For the birds of the Sunshine Coast, spring proceeds on a preordained path as the days lengthen, the temperature rises and their hormones respond to both. Some of our wintering species remain to breed, while others arrive after long migration flights from tropical jungles, and others pass right on through to destinations further north.
Sunshine Coast birders alert to the 300-plus species that have been recorded on our fair shore love to record the first sight or sound of the year for each species and perhaps record an earliest-ever date for the area or even the province. In our mild climate, things begin to stir early, and the first songster of the year is usually the anonymous Hutton’s vireo. And so it was this year on Feb. 7, followed by Pacific wrens and song sparrow by mid-month. This year the hooting song of a sooty grouse was reported in the mountains on Feb. 16, and the first band-tailed pigeons arrived on the 24th. On the 28th the first violet-green swallows arrived at Ruby Lake, an early date but not unprecedented, and the first turkey vulture, on the 29th, also made it into the February arrivals.
March began with a very early osprey on the 5th and an unprecedented Pacific-slope flycatcher the same day. Significant arrivals on the 9th were the first rufous hummingbird and first yellow-rumped warbler of the year, both iconic species of the Sunshine Coast’s spring migration.
On the same date there were two separate reports of orange-crowned warbler, an exceptionally early date for this species. In the middle of the month, there was a suite of species that migrate in small numbers along the coast but breed only in the interior, a western meadowlark on the 11th, a very scarce migrant, a Say’s phoebe on the 15th, and a small flock of four mountain bluebirds on the 20th. Also mid-month were tree swallows on the 16th, a Lincoln’s sparrow on the 19th and a spotted sandpiper the same day. The first singing white-crowned sparrow of the year (one of our commonest summer species) was heard on the 20th.
Snow geese migrate over coastal B.C. in the thousands, heading for their breeding grounds on Wrangell Island, Siberia. Virtually all of the birds go over in the month of April but a few “early birds” were reported on March 30, with more on April 1. April 1 also brought the first singing Cassin’s vireo and on the 4th there was a mass arrival of orange-crowned warblers, a more usual date for the species rather than March 9 reported above.
To report your sightings or questions, contact Tony at [email protected] or 604-885-5539.
