This ecoregion essentially covers the wetter western slope of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. In the north, the ecoregion extends southward from the northern provincial boundary at Prince Rupert; in this part of BC the ecoregion extends to the coast; in southern BC it is displaced to higher altitudes by the Puget Lowland Forests. Across the border in Washington it includes the higher altitude parts of the Olympic Park Mountains and the western slope of the Cascade Mountains south to the Yakima River.
Adjacent ecoregions include the following: i) to the northwest, in Alaska, we find the Pacific Coastal Mountain Icefields and Tundra (NA1117); ii) to the northeast, south to about the latitude of Terrace, BC, are the Northern Transitional Alpine Forests (NA0521); iii) continuing southward on the eastern edge, to about the latitude of Bella Coola, off to the east is the Fraser Plateau and Basin Complex (NA0514); iv) the remainder of its eastern edge southward is bordered by the Cascade Mountains Leeward Forests (NA0507); v) its very southern tip is bordered to the south by the Central and Southern Cascades Forests (NA0508); vi) the remainder of its western edge, northward to where it reaches the coast, is bordered by the Puget Lowland Forests (NA0524); and vii); the Central Pacific Coastal Forests (NA0510) surround the disjunct patch of this ecoregion in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington (and is also the ecoregion of Vancouver Island, across the strait in its west-central part).
Description of the Ecoregion
The ecoregion was described in the WWF publication “Terrestrial ecoregions of North America” (Ricketts, et al., 1999); essentially the same text can be found on-line at WWF’s site: www.worldwildlife.org. The map above is a screen shot from WWF’s Wildfinder site, now offline. There may also be additional information to be found on this ecoregion’s page at Wikipedia or at other sites.
WWF notes that this ecoregion includes three different vegetation zones. “Low-elevation coastal forests include productive stands of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and amabilis fir (Abies amabilis). The subalpine zone is dominated by forests of mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana) and amabilis fir with some yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis). Alpine tundra also includes sedge (Carex spp.)-dominated meadows, and lichen-colonized rock fields.”
At least in Washington, the extent of this ecoregion is essentially the same as the EPA’s “North Cascades Ecoregion”, as mapped at Bird Web of the Seattle Audubon Society (SAS). However, WWF’s ecoregion includes additionally the high altitude portion of Olympic Peninsula in Olympic National Park. The SAS site includes a very helpful detailed description of the ecoregion in Washington.
Birds of the Ecoregion
The WWF site has no specific information on the birds of this ecoregion but notes that a large number of species reach either their northern or southern limits along this extensive coastal ecoregion. There are no species that are endemic or nearly endemic to this 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.
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 m
- Cackling Goose m
- Canada Goose r
- Trumpeter Swan w
- Tundra Swan m
- Wood Duck s
- Gadwall r
- Eurasian Wigeon w
- American Wigeon w
- Mallard r
- Blue-winged Teal m
- Cinnamon Teal m
- Northern Shoveler m
- Northern Pintail w
- Green-winged Teal r
- Canvasback x
- Redhead m
- Ring-necked Duck w
- Greater Scaup w
- Lesser Scaup w
- Harlequin Duck s
- 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
- Northern Bobwhite x
- Ring-necked Pheasant r
- Ruffed Grouse r
- Spruce Grouse r
- Willow Ptarmigan r
- Rock Ptarmigan r
- White-tailed Ptarmigan r
- Sooty Grouse r
- Red-throated Loon w
- Pacific Loon w
- Common Loon r
- Yellow-billed Loon w
- 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 x
- Great Blue Heron r
- Turkey Vulture s
- Osprey s
- Bald Eagle r
- Northern Harrier w
- Sharp-shinned Hawk r
- Cooper’s Hawk r
- Northern Goshawk r
- Red-tailed Hawk r
- Rough-legged Hawk w
- Golden Eagle r
- Virginia Rail s
- Sora s
- American Coot w
- Sandhill Crane m
- Black Oystercatcher r
- Black-bellied Plover m
- American Golden-Plover m
- Pacific Golden-Plover m
- Semipalmated Plover m
- Killdeer r
- Spotted Sandpiper s
- Solitary Sandpiper m
- Wandering Tattler m
- Greater Yellowlegs m
- 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 m
- Pectoral Sandpiper m
- Semipalmated Sandpiper m
- Western Sandpiper m
- Short-billed Dowitcher m
- Long-billed Dowitcher m
- Wilson’s Snipe r
- Red-necked Phalarope m
- Common Murre r
- Pigeon Guillemot r
- Marbled Murrelet r
- Ancient Murrelet r
- Cassin’s Auklet s
- Rhinoceros Auklet r
- Tufted Puffin s
- Bonaparte’s Gull m
- Heermann’s Gull x
- Mew Gull r
- Ring-billed Gull w
- Western Gull m
- 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 s
- Eurasian Collared-Dove x
- Mourning Dove r
- Barn Owl x
- 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 m
- 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
- Red-breasted Sapsucker r
- Downy Woodpecker r
- Hairy Woodpecker r
- Northern Flicker r
- Pileated Woodpecker r
- American Kestrel r
- Merlin s
- Gyrfalcon x
- Peregrine Falcon r
- Olive-sided Flycatcher s
- Western Wood-Pewee s
- Willow Flycatcher s
- Hammond’s Flycatcher s
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher s
- Northern Shrike w
- Cassin’s Vireo s
- Hutton’s Vireo r
- Warbling Vireo s
- Red-eyed Vireo s
- Canada Jay r
- Steller’s Jay r
- 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 x
- Red-breasted Nuthatch r
- Brown Creeper r
- Pacific Wren r
- Marsh Wren x
- Bewick’s Wren r
- American Dipper r
- Golden-crowned Kinglet r
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet s
- Western Bluebird s
- Townsend’s Solitaire r
- Swainson’s Thrush s
- Hermit Thrush s
- American Robin r
- Varied Thrush r
- European Starling r
- American Pipit m
- 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 s
- Black-throated Gray Warbler s
- Townsend’s Warbler s
- Wilson’s Warbler s
- Spotted Towhee r
- American Tree Sparrow x
- Chipping Sparrow s
- Savannah Sparrow s
- Fox Sparrow r
- Song Sparrow r
- Lincoln’s Sparrow s
- White-throated Sparrow x
- White-crowned Sparrow m
- Golden-crowned Sparrow m
- Dark-eyed Junco r
- Western Tanager s
- Black-headed Grosbeak s
- Red-winged Blackbird s
- Western Meadowlark x
- Brewer’s Blackbird r
- Brown-headed Cowbird s
- Bullock’s Oriole x
- Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch x
- House Finch r
- Purple Finch r
- Red Crossbill r
- Common Redpoll x
- Pine Siskin r
- American Goldfinch r
- Evening Grosbeak r
- House Sparrow r
Summer breeders (s) 48
Resident breeders (r) 81
Migrants (m) 37
Wintering (w) 40
Peripheral (x) [not in Total] 17
TOTAL 206
DJG: 3 spp. (July 19, 2018)