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2021 April 18 was the saddest day of my life so far.
My beloved son Sean succumbed to the colon cancer he had been battling so courageously for nearly five years.
This post, however, focuses on the happier moments of the year — before April.
While the tone is light, rest assured that Sean would have wanted it this way.
The details surrounding his passing are posted in a five part series after this one.
Rest In Peace, my son!
Part 1 ~ Winter surprises….
The Covid-19 variant first found in India
will henceforth be referred to as the “Delta variant,”
the World Health Organization (WHO) announced May 31.
Trust me to grab your attention with a phony headline. Rest assured, however, this post is not mainly about the pandemic that has been crushing the world for the past two years.
Rather, this is the first of a series of posts of my birding highlights from the first quarter of 2021, a year that many will remember as Covid hell, but which didn’t hold back my wife and me all that much from our usual routines, including getting out to ‘our beats’. We’re both triple-vaccinated and very cautious about mask-wearing and social-distancing.
Of course, on December 29, 2021 as I begin this post, the Omicron variant is now running wild ‘everywhere‘.
The Omicron variant is reported to be running wild around the world. Three of my eight grandkids have had Covid, including one who’s double vaccinated but has been suffering with the disease through Christmas along with several of her hockey teammates. A younger set of twins have had it twice, months apart and both before and after they were vaccinated. Apparently, however, the second time around (yes, they were tested!) was not so severe.
Left: BC health officials tell us about Omicron.
So, I don’t mean to test fate, nor to dismiss the misery that this virus in its multiple variants has wrought and will continue to wring [sic] in the New Year (2022) and beyond! My wife and I have been both very cautious and lucky to avoid the scourge, and we’re most grateful that we’ve been spared — so far.
From a photographer’s standpoint alone, 2021, birding was pretty good here in Central Okanagan.
What follows are some of the moments by which I’ll remember the good days….
January: More Intersex Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)! At least three in my territory now as Socratease (at Thomson Marsh) and Muncie (at Munson Park) joined Homer, the first iDuck I stumbled across and wrote about at length. Below, from left to right: Homher, Muncie, Socratease.
But wait (as the hucksters say), there’s more!
By spending more time over at Munson Park than in previous years, I was able to enjoy great chances to observe this solitary Harris’s Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula) that stuck around well into Spring.
This species, the
only one to breed exclusively in Canada, is wintering more often in BC in recent years. It is normally found east of the Rocky Mountains.
February brought a Harlan’s Hawk (whitish Red-Tail) to Munson Pond/Park. Very similar to Whitey, a Harlan’s that I documented in the winter of 2014-15, I dubbed the Munson visitor ‘Whitey II’. S/he was a great favourite with visitors and photographers for several months.
in residence at Munson Park, Kelowna, BC from mid-winter into early spring.
Am pretty sure I’ve seen him/her in other areas south of the Park as well.
Below you’ll find two more shots of her/him perching.
The Kids’ Fish Pond at Sutherland Hills also provided excellent opportunities to work with a variety of ducks. I’ll post separately about them…. By the end of the month, most of the snow was gone and spring seemed on its way!
and will get it in due course!
‘Keepin’ the lads
in check…’
This Ring-necked group was especially interesting to study. But there were Hooded Mergansers and Barrow’s Goldeneyes as well! I’ll cover them all in a separate post.
March: a lifer — a Peregrine Falcon showed up at Munson Pond!
Among all my birder/photographer associates, I’m perhaps the last to ‘get’ one of these. Like Whitey II, s/he was enjoyed by many folks over several weeks, but I saw her/him only once. Was very glad to get some shots, which required considerable processing to prepare for presentation!
Not the action shot one wants of a PEFA, but beggars can’t be choosers!
March is usually a great month as the Okanagan begins its transition from winter into spring. While the birds below are not unusual to see here at this time, I was very pleased with the opportunities they provided and the photos obtained: a Pygmy Nuthatch (actually shot at the very end of February), Kessie the kestrel‘s mate ‘Amke‘, a Barrow’s Goldeneye pair in various locations, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans from late February into March at Michaelbrook Golf Course, Red-breasted Nuthatches in Belmont Park, a Pintail Duck at TMarsh, and Great Horned Owls across from the Community Garden, (where they would hang out all through summer), and, of course, Mountain and Western Bluebirds in several places, RC Kinglets up close, and a glorious Spotted Towhee at Mahoney Lake, west of Okanagan Falls.
In the gallery below, you can click on any photo to enlarge all the photos in the gallery.
If you’re using an iPad (best in landscape view), to read the full captions and descriptions,
click the ℹ️ symbol at the bottom of each photo.
April brought pain, one that never goes away….
birds & musings 