Birders,

While eastern Alberta is getting a lot of conversation here on Tweeters I
thought I'd add some comments about birding in NE British Columbia. The
Northeastern corner of BC, known as the Peace River area, is one of the best
birding places in the province. The reason for this is that the Peace River
region is the only area lying E. of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia.
The region is very interesting to bird in because a variety of eastern
species meet their western counterparts in this area. Hybrids are quite
common in species like Mourning X MacGillivray's warblers and Red-shafted
and Yellow-shafted flickers, as well as to some extent Yellow-belled X
Red-naped X Red-breasted sapsuckers. It's very interesting to see how these
birds deal with the unique species diversity found in the Peace River area.

I just returned from a trip to the Peace River, leaving Kelowna on June 24
in the early afternoon. We drove almost continually to Tumbler Ridge, in the
S. Peace and arrived there at about 5:30 AM on the 25th. Anyone doing one of
these marathon drives, or flights for that matter should learn from my
mistake! I must have fallen asleep in the passenger seat of the van for a
few hours and in the process I developed a blood clot in my leg. Remember to
make regular stops to stretch to avoid a painful and annoying clot.

June 25

Day breaks at these northern latitudes at about 3:30. We made a few stops
along the hwy between Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge, a route running through a
nice mixture of spruce / fir and deciduous forest. Birds were singing
everywhere. We tallied OVENBIRD, MAGNOLIA WARBLER, AMERICAN REDSTART,
TENNESSEE WARBLER, BLUE-HEADED VIREO and quite a few other typicall western
species along this hwy. Once we arrived at the Lions Campground in Tumbler
Ridge we set up camp and did a little birding before napping through the
morning. We found lots of YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS, LEAST FLYCATCHERS,
RED-EYED VIREOS, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and a MOURNING WARBLER near the
camp site.

Once we roused from our first "slumber in Tumbler" we found a road leading
to Sanctuary Valley and decided to do some birding along it. The birds were
not overly abundant but we did find one locally rare bird, a BROAD-WINGED
HAWK. Other species of note were OVENBIRD, TENNESSEE WARBLER, BOREAL
CHICKADEE and more YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS. Our evening was spent at the
BC Field Ornithologist welcome gathering.

June 26

We took part on one of the BCFO field trips this morning to Brassey Creek
Road, lying between Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek. After one of our group
hit a deer unfortunately, we got back on track and had some wonderful
birding along this warbler rich road. The first portion of the road runs
through open Aspen woodlands where we easily found and saw OVENBIRD,
CONNECTICUT WARBLER, PHILADELPHIA VIREO, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK and heard
ALDER FLYCATCHER and YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. We then entered the dense
spruce forest typical of the north and had little trouble finding a number
of other great birds....a singing male CAPE MAY WARBLER atop a tall spruce,
a singing male CANADA WARBLER, a number of singing MAGNOLIA WARBLERS,
various MOURNING WARBLERS....2 or 3 BLUE-HEADED VIREOS and a our last stop a
very cooperative YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. We returned to Tumbler and took
in the various BCFO events including the banquet. After dinner a small group
of intrepid birders went out to a local wetland in search of Yellow Rail. We
walked through the soggy swamp in the dark but did not hear out target bird.
We did hear a few LECONTE'S SPARROWS, a SOLITARY SANDPIPER, both GREATER and
LESSER YELLOWLEGS, a RED-NECKED GREBE and some BLACK TERNS.

June 27

Our small vanload, consisting of Don Wilson, Richard Mooney and myself (all
from Kelowna) returned to Brassey Ck Road early in the morning to do some
birding away from the large group atmosphere. We were rewarded with great
looks at a male BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER as well as a gorgeous pair of
BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS.

We then headed NE. to Dawson Creek and the excellent camping facility at
Swan Lake. After setting up camp we went for a walk and had stunning looks
at ALDER FLYCATCHER, EASTERN PHOEBE, BALTIMORE ORIOLE, ROSE-BREASTED
GROSBEAK, COMMON GRACKLE, FRANKLIN'S GULL and a myriad of others. In the
evening, joined by some other camping birders we made another attempt for
sparrows and rails. We were very successful with sparrows having stonking
looks at SWAMP, LECONTES and NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS. No rails
though...except many SORAS.

June 28

Another early morning and we were off to the Fort St. John area. A stop at
Peace Island Park was fantastic and we had a wonderful look at a CANADA
WARBLER as well as many CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS and some PURPLE FINCHES. At
Beatton Park in Ft St John we were searching for Bay-breasted Warbler, but
didn't find it. We did get a BLUE JAY however.

Reluctantly in the early afternoon we started the drive back to Prince
George. In the Pine Pass, a high mountain pass through the northern Rocky
Mountains we made a few stops, one of which produced a fantastic BLACKPOLL
WARBLER. We arrived in Prince George in the evening and got a good rest. The
next day we completed the drive to Kelowna.

Sincerely,

Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
725 Richards Road
Kelowna, BC
V1X 2X5
(250) 718-0335
c_charlesworth at avocettours.com
WWW.AVOCETTOURS.COM

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