The life cycle of kokanee is a part of the Okanagan that is visible each year in the fall. When walking down a creek or stream from mid September to mid October, it is hard to miss the bright red fish migrating up. Okanagan Kokanee are unique because one may also see spawning kokanee from mid...
~Marie Molloy Lake Country Museum & Archives in Okanagan Centre is a place for sharing stories and making connections with people past and present. The museum’s collections committee is comprised of a fun group of individuals and it’s hard not to notice how comfortable they are in each other’s...
Don’t call them Seagulls! When we live in a valley with a number of lakes, large and small, as well as ponds, riversand creeks, (not to mention large landfill sites), we are bound to see gulls. Non-birdersoften refer to them as Seagulls. But we have no sea anywhere near us here! Gulls are foundall...
September 17, 2022 On a lovely September Day Virginia and Peter Palma kindly hosted a gathering of Kobayashi Descendents to dedicate their beautifully renovated home to the Kobayashi family. This kind gesture was appreciated by four generations of the family, who were represented at this lovely...
Every so often we receive gifts that are extraordinarily special, and many of the most appreciated don’t come with a hefty price tag. They usually come from very special people. Some of my gifts this year were the much treasured photo album my sister Sharon gave me on my birthday, an...
Flooding is common in the Okanagan. Our post ‘Flooding in Lake Country’ touches on this, as we noted how flooding occurred nearly every year in the early 1900s. In 1908, the Oyama canal was built, connecting Wood Lake and Kalamalka Lake. This lowered the lakes’ water levels, which one may think...
Kokanee, a form of landlocked salmon, are Indigenous to the Okanagan and at one time were abundant within Okanagan and Wood Lake. Kokanee adapted from sockeye salmon, who migrated from the Columbia River approximately 10,000 years ago after the last ice age. Once damming became prominent in the...
Here are some pictures of one of the oldest and original houses in Okanagan Centre still in existence. This home at the bottom of Camp Road was built by a German immigrant builder in 1889, so we were told, who shortly thereafter returned back to the old country. The home was subsequently...
Please note: Scott is referring to an amazing glass column soil sample that is located on display at the Museum. Stop by the Museum to view the sample and experience an informative tour on Lake Country’s Wine Culture. The soil in the glass column was collected from the O’Rourke’s Peak...
Three Grebes In past postings we’ve looked at many of the ducks that can be seen in our valley annually. Today let’s look at another family of diving birds, the grebes. Five species of grebe come to the Okanagan annually, plus one more occasionally, but only three are here in winter, and those...
Four Owls Winter is undoubtedly the best season in which to see owls. This is partly because many trees are bare, enabling better sightings, if you are lucky. But it’s also because in winter some of the owls that usually breed and hunt in the upper forests come down occasionally to the...
Nancy Josland Dalsin In 2018 I was working as a volunteer at Mackie Lake House in Coldstream researching some of the artifacts. One of the artifacts that I was researching and trying to provenance was a beautiful, wall mounted artists jewel case designed by the famous Victorian period architect...