Canadian Birds

I have just returned from a camping trip to British Columbia,Canada with my family. I spent three weeks visiting Vancouver, Vancouver island, Whistler and even had a couple of days in America.

British Columbia covers 235 million acres. About 149 million acres (64%) is forested, but annually less than 0.33% is harvested. All this forest provides a habitat for an abundance of wildlife. Many of our campsites were in woodland or temperate rain-forests and provided great opportunities to observe many bird species which we do not see in the UK.

In summer there are five species of hummingbird living in Canada. The Ruby-throated hummingbird is the most widespread hummingbird, its habitat ranging from Alberta to Nova Scotia.

The other species are Anna's humming bird, the Black-chinned hummingbird, the Rufous humming bird, and the Calliope hummingbird; which is the smallest of Canada's hummingbirds weighing less than 3 grams and only 3 inches long.

We also saw a Golden Eagle, an Osprey, Turkey Vultures, American robins, Northern Flickers, a Clark's nutcracker, Great Blue Herons and Chickadees. It was amazing to observe and identify new birds!