Are you a journalist or a wildlife photographer? Are you the ‘guy’ who dips out the birds for birdwatching?
Don’t panic, this simple guide will provide you with plenty of facts and specifics about the birds of British Columbia.
Numerous birds make their home in British Columbia. From various kinds of year-round local birds to migrating birds, wintering birds, and nesting birds, carrying so much info to recognize birds of British Columbia gets tough.
The next time you visit birding across British Columbia, you’ll be able to readily recognize the species you want to photograph.
| Image | Name |
|---|---|
 | American Robin |
 | Cedar Waxwing |
 | Rufous Hummingbirds |
 | Downy Woodpecker |
 | House Sparrow |
 | Pileated Woodpecker |
 | Song Sparrow |
 | American Goldfinches |
Most Common Birds in British Columbia (BC)
Have you heard that during the last 150 years, British Columbia has documented more than 588 bird species? This is higher than any other Canadian province.
The post has given you a handful of British Columbia’s most frequent but intriguing birds to debate.
1. American Robin
The American robin may be identified by a hopping bird on the brilliant green grass in the yard or an evening chorus of happy chirrupings.
The American Robin is perhaps a big songbird native to British Columbia and a long-standing emblem of spring. It is a widespread bird across British Columbia and may also be observed in southern Canada.
Identification
It is distinguished by its brilliant orange big belly, long tail and legs, and melodic voice. Bounces about the backyard stand upright, beak angled upwards towards the sky.
Female robins are less interesting as compared to males. They are around the appearance of a European Starling. The nest of these British Columbia species includes 2 to 3 blue eggs.
Behavior
The male American Robin concludes the night phase of the sky with their lovely song as the sun goes down. During the spring, they are common in yards and gardens.
Diet
Their food consists of 40 % tiny invertebrates, mostly worms and bugs, and 60% wild-grown fruits. They like sweets and will eat cakes, berries, fruits, and even pastry dough.
Is the American robin inebriated? They occasionally graze mostly on fermented fruit, which causes dizziness. They keep tumbling to the ground while they move.
Threats
Squirrels, snakes, and a few birds, such as California scour jays, blue jays, American crows, Steller’s jays, and common ravens, go towards eggs and juveniles.
Foxes and wild dogs may feast on the young ones from the grass, while raccoons can capture them from nests.
2. Cedar Waxwing
The Cedar Waxwings are yet another stunning sight to behold via your binoculars from the ‘British Columbia Birds .’ Summer mating birds may be found across British Columbia and throughout Maine.
Many of these may be located throughout Canada’s southeast. They are commonly discovered in orchards, open forested areas, and even urban areas close to nearby forests.
Identification
They were given a black mask that made them appear like the famous animated character ‘Roronoa Zoro.’ Adults get a smooth light brown crown, a pale yellow stripe on the abdomen, and yellow-tipped tail feathers. Females hatch blue-gray eggs in the shade, and both parents nourish the youngsters.
Behavior
You’ll be surprised to learn that berries influence the social and migratory behavior of these British Columbia songbirds.
Since they are social, they may be spotted in groups throughout the year. They may be seen in groups of dozens to hundreds.
Diet
“Berrylicious,” as they call fruit such as elderberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Mostly in summer, they also eat insects such as caterpillars, ants, and beetles, and they occasionally soar over bodies of water, hunting for insects to feast on.
Threats
Like the American robin, they may get inebriated by eating fermenting berries, or they can perish.
3. Rufous Hummingbirds
They breed inside the forests of the northwestern United States and Canada and spend the winters mostly in Mexican highlands along the United States Gulf Coast.
Identification
The rufous hummingbird is a tiny bird found throughout British Columbia with a long, slender, straight beak. Despite their small appearance, they are fierce fighters, often striking other songbirds or insects that they see as a danger to their area.
A mature male Rufous does have a white patch underneath the neck, a brilliant orange coating on his spine, and a shimmering red throat on his belly. A female rufous has an emerald back with reddish brown (rufous-shaded) flanks and tails.
Behavior
Since they are all violent, gender is only a word. They dislike socializing or interacting with other individuals from their species. They may also pose issues for many other birds in British Columbia.
Diet
They mostly consume sucrose-rich flower nectar and a high-protein diet obtained from tiny insects.
They get their nectar from red tubular wildflowers like red columbine, gilia, scarlet sage, penstemon, paintbrushes, and a variety of others. They also eat sugar-water combinations from hummingbird feeders.
4. Downy Woodpecker
If you go to certain open forests, you will notice some brief cries (wuk, wuk, wuk) or pecking noises amid the deciduous forests close to a water source.
Downy woodpeckers had acclimated to human development and are now common across cemeteries, city parks, and orchards. They are among British Columbia’s most frequent woodpeckers and garden birds.
Identification
The bodies of downy woodpeckers exhibit white and black mottled stripes. The black upper parts appear checkered with white on the wings, the forehead has Zebra-like white stripes, and the back does have an enormous white stripe along the center.
Male birds get a distinctive red patch on the back of their heads. The upper tail feathers remain white with a few brown patches, and the beak is smaller.
Behavior
They are among the British Columbian species that like visiting yard bird feeders. They are a nuisance throughout the summer and spring. They like drumming on wood and making a racket with their harsh whinnying sound.
Diet
They prefer to consume insects such as beetles and ants. Caterpillars and gall wasps are also easily consumed. Suet feeders entice them readily, and they like black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, thick peanut butter, and millet.
Threats
They are not violent, yet they are naïve enough to be intruded upon by a variety of other creatures. Their predators include the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the American Kestrel, and the Cooper’s Hawk. They may also be captured while flying. Black rat snakes like to eat their eggs and young.
5. House Sparrow
House sparrows are fascinating, from their looks to their constant chirrupings.
The house sparrow is yet another exotic species on British Columbia’s bird ranking. These loud, annoying, joyful, and companionable house sparrows, found throughout Alaska and western Canada, are the cutest birds.
Identification
The house sparrow is a tiny bird having black streaks on its back. A male house sparrow is a dark brown in color, with black bibs, grey breasts, and white faces, while a female house sparrow is a light brown, with really no bib, crest, or white cheeks. Their eggs are oval in shape, dark blue or green in color, and have slight dark patches.
Behavior
House sparrows like to nest in man-made buildings such as street lights and buildings.
Diet
They lack a diverse diet and sense of taste. They eat everything, including waste grains, grass seeds, weeds, seeds, and insects, and they will eat human leftovers as well.
You may offer them a little slice of bread if you want to entice them. Adult house sparrows nourish invertebrates to their kids during the mating season.
Threats
They not only grab your heart, but they’re also well-known for stealing food from American robins. It is adaptable and violent and may displace native birds from their habitats on sidewalks, which very few birds can access.
These British Columbian species have a significant influence on the population of local birds, including cliff swallows, chickadees, bluebirds, and certain woodpeckers.
6. Pileated Woodpecker
Take a cue from the pileated woodpecker, the Romeo of British Columbia’s bird species. The pileated woodpecker does not constitute a critically endangered, although it is safeguarded.
They are widely scattered throughout the south of British Columbia, becoming much more scarce across the north through the Peaceful Lowland areas, central BC, and into the territory’s northeastern parts.
Identification
Male pileated woodpeckers are typically crow-sized and sport a vivid red crown on their heads, while females appear black. They hunt insects with shark-like long beaks.
During flying, they get a black body, a black neck having white stripes on the side, and white tones beneath the wing feathers.
Behavior
The pileated woodpecker gets famed for its glorious courtship because they pair indefinitely and also have attractive rituals to attract partners. They beat a loud drum on the hardwood to entice their partners.
Diet
Their diet consists of eating beetles and carpenter insects (which dwell in the forests) that are taken from fallen woody debris as well as upright living and dead trees.
It finds ant nests by drilling holes in the wood with its sharp beak and dragging the insects out with its long tongue.
Threats
The clearance of big dead and live trees in the woods is a severe hazard to these British Columbian birds because it destroys their nests and affects their resting and eating locations.
7. Song Sparrow
Isn’t it charming and pleasant to observe a bird hopping around? They are among British Columbia’s most versatile birds, capable of breeding in any vegetation region with enough shelter, humidity, or access to water.
Identification
Song sparrows are medium-sized birds with quite a big stomach, a round forehead, a bulky build, and brown stripes on the breast and back. Their face is dark, with an earthy stripe running across each eye.
Their nests are distinguished by 3 to 5 brown eggs having greenish-white markings. They also have a long tail that is regularly held up and pushed up or down while flying.
Behavior
They simply hop, hop, and hop the whole day. They jump and wander between the trees, grass, and weeds. They stay at a low elevation; however, males frequently sing from tiny trees. They can only go short distances.
Diet
These are all the British Columbian birds that consume seeds and fruits all year. During the spring and summer, it feeds on a variety of insects, although in the autumn and winter, it switches to seeds. It has also been seen that they eat at the poop of Glaucous-winged Gulls.
Threats
Most of those are migrating and encounter human-caused dangers like crashes. Cats and insecticides feed on them. They are also well-brown-headed cowbird predators.
Song sparrows are quite violent at feeders and may prey on larger sparrows as well as other birds.
8. American Goldfinches
The American Goldfinches are by far the most common goldfinch birds inhabiting British Columbia throughout the eastern United States and Canada.
Identification
The American goldfinch is a little finch with long wings, a tiny head, a short tail, and a razor-sharp beak. It has a pink color during the summer and a light brown color in the winter.
Adult males possess brilliant yellow bodies save for the black head and wings throughout the summer and spring. Females are light yellow on the underside and olive on top.
Behavior
They are agile and acrobatic, balancing themselves on trees to gather seeds. As a result, they may be spotted throughout weedy fields, orchards, backyards, agricultural areas, and roadsides.
They like being noticed. They regularly bring in their Po-ta-to-chip sounds as they fly in a bouncing undulating rhythm.
Diet
Those were the only granivorous birds throughout British Columbia, and you may find them eating thistle seed, sunflower seed, and elm seed. They also eat insects, although only to a limited extent, throughout the summer.
Threats
American goldfinches are hunted and eaten by predators such as American kestrels, eastern garter snakes, weasels, blue jays, and cats.
Conclusion
It’s a great experience to keep putting up bird feeders and see what gets to meet, but it’s much more exciting if you understand who they are and can recognize birds around your garden.
By studying the features of each bird, you may now discover about one of the most common birds that frequent your feeders or hop around your garden throughout British Columbia.
FAQ
What is Vancouver's most frequent bird?
So the northern crow was perhaps the most common bird throughout the Vancouver province. It outperforms the Canada goose, the American robin, and the European starling.
Last Updated on March 22, 2023 by Lily Aldrin
