Bird Watching in the Williams Lake watershed includes listening, too
At 4:20 AM the 3 bird watchers and our leader, expert birder Fulton Lavender, arrived at the path climbing up the massive granite batholith. It was a steep incline for a good ½ kilometer up and into the Jack Pine –Broom Crowberry barrens. One of our party wore a Fitbit that tracked our elevation changes, recording a climb of 14 staircases (42.67 meters or 140 feet) by 5 AM. We hiked, then sat or stood enraptured, listening to the symphony of Hermit Thrushes, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owls (a family of 4), Black & White Warblers, the Ovenbird and the White Throated Sparrow.
To see CBC article on the white-throated-sparrow, click here.
White-throated sparrows change their tune from 3 notes to 2
Our White Throated Sparrows seemed to sing both the old song (Oh My Sweet Canada Canada Canada Canada ) and the new song (Oh My Sweet Cana-Cana-Cana-da). The mid-summer night urban wilderness trip was pure joy. We hiked, looked and listened for several hours with the height of song just before dawn.
-Leary, WLCC