Home    Garden Birds    Lagoon Birds    Wildlife

Birding Around the Lagoon

 

The man-made lagoon in Harrison Hot Springs B.C. attracts a variety of diving and dabbling ducks during the fall and winter.  The geese are considered a nuisance by the tourists and hang out all year.   Most other waterfowl  leave by mid spring except for one Lesser Scaup that spent the summer in 2001. The bottom of the lagoon is filled with weeds.  When it was partially drained in the fall of 1999 for "cleaning, sculpturing and water flow" work, the ducks had a heyday with the trapped fish.

Some birds on this list frequent the inshore area of Harrison Lake and the lower reaches of the Miami River where it flows through the Harrison Resort Property.

Listed below are birds seen or heard around the lagoon and lake in downtown Harrison at various seasons of the year:

Entries in purple indicate young birds have been observed.

  •  

    • Common Loon

    • Yellow-billed Loon

    • Pied-billed Grebe

    • Horned Grebe

    • Western Grebe

    • Great Blue Heron

    • Canada Goose

    • Mallard

    • Northern Pintail

    • Northern Shoveler

    • Gadwall

    • Eurasian Wigeon

    • American Wigeon

    • Canvasback

    • Redhead

    • Ring-neck Duck

    • Greater Scaup

    • Lesser Scaup

    • Long-tailed Duck

    • Surf Scoter

    • Common Goldeneye

    • Barrow's Goldeneye

    • Bufflehead

    • Hooded Merganser

     

    • Common Merganser

    • Ruddy Duck

    • Osprey

    • Bald Eagle

    • American Coot

    • Killdeer 

    • Spotted Sandpiper

    • Least Sandpiper

    • Wilson's Snipe

    • Mew Gull

    • Ring-billed Gull

    • Herring Gull

    • Glaucous-winged Gull

    • Barn Owl

    • Barred Owl

    • Vaux's Swift

    • Rufous Hummingbird

    • Belted Kingfisher

    • Northwestern Crow

    • Common Raven

    • Horned Lark

    • Tree Swallow

    • Violet-green Swallow

    • Northern Rough-winged Swallow

     

    • Cliff Swallow

    • Barn Swallow

    • Black-capped Chickadee

    • Chestnut-backed Chickadee

    • Bushtit

    • Bewick's Wren

    • Winter Wren

    • American Dipper

    • Golden-crowned Kinglet

    • Ruby-crowned Kinglet

    • Swainson's Thrush

    • American Robin

    • Varied Thrush

    • Cedar Waxwing

    • European Starling

    • Savannah Sparrow

    • White-crowned Sparrow

    • Red-winged Blackbird

    • Western Meadow Lark

    • Brewer's Blackbird

    • Brown-headed Cowbird

    • House Finch

    • House Sparrow

      Long-tailed Duck 

        

Sunday, December 22, 2002 -  A single female Long-tailed Duck was observed swimming about 100 metres out in Harrison Lake opposite the lagoon.  She spent more time under the water than on the surface.

Wilson's Snipe

Sunday, November 24, 2002 - Two Common Snipes were busy probing the mud on the banks of the Miami river adjacent to Spring Park. It is surprising how well they camouflage into the grasses on the river's edge. 

On January 8 & 15, 2005, Snipes, now back to the name Wilson's from Common, were again observed.  Again the individuals seen were probing the mud along the frozen shores of the Miami or that of the small rivulets running down the mountain into the river behind the Harrison Hot Springs Resort.

Surf Scoter

                                                    

October 20. 2002 - Five female Surf Scoters were observed off shore from the man made lagoon.  They dived in unison every minute or two.  A flock of Lesser Scaup, a single female Canvasback and a few Bufflehead frequented the same area.

American Dipper

Sunday, January 6. 2002 -  An American Dipper was observed in the Miami River at Hot Springs Road.  It bobbed on the rocks and dipped under the water and soon emerged with an 8cm. long fish.  It proceeded to batter the fish on the nearest rocks unmercifully, often losing grip of  its prey and needing to retrieve it from the water.  After 5 to 7 minutes of this performance, the Dipper abruptly abandoned the minnow in the shallows and bobbed off to another vantage point.  Here, the bird immediately dove under and emerged with a 5 cm long fish.  It began to repeat the previous scenario but after two bashes promptly ate the fish, head first and retired to a favourite rock to preen!

Horned Lark

On a late, afternoon walk around the lagoon in blustery mid October 2001, my friend noticed two dumpy little birds running along the shoreline. We first thought they were shorebirds but the black facial pattern, the yellow throat, black tail feathers with white trim on the outer in flight  confirmed the identification even in the fading light. It was a pair of Horned Larks -one adult and the other duller one, an immature bird.

On September 11, 2004, four Horned Larks were arguing over weed seeds in the corner of the boat  launch  parking lot about 7 p.m.  One bird actually "attacked" another in a flurry of cheeps and feather.  Calm prevailed soon and fight forgotten, all devoured pig weed seeds hungrily. The following day, Sept. 12, 2004, 45 to 50 Horned Larks, a mixture of immature and adults,  were observed in the same spot eating eating seeds and insects. 

Top