Here are some photos of wildlife and scenery in British Columbia from my various trips and home sightings in 2024.
All photos © Alan Burger
Winter 2023-2024
A stark winter landscape in the Logan Lake ski trails. Following the devastating 2021 wildfire and subsequent salvage logging, the area where we often walk has lost most of its wildlife.
New Year’s Day at Tunkwa Lakes Provincial Park – a flock of Redpolls in a frosty tree. These would be the only Redpolls I saw all year.
My year often begins with an interesting owl sighting. This year it was a Short-eared Owl near Stump Lake on the old Hwy 5A between Merritt and Kamloops – 20 January 2024
A collection of woodpeckers – photos taken from my office window: Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker.
A Mule Deer doe, near our yard in Logan Lake
Interesting patterns in the ice at the small pond on the Logan Lake ski trails near our home.
A comparison of eagles – Golden Eagle (L) and immature Bald Eagle (R). Both were at the location where our naturalist club took the Merritt NatureKids Club for a Christmas Bird Count for Kids – 20 January 2024.
Each February the Nicola Naturalist Society has a Snow Bunting Shiver outing to the Douglas Lake Plateau – these high elevation grasslands are always interesting, even in the cold of winter.
Winter landscape – Douglas Lake, 18 February 2024.
Mule Deer on the Pennask Lake Road grasslands – 18 February 2024
A mammal highlight on the Snow Bunting Shiver outing was this mom and calf Moose. Douglas Lake Plateau – 18 February 2024
A pool of open water next to the frozen-over Douglas Lake yielded a group of Trumpeter Swans – here an adult and two juveniles.
And we did find a Snow Bunting – just one. Pennask Lake Road – 18 February 2024.
Spring 2024
Sagebrush Buttercups are always the first blooms that we see in spring – sometimes before the snow has all gone. A very welcome splash of colour. Logan Lake 15 April 2024.
In spring ducks are usually seen as pairs – here a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes (male on the left) on the Nicola River in Merritt, 6 March 2024.
And nearby a pair of Wood Ducks (female on the left).
American Kestrel on the Pennask Lake Road grasslands – 17 April 2024.
Each year our naturalist club, Nicola Naturalist Society, monitors the spring migration of Sandhill Cranes as they pass through the high Douglas Lake Plateau near Merritt. For details and more photos of the 2024 migration click here: 2024 Sandhill Crane Migration.
One of the many big flock of Sandhill Cranes that stop over on the Douglas Lake Ranch on their spring northward migration – 21 April 2024.
We often get interesting shorebirds moving through on their spring migration. American Avocets are rare in the BC Interior, but have been recorded to breed on Douglas Lake Ranch where this photo was taken, 7 May 2024.
An interesting encounter between a young Black Bear and a Coyote – perhaps attracted to the same food? Douglas Lake Plateau, 17 May 2024.
This Olive-sided Flycatcher visited us briefly at our Logan Lake home – a rare species and a nice addition to our yard list. 27 May 2024.
Once again I helped briefly with the Burrowing Owl restoration program on the Douglas Lake Plateau. 31 May 2024.
Summer 2024
In summer and fall I regularly kayak on our local lakes – a great way to see and photograph the water birds. Red-necked Grebe, Tunkwa Lake on 19 June 2024.
For more photos from Mamit and Tunkwa lakes click here: Lake Photos 2024
This male Red-naped Sapsucker was feeding chicks in a Kane Valley nest, 8 July 2024.
And nearby in Kane Valley was a Columbian Ground-squirrel
Here are four of our local grouse species (these photos were not all taken in summer).
Ruffed Grouse are the most widespread and common of our local grouse. Douglas Lake, 21 April 2024.
Sharp-tailed Grouse are fairly rare and generally in open grassland. Douglas Lake Plateau, 14 June 2024.
This Dusky Grouse female was quite agitated because she had some chicks nearby. Kane Valley, 8 July 2024.
Spruce Grouse are usually found in higher elevations and, true to their name, often in spruce forests. These look like juvenile birds. Stake Lake Ski Trails, 10 November 2024.
Hummingbirds attracted to the hanging flower-baskets at our home in Logan Lake – Calliope Hummingbird (L) and Rufous Hummingbird (R) – both are females.
This spring and summer we had two pairs of Violet-green Swallows using nest-boxes at our house – one on each side of our carport. At the nest-box visible from our dining room window we tried to figure out from the photos how many fledglings they had, based on the subtle differences in their plumage. We figured there were four fledglings.
On a kayak expedition to the Broughton Archipelago at the end of June we had some excellent wildlife experiences – some photos here: Broughton 2024.
This Sitka Bumblebee (Bombus sitkensis) was at our cabin in the Broughton Archipelago, 2 July 2024.
Our backyard continues to provide interesting insects – here are a few ………..
This is a Long-legged Anabrus (Anabrus longipes) – a type of cricket. 28 July 2024.
We have at least five grasshopper species in our yard – this is a Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus). The stripes that give it that name are on the top of the thorax (one stripe is visible here). 13 August 2024.
Sawyer Beetle (Monochamus obtusus). 16 August 2024
In late July we spent a week hiking in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in the Rocky Mountains. More photos here: Mount Assiniboine 2024.
A Hoary Marmot lazing on some interesting conglomerate rock – Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, Rocky Mountains, 31 July 2024.
The small pond on the Logan Lake ski trails where we often walk sometimes attracts interesting shorebirds – a Solitary Sandpiper, 18 August 2024.
Fall 2024
In September my brother Damien and his wife Marianne visited us from South Africa and we traveled to parts of BC that we had not previously visited, like the Chilcotins and Bella Coola. Some photos from that trip here: Chilcotin & Bella Coola 2024.
Watching Grizzly Bears catching salmon in the Atnarko River near Bella Coola was a major highlight of that trip. Here are some more photos of that experience ….
Mama Griz and her cub getting down to the business of eating salmon, Atnarko River, 11 September 2024.
The cub was intensely interested in what his mom was doing.
Mom and cub sharing a Pink Salmon, Atnarko River, 11 September 2024.
A Great Blue Heron with its wriggling prey – Cattle Point, Victoria. By posting a close-up of the fish on iNaturalist I learned that it was a Penpoint Gunnel (Apodichthys flavidus). 16 September 2024.
Trembling Aspen leaves starting to turn in early autumn, Logan Lake – 25 September 2024.
Sunset over Logan Lake, 23 September 2024.
This immature Lewis’s Woodpecker was catching ants and other insects in our back yard. This was the first time we’d seen this rare woodpecker in our yard, 21 September 2024.
Rocky Mountain Bighorn rams at Wilcox Pass in the Rockies, 3 October 2024.
I had never seen the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, in BC before, but on 10 October we had the most spectacular show – almost the entire sky was filled with a continually changing array of shimmering lights. The camera, with 20-second time exposures, captured the colour of the display better than what our eyes could see.
Aurora Borealis seen from our yard, 10 October 2024.
Varying colours of the aurora, 10 October 2024. The little cluster of stars in mid-photo, a little to the right, is the constellation Pleiades. In Japan this star cluster is known as Subaru and is the symbol of the car we drive.
Winter again 2024
Interesting patterns on Logan Lake as the lake begins to freeze over – 19 November 2024.
A Red Squirrel at Tunkwa Provincial Park. I wondered what it was eating – turned out to be a mushroom. Squirrels must know which mushrooms are OK to eat. 5 November 2024
In fall and early winter we get an influx of Bohemian Waxwings seeking berries and other fruit in town. These birds come from the northern boreal forests and they replace the Cedar Waxwings which we see here in summer. There are times when we see flocks of 800-1,000 waxwings in November and December.
Bohemian Waxwings on a frosty spruce tree in Logan Lake town – 2 December 2024.
Bohemian Waxwings in Logan Lake.
Waxwings are not the only frugivores that we get in fall and winter …..
Pine Grosbeaks eating fruit in a Logan Lake yard, male left and female right – 23 November 2024.
Foggy mornings in winter produce hoar-frost on the bushes and trees – Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park, 12 December 2024.
A “sun-dog” at Tunkwa Lake Provincial park. The halo and bright spots are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere on a foggy cold morning – 12 December 2024.
My year usually ends with Christmas Bird Counts – five in 2024. These are good opportunities to find some interesting birds – and other critters too.
This Boreal Chickadee was one of five I found on the Logan Lake Christmas Bird Count in the high country near Paska Lake – 20 December 2024.
Townsend’s Solitaires seem to be more common than normal this winter, but always a good bird to get on a Christmas Bird Count, in this case the Ashcroft CBC. Solitaires rely heavily on juniper berries in winter and vigorously defend clumps of juniper trees – that is what this bird is sitting on. 21 December 2024.
A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers was working old cottonwood trees on the Savona-Walhachin CBC – 22 December 2024. This is a female with a black moustache.
This Coyote was quite intrigued with our group looking for birds near Nicola Lake on the Merritt CBC – 14 December 2024.CBC
The year began with interesting owls and ended with more.
Northern Pygmy-owls found in two different locations: Nicola Lake (L; 4 December) and Tunkwa Lake (R; 12 December).
The highlight of the Savona-Walhachin CBC was this Northern Hawk Owl. In the early morning gloom I initially thought it was a Pygmy-owl but the photos proved otherwise. 22 December 2024.
Most photos were taken with a Canon 7D Mark II with a 300 mm Canon 300 mm 1:4 L lens. The insect photos used a 100 mm macro lens. Some landscape photos taken with my phone.
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