Mountain Birding Tour
As the first rays of the sunrise filter through the old growth forest our birding has already begun. The deep hooting of the Sooty Grouse booms out from the shadows, with the ethereal ringing of Varied Thrush and the buzzing of Black-throated Gray Warblers singing from high above. The striking Western Tanagers with their yellow bodies and bright red heads flit closer to investigate us.
A full day tour at high elevation in the old growth Douglas Fir forest gives us many bird species not breeding on the outer coast. The Red-naped Sapsuckers performs mid air acrobatics, snatching insects around the hundreds of holes drilled in the bark of giant hemlock trees. Flocks of Vaux’s Swifts whiz by above the rock cliffs and alpine swamps resound with the cheery MacGillivary’s Warbler and the calls of the Hammond’s and Willow Flycatchers. At night if we are lucky we may hear or see the endangered Vancouver Island Screech Owl. This is birding in the mountain home of the cougar and the Vancouver Island elk, a birding tour in nature unchanged.
The old growth forest has a diverse range of species not found in second growth.
Mailing address: PO Box 990, Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
Bird Lodge: 1430 Pacific Rim Highway, next to the Information Centre
JUST BIRDING, Tofino, BC
Call or email info@justbirding.com to reserve.