The Garden Birds  

Back Yard Bird List: 

The yard  is in a fourteen year old subdivision beside the Miami River in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia.  There is a 15 meter riparian setback between the property line and the water.  Riparian vegetation consists of one mature Big Leafed Maple and Western Red Cedar as well as several Alder, Birch, Thimble, Salmon, Black and Elderberry shrubs. 

Birds that visit the yard, swim on river or feed on the wing over the property are listed below:

Species in purple nested or observed with young Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Green Heron Canada Goose  Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Mallard Blue-winged Teal Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Gadwall American Wigeon Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Hooded Merganser  Common Merganser Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Merlin Northern Bobwhite  American Coot Spotted Sandpiper Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Wilson's Snipe Band-tailed Pigeon Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Barred Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Common Nighthawk Black Swift Vaux's Swift  Rufous Hummingbird  Belted Kingfisher Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Red-breasted Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Western Wood-Peewee Willow Flycatcher Warbling Vireo Red-eyed  Vireo  Steller's Jay  Common Raven  Northwestern Crow  Barn Swallow

100 species and counting Violet-green Swallow Tree Swallow Black-capped Chickadee  Chestnut-backed Chickadee American Dipper Bushtit  Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter's Wren Bewick's Wren American Robin  Varied Thrush Townsend's Solitaire Swainson's Thrush  Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet European Starling  Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler American Redstart MacGillivray's Warbler Wilson's Warbler Western Tanager Black-headed Grosbeak  Spotted Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow  Lincoln's Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Golden-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow  Dark-eyed Junco  Red-winged Blackbird  Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird  Brown-headed Cowbird Northern Oriole (Bullock's)  Purple Finch House Finch  Common Redpoll Hoary Redpoll Pine Siskin American Goldfinch Evening Grosbeak House Sparrow

Other birds reported to me or observed nearby but not actually in this back yard:

 

   Peregrine Falcon,  Lewis' Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, Lazuli Bunting, Ruffed Grouse, Merlin 

 Barred Owl

Spring 2002 - A Barred Owl made a night of star gazing special this Spring when it alighted on a lateral branch of the Big-leafed Maple about 30 feet up and sat peering around for about 7 minutes before flying off into the night.

A Northern Bobwhite Quail

                      

This Quail appeared at 7:30 p.m. on June 4, 2001 and "bob-whited" for 30 minutes before flying off.  Definitely the most rare bird ever to visit the yard.

Sharp-shinned & Cooper's Hawks

                     

 Small Accipiters like this yard.  They  hunt Red-winged Blackbirds and Black-headed Grosbeaks.   On August 7, 2001, a immature hunter met its demise.  It was found dead under the kitchen window.  The intended victim had escaped.  In the mid 1980's on Parkwood Drive in Agassiz, a Cedar Waxwing was not so lucky.  It was found, below a window,  grasped in the talons of a dead Sharp-shinned  Hawk .

Common Redpolls

In early February 2002, during a snowstorm, a flock of 50 Common Redpoll appeared at the backyard feeders.  They preferred to dine on black oil sunflower seeds but also spend a time on the niger seed feeder.  Towards the end of February, one bird appeared to be sick.  This male displayed symptoms of salmonella.  This disease is common among the resident Pine Siskins.  By March 1st, 2002, most of the flock had disappeared with just three stragglers remaining.  

Juvenile Bald Eagle

January 7th, 2004 - On this cold (-7 C), snowy morning about 10 am, a young Bald Eagle sat near the top of the 100 foot Western Red Cedar for 20 minutes. Perhaps it hoped to catch one of the fat Mallards munching corn and barley below on the banks of the nearly frozen Miami River.  It had been observed flying over the property several times during the past week of unusually severe winter weather.

MacGillivray's Warbler

May 25, 2005 - a MacGillivray's Warbler was found dead under my neighbour's bathroom window.  It appeared to have hit the window and died.  It was a male in full breeding plumage.  Not a good time of year to loose a breeding male.

Northern Saw-whet Owl

April 8, 2009- a Northern Saw-whet Owl swooped down on a rodent too near to a neighbour 's dog.  The dog grabbed the owl but the neighbour rescued her.  She was transported to O.W.L Rehabilitation Society in Delta but despite no broken bones she can not fly well consistently. It seems she is destined to be an educational owl for the rest of her life.  The photo shows her in a crate at Gerry Power's place in Abbottsford the night before she was transported. 

Mourning Dove

For the first time ever a Mourning dove showed up in the back yard on May 7, 2009.

top

bird list