Salmon Run

In the fall, the Kokanee Salmon spawn in the creeks that run through the town and outlying areas.  These photos are of Coldstream Creek.
Forgive me for so many photos but it was awesome to see so I took lots of photos and tried to only post the best of them.
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A favorite hiding spot

This is a small run compared to other creeks in the province but exciting anyway.

Turtle Mountain

One beautiful sunny day after a week of rain convinced me to take a quick hike up a new trail opened up by a housing subdivision.                      
The trail runs along the edge of Turtle Mountain.
It was completely unplanned but I was fortunate to have my son and granddaughter come with me.   You can tell they are waiting for me to take my photos and grab a quick rest as the hike was quite steep in some parts.   I've been told this is an old volcanic crater and the rock formations were very interesting.  It was early afternoon so I didn't see any interesting birds or animals or even insects but that's okay the company was good and the sunshine wonderful.

                                      

California Quail

When I first moved to the Okanagan Valley, I kept hearing a comical "woo hoo" sound. It was such a silly sound, that I had to find out what it was. I asked but amazingly couldn't find anyone that knew or even noticed.

One day, while out walking, I heard the sound again and was determined to find it, so I followed the sound. Sitting on a post, overlooking the yard was a chubby, little bird with a feather curling straight up and out of his forehead. I had heard of quail before and even had seen pictures of them before but never really paid attention, until I saw them up close.

It didn't take long to realize that this fellow sitting on the post was a guard for the flock feeding in the grass down below him. Apparently, local orchard owners imported them to eat the bugs and they do an excellent job and their numbers have been increasing until now, they roam in flocks everywhere.

California Quail have become an everyday sighting for me now. They are not hard to find in this area, especially in the spring, when the chicks are out feeding. The guard male "woo hoo's" almost constantly and between that and his silly plume he always brings a smile.

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