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.