The ecoregion covers the southern mainland coast of British Colombia as well as the islands of Georgia Strait (from Quadra Island south). In Washington, it extends to the lower altitude forests surrounding Puget Sound (including Seattle), west of the Cascade Range, south to the Columbia River as the state border at Longview, WA.
Adjacent ecoregions include the following: i) British Columbia Mainland Coastal Forests (NA0506), in all adjoining areas in British Columbia and to the east in Washington State down to about Highway 90; ii) Central Pacific Coastal Forests (NA0510), all areas to the west in Washington State (this is also the ecoregion of Vancouver Island); iii) Central and Southern Cascades Forests (NA0508), to the east in Washington State, south of about Highway 90; and iv) at the very extreme southern tip of the ecoregion, the adjacent ecoregion to the south is the Willamette Valley Forests (NA0417).
Description of the Ecoregion
A detailed description of the ecoregion can be found at WWF’s site (the map above is a screen shot from that Wildfinder site). There may also be additional information to be found in this ecoregion’s page at Wikipedia.
WWF notes that before cultivation and European settlement, the ecoregion was dominated by dense coniferous forests most commonly made up of western red cedar, western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Mixed stands of Douglas-fir with some Garry oak (Quercus garrayana), Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) and arbutus (Arbutus menziesii) are common on drier sites. Moist sites support stands of western hemlock and western red cedar. Periodic flooding and infrequent fires were once the predominant disturbance regimes in the region.
“This ecoregion lies within the most densely populated area of Washington and British Columbia, encompassing the cities of Vancouver, Victoria, Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia. Consequently, only 5 percent of the original habitat within the region remains and most remaining areas have been heavily (90-100 percent) altered. Small, isolated islands of original habitat (e.g., old-growth forest, bogs, prairie-Oak woodlands) are surrounded by urbanization and agriculture” (WWF).
At least in Washington, the extent of this ecoregion is essentially the same as the EPA’s “Puget Trough Ecoregion”, as mapped at Bird Web of the Seattle Audubon Society (SAS). However, WWF’s ecoregion excludes the small area to the northeast of Vancouver, WA. The SAS site includes a very helpful detailed description of the ecoregion in Washington.
Birds of the Ecoregion
The Seattle Audubon site includes an excellent guide to the main birding sites of the ecoregion in Washington and a detailed month by month listing of all the bird species to be expected. No species are endemic or near-endemic to the ecoregion.
Resources for the Ecoregion Birder
Without any pretense to completeness, the following resources have caught my attention and would be of value to the birder traveling to this ecoregion:
- Cannings, Russell and Richard Cannings, 2013. Bird finding in British Columbia. Greystone Books (see review at http://blog.aba.org/2014/07/birding-british-columbia.html). This guide should have good information on the BC portion of the ecoregion.
- Seattle Aubudon Society’s Bird Web is a terrific resource for Washington state (see also above).
List of Characteristic Bird Species of the Ecoregion
The following list does not include very rare or accidental species (it excludes anything other than Category 1or 2 on the ABA list). Species are classed as summer breeders (s), resident (r), migrants (m), wintering (w), or peripheral (x) (that is, occurring in the ecoregion but only on its periphery and more characteristic of an adjacent ecoregion). For a fuller definition of characteristic species of an ecoregion, see the About tab.
- Greater White-fronted Goose m
- Snow Goose m
- Brant w
- Cackling Goose m
- Canada Goose r
- Trumpeter Swan w
- Tundra Swan w
- Wood Duck r
- Gadwall r
- Eurasian Wigeon w
- American Wigeon w
- Mallard r
- Blue-winged Teal s
- Cinnamon Teal s
- Northern Shoveler r
- Northern Pintail w
- Green-winged Teal r
- Canvasback w
- Redhead m
- Ring-necked Duck w
- Greater Scaup w
- Lesser Scaup w
- Harlequin Duck w
- Surf Scoter w
- White-winged Scoter w
- Black Scoter w
- Long-tailed Duck w
- Bufflehead w
- Common Goldeneye w
- Barrow’s Goldeneye w
- Hooded Merganser r
- Common Merganser r
- Red-breasted Merganser w
- Ruddy Duck w
- California Quail r
- Northern Bobwhite x
- Ring-necked Pheasant r
- Ruffed Grouse r
- Spruce Grouse r
- Sooty Grouse r
- Wild Turkey x
- Red-throated Loon w
- Pacific Loon r
- Common Loon r
- Pied-billed Grebe r
- Horned Grebe w
- Red-necked Grebe w
- Western Grebe w
- Brandt’s Cormorant w
- Double-crested Cormorant r
- Pelagic Cormorant r
- American Bittern r
- Great Blue Heron r
- Great Egret x
- Green Heron s
- Black-crowned Night-Heron x
- Turkey Vulture s
- Osprey s
- White-tailed Kite x
- Bald Eagle r
- Northern Harrier r
- Sharp-shinned Hawk r
- Cooper’s Hawk r
- Northern Goshawk r
- Red-tailed Hawk r
- Rough-legged Hawk w
- Golden Eagle r
- Virginia Rail r
- Sora s
- American Coot r
- Sandhill Crane m
- Black Oystercatcher r
- Black-bellied Plover w
- American Golden-Plover m
- Pacific Golden-Plover m
- Semipalmated Plover m
- Killdeer r
- Spotted Sandpiper r
- Solitary Sandpiper m
- Wandering Tattler m
- Greater Yellowlegs w
- Lesser Yellowlegs m
- Whimbrel m
- Ruddy Turnstone m
- Black Turnstone w
- Red Knot m
- Surfbird w
- Sanderling w
- Dunlin w
- Rock Sandpiper w
- Baird’s Sandpiper m
- Least Sandpiper w
- Pectoral Sandpiper m
- Semipalmated Sandpiper m
- Western Sandpiper w
- Short-billed Dowitcher m
- Long-billed Dowitcher w
- Wilson’s Snipe r
- Red-necked Phalarope m
- Common Murre r
- Pigeon Guillemot r
- Marbled Murrelet r
- Ancient Murrelet w
- Rhinoceros Auklet r
- Bonaparte’s Gull w
- Heermann’s Gull m
- Mew Gull w
- Ring-billed Gull w
- Western Gull w
- California Gull w
- Herring Gull w
- Thayer’s Gull w
- Glaucous-winged Gull r
- Glaucous Gull w
- Caspian Tern s
- Common Tern m
- Rock Pigeon r
- Band-tailed Pigeon r
- Eurasian Collared-Dove r
- Mourning Dove r
- Barn Owl r
- Western Screech-Owl r
- Great Horned Owl r
- Snowy Owl w
- Northern Pygmy-Owl r
- Spotted Owl r
- Barred Owl r
- Long-eared Owl x
- Short-eared Owl w
- Northern Saw-whet Owl r
- Common Nighthawk s
- Black Swift s
- Vaux’s Swift s
- Anna’s Hummingbird r
- Rufous Hummingbird s
- Belted Kingfisher r
- Acorn Woodpecker x
- Red-breasted Sapsucker r
- Downy Woodpecker r
- Hairy Woodpecker r
- Northern Flicker r
- Pileated Woodpecker r
- American Kestrel r
- Merlin w
- Gyrfalcon x
- Peregrine Falcon r
- Olive-sided Flycatcher s
- Western Wood-Pewee s
- Willow Flycatcher s
- Hammond’s Flycatcher s
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher s
- Western Kingbird x
- Northern Shrike w
- Cassin’s Vireo s
- Hutton’s Vireo r
- Warbling Vireo s
- Red-eyed Vireo s
- Gray Jay r
- Steller’s Jay r
- Western Scrub-Jay x
- American Crow x
- Northwestern Crow r
- Common Raven r
- Horned Lark w
- Tree Swallow s
- Violet-green Swallow s
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow s
- Cliff Swallow s
- Barn Swallow s
- Black-capped Chickadee r
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee r
- Bushtit r
- Red-breasted Nuthatch r
- White-breasted Nuthatch r
- Brown Creeper r
- House Wren s
- Pacific Wren r
- Marsh Wren r
- Bewick’s Wren r
- American Dipper r
- Golden-crowned Kinglet r
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet w
- Western Bluebird s
- Townsend’s Solitaire r
- Swainson’s Thrush s
- Hermit Thrush w
- American Robin r
- Varied Thrush r
- European Starling r
- American Pipit w
- Cedar Waxwing r
- Lapland Longspur m
- Snow Bunting w
- Orange-crowned Warbler s
- Nashville Warbler x
- MacGillivray’s Warbler s
- Common Yellowthroat s
- Yellow Warbler s
- Yellow-rumped Warbler r
- Black-throated Gray Warbler s
- Townsend’s Warbler r
- Hermit Warbler s
- Wilson’s Warbler s
- Spotted Towhee r
- American Tree Sparrow x
- Chipping Sparrow s
- Vesper Sparrow x
- Savannah Sparrow r
- Fox Sparrow r
- Song Sparrow r
- Lincoln’s Sparrow w
- Swamp Sparrow x
- White-throated Sparrow r
- White-crowned Sparrow r
- Golden-crowned Sparrow r
- Dark-eyed Junco r
- Western Tanager s
- Black-headed Grosbeak s
- Lazuli Bunting x
- Red-winged Blackbird r
- Western Meadowlark r
- Yellow-headed Blackbird x
- Brewer’s Blackbird r
- Brown-headed Cowbird r
- Bullock’s Oriole s
- Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch x
- House Finch r
- Purple Finch r
- Red Crossbill r
- Pine Siskin r
- American Goldfinch r
- Evening Grosbeak r
- House Sparrow r
Summer breeders (s) 39
Resident breeders (r) 98
Migrants (m) 22
Wintering (w) 56
Peripheral (x) [not in Total] 18
TOTAL 215
DJG: 54 spp. (March 31, 2017)