Central Okanagan Naturalists' Club

Recently we have had reports of members with Shaw email addresses not receiving emails from our Gmail account, particularly emails describing upcoming birding events. It is unclear why this is happening but here are some hints that may stop it from happening. Sorry about the technical detail. Email sent to you is received by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Among the services the ISP provides is spam/junk filtering. Suspicious messages are put into a separate folder, usually named Junk or…

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Well, the website has been down for a week but is now apparently up again. Your webmaster had to seek outside help to fix the problems (and does not understand how the problems occurred.) Now we just need to get through the winter holiday season and get our activities back to normal.

Well, it has been nine months without a post. CONC has resumed hiking and snowshoeing trips. It has resumed birding trips. But it is still unable and/or unwilling to resume in-person meetings. Perhaps sometime in the next year. In the meantime, we hope you have had a happy winter break so far and wish you a Happy New Year.

Well, the intention was to announce that CONC activities were resuming. But, today, BC set a record for the most new COVID-19 cases in one day and the executive decided last week that activities would NOT be resuming at this time. Good choice. You can always attend the monthly presentations by Zoom or get out yourself, properly protected.

Yes, I know that we should have a blog entry every day or so, but that isn’t always possible. Now that we are into March we have changed the featured image on the home page; snowshoes are replaced by buttercups. There are lots of pussy willows out, too. In case you haven’t noticed, CONC has a new president. Douglas Graham has taken on the task of leading CONC out of COVID times! Rick is still involved as past president.

Well, there is snow in the hills around Kelowna so winter is coming quickly. COVID-19 continues to cause difficulties but CONC is making an effort to resume some activities. Monday birding walks are resuming and the second-Tuesday evening meetings are resuming via Zoom, thanks to Douglas. The executive hopes to see you at a CONC activity soon.

Groups of CONC members are carrying out unofficial, socially-distanced activities. One such is the monitoring of the bluebird trail at Gallagher’s Canyon. We have fledged one family of bluebirds and have a second family ready to go. But the highlight of today’s trip was the interaction between a garter snake and a Western Toad. MH provided this ***video***.

Well, we are almost into summer. Where has spring gone? Oh yes, it went by while we were in self-isolation due to COVID-19. CONC activities are still on hold, but some members are getting out for socially-distanced activities, including birding, hiking, and bicycling. For example, on May 17 a number of birders (some walking, some sitting, and some biking) did a mini-Big Day (from 0500 to 1300, through rain and sun) and found 120 species of birds in Kelowna.

First, the good news. CONC’s latest newsletter is on the CONC website. Second, the bad news. COVID-19 continues to be a problem in the community. All CONC activities remain suspended until sometime in the future. This suspension is affecting other activities as well; expect an announcement that the BC Nature AGM in late May is being postponed until May 2021. The Fall FGM has already been cancelled for other reasons.

As you may have noticed from the home page, CONC activities are suspended until the COVID-19 pandemic quietens down. In the meantime, birders have noticed Turkey Vultures, Western Meadowlarks, and Ruddy Ducks, all signs of spring. The botanists will start blog entries when something other than Sagebrush Buttercups and lomatium start appearing.