Even swarming mosquitoes could not dampen the enthusiasm of more than 30 people who attended the Horse Lake Community Farm Cooperative Bird and Botany Walk on June 4.
The music of birds filled the air as the group started down the road toward the pond.
Chubby chubby cheek, chubby chubby cheek
‘That’s a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet,” said biologist, Ken Makenzie, noting it is one the loudest birds.
“There’s a Wilson’s Warbler there too,” he said, demonstrating its call.
MacKenzie and Kristi Iverson lead the annual walk which offers a comprehensive look into the birds and plants of the Southern Cariboo. While he concentrates on bird calls, Iverson educates people on the variety of plant life in the area.
“Big aspens are so good for cavity nesters,” said Mackenzie. “The woodpeckers, the wood is relatively soft and the woodpeckers can get into them easily and the big trees have rotten centres very often so it’s perfect for cavity nesters.”
As the group left the road he pointed to what he calls a fungal fruiting body on one of the trees. He said the tree would be rotten on the inside and often have cavities. Woodpeckers will recognize the tree is suitable for nesting once they go through the hard outer rings which makes it an ideal location for a nest. Other cavity nesters such as ducks, chickadees and even some owls will make use of an old woodpecker cavity in these trees.
At the pond, Iverson displayed three different species of willow branches: Bebbs, McCallas and Drummond willow. Some leaves like Bebbs are green on top and whitish underneath. Some leaves have smooth edges while others have little teeth along the edge.
”Plants grow in different ways too. Saskatoon, the aspen, they’re all growing with underground stems connecting them. So what we might think of as one aspen is just a stem of a colony of all one organism connected underground.”
MacKenzie suddenly points out a Calliope hummingbird perched on a dead willow. “I’ll get him in the scope, might stick around long enough.”
The walk progressed with Iverson and MacKenzie sharing facts of interest to an avid audience.
“Betty Place is my aunt’s property that she sold to CEEDS,” said Maureen Nelson, an avid birder.
“A couple weeks ago we saw a Great Grey Owl on the post at the corner of Dolman Road and Horse Lake Road. He was huge.”
Nelson said she used to think the birds were all just sparrows and songbirds. When you get out there and actually hear them it is totally different. - one has a call and one has a song.
“It’s nice to be out in nature.”
One of the most exciting moments of the morning was watching an American Robin feeding its babies.
“Oh, there’s a baby poking its head up right now,” exclaimed Mackenzie. “They have such big mouths. They look kind of prehistoric when they’re little, till they get feathers. All eye.”
fiona.grisswell@100milefreepress.net
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