Southwestern British Columbia Habitats

The place where a bird or other living creature is normally found is termed its “habitat.” Birds are quite diverse in their habitat requirements. Brown Creepers are seldom seen over open salt water, or loons in trees. To a large extent, the secret to finding and identifying birds is knowing the habitats and developing an understanding of which birds are likely to be seen where. The more types of habitat you explore, the greater the variety of birds you will see.
Southwestern British Columbia has 12 major habitat categories:

Offshore Marine Waters
These waters are open-ocean areas off the west coast of Vancouver Island and the central coast. Albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, and storm-petrels forage here. Alcids such as Cassin’s Auklet, Ancient Murrelet, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Tufted Puffin feed offshore as well, especially in the non-breeding seasons. California and Sabine’s Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwake, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers, Arctic Tern, and Red and Red-necked Phalaropes all move through these offshore waters on their annual migrations.

Protected Marine Waters
This habitat includes all the salt water of the Strait of Georgia and adjoining inlets, bays, passages, and straits. Protected marine waters are host to loons, grebes, cormorants, scaups, scoters, goldeneyes, gulls, terns, and alcids. Purple Martins nest locally in a few saltwater bays. There are many vantage points from which to scan saltwater habitats including Clover Point in Victoria, the Iona Island Jetty in Richmond, and the Stanley Park seawall in Vancouver.

Rocky Shore
The rocky shore habitat includes cobbled beaches, breakwaters, and rocky outcroppings along the saltwater shoreline. Clover Point in Victoria, Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, and many other similar sites along the coast attract a selection of birds that prefer this habitat, including cormorants, Black Oystercatcher, turnstones, and Surfbird, while Harlequin Ducks tend to feed in the waters off these shores.

Sandy Shore, Mud Flats, and Salt Marsh
The extensive mud flats and marshes of the Fraser Delta are among the most important areas for migrant and wintering water birds in Canada, hosting huge numbers of Snow Geese, American Wigeons, Northern Pintails, Western Sandpipers, Dunlins, and many other species. Eelgrass beds along the east coast of Vancouver Island are vital in spring for large numbers of migrating Brant. Estuaries throughout the region are home to wintering Trumpeter Swans and breeding Purple Martins.

Fresh Water, Marsh, and Shore
Lakes and freshwater marshes are not common in southwestern British Columbia, but are disproportionately important for many birds. Some examples are Cheam Lake, Harrison Bay, Lost Lagoon, Elk Lake, and Somenos Lake. Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Osprey, and Belted Kingfisher fish in these waters, and water birds such as grebes, geese, ducks, and coots may be found there. American Bittern, Green Heron, and Virginia Rail skulk in marsh vegetation. Cattails often support nesting Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds. Swallows catch insects over the water, while songbirds such as Yellow Warbler frequent the trees and bushes along the water’s edges, foraging for food.

Wet Coniferous Forest
This habitat includes coniferous forests at low and middle elevations, dominated by Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western redcedar. These woods are home to Band-tailed Pigeon, several owls, Hairy Woodpecker, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Steller’s Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, Western Tanager, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Pine Siskin. At higher elevations, forests of amabilis fir, mountain hemlock, and subalpine fir host Blue Grouse, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Gray Jay, Hermit Thrush, and Townsend’s Warbler.

Broadleaf Forest
This habitat includes stands of red alder, black cottonwood, bigleaf and vine maple, and arbutus. Extensive broadleaf woodlands line the riparian zone along many creeks and larger streams throughout southwestern British Columbia, most notably in the Fraser Valley. Broadleaf trees often grow in mixed stands with conifers as well as in uniform stands after the logging of coniferous forests. The birds that prefer this habitat include Ruffed Grouse, Western Screech and Barred Owls, Downy Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Hutton’s, Warbling, and Red-eyed Vireos, Black-capped Chickadee, and Black-throated Gray and Wilson’s Warblers.

Garry-oak Savannas
This small, threatened habitat occurs in the Gulf Islands and the coastal lowlands of southeastern Vancouver Island—some of the driest parts of the region. It is characterized by native grasslands and scattered stands of Garry oak. Birds to be found in such places include California Quail, Common Nighthawk, House Wren, Chipping Sparrow, and (formerly) Western Bluebird and

Western Meadowlark.
Subalpine Parkland and Alpine Meadows
This high-elevation, open habitat of the Cascades, Coast, and Vancouver Island mountains consists of meadows with alpine wildflowers and scattered stands of trees. Look here for White-tailed Ptarmigan, Horned Lark, Mountain Bluebird, American Pipit, and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. Strathcona, Manning, and Garibaldi provincial parks offer good access to this habitat, as do Mount Arrowsmith and the Whistler-Blackcomb ski area.

Shrubby Thickets
Shrubby thickets exist in clearings and around the edges of coniferous and broadleaf woods, transportation and power-line corridors, and overgrown fencerows. Willow Flycatcher, Bushtit, Bewick’s Wren, Orange-crowned and MacGillivray’s Warblers, Spotted Towhee, and sparrows live in this habitat.

Parks and Gardens
This urban and suburban habitat attracts many of the birds that come to our backyard bird feeders, including hummingbirds, woodpeckers, chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatch, grosbeaks, Purple and House Finches, and American Goldfinch. This habitat also hosts Rock Pigeon, Northwestern Crow, American Robin, European Starling, and House Sparrow.

Farmland and Pastures
The open pastures and agricultural fields of the lowlands host Northern Harrier, Ring-necked Pheasant, Mourning Dove, Short-eared Owl, and many wintering geese, swans, ducks, hawks, eagles, falcons, gulls, starlings, and blackbirds. Prime examples of farmlands are found throughout the lower Fraser Valley, the Fraser Delta, and the Martindale Flats in Saanich.

To learn more about Southwestern British Columbia habitats, order the book,
Birds of Southwestern British Columbia.