Take flight to Vancouver’s North Shore to get close to our feathered friends with a bit of bird watching! Vancouver’s North Shore’s natural landscape is home to a wild and varied wealth of wildlife. If you’re looking to see some of our avian locals try some of these birding spots on the north shore.
Maplewood Conservation Area (also known as Maplewood Flats) has to be one of the best places to go bird watching in the region. The 300-acre retreat is managed by The Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia and is home to over 245 species of birds. When you arrive check out the sighting boards for a list of recently spotted species. Good for sighting: Waterfowl, Ospreys, Purple Martin, Green Heron, Songbirds, Hawks, and Owls.
Ambleside Park is a small but busy park that hosts a number of different habitats from the shoreline to forest. This varied landscape makes a great place to spot a number of native birds while not going too far off the beaten path.
Good for sighting: Harlequin Duck, Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Belted Kingfisher, sizable flocks of gulls.
Cypress Provincial Park is located on Cypress Mountain. The mountain has a number of trails you could use to go birding but we recommend you try the Hi-View Lookout or Yew Lake Trail, an easy and accessible loop trail. Bird watching is available throughout the year but is known to be best in this area summer through Fall.
Good for sighting: Band-tailed Pigeon, Fox Sparrow, Sooty Grouse, and Gray Jay.
Mount Seymour’s lush forests of old-growth firs attract all kinds of birds who make conifer forest their home. Birding is good throughout the year with sightings of both common and regular regional birds.
Good for sighting: Sooty Grouse, Band-tailed Pigeon, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Varied Thrush, and Red Crossbill.