Hi everyone,

We are UK birders and are planning a birding/whalewatching trip to BC in June 2010, including the Victoria area and Pacific Rim National Park (Ucluelet/Tofino)

One of the birds we would most like to see is Varied Thrush. Are they around in the summer months? If so, can anyone recommend any sites?

Thanks

firecrest

Varied Thrush are really tough to find on the south island during June. I wouldn't even bother looking in Victoria (not that there aren't plenty of other good birds there at that time).
They do nest in Pacific Rim, but they aren't the easiset birds to get a look at in June. Go very early (5:00 AM) for your best chance at getting a look at one. You will certainly hear them singing if nothing else.
Try the trail that goes from Florencia Bay to Wickaninish (Nu-Cha-Nulth trail?) (you won't need to walk the whole thing) or the trail to Comber's Beach (an excellent beach too). The road from the Port Alberni to Pacific Rim has many pull offs and side roads. A stop anywhere west of Sutton Pass might get you a look at one, or at least experiencing their song.

Hearing a Varied Thrush singing while one is standing in the deep wet moss of a Sitka Spruce/Western Red Cedar/Western Hemlock forest, is the very essence of coastal BC!

Wow Guy, I had no idea they were considered difficult to find on the south island. I feel very fortunate then to have them nesting in my yard at the top of the Malahat. They are the early singers that awake me each spring morning. Gets me up and out to see who else is awake. I have seen and heard a few this winter as well. I guess they enjoy the forest much more than an urban envoirnment. Interesting. Thank-you. I learn something each time I read this forum.

Not many people on the SE side of Vancouver Island can claim to have had Varied Thrush nest in their yard. Lucky you. I'm sure the BC Breeding Bird Atlas would be interested in that information.
http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca/english/index.jsp

Thanks, Guy - we've just got hold of the Western Region Stokes Bird Song CDs, so we'll do some homework before we arrive.

Good birding!

Always a great site to see them kicking up a storm in my mulched beds. One of the cooler looking birds here for sure.

I have a half dozen than winter near our place, but I rarely ever see them in the summer.

From my experience, if you do any hiking/bush whacking in the forest 'up island' (ie: Comox and north) you can usually hear them in the summer. But they are hard to see, as they are often high in the trees. For sure their call in a wet old growth forest is a very West coast sound track!