It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon at Lake Country’s Kaloya Regional Park a few days ago when a trio of paddleboarders had an unusual visitor show up.

A great blue heron landed on one of their boards for a moment on its long, stilt legs before opening its wide wings and flapping away toward the shoreline of Kalamalka Lake, offering an up close, unexpected nature moment.

“There were three of us enjoying the afternoon and I was in the water when my friend said ‘wow, that’s a big bird,’” said Kelowna resident Sian Malone. “I was in the water and couldn’t see what she was talking about until the heron landed on my other friend’s board and thankfully she started a video right away.”

Malone has been paddleboarding in the Okanagan for four summers and has never seen a blue heron up close before.

“It was amazing and people are saying it has to be some kind of good luck sign,” she said. “Even people on the boats around us were saying they hadn’t seen anything like that either.”

The video was captured by Kelowna resident and paddleboarder Ali Murphy and the delighted laugher of the paddleboarders can be heard in the background.