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Burton Birds and Butterflies: Dusky Grouse at Last

 


I had planned for a four-day stay in Burton, British Columbia, where my brother Stuart lives. I spent the time there socializing and doing some casual birding and butterflying in the immediate vicinity. I had arranged to meet a local birder – Gary Davidson – to drive up some logging roads near Nakusp to look for Dusky Grouse on my last morning. I had done this on my previous two visits and was hoping it would be 'third time lucky'. Gary also suggested that we meet the previous morning at Burton Creek mouth, along the shore of Arrow Lake, a spot that can be productive for shorebirds when the lake level is low. Unfortunately, the lake level rose immediately before I arrived and there was very little shorebird habitat present.

The creek mouth had good numbers of Canada Geese and Common Mergansers and small numbers of other ducks, including three Hooded Mergansers, three Pintail and six Green-winged Teal. A Solitary Sandpiper was the main shorebird highlight. Common Loons, Ospreys and Bald Eagles all put on a nice show. I also spent time driving and walking  some logging roads that went up the Burton Creek drainage, looking at butterflies and hoping I might luck into a grouse. Butterflies were somewhat similar to the Salmo Mountain area, which has very similar habitat, and I had Green, Satyr and Zephyr Commas, California Tortoiseshell, Mourning Cloak, Pine White, Hydaspe Fritillary, Woodland Skipper, Hedgerow and Sylvan Hairstreaks and Northern Crescent.

Pine White

Hydaspe Fritillary

Satyr Comma

Sylvan Hairstreak

On Saturday, I tried an early morning run much further up the logging roads off Caribou Creek Road. I had no luck with any grouse but three Black Bears provided some compensation. I found a nice mixed flock that contained Nashville, Orange-crowned, Townsend’s, Macgillivray’s and Yellow-rumped Warblers and both Cassin’s and Warbling Vireos. Stuart then suggested I try going up McCormack Road along the other side of the drainage as he had been able to drive high up there. I started out around 5.30 PM and road began to climb steadily up after a couple of miles. At this time of day, there was very little bird activity, but grouse sometimes come out on to the roads in the early evening. After getting about five miles up the road, I suddenly saw three grouse in the road. After I stopped the car, they temporarily disappeared but two quickly came back out onto the track. My initial impression was that their size was better for Ruffed Grouse and one bird showed a hint of a tufty crest characteristic of that species. However, I was unable to see any dark tailband and there were fewer white markings on the breast sides and flanks compared to the birds I had just seen in Washington. At that point, the third bird reappeared up on a log. It was obviously larger than the other two and the plumage clearly matched a Dusky Grouse rather a Ruffed. The birds then moved a bit further up the road, so I drove closer. The larger bird and one of the smaller birds showed well in the track. They were clearly an adult and not quite fully grown juvenile Dusky Grouse. I tried a bit of playback was able to get the adult to respond back. I assumed the third bird was another juvenile Dusky.

Dusky Grouse

It is always a great moment when you get to see one of these forest grouse species, but this one was even better as Dusky Grouse was a life bird and one I had looked for unsuccessfully half-a-dozen times.

That night and much of the next day saw heavy rain arrive, helping wash out the smokiness from the sky. Fortunately, my arranged birding rendezvous with Gary and another birder from Nelson at the mouth of Burton Creek coincided with a rain-free break and we were able to thoroughly check out all the habitat there. Shorebird numbers and diversity remained low, although Gary stated that a juvenile Western Sandpiper that I found was a fairly good bird for the location. A brace of Prairie Falcons was the obvious highlight, and we flushed up 10 Wilson’s Snipe and a Sora. I checked out the creek mouth late afternoon after another heavy rainstorm, hoping some migrants might have been knocked down. However, two Eastern Kingbirds were the only new birds of minor note.

 

 

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