Post by davepeppar on Jun 22, 2010 20:49:52 GMT -8
Hi all,
This year we decided to make our way to the Peace River area for a birding and camping trip. We have not been camping for over 20 years but know that its one of the best ways to see birds is at a camp site. This turned out to be a reasonable strategy.
Now the Peace is about 1000km do north. It’s a nice trip and the scenery is outstanding. Some of the locations we birded are:
100 Mile House Marsh: Right next to the info booth. Good variety of Ducks plus 2 Virginia Rails.
Williams Lake Nature House: Just a km off highway 97. Good place to see American White Pelicans – we saw 3. also Bonapart Gulls, the first of many Red Necked Grebes in breading colours.
We overnighted at Quesnell which is about half way.
While driving by Prince George we saw a Red Breasted Sapsucker flying by.
Crooked River Provincial Park: Stopped at the park for a quick look and saw our first of many American Red Starts, MacGillivray Warbler and Pileated Woodpecker.
Watson Marsh: First of the many good Peace River sits. Site had Yellow Rails but we did hear at the time we were there (5pm).
Beatton Lake Campsite at Charlie Lake near Fort Saint John: Our first campsite and one of the best spots in the Peace for birds. We arrived on Thursday and ended up getting the last campsite in the small park. We are now in the boreal and were also in eastern bird zone. Though we did not see many warblers we did see: Black and White, both Yellow Rumps (the Myrtle’s are fantastic in their breeding colours), many Yellows and Red Starts. Least and Alder Flycatchers, White Throated Sparrow, Blue Jay, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Phoebes and Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers.
I spent a lot of time watching the Sapsuckers taking food to their nests. Its great to just sit and “birdwatch”. One night I was cooking and wondering what the racket was and my wife said look up and there were dozens of Franklin Gulls overhead. Later we walked to Charlie Lake and there had to be over 200 Franklin’s over the lake and feeding on, I assume, small fish on the surface.
Now the nights are short in northern BC. We would go to bed at 10pm while the sun was setting. It would not get dark until 12 and then sunrise was 3:30. The birds were going nuts at that hour and I always had intensions to get up early but temperature was between 0 – 6c and I never got up. The birds would quite down about 5 and not get very active until after 7.
Around Fort Saint John we added Le Contes’ and Nelsons Sparrows.
McQueen Slough near Dawson Creek: This was a good place to see Swamp Sparrows. Also Black Terns.
On the way home we camped for a few days at North Thompson Provincial Park: This park is near Wells Gray park. We had both Red and White Breasted Nuthatches, Red Naped Sapsuckers, another Pileated Woodpecker, Red-eyed and Warbling Verio.
Great trip (about 3500km’s) and lots of wonderful scenery. No rain and lots of sun. Next time we will go as far as the Yukon.
DaveP
Chilliwack
This year we decided to make our way to the Peace River area for a birding and camping trip. We have not been camping for over 20 years but know that its one of the best ways to see birds is at a camp site. This turned out to be a reasonable strategy.
Now the Peace is about 1000km do north. It’s a nice trip and the scenery is outstanding. Some of the locations we birded are:
100 Mile House Marsh: Right next to the info booth. Good variety of Ducks plus 2 Virginia Rails.
Williams Lake Nature House: Just a km off highway 97. Good place to see American White Pelicans – we saw 3. also Bonapart Gulls, the first of many Red Necked Grebes in breading colours.
We overnighted at Quesnell which is about half way.
While driving by Prince George we saw a Red Breasted Sapsucker flying by.
Crooked River Provincial Park: Stopped at the park for a quick look and saw our first of many American Red Starts, MacGillivray Warbler and Pileated Woodpecker.
Watson Marsh: First of the many good Peace River sits. Site had Yellow Rails but we did hear at the time we were there (5pm).
Beatton Lake Campsite at Charlie Lake near Fort Saint John: Our first campsite and one of the best spots in the Peace for birds. We arrived on Thursday and ended up getting the last campsite in the small park. We are now in the boreal and were also in eastern bird zone. Though we did not see many warblers we did see: Black and White, both Yellow Rumps (the Myrtle’s are fantastic in their breeding colours), many Yellows and Red Starts. Least and Alder Flycatchers, White Throated Sparrow, Blue Jay, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Phoebes and Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers.
I spent a lot of time watching the Sapsuckers taking food to their nests. Its great to just sit and “birdwatch”. One night I was cooking and wondering what the racket was and my wife said look up and there were dozens of Franklin Gulls overhead. Later we walked to Charlie Lake and there had to be over 200 Franklin’s over the lake and feeding on, I assume, small fish on the surface.
Now the nights are short in northern BC. We would go to bed at 10pm while the sun was setting. It would not get dark until 12 and then sunrise was 3:30. The birds were going nuts at that hour and I always had intensions to get up early but temperature was between 0 – 6c and I never got up. The birds would quite down about 5 and not get very active until after 7.
Around Fort Saint John we added Le Contes’ and Nelsons Sparrows.
McQueen Slough near Dawson Creek: This was a good place to see Swamp Sparrows. Also Black Terns.
On the way home we camped for a few days at North Thompson Provincial Park: This park is near Wells Gray park. We had both Red and White Breasted Nuthatches, Red Naped Sapsuckers, another Pileated Woodpecker, Red-eyed and Warbling Verio.
Great trip (about 3500km’s) and lots of wonderful scenery. No rain and lots of sun. Next time we will go as far as the Yukon.
DaveP
Chilliwack
