SAGE WHISPERS - Kamloops Naturalist Club
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May 2021
SAGE WHISPERS
Newsletter of the Kamloops Naturalist Club
We enjoy, protect, and promote nature
Lazuli Bunting by Steve Schmidt
INSIDE THIS EDITION
Programs and Events- 2
Annual Grassland Cleanup - 3
City Nature Challenge - 4
Next Gen Naturalist Update - 4
Isobel Lake Trip - 5
Spring Birding Columns - 6
Kamloops Hummingbirds - 7
Signs of Spring - 8
Thompson Nicola Conservation Initiative - 9
Our Members - 9
CLUB INFO PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
May 20 – Liam Ragan – Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas Program in
BC
The Kamloops Naturalist
Liam Ragan is the new Provincial Coordinator for the Important Bird and
Club was formed in 1971
Biodiversity Areas Program in B.C. The IBA Program is a global
and became a registered
partnership of bird conservation organizations in nearly every country on
Society in 1981. It is a
earth which designates sites which are critical for bird populations based
member of the Federation of
on a set of agreed upon thresholds. A great example is the Douglas Lake
British Columbia Naturalists,
Plateau IBA just south of Kamloops which hosts more than 1% of the total
and Nature Canada.
population of Sandhill Cranes as they migrate through in the Winter and
Spring, making it a global IBA.
Sage Whispers is published
every two months, except for During his presentation he will be talking about the history of the IBA
July and August.
Program and its network of volunteer Caretakers who have allowed it to
thrive. He'll also discuss with club members the new Key Biodiversity
Editor: Chelsea Enslow
Areas initiative which builds on the success of the IBA Program to apply
chelseaenslow@gmail.com
similar species thresholds to all organisms and achieve conservation
designations which take into account all organisms which make up a
KNC Mailing Address
healthy habitat.
P.O.Box 625, Kamloops, BC
V2C 5L7 The meeting will be over ZOOM and you will need to register in advance
by clicking here:
Meetings When: May 20, 2021 07:00 PM
7:00 PM, the third Thursday https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkcequrTktG9dsxt5X0DPw
of the month from xAZJE54w7D6-
September to June. Meet at June 17: "Where the Wild Things Walk" - Dr. Lael Parrot is the Director of
Heritage House, 100 Lorne the Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services
Street, Kamloops, BC (BRAES) at The University of British Columbia. She will be joining us to
speak about the importance of maintaining ecosystem connectivity as our
Annual Membership city grows. She'll explore the concept of 'ecosystem services', that is all the
(January 1 to December 31) amazing things nature does for us. She'll then provide a real life example
Family - $40, Individual of an ecosystem mapping and planning project conducted by the Okanagan
-$28, Student - $23 Collaborative Conservation Program, to inspire conservation work in our
Contact: Winnifred Fischer area.
250.376.3944
May 30, Sunday. Big Bird Day. Two teams will compete to find the most
bird species. Teams are divided into South and North, using the South
Find us Online! Thompson and Thompson Rivers as a dividing line. The team with the
kamloopsnaturalistclub.com highest number of species is the winner.
or
If you would like to take part in Big Bird Day, Team South is being
facebook.com/kamlooopsnat
organized by Glenn Dreger gdreger@telus.net (250-372-3837). Team North
uralistclub
is being organized by June Kitamura junekit46@gmail.com (250-374-8734).
Team South data is being collected by Nancy Flood nflood@tru.ca and
Team North by Teresa Corboy teresa_corboy@hotmail.com. Teresa will be
collating the data from both teams to get the final winner. Last year's
winner was Team South with 141 species while Team North had 137
species. There was a total of 161 species reported between the two teams.
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 2
ANNUAL GRASSLANDS CLEANUP
By Mandy Ross
EXECUTIVE
& OFFICERS
President
Nancy Flood
Past President
Julie Schooling
Secretary
Jean Crowe
BC Nature Director
Gary Hunt
Treasurer
Alyssa Brosch
Directors
Justine Densmore-McCulloch
The KNC and the Friends of Lac du Bois held the annual grasslands
Margaret Graham
clean-up on April 24th. The volunteers were spread out this year
Chelsea Enslow
to follow Covid rules and cleaned pull-outs and parking lots all the
way up Lac du Bois Road and along the Dewdrop flats area. We had Michael O'Neill
a great turnout with over 30 people volunteering for this socially Ceryne Staples
distanced event. A sign-up sheet was created ahead of time, so Circe Spink
people could sign up for a specific location and reduce the need to Program Manager
gather in one spot. BC Parks supplied garbage bags and the City of for NextGen Naturalists
Kamloops waived dump fees for the day. The total weight of the Jesse Ritcey
garbage wasn’t recorded but the Kamloops Bike Riders Association
Communications
collected over 200 lbs just from one area alone. Thanks to all that
Margaret Graham
attended and worked so hard to keep our grasslands clean!
marggraham@shaw.ca
250.554.1285
Membership
Winnifred Fischer
Newsletter
Chelsea Enslow
Programs
Justine
Densmore-McCulloch
Margaret Graham
Bluebird Co-ordinator
Susan Wellandt
Webmaster
Doug Smith with Gary Hunt
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 3
CITY NATURE CHALLENGE
By Jesse Ritcey
A big thank you to Chris Torres for organizing the participation of Kamloops
in this year's City Nature Challenge. 36 people in Kamloops participated,
sending in 544 observations. This was a good learning experience and we
expect next year to be even better! Thank you to everyone who participated.
We know some people found the technology aspect challenging and look
forward to being able to do this as more of a group activity in the future.
NEXT GENERATION NATURALISTS UPDATE
By Jesse Ritcey
We successfully
applied for and
received $22,000 from
the Canada Summer
Jobs program to hire
some of the Next Gen
Group over the
summer. We're calling
the group 'Team
Nature Kamloops' and
they will be working
out of the United Way
XChange office on the
North Shore. They'll
be doing a mix of
indoor work
preparing educational
materials, sharing
information out to the
public, developing
web/social media
Next Gen Naturalists at Sun Peaks
content, and then
Some of the Next Gen Group enjoyed a cross country skiing lesson at Sun some hands on
Peaks towards the end of March. It was nearing the end of the season up there outdoor activities
but the snow was still good and lots of fun was had. Everyone is looking such as talking to park
forward to starting up more frequent hikes and outings over the summer, users, pulling invasive
especially as public health guidance begins to allow for more socialization. weeds, and restoring
We'll also be continuing our zoom meetings and are looking forward to some habitat.
upcoming speakers on spadefoot toads and sustainable tourism management.
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 4
ISOBEL LAKE TRIP
By Liliana Ortega
I had many opportunities to engage in
conversation with the children and I
asked many of them what their
favorite thing about being outside
was. The answers ranged
considerably but they all left me in
awe. Some of the responses consisted
of their love for anything alive, such
as the different types of plants and
animals they can see outside. Others
spoke of their favorite activities like
hiking, spending time with family
and playing. Many of the students
spoke of the tranquility that nature
brought to them and how the beauty
of it just made them feel good. I have
to say this was my favorite part.
On May 5th I had the pleasure of joining Marion Schilling
Hearing these insightful answers
Elementary teacher Jennifer Jones and her grade 2/3 class
from such young people really
for a field trip to Isobel Lake. It was a beautiful day and
brought me hope about the next
we arrived at the lake early in the morning. The class was
generation and how they will treat
divided in two groups so that half of the class could
our planet and its inhabitants in the
experience the uplands with me, while the other half
way that they should be treated. The
could observe the riparian zones with Jennifer. After a
fascination of so many of these
while we traded groups. From the start, the students were
students towards nature and the
very enthusiastic about being outside and being able to
environment really motivated me to
observe what they had been learning in their class. Many
become more involved. I hope to
of the kids really surprised me with the amount of
ensure that they are able to
knowledge they already had as I received many questions
experience what I have been able to
about the food web and how energy moves through it.
see and learn from. I would like to
Over the course of the day, I believe that I received
thank Jesse Ritcey and Jennifer Jones
questions from every single one of the students. I was
for arranging everything so that I
surprised at how much these questions made me think
could accompany them on this lovely
and view our surroundings from a different perspective.
and revealing trip.
Even though our hike was tiring, the students remained
curious and engaged throughout the whole trip. One of
my favorite things about this class was their awareness
for taking care of the natural ecosystem. I would
constantly hear the kids say amongst each other: “We
have to stay in the trail”, “Remember to not leave trash
behind” and “Things from the park must stay in the park”.
It is absolutely clear that Mrs. Jones is doing an absolutely
excellent job at instilling love, curiosity and respect for
their natural environment to her students.
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 5
BIRDS TO LOOK FOR IN MAY AND JUNE
By Isaac Nelson
Western Kingbird, and Warbling Vireo.
In the coming days we will also begin to
see birds like MacGillivray’s Warbler,
Gray Catbird, and Eastern Kingbird. I was
lucky enough to encounter an Olive-sided
Flycatcher this afternoon as it hunted
insects in the rain. Red-naped Sapsucker
and Lewis’s Woodpecker have also
returned to their nesting areas. The
former can be found wherever Trembling
Aspen grows, and Lewis’s nest in
cottonwoods or dead pines snags at
Tranquille and numerous other locations.
Western Tanager This dry spring has produced optimal
conditions for rare shorebirds.
There is no better time for birdwatching in the Uncommon species like Black-necked
Kamloops region than the months of May and June. Stilt, American Avocet, Dunlin, and
With May comes waves of migrating warblers, vireos, Semipalmated Plover are showing up in
flycatchers, and sparrows. Many birds are just passing places like Tranquille and Separation
through, while for others Kamloops is the final Lake.
destination. Recent arrivals include Wilson’s, Yellow,
Orange-crowned, Nashville, and Townsend’s Warblers,
Happy birding!
not to mention Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting,
BIRDING IN MAY
By Tristan Semeniuk
The beginning of May marks the end of most of the white-
crowned sparrows migrating through every year. They stick
around for a few weeks, arriving near the end of April, and they
come hungry. They will eat almost anything when they stop on
their long journey north to their breeding grounds, from your
newly planted grass seed, to any bird seed you put out in your
feeder, so you need to be prepared for their arrival, and maybe
delay planting your garden or lawn until after they leave. Their
beautiful song echoes in the spring air, and can be heard early in White-crowned Sparrow
the morning, as they are early risers like the American robin.
mostly stay high up in the canopy
May also brings in the return of warblers, songbirds known for of trees. Yellow-rumped warblers
their insect-catching abilities. Also, they are very fast and hard are the first to arrive, following
to see, flitting among the thick canopy of the deciduous trees. with orange-crowned and
Warblers are the main excitement for birders this month, but Nashville warblers. Soon after, all
May is the peak of migration season, so many other species of the others arrive, the most
birds can be seen as well. “Warbler neck” is a thing and a common in Kamloops being the
common problem when looking for these birds, as they like to yellow warbler.
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 6
KAMLOOPS HUMMINGBIRDS
By Kurtis Huston
Kurt is is a new club m em ber, recently m o v e d t o K a m l o o p s . W a t c h f o r t h e o p e n i n g o f h i s n e w W i l d B i r d s U n l i m i t e d
N at u re S h op on the N orth S hore in the nea r f u t u r e
offers easy perching for the birds,
easy viewing for you, a leak free
design, ease of cleaning, and no
yellow in the design (this will just
Rufous Hummingbird
attract wasps). Keeping nectar fresh
and the feeder clean is crucial to the
health of hummingbirds. When
mixing your nectar solution take 1
part table sugar to 4 parts water and
mix until you can no longer see the
sugar granules. Never use brown
sugar, honey, or other sweeteners.
Check nectar daily when it is hot, or
when feeders are in the sun as
As spring ramps up into summer so do the sightings of solution can mold quickly and should
hummingbirds in our area. In Kamloops we are home to always be changed before it turns
three species of hummingbirds: the Rufous Hummingbird, cloudy. Also avoid products that put
Calliope Hummingbird, and Anna’s Hummingbird. red dye in their nectar as these
Hummingbirds are primarily migratory, however Anna’s products are not safe for birds, and
nectar being red is completely
are often non-migratory staying year-round in their
unnecessary. There are some safe and
breeding range.
effective additives to prolong nectar
Hummingbirds require a steady food source through in hot climates such as Kamloops.
breeding and migration due to their small body size and
high metabolic rate. As you can imagine, flapping those Hummingbirds are defensive of their
wings so fast burns a lot of energy. The primary food food sources so plan your garden to
source for these birds is nectar and insects. In the wild have a good mix of flowers, feeders,
these birds feed on wildflowers, insects stuck in and water features and sit back and
spiderwebs, and even nab the odd bug right out of the air. enjoy nature's miracle right before
Within cities these birds readily come to flower gardens, your eyes!
hanging baskets, and nectar feeders.
The key to attracting these birds to your yard is by
planting lots of colourful flowers and a habitat that will
provide them with shade, shelter, water, and security
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds
from predators. They are very drawn to the colour red
and prefer bright tubular flowers that can hold a great
amount of nectar. These include perennials such as bee
balms, columbines, daylilies, and lupines; biennials such
as foxgloves and hollyhocks; and many annuals, including
cleomes, impatiens, and petunias. When offering water
consider a mister, drippers, or a moving fountain as they
are particularly keen on moving water.
When offering nectar in a feeder for hummingbirds there
are a few important things to note. Look for a feeder that
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 7
SIGNS OF SPRING
Be l o w a r e a c o l l e c t i o n o f p h o t o s t a k e n b y l o c a l Ka ml o o p s Na t u r a l i s t c l u b me mb e r s .
Left: Yellow-rumped Warbler*, House Wren*, Mountain Bluebird^, Cinnamon Teal* *Glenn Dreger
Right: Redhead+, Tree Swallow*, Osprey^, Wood Duck^ ^Steve Schmidt
+ Karen Willies
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 8
THOMPSON NICOLA CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
By Ma n d y Ro s s
The dry interior of BC has been identified as one of 11 priority
places for biodiversity conservation in Canada. In response to
this new focus, the Thompson Nicola Conservation Initiative
was launched (March 2020) to gauge interest in organizing a
conservation partnership in the region. Initiated by provincial
government staff, the project received start-up funding from
Environment and Climate Change Canada – Canadian Wildlife
Service, however going forward the initiative will be member-
driven and independent of government. The structure and final
name of the program is yet to be decided.
An ad hoc steering committee was formed to help direct the
project and a consultant gathered information from other
conservation networks and carried out over 80 interviews with
conservation groups, First Nations, recreational groups and
many other organizations. After the interviews, summary
reports were created followed by a series of workshops held
virtually to gain insight into priority topics and areas for
collaboration. There was an overwhelming level of support for
starting a conservation network in this area and the workshops
were very well attended. People are eager to work together for
conservation.
There are other conservation partnerships throughout the
province to look to as examples, including the very successful
Kootenay Conservation Program and the South Okanagan
Similkameen Conservation Program. These programs operate as
networks to help conservation organizations build capacity,
find funding, share knowledge and collaborate for larger scale
conservation projects on local and regional levels.
The Thompson Nicola Conservation Initiative workshops have
wrapped up and potential partners have indicated how they
would like to be involved. We are waiting to hear
recommendations for next steps, so stay tuned for more news. from top to bottom: few-flowered shooting
star, lemonweed, and small-flowered blue
You can find more information and the summary reports by
eyed mary . Photos by Marina Lipinski
visiting
https://www.totabc.org/tnci.
OUR MEMBERS - JOY GOTHARD
By J u l y e - An n e Mc Ke n n y
When Joy first came to Kamloops in 1971, she joined the Kamloops Outdoor Club and met Jack and Bar
Gregson, who were founding members of both the KNC and KOC. She enjoyed many hikes and camps
with them, and may even have attended the odd KNC event. She became an official member of KNC in
2004. The opportunity to hear speakers on natural history, environmental issues and the field trips
appeal to her interests in exploring the outdoors.
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 9
Joy Gothard was born in New Westminster, the daughter of
John Petty, a nurseryman who specialized in roses and fruit
trees, and Bernice, a psychiatric nurse. She grew up in
Langley, when it was a dairy town, not the bedroom of
Vancouver as it is now.
Joy pursued post-secondary education following graduation
from high school and now holds a Bachelor of Home
Economics degree from the University of British Columbia.
She also holds a post graduate diploma in Dietetics from
St.Michael’s Hospital, Toronto.
She began work at the Royal Inland Hospital as a Clinical
Dietitian, but took a year off to travel. She traveled by land
down the West coast of the United States, across Mexico, to
Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia,
Ecuador, and Peru to pursue hiking and mountaineering. She
also got to know the people and cultures of these countries
along the way. That’s quite the trip Joy! Upon returning, she
went back to RIH to work in administration of the food active days, these outdoor activities
services. Upon retiring Joy volunteered to work with a group inspire her quilting and fibre arts.
of Dietitians and nurses to deliver a public health program in
Costa Rica. Prior to the Covid restrictions, Joy
enjoyed helping with the Tranquille
Joy is married to Jim Gothard. They met here in Kamloops River nature and gold panning tours
and have been married for 45 years. They have two sons: for the TRU International students.
Owen and Dylan. Owen is a Civil Design Technician working Although they are teenagers, they
for the City of Kamloops and Dylan is a Project Manager for show the same excitement that
BC Hydro in Comox, Vancouver Island. preschoolers did for the YMCA Nature
Tours that Joy and her friend led
As Jim’s work took them to different locations around the many years ago.
province, she has had a variety of work in the field of
Dietetics including mentoring food service technician Lastly, while living in Revelstoke, BC,
students, administration, outpatient nutrition counselling, Joy was on the steering committee to
public health and Diabetes education. She has also worked as form the Friends of Mt. Revelstoke
a science technician at Stafford Secondary School in Langley. and Glacier National Park and on the
This was a refreshing break from healthcare while their sons first board. Their mission was to
were young. More recently, Joy and Jim attended BC Nature provide educational materials and
conference field trips in Comox and Lillooet. Their first supplemental programs to enhance
experience with BC Nature camps was grizzly bear and whale visitor knowledge and appreciation of
watching out of Telegraph Cove, Vancouver Island. In 2018, natural and human history of these
on their way to Haida Gwaii, they were able to fit in the BC National Parks.
Nature Botany camp at Smithers, as well.
Joy’s dedication to sharing her love of
In her leisure time, Joy regularly enjoys hiking, biking, and nature, volunteer spirit, and
cross-country skiing. She also likes to get out paddling on the enthusiasm have made her a valuable
rivers, lakes, and oceans of BC in a kayak or canoe. On less addition to the club!
Kamloops Naturalist Club May 2021 10You can also read
