The Nicola Naturalist Society held our traditional winter Snow Bunting Shiver outing on Sunday Feb 18th, 2024. Eleven members ventured up to the Douglas Lake Plateau in search of winter specialties – and maybe even Snow Buntings. The weather was kind – no wind and mild and the roads were freshly plowed.
Our first wildlife encounters were with two herds of Mule Deer and a rapidly disappearing Coyote.
At the Spax’mn Reserve at Douglas Lake we found many more birds. Douglas Lake was frozen over but the runoff into the Nicola River at the bridge provided open water with lots to see there. The usual Belted Kingfisher was there, but didn’t stay long enough for photos. A family of Trumpeter Swans, however, provided plenty of photo ops.
We had lunch at Prince Philip Point on Douglas Lake – warm enough to stand around in the snow and enjoy the view and some socializing. But we hadn’t seen a Snow Bunting. And the day was still young. So most of us decided to retrace our path back up Minnie Lake Road and down Pennask Lake Road in hopes of finding an elusive bunting.
Snow Buntings breed in the high arctic tundra but some of them migrate into our area in winter and are most often found in the open snow-swept grasslands of the Douglas Lake Plateau. In our area they are usually in small flocks of 5-20 birds so finding a lone bunting is somewhat unusual.
The birds seen on this outing are listed here on eBird: Feb 18 Trip List
