Birding Vancouver Island: A Brit birder in BC, Victoria & Nanaimo

We're heading out to BC again in May 2018 for another wildlife-packed, two week birding trip; leaving the UK on May 19 and returning on June 1. There are still a couple of places available - for...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2018/01/bc-calls-again.html

It's been quite a while since I posted here but in the wake of a trip back to BC in May I thought it would be prudent to update the site! For the second consecutive year I joined a group of bird...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2016/08/back-in-bc-2016.html

Farewell Canada! As most visitors to this site will have noticed, I am no longer posting regular bird sightings from BC. This is wholly due to the small fact that Jenny and I no longer live ...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-fond-farewell.html

Northern harrier Amongst the confusion and chaos that inevitably occurs in the process of moving home, I have been thankful to find a few moments of escape in the past few days. On Friday I ...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/palm-friday.html

While just about every other birder in BC and beyond has been justifiably getting excited about the CITRINE WAGTAIL discovered on Vancouver Island this week, my own birding forays have been somew...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/knot-bird-i-was-looking-for.html

Dawn at Panama Flats With a reasonable forecast for Wednesday morning, I got up dark and early and headed out to PANAMA FLATS and had a decent root around from about  7.20am-9.45am. The sun...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/panam-flghts.html

Clark's grebe After a pretty busy weekend where I managed to do absolutely zero birding (oh, the shame...) I did find a window of opportunity today (Remembrance Monday is a stat holiday here in...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/another-lifer-in-bag.html

Snowy owl, downtown Victoria BC I spent an hour or so at PANAMA FLATS this morning. Species-wise it was much the same as on my last visit with good numbers of common ducks on site (PINTAIL, ...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/showy-snowy-courts-favour.html

Panama Flats (complete with cackling geese...) Thanks to the clocks having gone back, I was able to get an hour's birding in before work on Tuesday morning - hoorah!   I decided to concen...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/wetland-wonderland.html

The dark autumn mornings and evenings always plays havoc with my birding. The lack of available light before and after work means that, like all other keen birders, I'm restricted to weekends and...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/11/ternd-out-nice-again.html

Before starting work this morning I managed to find a bit of time to check out the GOVERNMENT HOUSE grounds where I found precisely nothing interesting whatsoever. The place was positively aflutt...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/totting-em-up-spur.html

I've been finding it pretty tough going lately, birding wise. I've been squeezing in visits to Clover Point, Government House and Langford Lake before work, during my lunch breaks, and again aft...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/rare-sparrow-makes-list.html

Northern saw-whet owl Last night I finally managed to find the time to go out and help out with the owl banding at Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO). Naturally, the catching and ringing o...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/owls-about-that-then.html

Yesterday (Monday) was Thanksgiving here in Canada and as such we enjoyed a nice long weekend. The weather continues to hold out, and we had bright, calm, warm conditions which is all very pleasa...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/giving-thanks-for-long-weekend.html

It's been a fairly unremarkable week for me bird wise. While rarities such as CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and BLUE GRAY GNATCATCHER have had the local twitchers on full alert I've been drawing blanks at...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/morning-glories.html

Yesterday evening I finally caught up with a bird that was really starting to prove something of a nemesis. Although I have heard them several times on the island, I had yet to lay eyes on a NORT...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/small-wonder.html

Great-horned owl After a couple of relatively unremarkable visits to CLOVER POINT and the SUMMIT HILL RESERVOIR in recent days I headed down to the GOVERNMENT HOUSE GROUNDS yesterday morning...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/09/irritable-owl-syndrome.html

Barred owl The alarm went off at 5am on Sunday, rousing me from a happy slumber.  As I tiptoed gingerly around the bedroom in complete darkness I couldn't help wondering what the hell I was...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/09/barred-on-beach.html

On Thursday morning I popped down to CLOVER POINT for a pre-work amble; migrants on my mind. Scanning the partly submerged rocks off the end of the point I could see that were still good numbers...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/09/all-confusing-on-western-front.html

A couple of weeks ago, while my brother Paul and Satty were still with us we took off for a couple of days to MOUNT WASHINGTON. Pacific chorus frog We broke up the journey with a couple of ...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/09/its-frogs-life.html

I've had a few very busy days just lately, hence the delay in updating the blog. The following day (Saturday 1st) I spent much of the morning at ROCKY POINT BIRD OBSERVATORY’s sister site at P...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/09/pedder-late-than-never.html

MacGillivray's warbler It was another morning drive out to Metchosin for me on Saturday, as I headed out for my second visit to the access-restricted ROCKY POINT BIRD OBSERVATORY . I arriv...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/08/macgillivrays-island.html

I noticed on one of the the Vancouver island birding forums that someone had posted seeing some yellowlegs at a small suburban site not far from home a couple of days ago. So, having never pr...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/08/summit-going-on.html

Sunrise at Rocky Point I finally made it out to ROCKY POINT BIRD OBSERVATORY (RPBO) on Saturday, having enlisted as a volunteer some weeks ago.   This mixed-habitat site is located on th...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-point-of-birding.html

Out near my workplace in Langford I see CALIFORNIA QUAILS pretty frequently. Most days, if I bother to look out my office window for long enough one or two will come trotting by. Admittedly, m...

http://britbirderinbc.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-holy-quail.html