Hi,
If everything goes the way I hope I'll be studying at UBC this autumn, from early September to mid December. Since I guess I'll be quite busy during the semester I plan to make a trip in BC, like three or four weeks long, before the school starts. I haven't really made up a careful plan yet, and that's why I turn to you. Are there any places I just should not miss during late July - late August? (Think of all BC).

What about calidris spots during late summer? Any large numbers? Nice places for passerine migration?
Since I've never been to America I'm interested in seeing all kinds of birds: chickadees, woodpeckers, grouses, owls, murres etc. (By the way I'm a gull freak, so I guess I'll ask you for that later in the autumn ). Shortly speaking, I'm glad for any tip!

Regards,
Oskar Nilsson
Lund, Sweden
http://www.gullpix.com

Hi Oskar,

Your trip will coincide nicely with southbound shorebird migration and there will be some gull movement. I think your best plan would a trip for resident birds in the various areas of the province first, then finish with a week or so along the coast.

You are giving yourself a good time frame to work with and I would include Alberta in your itinerary if you want to maximize diversity. If you are not overly worried about diversity, then I could suggest a route solely within B.C. Here is a rough suggestion of places/regions you might want to visit:

a) Coast Mountains (e.g. Manning Park)
b) Okanagan region (e.g. Osoyoos)
c) Creston Valley (has a great wildlife management area)
d) Rockie Mountains (e.g. Jasper/Banff)
e) southern Alberta (pick up a load of prairie birds)
f) north of Edmonton (e.g. Cold Lake Provincial Park for boreal warblers)
g) Peace region in B.C. (e.g. Dawson Creek)
h) from there, basically make your way back to the coast and bird there for the last leg

For reference, a rough path to follow by city goes as follows:

Vancouver > Hope > Princeton > Keremeos > Osoyoos > Grand Forks > Castlegar > Salmo > Creston > Cranbrook > Lethbridge > Medicine Hat > Calgary (heading back west) > Edmonton > Cold Lake Provincial Park > Athabasca > Slave Lake > Dawson Creek > Chetwynd > Prince George

I will stop at Prince George because, depending on your budget, there are two options. You could consider driving over to Prince Rupert and taking the ferry to Vancouver Island, which will give you a great introduction to local seabirds. You have to really know the ferry's schedule to determine if this is a good option. It is fairly pricey, but it might be negligible when the price of gas from Prince George back south to the coast. That is the alternative - you can just continue driving south and end up back in Vancouver and then consider going to Vancouver Island from there. If you make it to Vancouver Island, you should get out to Tofino/Ucluelet and perhaps you can even get out on a boat from there. Pelagic birding, however, is a rarely utilized option in B.C., so you might be out of luck for getting out and seeing more offshore birds. If you can arrange some kind of outing, you might pick up Tufted Puffin and Cassin's Auklet. Long Beach should be good for shorebirds and gulls.

If you can envision getting out on the weekends while you're at UBC, heading out to Boundary Bay, Reifel Bird Sanctuary, and the Iona sewage ponds will help to maximize the number of shorebirds you encounter in B.C. The gulling will also get better into the fall, so you'll want to get out on the weekends for that purpose, too, if you get the chance. I'm sure you'll find the gull situation on the B.C. coast quite interesting! We have a lot of hybridization here between Glaucous-winged Gulls with Herring and Western Gulls.

Feel free to drop me a line if you want further ideas on suggestions. If you have specific targets, you can also contact me in private and I can let you know if I have any suggestions to catch up with those species.

Cheers,
Jeremy Gatten
Saanichton, B.C.

Oskar,

Contact WildResearch when you get to Vancouver.

Paul Levesque
Vancouver
www.wildresearch.ca

Thanks a LOT for your help Jeremy! I will for sure use this info and return to you if I have some more questions : )
Regards

The ferry down from prince rupert to vancouver island is great, costly but very nice, i took it in 2010 northbound, sa lost of whales, litte birds though, the small aucletts all seem to scatter as this huge boat aproaches.
i did a whale watch frot tofino and telegraph cove (both on vancouver island) that where more worthwhile for (small) seabirds though.

the kelowna area ia especially nice since it is so different (dry) from coastal / mountain area's of BC.

Good luck on your trip