Okanagan Vacation 1 - Arrival
June 15th, 2011
First of all, any good things you've heard about Westjet are true. All four flights went off without a delay, without a hitch.
I got my first lifer of the trip at Calgary International Airport, if you'll believe it--a Black-Billed Magpie flew by as we sat at the gate. I'm generally into corvids (I like their intelligence and adaptability), and magpies looked beautiful in the pictures I'd seen, so I was looking forward to them. I only glimpsed my first, but was struck by how it reminded me of a dragonfly. The two North American magpies are among our only three species of birds with tails longer than their bodies (the third is the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher.)
My first, slightly disappointing discovery about south Okanagan birds is how many of the common species back home were also common species there. My second discovery is how many of the common species are close counterparts to common eastern ones. Often the name itself gives it away, as in Eastern Bluebird and Western Bluebird, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Western Wood-Pewee, etc. There are many, many such pairs. The birds of greatest interest to me were those with no close analogue back home--of whom magpies were the chief!
Lifer #2 was my first of many California Quail--an adorable topknotted ground bird that's a common site in rural and suburban areas throughout the south Okanagan. One ran across the road on our way to our first B&B.
We shortly thereafter arrived at Elm Tree Farm...and my jaw dropped. I expected it to be nice, but I didn't realize just how nice it would be. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Having reserved two bedrooms, we had basically a whole cottage to ourself, complete with a full kitchen and two bathrooms. The place was ultra-clean, ultra-comfortable, and surprisingly well-soundproofed. (Actually, maybe not so surprising given that it was originally built as a practice area for the owners' sons' garage band!) Tom was really friendly and an awesome cook. Our final breakfast was frittatas with the proverbial kitchen sink thrown in, laden with cheese, and big enough to fill a casserole dish each. They were to die for.
A wooded stream flowed by right outside our windows. Red-Winged Blackbirds nested abundantly in the reeds, several Bullock's Orioles (close cousins to our Baltimore Orioles) had built their hanging nests in the waterside trees, and a large Wood Duck family called the stream itself home.
Photo by Michael Britton
June 15th, 2011
First of all, any good things you've heard about Westjet are true. All four flights went off without a delay, without a hitch.
I got my first lifer of the trip at Calgary International Airport, if you'll believe it--a Black-Billed Magpie flew by as we sat at the gate. I'm generally into corvids (I like their intelligence and adaptability), and magpies looked beautiful in the pictures I'd seen, so I was looking forward to them. I only glimpsed my first, but was struck by how it reminded me of a dragonfly. The two North American magpies are among our only three species of birds with tails longer than their bodies (the third is the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher.)
My first, slightly disappointing discovery about south Okanagan birds is how many of the common species back home were also common species there. My second discovery is how many of the common species are close counterparts to common eastern ones. Often the name itself gives it away, as in Eastern Bluebird and Western Bluebird, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Western Wood-Pewee, etc. There are many, many such pairs. The birds of greatest interest to me were those with no close analogue back home--of whom magpies were the chief!
Lifer #2 was my first of many California Quail--an adorable topknotted ground bird that's a common site in rural and suburban areas throughout the south Okanagan. One ran across the road on our way to our first B&B.
We shortly thereafter arrived at Elm Tree Farm...and my jaw dropped. I expected it to be nice, but I didn't realize just how nice it would be. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Having reserved two bedrooms, we had basically a whole cottage to ourself, complete with a full kitchen and two bathrooms. The place was ultra-clean, ultra-comfortable, and surprisingly well-soundproofed. (Actually, maybe not so surprising given that it was originally built as a practice area for the owners' sons' garage band!) Tom was really friendly and an awesome cook. Our final breakfast was frittatas with the proverbial kitchen sink thrown in, laden with cheese, and big enough to fill a casserole dish each. They were to die for.
A wooded stream flowed by right outside our windows. Red-Winged Blackbirds nested abundantly in the reeds, several Bullock's Orioles (close cousins to our Baltimore Orioles) had built their hanging nests in the waterside trees, and a large Wood Duck family called the stream itself home.
Photo by Michael Britton
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gabriel_le
June 16th, 2011 at 8:03 am
=D
glad it was a beautiful trip