a bit.  I was happily surprised to hear no rain or wind and see stars twinkling!

I’ve been doing birdathons on the long May weekend since 1979, and for most of that time they have been fundraisers to support bird conservation in Canada, and more specifically the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory (If you’d like to donate to support the cause—and thanks to all who have done so already—please click this link).  Since 1986 they’ve been friendly competitions between teams as part of the Okanagan Big Day Challenge, so we were motivated to outdo our rivals who were out on their own routes today.

My teammates today were John Reynolds and Brian Starzomski, and we chatted about the route for the day over a hurried breakfast, packed our panniers and were off into the darkness on our ebikes (hence our team name—”Electric AvianView”).  The first stop on this classic bicycle birdathon route was Max Lake, a narrow riparian valley tucked into the hills west of Penticton.  We normally get a few species calling on the way up the road, but this morning was quiet, and it wasn’t until we got to the gravel track to the lake that Brian pointed out a Common Poorwill calling from the slopes.  It was 3:26 am and we were on the board.

A few metres down the track a Virginia Rail called from a small marshy spot but we couldn’t find a Sora.  A Gray Catbird—my first of the year—gave its squeaky chatter from the thick bush.  Farther on, we stopped for a few minutes to try to whistle up the pair of Western Screech-Owls that have a territory in the narrow valley, but heard nothing but silence in return.  By 4 am we were near the end of the track and stopped to listen for one of the specialties of these ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests of the southern Interior.  Within seconds we heard the soft “boo-boot” call coming from high on the ridge to the west—Flammulated Owl!

For the next 15 minutes or so we searched for other owls in the darkness—Great Horned, Northern Pygmy and Northern Saw-whet, but all we heard were songbirds awakening in the slowly brightening dawn—Spotted Towhee, Townsend’s Solitaire, Chipping Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, Veery.  A Barrow’s Goldeneye flew over en route to one of the small lakes on the mountain above, its wings whistling overhead.  We cycled to the very end of the track and waited for the real dawn chorus to begin before turning around.  Species come thick and fast at this time of the day—Mourning Dove, Western Tanager, Western Bluebird, Dark-eyed Junco.  A Ruffed Grouse drummed on a nearby log (I can barely hear these guys) and a Steller’s Jay squawked in the distance.

Farther down the trail we picked up some essential species on our coniferous forest list—Hairy Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Cassin’s Vireo, and Cassin’s Finch.  We stopped again at the screech-owl territory and one of the pair answered back!  From the deciduous woods and shrubs we heard Black-headed Grosbeak, Song Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Warbling Vireo, and Dusky Flycatcher.  Some Evening Grosbeaks flew overhead and from the marsh we heard a Common Yellowthroat, Mallard, and—at last—a Sora!  Violet-green Swallows chattered overhead and a male Calliope Hummingbird launched into his display dives.  Just as we were leaving the lake (really a glorified pond), the first real surprise of the day—three Green-winged Teal flew in, the first I’ve seen there this year. 

By 6 am we were back in civilization, cycling through my neighbourhood on the West Bench of Penticton.  We had 44 species but added more quickly as we tallied the backyard garden species common here—California Quail, Black-billed Magpie, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Brewer’s Blackbird, Rufous Hummingbird, and Bullock’s Oriole.  A brief stop at the local gravel pit netted Western Meadowlark, Vesper Sparrow, Bank Swallow, Say’s Phoebe, Western Kingbird and another nice surprise—Rock Wren.  A Cooper’s Hawk, and then a Bald Eagle, flew overhead, starting our raptor list off.  By the time we got back to my house, we had a very respectable 63 species. 

We plugged in the bikes to top up the batteries for the long day ahead, had a second breakfast, and repacked the bikes with everything we’d need.  The weather was still cool, so we didn’t need to change clothing gear as we normally do.  At 7:20 we were ready to go, coasting down the hill to the KVR trail on our way to the Okanagan River.  A Ring-necked Pheasant called, quickly joined by a few others, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew by (nice to get both common accipiters out of the way), and a Lazuli Bunting flushed off the trail and began to sing from a saskatoon.  After several anxious moments, we finally heard a Yellow-breasted Chat singing from the rose thickets below—sometimes this is the only place on our route we hear them. 

At the river we quickly checked off Osprey, Tree Swallow, Wilson’s Warbler, and Spotted Sandpiper, and at last heard a Bewick’s Wren singing in the cottonwood thickets.  After crossing the highway bridge we dropped into the Riverside Park trail where we suddenly tallied three singing birds all at once—Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow and Western Wood-Pewee.  The former two species have mostly gone up to higher altitudes and latitudes by this time, and the latter was a first for the year, albeit a week or so late.

Okanagan Lake is always a much anticipated site on this route, and this morning the viewing conditions were ideal—glassy calm.  Two flocks of Common Mergansers were foraging near the far shore of the river mouth, a Ring-necked Duck dove nearby, and farther out a Western Grebe and two Horned Grebes were bonuses.  But no loons, no gulls.

At 8:40 am we turned south again, checking the golf course ponds for teal (none, but there was our first coot!).  A pair of Cedar Waxwings were at a nest along the dyke and a Great Blue Heron flew north out of the cottonwood forest, and a big flock of swallows wheeling overhead included a few Vaux’s Swifts.  As we passed the airport fields a Northern Harrier was a welcome sight, a species I’ve been in the habit of missing on recent birdathons.  We bumped into Alex Bodden, Lyse Desilliers and Matthew Lowery here as they were walking north on an epic hike around Penticton.  A male Lesser Scaup on the channel was a bonus, but the real surprise was on the southern oxbow—a pair of Northern Shovelers spinning in the water, and spinning between them a nice Red-necked Phalarope!

We reached Skaha Lake at 9:45 with 96 species—just shy of the 100 that is always my goal (rarely reached) at that spot.  As we cycled along the highway to Kaleden, a Common Loon on the lake and White-throated Swifts and a Golden Eagle overhead put as at 99.

At 10:40 we turned into the driveway of Three Gates Farm on the White Lake Road, another classic stop on Okanagan birdathons.  Doreen Olson, the owner of the property, was doing a big sit at Sickle Point on Skaha Lake, but had been warned we’d be dropping by.  Red Crossbills were calling overhead as we arrived (#100!) and a White-breasted Nuthatch flew into the feeder.  Most of our attention was on the hummingbird feeders, which here are dominated by many female Calliope Hummingbirds, the common species in these ponderosa pine forests.  But Doreen gets four species here, and it wasn’t long before a male Black-chinned Hummingbird buzzed in.  There had also been a female Anna’s Hummingbird in the yard over the past few weeks, so we thought it would be worth our time to wait a little longer (and to give our bikes a bit more juice).  We added Hammond’s Flycatcher singing in the fir woods below and a Turkey Vulture soaring above and then the Anna’s dropped in for a drink!

As we left at 11:15 a Pygmy Nuthatch called near the driveway, and then we were up the big hill on the way to White Lake.  Our next real goal was Lewis’s Woodpecker at a nest site along the road, and I heard their calls as we rounded the corner.  But no birds on the nest tree—then we saw them flying south across the meadow.  Phew!  We dropped into the ponds on Saddlehorn Drive, where a female Barrow’s Goldeneye gave us the first visual for that species—but no other new shorebirds or ducks.  Farther on, the pond at the south end of St. Andrew’s had a calling Wilson’s Snipe, something we’d missed there last year. 

By noon we were at White Lake—right on time.  A Mountain Bluebird and Lark Sparrow were welcome additions as we cycled up to the junction, but after that the beautiful sagebrush-filled basin produced very little—nothing on the lake, no Grasshopper, Savannah, Brewer’s or Clay-colored Sparrows in the sage.  We hiked up to the west in hopes of finding sparrows or Gray Partridge but came back to the bikes empty-handed.  Then it was down the big hill to the south and on to the hayfields of Willowbrook, listening and looking for Savannah Sparrows.  No luck again. 

We turned on to the Green Lake Road and pedalled on to Mahoney Lake, where we hoped to find Gray Flycatcher, but by then it was almost 2 pm and the pine woods were silent.  A Red-naped Sapsucker flew by and the lake produced Ruddy Duck and Pied-billed Grebe, but there was no sign of the several pairs of Gadwall that had been there the day before.  As we continued on to Green Lake, we met another birdathon team that had walked from White Lake and were just returning from  lunch at Nighthawk Vineyards (Okanagan birdathons can have their added benefits!).

As usual, Green Lake had clouds of midges around its shores, but we didn’t need any species from the cloud of swallows swooping through them.  Three Bufflehead were a nice surprise on the lake, but I’d been hoping for more diving ducks.  Then one of the real bonuses of the day—not one but two Townsend’s Warlbers singing in the firs.  This species is usually much higher up by this time and not often seen on migration at low elevations in the valley.

Then down the spectacular hill known as “The Wall” (glad we weren’t going up) to Vaseux Lake.  On the cliffs high above us Brian spotted a mountain goat—locally common in the valley but very unusual at this site—the mammal of the day! We peeled off the road at the bottom and crossed the Okanagan River channel on a footbridge to get on to the Okanagan Falls wastewater treatment plant and its marshes.  No disappointment here—a half dozen Yellow-headed Blackbird males were singing raucously.  And then another surprise, a flock of 30 or 40 gulls soaring overhead.  Any gulls are unusual in May in the Okanagan away from a couple of small colonies, so we looked carefully at these and identified them as California Gulls, perhaps going to or coming from breeding grounds on the prairies.

By 3:40 pm we were at the north end of Vaseux Lake and quickly added Gadwall (finally), Redhead, Marsh Wren, and—an early arrival at the bird blind—a Willow Flycatcher.  As we cycled over to the northeast cliffs we found the Red-necked Grebes in the lily pads then quickly added Canyon Wren high on the rocks.  It was 4:40 and time to turn north and head for home.  We were missing a few key species and concentrated our efforts in tracking some of those down.  A stop at the dam at Okanagan Falls found no dippers (not sure if any have been seen there in recent weeks), and then it was north up the KVR rail trail along the west side of Skaha Lake.  Several loons and Lesser Scaups were nice to see, but not new.  We had a brilliant time with a pair of Lewis’s Woodpeckers that kept pace with us for a few hundred metres, but no kingfisher. 

In downtown Kaleden, Brian yelled “woodpecker drumming!” and we all listened to a very loud tattoo.  With that volume, I assumed it was a flicker, but we tracked it down to a power pole and there it was—species #125, a Downy Woodpecker that had obviously found a very loud sounding board on the pole.  Farther north, a big sparrow hopped out of the bushes onto the trail—a Golden-crowned Sparrow!

When we got back to Penticton  at 8 pm, the forecast afternoon winds had finally arrived with a vengeance—surf was up at the beach and the trees were flailing.  We had to make a choice here—do we continue north along the Old Airport Road and maybe get one of our missing sparrows, or do we go back along the river channel?  Considering the wind, we decided sparrows were out of the question and started up the dyke.  Almost immediately a Belted Kingfisher flew across the river–#128!  At the oxbow, the phalarope was still spinning, but no Blue-winged or Cinnamon Teals in sight.  We tried the east side of the channel but saw no teals in the golf course ponds (We found out later that Alex Bodden’s team had seen both there earlier in the afternoon). 

We checked the Okanagan Lake waterfront, but it was just as wild as the waves on Skaha Lake and there was nothing new in sight.  Our last ploy was to go to the Great Horned Owl nest on Westminster Avenue that Alex Bodden had told us about, and at 8:35 we saw the big nestling there.  Happy that we’d got a respectable species total and very satisfied with a very enjoyable day, we pumped up the West Bench Hill (very thankful to be on an ebike at that moment!).  Near the top of the hill, a cacophony of robins drew our attention to a big blob atop a birch tree—another Great Horned Owl!

So we ended up at 9:06 pm with 117 kilometres travelled and 128 species on the trip list.  Next morning, we found out that we’d won the Flammulated Owl trophy with the highest species count for the Okanagan Big Day Challenge.  Our main competition, the Chafing for Chickadees team, found 118 species on a crazy route—cycling to the top of the Okanagan Plateau at Greyback Lake on acoustic bikes, encountering horrific trails and heavy snow.  

Again—this is a fundraiser for the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory.  We need to raise about $10,000 to fund this initiative that annually monitors bird populations in British Columbia as part of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network.  If you’d like to donate to support this cause, please click this link.  Thank you!