Jan-Feb2016_Newspacket - North Okanagan Naturalists` Club

North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NEWSPACKET
Buttercups in December !!!
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Cover Photo
Swan & Eagle Count
NONC Natural Series
Hummingbirds
During a walk atop Middleton
Sunday, Jan. 17th. Aaron
Malcolm Martin is writing a
With an Anna’s
Mountain on Dec. 12th we
Deans is the coordinator.
series of short articles on
Hummingbird wintering in
saw this buttercup, one of two
Contact him at
natural history topics from the
Vernon for the past two years,
in bloom! The sun-warmed
ground had confused the
[email protected] if
you wish to participate.
North Okanagan. Parts 1 to 4
appear in this issue on pages 5
a series of articles on winter
and hummingbirds seems
& 6.
appropriate. Page 7-9.
plants.
www.nonc.ca
P a g e !1
vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
2015 Christmas Bird Count Report
by Claude Rioux
This year's Christmas Bird Count in the Vernon area
turned out to be quite successful, even though we
had a rocky start with a morning snow storm. As the
day progressed, the weather improved and we
finished the day with blue skies. The result is that
the number of birds tallied was higher than we had
originally expected.
Below is the final tally of this year's Christmas Bird
Count submitted by Peter Blokker - Christmas Bird
Count Coordinator for North Okanagan.
About 50 people took part in this year's Christmas
Bird Count for the Vernon area.
There were two trophies handed out for The Bird of
the Day Award:
•
First place went to the Miyasaki team for
their sighting of the Short-eared Owl
•
The runner up went to the Bodkin/
Loughridge team for their sighting of the
Anna's Hummingbird
A total of 20,171 birds of 89 species were tallied.
This compares well with most years.
The list follows:
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-wingedTeal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
www.nonc.ca
2,222
8
1
14
2,026
35
4
8
47
8
Greater Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
California Quail
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
includes 9 immature
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Virginia rail
American Coot
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucus-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl
Short-eared Owl
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
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65
12
24
4
38
307
79
1
8
1,454
5
3
43
10
11
15
49
22
13
12
135
24
23
12
2
803
1
206
68
224
9
281
308
543
3
1
1
1
10
14
4
vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
Christmas Bird Count cont’d:
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Steller's Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
American Dipper
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Bohemian Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewers Blackbird
Pine Grosbeak
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow
89 species
20,171 individuals
www.nonc.ca
220
5
8
21
3
274
140
219
237
9
44
1
30
1
1
3
167
1
3,017
2,220
2
1
1
109
49
876
858
13
3
70
134
702
14
105
344
328
58
662
above: American Kestrel, photo by Claude Rioux
above: Bohemian Waxwing, photo by Chris Siddle
Page 3
!
vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
DENIS SEYMOUR
In Memory of
DENIS ELDON SEYMOUR
October 11, 1938 - December 18, 2015
Denis Seymour, a plumber extraordinaire, has been
brought to his knees by cancer. He passed peacefully
with his wife holding his hand. He was active and
dedicated to his world of nature and his community as
a fireman for 25 years, a counsellor of Coldstream for
3 years and was instrumental in saving Kalamalka
Lake Park from developers.
He taught his 6 children, 14 grandchildren and 7
great-grandchildren to love nature and all its species,
especially insects.
He will leave a very large hole in the lives of his
family. There will be no funeral but prepare for a
summer wake at Briarwood. No flowers please,
donations may be gifted to Hospice House.
Denis was a long-time member of NONC. Amongst the
talents he shared with us was his gift of music, playing
the piano at Christmas parties and Winter singalongs.
**********
NONC CHRISTMAS PARTY SKIT
Christmas Bird Count 2015 photo:
Once again the NONC players entertained with a
spoof. This year on our various Naturalists’
groups. Four well feathered bluebirds, flew
around the room twittering, supposedly counting
for the Xmas Count. Bird monitors were now
Peeping Toms, Hikers were a parade of quacking
Ducks, a Greater yellow legs was spotted and a
Wandering Tattler. A couple of unmusical
choruses were followed by a real live singing
Robin. Watch out Kelowna , 150 species were
spotted.
American Robin, by Chris Siddle
Hylda Mayfield
www.nonc.ca
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
NONC Natural History
Parts 1 to 4 in a series by Malcolm Martin
Every Naturalists’ Club can probably boast a small
number of flora and fauna items special to the region
covered by that club and about which newer
members may not necessarily be familiar. NONC
Natural History 101 will be briefly featuring some of
these pertinent to our area.
What better place then, to start than with the
diminutive orchid emblematic of the North
Okanagan. At one time it appeared on the club
membership badges when these were in use, and also
as a background to official club letter stock. Its story
goes back to around 1970.
NONC Natural History 101
#1 - And in the Beginning
Nearly half a century ago a group of friends living
around Enderby would make outings to birdwatch
and visit interesting areas in their vicinity. On one
occasion, to their horror, they found work underway
to drain a large wetland above Grindrod. Unsure of
what they could do themselves, they hastily hightailed it to Vernon to consult with NONC. Joan
Heriot had recently retired and was full of fire, so
she quickly recognized this marly wet area as
possibly a suitable candidate for the newly proposed
Ecological Reserve program in BC.
Documenting and inventorying of the property
speedily got underway, during which the late John
Shepherd, at the time Curator of the Vernon
Museum, found in the wet meadow a number of
small yellow/green orchids which by careful
detection he decided was Loesel’s Liparis or Yellow
Widelip Orchid (Liparis loeselii), a name which
when reported to the botanical establishment in
Vancouver/Victoria brought gusts of uncontrolled
laughter. The idea that an orchid of eastern North
America would present itself in the BC Interior was
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just too much. A delegation of doubting academics
duly arrived, were greatly impressed by the wetland,
giving it their blessing as a potential E.R. and
declared the Liparis orchid officially part of the BC
flora - heady stuff for a regional club. No wonder it
was chosen as a suitable emblem for the club.
Mara Meadows went on to become a reserve in 1972
and remains one of the program's most precious
features. Since then two other sites for this orchid
have been uncovered in BC, one at White Lake north
of Salmon Arm and more recently another in the
Incomappleux River valley lost in the mountains
south-east of Revelstoke.
#2 or The Bat That Struck Out
In a farmhouse near Vernon during the summer of
1937 an unknown figure ascended the stairs and
gingerly opened the door into the attic. Hundreds of
eyes swivelled to view the interloper. Shock and
awe - tightly packed bats were in residence!
Official investigation secured two individuals for
identification, and probably health study, and in due
course an answer came back that these were Fringed
Bats (Myotis thysanodes), a species new to Canada.
Vernon, therefore, became the recognized site record
for many years until the start in recent decades of
regional bat surveys, particularly in the dry Interior.
Fringed Bat is one of the larger in the Myotis genus
and extends from Mexico east of the Coast Ranges,
north to southern BC, where it has now been
documented throughout the Okanagan and
Thompson Valleys and up to Chilcotin and Williams
Lake. Extensive as this provincial range is, the
original Vernon population remains the only nursery
colony yet found in BC to prove reproduction in this
province. How lucky can you get?
more on page 6
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
#3 or Back From The Dead
#4 Death in the Afternoon
Readers are requested to be tolerant with including
an introduced species in this account - it is to be
found in Vernon and has an interesting story.
Trees are large enough to be noticed when something
taxonomically significant happens as, for instance,
the discovery of Gingko in China and the Wollemi
Pine found not far west of Sydney in Australia.
Another recent event that affects us indirectly was
the surprising naming of Viet Nam Cyparis a few
years ago. DNA testing and every other test
imaginable shows this new species to have only one
close relative and that is Nootka Cyparis or Yellow
Cedar from our Nootka coast and well appreciated
by gardeners around Vernon. These two species,
separated by the Pacific and thousands of kilometres,
have now been reclassified and put into their own
genus, Xanthocyparis.
But the real subject of this article is The Strange
Story of the Dawn Redwood.
It was just before the end of WW II that Chinese
botanists realized they had Dawn Redwood
(Metasequoia glyptostroboides) alive and well in a
few valleys but otherwise identical to fossils going
back millions of years to the early Tertiary. Western
botanists quickly got into the act and soon
distributed seeds of Dawn Redwood around the
world.
Strangely, some of Canada's best fossil locations for
this tree come from Ellesmere Island, warm and
accommodating at the time but still subject to total
sun in the summer and total darkness through the
winter, which some observers consider behind Dawn
Redwood being a deciduous conifer. Although
habitually living in damp conditions in China, it
seems satisfied with normal garden conditions where
nominally it can reach 200 feet or far too big for
urban use. For this reason the Dawn Redwood tree
growing in the front garden of 1801 28 Crescent will
probably meet its maker at some time in the future.
So, next spring go for a view while you still can.
Unless big, beautiful or bothersome, insects fly
below the radar of the general public and as a result
fail as candidates for NONC NH 101. As a result
there may be interesting stories overlooked such as
the following concerning robber flies.
As a common name, robber fly is a bit of a
misnomer; serial killer would be more in keeping.
Their number around the world is legion and variety
wide, some looking like bumble bees, others like the
lethal killers they are. As long ago as the 1920s
specimens of one were collected in what became
Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park and lay unnamed
and unmourned in the Provincial Museum and
elsewhere. Time passed and along came Rob
Cannings, who undertook a study of earlier robber
fly collections to compile a provincial check list. By
this time the Kalamalka species had been reported
from a number of sites in the southern Okanagan and
eventually along the Thompson River valley to
Kamloops. His study into the unnamed specimen led
to its designation as a new, local and rare species to
which he gave the name Okanagan Efferia (Efferia
okanagana).
A few years ago COSEWIC allocated Okanagan
Efferia a status of 'endangered', the highest based on
the fact that its habitat of arid grasslands in the
southern Interior is itself limited, declining and
endangered by loss and degradation.
In character and behaviour Okanagan Efferia brooks
no questions. As top predator in these grasslands, it
catches on the wing anything it can handle, clutching
its prey in hairy legs, piercing and injecting
paralyzing saliva and organ-dissolving liquid which
is then sucked up with relish. Even adults of its own
species are fair game. So this is what lurks in the
open grasslands through early summer; how could
such goings-on be allowed in a public park you
might well ask? 🌎
www.nonc.ca
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
Helping Hummingbirds
Through Winter Weather
Even 3:1 will freeze if the temperatures dip low
enough, but some winter hummingbird hosts have
reduced the need for switching feeders by placing
them next to a window (the more poorly insulated
the better), inside an open shelter made of plywood,
or under an outdoor-rated heat lamp.
by Sheri L. Williamson
used by permission
Sheri L. Williamson is a naturalist, ornithologist,
conservationist, writer, speaker, artist, and author of
A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America in
the Peterson Field Guide Series.
http://fieldguidetohummingbirds.com/
Posted on December 20, 2008
With the usually temperate Pacific Northwest
battered by fierce winter storms, there’s a lot of
concern about how the resident Anna’s
Hummingbirds are handling brutal temperatures and
frozen feeders, and what their human hosts can do to
help them survive.
One way to help is to use a slightly stronger feeder
solution. Many people, myself included, have
switched to a ratio of 3 parts water to 1 part sugar for
all or most of the year. The sugar concentration
(about 23% by weight) is closer to the average sugar
content of hummingbird flower nectars (about 25%)
than the standard 4:1 recipe (about 18%), and it has
the advantage in winter of freezing a little more
slowly.
It’s important not to go overboard, because more is
not necessarily better. Sugar solutions sweeter than
3:1 can be syrupy enough to interfere with feeding
efficiency, and this effect is magnified as
temperatures plunge. There’s also the issue of
dehydration, since nectar is a hummingbird’s main
source of water (especially when everything else is
frozen).
If you make the switch to 3:1, you’ll need to adjust
your expectations a bit. Since it contains more
calories per drop than 4:1, your birds will not have to
visit as often. It may look as though they’re avoiding
the feeder when actually they’re just feeding more
efficiently.
Keeping hummingbird feeders from
freezing
Posted on November 23, 2010
Two winters ago I posted some suggestions for
helping hummingbirds through winter weather,
including boosting the sugar content of the feeder
solution, taking advantage of heat radiating from
windows, creating shelters, and using heat lamps. A
lot of people are dealing with frozen feeders already
this season, so here are a few more suggestions
gleaned from the winter hummingbird community:
Make a “feeder cozy” to help fresh solution retain its
warmth longer. It can be as fancy as you like—
knitted, crocheted, quilted, down-filled—but pipe
insulation (fiberglass wrap or foam tube) or a section
cut from a discarded blanket or sweater will do the
job. If it’s roomy enough, you may even be able to
tuck handwarmer packs inside. [A commenter on
BirdForum mentioned using stockings; if your feeder
bottle is small enough, a heavy wool sock would
make a quick and easy cozy.]
continued on page 8
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
Hummingbirds continued from page 7
lid, and store in the refrigerator. Substitute invert syrup
for no more than half of the sugar in your feeder
solution and reduce the water slightly (by about 2
tablespoons per cup) to compensate for the water in
the syrup.
Wrap your feeder in outdoor-rated incandescent
Christmas lights (the old style, not energy-efficient
LEDs). The bulbs should produce enough heat to keep
the sugar water slightly above air temperature,
especially if you add an outer layer of aluminum foil to Safety first! Lights and heating tape present fire and
reflect heat and block wind.
electrocution hazards. Use only products that are rated
for outdoor use, including extension cords. Do not use
Wrap your feeder in pipe heating tape under a layer of electric heating pads outdoors! Don’t enclose
insulation. Thermostatically controlled models will
Christmas lights inside a cozy or place a cozy-covered
save energy by turning on as necessary to keep the
feeder too close to a heat lamp—it could start a fire.
solution just above freezing.
Heat lamps or Christmas lights may melt the flimsy
plastic of discount-store feeders.
Invert your sugars. The freezing point of a solution
depends on the number of molecules present. More
solute (sugar) molecules make it harder for the solvent How hummingbirds avoid overheating
(water) molecules to link up. Inverting your sugar,
By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News
which breaks each sucrose molecule into one of
16 December 2015
fructose and one of glucose, doubles the number of
via Joan Wilkinson
molecules and depresses the freezing point by a few
additional degrees without adding additional sugar.
Colourful footage, shot with a thermal camera, has
revealed how hummingbirds avoid overheating as they
To invert ordinary table sugar, combine 2 cups sugar
beat their wings up to 70 times per second.
with 1 cup water, adding 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or
continued on page 9
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
to speed up the reaction. Heat
the solution to a low boil on
the stovetop in a heavy
saucepan, washing down the
sides of the pan with a little
additional water to dissolve
any stray sugar crystals. Use
a candy thermometer to
monitor the temperature,
which will rise above the
boiling point of water as the
water in it boils away. Once it
reaches 230° F., remove the
pan from the heat and allow
the syrup to cool, then pour it
into a clean jar, pop on the
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
Hummingbirds continued from page 8
The birds have "windows" for heat loss, around their
eyes, shoulder joints, feet and legs.
This study, led by George Fox University in Oregon,
US, is part of a Nasa-funded project to uncover the
effects of climate change on the birds.
The results are published in the journal Royal Society
Open Science.
Dissipating heat is complex in birds because feathers
are such effective insulators.
Lead researcher Dr Donald Powers said many nest
birds formed bare "brood patches" when sitting on
eggs, "so that the eggs are not insulated from their
warm skin by the feathers".
Saturday Morning Nature
Walks
The NONC Nature Walks, held every
Saturday morning at 9:00 am and lasting
up to 2 hours, continue to be popular.
Here are some highlights from two
recent walks…maybe to entice more
NONC members to get out of bed and
enjoy nature!
December 19th on the BX Creek North
Trail. We were really surprised to see so
many Downy Woodpeckers, American
Goldfinches, Eurasian Collared-Doves
all in the trees beside the creek. Twentyfour species were counted. The highlight
of the day was an American Dipper in
the creek [picture by Claude Rioux].
"We wanted to understand how hummingbirds, and
birds in general, get rid of the extra heat."
As bright white patches on the footage reveal,
hummingbirds - and, researchers say, probably birds
in general - have special areas around their eyes,
shoulders, and legs that have low feather density.
These serve as windows to rapidly dissipate heat
during flight.
"As flight power requirement increases- it is highest
when hummingbirds hover - the amount of heat
generated increases," said Dr Powers.
"But these 'windows' are sufficient at moderate
temperatures to dissipate all excess heat across the
full range of flight speeds in hummingbirds."
The researchers are currently investigating whether
these nimble, nectar-feeding birds will be able to
avoid overheating as temperatures increase. 🌎
www.nonc.ca
P a g e !9
December 5th on the Salmon Trail in
Lumby. Right away the birds began to
appear. We spotted 17 species, some of
the highlights being American Kestrel,
Northern Shrike, Pileated Woodpecker,
Great Blue Heron, and Belted Kingfisher.
vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
This Bobcat was photographed
this past Autumn at the home
of Dave & Kathy Smith, in the
area of Creekside Park in
Coldstream. It wasn’t camera
shy at all!
www.nonc.ca
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
North Okanagan Naturalists' Club (NONC)
P.O. Box 473
Vernon, B.C. V1T 6M4
Bluebird Trails
Website www.nonc.ca
Conservation
EXECUTIVE
Cools Pond
President
Past President
Vice-President
Secretary
Treasurer
Directors
Harold Sellers
503-2388
Rod Drennan
545-4999
Pat McAllister
558-1440
Kay Bartholomew
542-3977
Ruth Drennan
545-4999
Leigh Holt
260-3680
Pam Jenkins
545-0490
Norbert Maertens
549-2723
Claude Rioux
351-5445
Marnie Williamson
545-4743
Botany
Hummingbird
Banding
Newsletter
Newspaper
O.C.C.P.*
Speakers
Socials
Swan Lake
Trips
Website
NatureKids
Margaret Mackenzie
542-2712
Margaret Mackenzie
542-2712
vacant
Adam Moss
558-4775
Gail Loughridge
545-7455
Harold Sellers
503-2388
Ray Arlt
542-2058
Aaron Deans
260-1800
Rod Drennan
545-4999
Kay Bartholomew
542-3977
Lyall Webster
545-0955
Pam Jenkins
545-0490
Harold Sellers
503-2388
Kathy Smith
558-1647
* Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program
PROGRAMS & ACTIVITIES
Contact the following if you have questions.
BC Nature
Birding
Bishop Wild Bird
Sanctuary
www.nonc.ca
Pam Jenkins
545-0490
(sub) Peter Blokker
545-8297
Peter Blokker
545-8297
Aaron Deans
542-5122
LIFE MEMBERS
Ray Arlt
Kay Bartholomew
Joan Heriot*
Phil Jones*
Malcolm Martin
Frank* & Mary Paul
* deceased
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vol. 44, no. 1
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
NONC
Newspacket is published five times per year,
in January-February, March-April, MayJune, September-October and NovemberDecember.
Copy for publication should be sent to Harold
Sellers, Editor, by e-mail to
[email protected] or through the club postal
address.
MONTHLY MEETINGS
On the first Wednesday of the
month (September through May),
we hold a meeting for members
and visitors at the Village Green
Hotel, Sierra Room II. Start time,
7:00 pm. Guest speakers, club
news, refreshments.
NONC MEMBERSHIP
Clip or copy this form to begin or renew a membership with the North Okanagan Naturalists’
Club. Annual dues are $35 for an individual and $50 for a couple or family.
Name(s): _____________________________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Email: _____________________________________ Telephone: ______________________
www.nonc.ca
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vol. 44, no. 1