For the second consecutive year I joined a group of birders from the UK for a two-week tour of the area. The trip was organised by Ribble Bird Tours and I was drafted in as itinerary planner / guide / driver / interpreter etc. As you can clearly see from the attached efforts I was not employed as a photographer... (pics taken using handheld snapper held up to my 'scope).
We flew out to Vancouver on Friday 20th May and returned on 5th June 2016.
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| Lewis's woodpecker |
We then spent some time in the spectacular Okanagan Valley, making a couple of stops along the way for such cracking birds as lazuli bunting, Bullock's oriole, mountain bluebird and Say's phoebe.
The habitat changed dramatically as we headed into the drier interior, and so did the avifauna. Here we were joined by the always affable Chris Charlesworth, one of the region's best known birders, to maximise our opportunities. Highlights here included sage thrasher, white-throated swift, common poorwill, caliope & black-chinned hummingbird, Cassin's finch & American three-toed and Lewis's woodpeckers.
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| Say's phoebe |
We then drove west to the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Here we took a trip to see black bears and were treated to multiple sightings of these stunning beasts. We were also lucky enough to spot sea otters and grey whales from shore.
Bird highlights of the west coast included a range of species such as Pacific wren, MacGillivray's warbler, rufous hummingbird and black swift. We met up with my pal Ian Cruikshank who joined us for a spot of birding around the Tofino area - Ian is a top-notch naturalist who seems to be constantly finding everything from unusual ferns to rare birds!
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| Wilson's phalarope |
Days spent birding a range of habitats allowed us to catch up with marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, red-breasted sapsuckers, several more flycatcher and warbler species plus a couple of unseasonal wildfowl - summering trumpeter and tundra swans! Local expertise was provided by Rick Schortinghuis - a great guy and a great birder.
From the island we headed back toward Vancouver but not without spending some time at Boundary Bay and the George C Reifel Bird Sanctuary. This famous area is worth a visit at any time of the year and here we saw a number of good birds including northern harrier, both lesser & greater yellowlegs and sandhill crane.
For details of the 2017 trip to BC or any other birding tours with Ribble Bird Tours visit the website or email smrbt@blueyonder.co.uk
Full list of species seen on 2016 trip:
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Trumpeter Swan
- Tundra Swan
- Wood Duck
- Gadwall
- American Wigeon
- Mallard
- Blue-winged Teal
- Cinnamon Teal
- Northern Shoveler
- Northern Pintail
- American Green-winged Teal
- Redhead
- Ring-necked Duck
- Lesser Scaup
- Bufflehead
- Common Goldeneye
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Hooded Merganser
- Common Merganser
- Ruddy Duck
- Ruffed Grouse
- Sooty Grouse
- California Quail
- Pacific Loon
- Common Loon
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe
- Eared Grebe
- Western Grebe
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
- Cooper's Hawk
- Northern Goshawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Kestrel
- American Coot
- Sandhill Crane
- Semipalmated Plover
- Killdeer
- Black Oystercatcher
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Sanderling
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- Wilson's Snipe
- Wilson's Phalarope
- Red-necked Phalarope
- Mew Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- California Gull
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Caspian Tern
- Common Murre
- Pigeon Guillemot
- Marbled Murrelet
- Rhinoceros Auklet
- Rock Pigeon
- Band-tailed Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Barn Owl
- Flammulated Owl - heard only
- Great Horned Owl
- Barred Owl
- Common Poorwill
- Black Swift
- Vaux's Swift
- White-throated Swift
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
- Anna's Hummingbird
- Calliope Hummingbird
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Belted Kingfisher
- Lewis's Woodpecker
- Williamson's Sapsucker
- Red-naped Sapsucker
- Red-breasted Sapsucker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- American Three-toed Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Olive-sided Flycatcher
- Western Wood-Pewee
- Willow Flycatcher
- Least Flycatcher
- Hammond's Flycatcher
- Gray Flycatcher
- Dusky Flycatcher
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher
- Say's Phoebe
- Western Kingbird
- Eastern Kingbird
- Hutton's Vireo
- Warbling Vireo
- Gray Jay
- Steller's Jay
- Clark's Nutcracker
- Black-billed Magpie
- American Crow
- Northwestern Crow
- Common Raven
- Purple Martin
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-green Swallow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Bank Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Mountain Chickadee
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Bushtit
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Pygmy Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Rock Wren
- Canyon Wren
- Bewick's Wren
- House Wren
- Pacific Wren
- Marsh Wren
- American Dipper
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Western Bluebird
- Mountain Bluebird
- Townsend's Solitaire
- Swainson's Thrush
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- Varied Thrush
- Gray Catbird
- Sage Thrasher
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-throated Gray Warbler
- Townsend's Warbler
- MacGillivray's Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Wilson's Warbler
- Western Tanager
- Spotted Towhee
- Chipping Sparrow
- Brewer's Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln's Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Black-headed Grosbeak
- Lazuli Bunting
- Bobolink
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Western Meadowlark
- Yellow-headed Blackbird
- Brewer's Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Bullock's Oriole
- Pine grosbeak
- Purple Finch
- Cassin's Finch
- House Finch
- Red Crossbill
- Pine Siskin
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
