The Birds of Vancouver Island's West Coast

About this book

The west coast region of Vancouver Island encompasses mountainous terrain, rainforest, mudflats, and ragged coastlines that bear the brunt of storms spawned by an immense ocean. Remote and inaccessible until well into the twentieth century, the "wild west coast" is also one of the most spectacular bird habitats in the world. Here one can observe multitudes of oceanic birds passing offshore, or venturing ashore to breed, and witness the countless avian migrants travelling north and south each year along the great Pacific Flyway.

The Birds of Vancouver Island's West Coast is the essential guide to the region's birds. It presents accounts of all of the species thus far recorded as occurring there – 360 in total – and updates the 231 species recorded up to 1978. Each account includes a brief introduction to the species and an overview of its total range. Key to the book's detailed and authoritative accounts are first-hand observations and anecdotes recorded by the author over a period of more than four decades from his hometown of Tofino – an ideal location for monitoring the mass movement of migrating birds that navigate the westernmost edge of the continent.

The rugged physical beauty of the west coast of Vancouver Island has long been a major attraction for visitors from all over the world. But its distinctive avian population has also made it a major bird-watching destination. This detailed and up-to-date account of the birds of this region will inform, delight, and surprise amateur and professional birders alike.

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Biography

Adrian Dorst has been an avid birder for sixty-two years, working as a field ornithologist on numerous occasions for the past forty-five years. He was a co-author of Birds of Pacific Rim National Park, published in 1978, and has added several new species to the provincial bird list. As a wilderness photographer and environmental activist he has explored much of the west coast of Vancouver Island and still works as a birding guide out of Tofino. His best-selling book Clayoquot: On the Wild Side was published in 1990.