We loved taking a lot of different walks on our trip to British Columbia this past July. We are always on the lookout for birds that we don’t see here in Ontario. This time we spotted a couple of different shore birds on a walk at Whiffin Spit.
There are so many varieties of shore birds and many of them have similar features. Some have very distinguishing marks and are easy to identify. Some we saw were harder to put a name too. Our daughter out west has been searching through their birding books. I’ve been searching the internet and I even found I had to ask on Birding in British Columbia forum for help with the ID. The wonderful birders helped me almost immediately with the positive ID.
The short billed dowitcher was certainly a new shore bird sighting for us. This ID was a challenge … common snipe or dowitcher?
They love mud flats, tidal flats and lagoons where they wade in the shallow water and poke their long bills into the mud looking for food.
Success! A greater yellowleg captured itself a small fish for dinner. This was also a new sighting for us.
A black oyster catcher walks the rocky shores looking for some food. We had also seen this bird a few years ago when we visited Whiffin Spit.
Besides the shore birds there were geese, ducks, a heron, gulls and cormorants.
Have a look at some of the other BC birds we have spotted.
