114. Chestnut-backed Chickadee - July 2010

Saw these on Vancouver Island - looking distinctly browner than their mainland cousins.

113. Band-tailed Pigeon - July 2010

Seen at the magnificent stone house at Beddis Beach.

112. Bonaparte's Gull - July 2010

Seen from the ferry at Quadra Island, and then again in flocks at Miracle Beach. I now suspect I also saw them last summer from the ferry going through Active Pass.

111. Turkey Vulture - July 2010

Saw these guys this year and last at Saltspring Island. They fly low and quiet over the treetops. We also saw one nesting near the water at Ruckle Point.

110. Long-billed Dowitcher

Saw a couple of these beside a swampy lake on Vancouver Island, near Rathtrevor Provincial Park. They are a beautiful rich rusty red colour. And their beaks were amazingly long. They were on their southerly migration.

110. Brant - April 2010

We saw a flock of these on a rocky beach on the east coast of Vancouver Island. They're gorgeous birds - remind me of Australian Wood Ducks with their small neat heads.

109. Ring-Necked Pheasant - July 2010

Saw this guy stannding in the cut grass beside the freeway between Twassen and Vancouver.

108. Spotted Sandpiper - May 2010

Seen feeding on a muddy bank of the Nicola River.

107. Yellow Rumped Warbler - May 2010

Happy, flitty, little warblers seen in the Nicola Valley.

106. Western Tanager - May 2010

Kate spotted this bird when we arrived at our Nicola Valley campsite, just outside Merritt. It was "take-your-breath-away" beautiful. We later disovered our campsite was Western Tanager City, lots of them around.

105. Black Bellied Plover - May 2010

Hanging out with the other plovers and sandpipers at Boundary Bay.

104. American Golden Plover - May 2010

I immediately recognised these guys at Boundary Bay from the photos in the bird book. They're very distinctive. Saw one guy through the binocs, he was standing on one leg. I was looking at him saying "come on, put your leg down and turn around...". When I got closer all his buddies ran off. He hopped, on his one leg.

103. Western Sandpiper - May 2010.

Beautiful little birds fossicking at the tide line in Boundary Bay.

102. Dunlin - May 2010.

On the advice of Brian from Reiffel I went out to Boundary Bay one hour after high tide. This Dunlin was one of four birds I saw for the first time that morning.

101. Common Yellowthroat

The first time I went to Boundary Bay it was a cold, dreary, windy Winter's day. I was with the kids and we had a truly awful time. I swore I would never return to Ladner. Well - in a quest to increase my bird count I did return. Coronation Park is lovely in Spring. Lots of flowers, trees... and birds. I heard, then saw, this Yellowthroat by the creek at the beginning of the Raptor Walk.

100. Coopers Hawk

We went to Van Dusen Gardens one wet Sunday afternoon in March. We were up on the hill overlooking the maze and I could hear it calling. It was high up in a tree, in amongst some pretty dense shrubbery.

99. Red Tailed Hawk - April 2010

These guys are everywhere. Mostly on the sides of roads, sitting up on lights, watching for roadkill. Big fluffy healthy birds.

98. Pied Billed Grebe - March 2010

Saw this guy at Reiffel in the main pond. Unmistakeably Grebish head. Looked a lot like Grebes we saw at Ellory Creek Big Hole in the MacDonell Ranges.

97. Surf Scoter - March 2010

We went for a walk along the sea wall last Sunday. It was a wet and windy day and there were huge flocks of Golden Eyes in close to the shore. Out in the distance I saw this Scoter. It's beak and general shape was unmistakeable.

96. Western Meadowlark - January 2010

We went to Brackendale to see the Eagles. There was one solitary eagle, a bunch of seagulls and a heron. The prize was this juvenile Meadowlark sorting through the grass on the side of the track. He was buff chested, rather than yellow chested like the adults. And seemed quite self confident. Unfortunately he didn't sing.

95. American Dipper - January 2010

We saw this dipper in a fast moving mountain stream feeding Alice Lake. It dipped in and out of the water, and even appeared to be standing on the bottom while the water rushed over it.

94. Varied Thrush - December 2009

Saw this beautiful bird scurrying around in the bushes near Trimble Park during Kate's soccer match.

93. Ruffed Grouse - September 2009

Coming up a hill out of the camping ground at Adams Lake we saw this bird scurry off into the bushes. He hung around just long enough for us to see the distinctive colour, and buffle on his head, before he ran into the bush.

92. Great Horned Owl - August 09

When we took Gavin out to Reifel today, we only wanted to see one new bird. We never expected it to be the Great Horned Owl. There were 2 of them sitting 20m from the path, in the middle of the day, sleeping and preening in turn. They seemed amazingly big and fluffy. Their ears were very easy to see, and their eyes were amazingly yellow. Just beautiful. Molly thought they looked like cats.

91. Osprey - August 09

Seen from a dock in Ladner circling above the river. There one minute, gone the next.

90. Ring Billed Gull - August 09

Seen on a dock at Ladner. It's easy to identify because of the black dots on its upper and lower bill.

89. Anna's Hummingbird - July 09

We had just spent a lovely afternoon at the Van Dusen Gardens, and were walking back through the Rose Garden, when we saw this beauty. It was perched in a tree above a German tour group and as the whole Gray Family chased it around the tree the German tour leader exclaimed: "I don't know why they're so excited, it's just a bird". Pfff. As it turned into the sun the pink on its neck was spectacular.

88. Red Crossbill - July 2009

Don't remember seeing this, but it's marked down...

87. Pigeon Guillemot - July 2009

We saw a pair of these fishing off the point at Ruckle Park. The distinctive white patch on the wings was the clincher. Pretty pretentious name though.

86. Trumpeter Swan - July 2009

Walked to the end of the beach on Salt Spring Island, and saw a group of these hanging out with the Canada Geese.

85. Green Winged Teal - June 2008

Seen out at Reiffel. Head is very distinctive from a distance.

84. Heerman's Gull - June 2008

The only red-beaked Gull in North America. Noticed and identified these guys in San Francisco, just near Fisherman's Wharf. Have probably seen zillions of them but hadn't noticed the red beak.

83. Northern Cardinal - July 2009

I saw my first Northern Cardinal this week at Central Park in NY. I had read on the internet that Central Park was a birders' paradise and it is, if you like Robins and Sparrows and Black Birds. However, as soon as I walked into the Rambles I saw this little beauty. It's bigger than I had imagined, and not quite as red, but a beautiful bird. I saw both a male and a female.

82. Brown and White Pelican - June 2009

Haven't seen a pelican in such a long time I was shocked by just how big they are. Saw these guys down on Pier 39 in SF, hanging out with the Sea Lions.

81. Snowy Egret - June 2009

Saw this beauty in San Francisco. Gorgeous. It has black legs and cool yellow feet.

80. Killdeer - June 2009

I don't really like these birds. Don't know why. Maybe it's because they remind me of plovers. Anyway, saw a couple of these guys in the lake at San Francisco. A muddy, dirty, polluted lake. Figures.

79. Double Crested Cormorant - June 2009

My trip to San Francisco was very lucrative. Saw many of these big fellas cruising around just off shore on the beaches between Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge. They were very bright orange around the beak, and looked really big and strong. One guy was cruising around using his feet to paddle. He had his wings up in the air to dry them.

78. Blue Winged Teal - May 2009

Ah, the sewer ponds at Iona have been lucrative over the years...

77. Cinnamon Teal - May 2009

Saw this beauty from a distance, out at Iona Regional Park. They really are very distinctive. A beautiful rich brown. Apparently they're quite common. I'm surprised we haven't seen them before...

76. Clark's Nutcracker

One of two great birds I saw at Lake Louise. Despite what the books say, it looks nothing like a grey jay.

75. American Crow

Seen all along the seashore near Kits, picking up shells and then dropping them on the concrete paths. There is also a massive colony that lives around here somewhere. Once we put birdseed on a plate on the back verandah and a Crow came and took the lot, plate and all.

74. Common Raven

We were sitting on the benches outside Hollyburn Lodge - having a hot chocolate - in between skis. We shared the seat with these 2 nutty bird fanatics who were feeding the Whisky Jacks. When the Ravens arrived they seemed to know them, almost by name. They treated them like pets, saying things like "who's a beautiful boy? What beautiful feathers you have" etc etc. I had never looked at Ravens as beautiful until this moment. I had always just treated them as pesky Currawongs. They actually are quite beautiful.

73. Tree Swallow - May 2008

Seen at Reiffel in... a tree. Also in May 2009. Kate amazed. "Ooohhhh myyyyy ggoooosssshhh. Look at that blue bird". For the longest time I have been offering a chocolate bar to the first person who sees a Mountain Blue Bird. We haven't seen one yet, but every blue bird now seems to qualify.

72. Violet-Green Swallow - July 2008

Saw these guys skimming the water on a canoe trip up Widgeon Creek near Chilliwack.

71. Red-Breasted Nuthatch - 2008

Saw this bird at Nairn Falls. These little guys can go up and down a tree, creeping along somehow as if they're walking on a flat surface.

69. Brown Creeper - December 2007

Seen for the first time at the Harris House. See them frequently when we walk in heavily timbered forests.

68. Cedar Waxwing - August 2008

Have seen quite a few of these distinctive birds. The first time was at New Denver, on dusk, with a really crappy pair of binoculars. They were shadowed against the light but I could see their cool cresty heads. They hung around long enough for me to cruise around and see then from lots of different angles

67. Yellow Warbler - August 2008

We picnicked and swam beside the Kettle River to the sound of these gorgeous little birds. The Kettle River Valley is just picturesque. Clean. Natural. Beautiful.

66. Spotted Towhee - June 2008

Although we first saw this bird in Pemberton, it is sighting this bird at Lighthouse Park in May 2009 that gives me with one of my best birding memories. We were scrambling around on rocks with the girls when I said "shhh, there's a bird" and Kate said - in front of a bunch of awestruck adults - "don't worry mum, it's just a Towhee". We now have one that lives in the hedge beside our house.

65. Fox Sparrow - January 2008

Seen near a pretty lake at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island. Not sure how we could have identified him at this stage of our birding, but here it is.