Birds of British Columbia, Canada

Birding BC features a large variety of birds. Below you will find a few examples. If you click on our Bird Checklist you will find a complete listing of all the birds of our area.

Eagles

The mighty Fraser River and its tributaries, the Harrison and Chehalis rivers, offer some of the best and most scenic bald eagle watching in the world. These rivers also host some of the worlds largest salmon populations and when they spawn hundreds upon hundreds of eagles arrive to feast. In the late fall and winter months the eagle populations are most concentrated. It is an amazing sight to behold. See Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Big Leaf Maple trees full of eagles. One tree may have up to 30 eagles on it's large branches. The lodge is situated above the river and the bald eagles fly by at eye level.

	Great Blue Herons
The herons nest in colonies and there is one colony 20 minutes walk or 5 minutes by car from the lodge. They are noisy when they get together and when they fly their wing span is comparable to that of the eagle. They are majestic in flight and growing up in this area it was a real treat to see these birds which now have become very successful in their breeding and are plentiful year round.

Trumpeter Swans
	These are among the biggest waterfowl in the world and are long necked members of the duck family. Their beauty and grace contradicts their grumpy and quarrelsome characters. These birds need at least 20 feet (5-6 meters) in order to take off into flight.

Pileated Woodpecker

The word 'pileated' means 'capped' which refers to the red crest on their heads. The male Pileated Woodpecker can be distinguished by their red moustache and a red crest that extends to his forehead; the red in the female is only in her topknot. This species' underwings flash white in flight. These birds have longer necks and their bills grow continuously making them capable of chiselling out elongated holes/homes. Like a lot of Canadians, these birds like their space and one couple can enjoy a territory of approximately one square kilometre or more. They grow to about 16" or 41 cm and live year round in our area.

Belted Kingfisher

The belted kingfishers have a blue-grey band around their breast and the females have red on the belly as well. Once again this being a world class fishing area we attract these fine fishermen. Albeit a greater skill level is required of the birds as they often will hover mid air like helicopters before plunging into the water headfirst after their prey. I'm still thankful for the advent of the fishing rod. These birds are loners and chase away any other kingfishers from their territory. Only at mating time will they tolerate each other. They nest in a burrow which has been dug in a sand or clay bank. They dig with their beaks and push the sand/dirt away with their feet. The female broods while the male fishes for both her and the babies until the young produce feathers. Then they are taught to fish by the adults dropping dead fish into the water. Once they get good at fishing everyone goes their separate ways.