Isaac and I had an excellent morning in the Tranquille area yesterday morning. The beavers were out at their pond and one of them went about its business quite near to us. A birding highlight was a single female Red-breasted Merganser in a back back of Kamloops Lake. On the Tranquille Creek delta area we noticed fresh small rodent tracks in perfect snow showing individual claw marks. In addition, the weather was quite mild warming from just below freezing to plus 4 degrees during our time there.

Tranquille, Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia, CA
Jan 31, 2021 7:50 AM – 10:09 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.7 kilometer(s)
21 species

Canada Goose  151
Trumpeter Swan  17
Gadwall  2
Mallard  35
Common Goldeneye  1

Common Merganser  12

Red-breasted Merganser  1

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  7
Ring-billed Gull  1
Common Loon  2
Bald Eagle  9

Red-tailed Hawk  2
Northern Pygmy-Owl  1

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  10
Black-billed Magpie  6
Common Raven  5
Black-capped Chickadee  5
European Starling  25
American Robin  65   
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)  6
Spotted Towhee  1

Birds seen in the area but not within the Tranquille hotspot area in ebird:

Song Sparrow 1

American Kestrel 1

We stopped at Rattlesnake Bluffs on the way home for two California Bighorn Sheep rams along the road there. A small group of 5-10 ewes were seen higher up as well.