Summer Birding in B.C.

Summer Birding in B.C.

By Jim Meyer

I just returned from two months in Squamish, British Columbia which is about 35 miles north of Vancouver. My timing was really good arriving on 6/8 since the Pemberton N.A. Breeding Bird walk and the Squamish Estuary Monthly Bird count was on the next weekend. Five “Crack” Birders from Vancouver and Vancouver Island conduct the count but encouraged local birders to join in on preliminary count. We saw/heard 61 species with the following lifers (saw): Veery, Warbling Vireo, W. Tanager, W. Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, Lazuli Bunting, Black Swift, and Vaux’s Swift. The next day I added another lifer at the Squamish Bird count which was the Black-Headed Grosbeak. The most interesting display of nature was two N. Flickers trying to discourage a racoon from climbing up a tree obviously close to their nest.

My most exciting and unusual birding trip was a two day kayaking trip just South of Squamish in Howe Sound. We overnighted on Anvil Island and visited a great Rookery Island called Christy Rock. We saw nesting Cormorants (Double-crested and Pelagic) and Glaucous-winged Gulls along with many Harbor seals basking on the rocks. I picked up my Target Bird for the summer, the Black Oystercatcher, along with a Black Turnstone and a Surf Bird.

Another trip to Pt. Roberts, just south of Vancouver, got me five more lifers: Brandt’s Cormorant, Marbled Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemot, White-winged Scoter, and California Gull. My most unusual lifer which made me feel “at home” was a W. Scrub Jay which took up residence in some friends backyard. According to the Vancouver “Rare Bird Alert” it has only been reported seven times in British Columbia. In all, I had 19 lifers and many pleasant days in beautiful natural British Columbia!

Eileen Riccio’s best day this summer was about a week ago when she spotted three American Oystercatchers on the rocks below the draw-bridge on the way to the Canaveral Locks. She also had three Spoonbills, a Reddish Egret, 10 Black-necked Stilts, and several Wood Storks wading in Advocet Lagoon by the Locks.

Our Most Unbelievable Spotting of the Year!

Eileen and I did an evening bike ride at the Orlando Wetlands Park (OWP) arriving about 5:00 p.m. Due to the west wind, it was still hot so we decided to ride to the east side of Lake Searcy and hopefully pick up some cooling wind across the lake. We normally don’t see much there but to our surprise we saw several Wood Ducks flying as we approached. As we got closer we noticed 15 more on the lake! And as they took off, the woods to the south emptied 30 more Wood Ducks into flight! In all, we had over 50 Woody’s in about 10 minutes.

What was so ironic, we were on a”Woody High” from seeing three pairs in a snag on the south side of OWP several weeks early. Prior to that spotting, we had never seen them there in five years of birding the OWP!