The scenery on our tour is perhaps the equal of the birds and both are spectacular. Photo: Gavin Bieber
The Pacific Northwest calls to mind forests of huge conifers towering over a dense understory of fern and moss-covered logs, while in the near distance the Pacific thunders among rocky headlands, spending its strength on narrow sandy beaches. The image is as correct as it is spectacular, but the region offers much more as well: sheltered waters dotted with islands rich in nesting and summering waterbirds; picturesque cities such as Vancouver and Victoria; drier interior valleys of grassland, pine, sage, and high basalt cliffs; ancient Indian cultures; excellent seafood, fruit, and pies; and some of the most magnificent scenery anywhere. The birds are as varied as the terrain, ranging from Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, and Gray Jay in the high mountains, to Sage Sparrow and Canyon Wren in the Columbia Basin, to Sooty Grouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Varied Thrush, and Rhinoceros Auklet along the coast. An impressive 30 species of waterfowl, 30 shorebirds, 16 alcids, and 11 woodpeckers are possible, a total difficult to match on any other domestic tour.
Our tour will begin in Seattle and will cover the Columbia Basin, the Okanagan Valley, Manning Provincial Park, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island, drawing from all these elements when resident bird populations are near their peak.
An extension to the beautiful Olympic Peninsula and the open Pacific coast at Ocean Shores and Westport, Washington, will include a pelagic trip offshore as well as coastal birdwatching.
Day 1: The trip begins at 6 p.m. in Seattle. Night in Seattle.
Day 2: We’ll depart Seattle to the east, cross the Cascades and stop to look for American White Pelican, Sage Thrasher, and Sage, Lark, and Brewer’s Sparrows near the Columbia River. Angling northeast along the Grand Coulee, we’ll pass through a beautiful region of high basalt cliffs frequented by White-throated Swifts. We’ll stop at dams and lakes and should see Western Grebe and a variety of waterfowl. The afternoon will find us in the sage-pine grasslands just south of Okanogan, where Gray Flycatcher, Western Bluebird, Cassin’s Finch, and waterbirds such as American Avocet breed. In the evening we’ll look for Flammulated Owl and Common Poorwill. Night in Okanogan.
Day 3: We’ll spend a half-day in the Okanogan, Washington, area before crossing into the British Columbia portion of the valley. The Okanagan Highlands region, located east of Oroville, is famous for its avian diversity and a rich mix of coniferous and deciduous woodland, rolling grassland, and ponds. Species of interest here include Swainson’s Hawk, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Townsend’s Solitaire, Red Crossbill, and possibly Great Gray Owl or American Three-toed Woodpecker. Night in Oliver.
Day 4: Located in the rainshadow of the Coast and Cascade Mountain ranges, parts of the Okanagan Valley receive as little as 10 inches of precipitation annually, thus supporting a semi-arid steppe climate unique in Canada. “Canada’s Pocket Desert” is a place of mesmerizing beauty, characterized at lower elevations by huge rocky outcroppings, large lakes, sagebrush, riparian woodland, and dry ponderosa pine forest, with spruce and fir forests higher up. Species of interest here include Chukar, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Calliope Hummingbird, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Hammond’s and Dusky Flycatchers, Say’s Phoebe, Canyon and Rock Wrens, Lazuli Bunting, and such “eastern” species as Veery and Bobolink. Night in Oliver.
Day 5: We’ll spend the early morning in the Okanagan Valley region before leaving for Manning Provincial Park. On the way we’ll pause in the Princeton area, where open forest, lush meadows, and small lakes support Barrow’s Goldeneye, Pygmy Nuthatch, Black-billed Magpie, American Dipper, and Mountain Bluebird. We’ll arrive at Manning Provincial Park in time for some late-afternoon birdwatching and an evening looking for Black Swift. Night in Manning Provincial Park.
Day 6: Located just north of the international border and North Cascades National Park, Manning Provincial Park is characterized by glacial landscapes and extensive forests, willow-lined streams, beaver ponds, and alpine meadows. It is an excellent place to look for a variety of mountain forest species, including Red-naped Sapsucker, Pileated Woodpecker, Clark’s Nutcracker, Boreal Chickadee, Townsend’s and MacGillivray’s Warblers, Pine Grosbeak, and possibly White-winged Crossbill. Three species of grouse—Spruce, Sooty, and Ruffed—occur in the park as well, and we have a particularly good chance of seeing Sooty. Night in Manning Provincial Park.
Day 7: We’ll leave Manning Provincial Park in the early morning for Vancouver, a splendid city nestled between the mountains and the sea. We’ll spend our morning visiting a few of Vancouver’s lovely parks and surrounding mountains, searching forests dominated by fir, hemlock, and cedar for Band-tailed Pigeon, Vaux’s Swift, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and Black-headed Grosbeak. We’ll also visit Iona Island, a waste-disposal site famous for its concentrations of shorebirds, as well as Boundary Bay, another famous shorebird locale. Later we’ll look for Barn and Short-eared Owls. Night in Vancouver.
Day 8: After some early-morning shorebirding, we’ll catch a mid-morning ferry to Vancouver Island, a scenic route providing views of many Bald Eagles and our first alcids. We’ll then drive to Victoria. After a stop near the airport to look for Sky Lark, we’ll explore this handsome city’s lovely parks and woodlands, seeking Anna’s Hummingbird, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Hutton’s Vireo, and Bewick’s Wren. Night in Victoria.
Day 9: Not unexpectedly, Victoria is an ideal place for waterbirds, and we’ll search Clover Point for Northwestern Crow, Pelagic Cormorant, alcids including Marbled Murrelet, gulls possibly including Mew, and rocky-coast shorebirds such as Black Oystercatcher. We’ll also re-visit lush forests in search of any breeding landbirds we might have missed. Independent time this afternoon can be spent touring the attractive harbor area, visiting the famous Butchart Gardens, or taking a whale-watching trip in search of Orcas. The main tour ends this night in Victoria.
Westport and Olympic Extension
Day 10: For those continuing on the extension, we’ll take an early-morning ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Peninsula town of Port Angeles, Washington, a trip of about 90 minutes that offers our first chance for truly pelagic species. We’ll spend the remainder of the morning in Olympic National Park. There are plenty of birds here—Golden Eagle, Sooty Grouse, Gray Jay, and Varied Thrush among them—but it may be the magnificent alpine vistas, forests, and alpine wildflowers that leave the most lasting impression. After our time in the mountains we’ll head west along the beautiful Olympic coast to the small town of Sekiu, nestled near the west end of Clallum Bay. Along this drive we will have ample opportunities to look for shorebirds, seabirds such as Marbled Murrelet and possibly Tufted Puffin, and Sea Otter. After checking the shores and kelpbeds of Clallum Bay we will turn inland, bound for our hotel in Forks. Night in Forks.
Day 11: Today we will drive south along the little-traveled west side of Olympic National Park, stopping along the way to search for Tufted Puffin and any landbirds we might have missed on the main tour, before arriving at Gray’s Harbor and the region around Ocean Shores, Washington. Here one finds open ocean, large bays, marshes, mudflats, rocky coast, and wild sandy beaches. In addition to summering loons and scoters, we’ll look for Brown Pelican, Brandt’s Cormorant, rocky coastline shorebirds including Surfbird, Marbled Godwit, and possibly Elegant Tern. If we’re lucky, thousands of Sooty Shearwaters will be passing just offshore. Night in Westport.
Day 12: Pelagic trips off Westport have long had a reputation as some of the best along the Pacific coast. In July, we can expect to see up to 100 Black-footed Albatrosses, Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed Shearwater, Fork-tailed and Leach’s Storm-Petrels, and Cassin’s Auklet. The list of possibilities is much longer and includes Laysan Albatross, Flesh-footed Shearwater, South Polar Skua, Sabine’s Gull, and Tufted Puffin. Where there are birds, there are mammals, and we should see the irrepressible Dall’s Porpoise, Harbor-Porpoise, and possibly Northern Fur Seal, Pacific White-sided Porpoise, and Humpback or Gray Whale. Pelagic trips are full of glorious uncertainty, and a day off Westport is always an adventure. Night in Seattle.
Day 13: The extension concludes this morning in Seattle.
Updated: 06 May 2008
Prices
- 2009 price not yet available.
Notes
This tour is limited to seven participants with one leader.