OSCA Annual Bird Migration open house offers an up-close look at the diversity of migratory birds in the Okanagan.

Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA) is set to present its annual Bird Migration Day open house on Sunday September 22nd from 9 am to noon – rain or shine. This year, the event will be taking place at the Vaseux Lake migratory Bird Centre at the parking lot to the boardwalk and the bird blind. The event offers visitors a chance to view and identify some migratory birds at Vaseux Lake with the help of interpreters and members of the South Okanagan Naturalists Club. Visitors will also get a chance to go on a guided nature walk with interpreters.

The Bird Migration Day focuses on three themes:

· bird adaptation to migration,

· bird conservation issues and threats,

· birds you can see on migration in September.

In addition to the Bird Migration Day Open House, OSCA also offers this fall ECO-studies school programs to regional schools.

This program and the associated regional school programs are funded in large part through Naturehood Program of Nature Canada, and so, are offered free of charge to the public in this open house format. Cash donations are gratefully accepted on site.

The Okanagan is a bird watching hot spot in Canada and an important summer nesting area for many species. Birds that have bred in the boreal forest and northern parts of BC also funnel through the Okanagan Valley on their way south to the USA, Central and South America, using Vaseux Lake area as a migration stopover to refuel on insects or seeds.

OSCA’s Bird Migration Day open house takes place Sunday September 22nd, from 9 am to noon at the Vaseux Lake Migratory Bird Center, located 4 km south of Okanagan Falls at the north end of Vaseux Lake. The site has a large parking lot on the west side of Highway 97. The boardwalk to the blind is in great condition, but there is poison ivy along the trail. The bird blind is not wheelchair accessible. There are outhouses on site. As well, please note that no pets are permitted at the open house.

For more information contact ecostudies@osca.org.