Another low cost bit of entertainment for the weekend. Head to the beach, wetlands, lakes or estuaries and check out the winter birds now arriving. Here’s a report from the BC Sunshine Coast, which gets a lot of the same birds as us. Worth a trip up if you are looking to get away. While Pender Harbour is a long way from the Peninsula, the ferries to the Island are usually easier to get on with short notice this time of year.
The Sunshine Coast has four well-defined birding seasons, and we are now well into the fall season as our common wintering species begin to arrive for their winter residency. The most obvious of these species are Barrow’s goldeneyes and buffleheads, which return in huge numbers from their freshwater breeding lakes all across interior and northern Canada. As the interior water bodies begin to freeze over, the ducks return to the balmy waters of the Salish Sea to winter. Joe Harrison reported the first Barrow’s goldeneyes of the winter on Oct. 18 at Oyster Bay, Pender Harbour, one day later than last year. Tony Greenfeld writes. (Coast Reporter)
http://www.coastreporter.net/community/columnists/wintering-species-are-arriving-1.2092834
Filed under: Around the Salish Sea, Around the Sound | Tagged: bird watching, birds, Canada |
