The ecoregion covers virtually all of Vancouver Island in British Columbia (although the islands to the southeast, such as Salt Spring Island, are in the Puget Lowland Forests). Across the strait of Juan de Fuca, the ecoregion continues in the forests of the Coastal Range of Washington, south through Oregon to just short of its southern border.
Adjacent ecoregions include the following: i) to the northeast of Vancouver Island, the offshore island and the BC mainland (as well as the isolated high-altitude area of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington) are in the British Columbia Mainland Coastal Forests (NA0506); ii) to the southeast of Vancouver Island, the offshore island (Quadra Island southward) and the BC and WA mainland are in the Puget Lowland Forests (NA0524), as are areas in WA east of the ecoregion in coastal WA, south to about Longview, WA; iii) continuing southward, the areas to the east in southern WA state and in Oregon south to about Highway 38 are in the Willamette Valley Forests (NA0417); and iv) areas in OR to the east of the remaining southern extension are in the Klamath-Siskiyou Forests (NA0516).
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.
Briefly, as defined by WWF, major habitats include sea stacks, sandy beaches, rocky coastal cliffs, coastal headlands, tidal pools, mud flats, salt marshes and estuaries, streams and rivers of various sizes, grass balds, and many forest types. The major forest complex consists of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) but there are many other types of forest communities. While hemlock and fir dominate much of the ecoregion, the cool, wet conditions along the coast create a narrow band of forests distinguished by Sitka spruce. With its high tolerance of salt spray, in areas near the ocean Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) may form nearly pure forests or co-dominate with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). Broadleaf species such as black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and red alder (Alnus rubra) dominate in riparian conditions. Occasional grasslands, sand dune and strand communities, rush meadows and marshes, and western red cedar and alder swamps, these last often formed by beaver activity, break up the conifer forests.
WWF notes that human activity, particularly clearcut logging, plantation forestry, road building, agriculture, and development have heavily altered the ecoregion. Only about 4 percent of the region remains as intact habitat. Some ecosystem types, such as the coastal temperate rainforests in Oregon, have been virtually destroyed.
At least in Washington, the extent of this ecoregion is essentially the same as the EPA’s “Pacific Northwest Coast Ecoregion”, as mapped at Bird Web of the Seattle Audubon Society (SAS). However, WWF’s ecoregion excludes the highest altitude areas of Olympic National Park in the Olympic Peninsula. The SAS site includes a very helpful detailed description of the ecoregion in Washington.
Birds of the Ecoregion
I have put together a list of the species that I’d consider characteristic of the ecoregion (see below and Stats page for description of the approach). The list includes 229 species of which 20 are only there as migrants and 62 during winter. The high number of wintering species is largely due to waterfowl and shorebirds wintering along the coast. The ecoregion is notable for the high proportion of breeding species that are resident thanks to the warmer weather prevailing along the coast; to the north and east many more breeding species are only to be found in the summer.
None of the species are exclusive to the ecoregion nor even near-exclusive except for the introduced Eurasian Skylark which in North America breeds only in this ecoregion (in vicinity of Victoria, BC). The many species occurring along the coast are not particularly distinctive from areas to the north or south. The birds occurring in the higher altitude forests of the Coastal Ranges are generally not clearly demarcated from other high altitude forest ecoregions (there may be more differences to be found at the sub-specific level).
In terms of bird distribution, Vancouver Island stands out as being quite different from the rest of the ecoregion; many species are either found only on the island or only in WA and OR excluding the island. From an avian perspective, it would have been reasonable to subdivide the ecoregion in two.
The Seattle Audubon site noted above 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 has excellent 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. 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 w
- Snow Goose w
- Brant w
- Cackling Goose w
- Canada Goose r
- Mute Swan x
- Trumpeter Swan w
- Tundra Swan w
- Wood Duck r
- Gadwall r
- Eurasian Wigeon w
- American Wigeon w
- Mallard r
- Blue-winged Teal m
- Cinnamon Teal s
- Northern Shoveler r
- Northern Pintail w
- Green-winged Teal w
- 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
- Mountain Quail r
- California Quail r
- Ring-necked Pheasant r
- Ruffed Grouse r
- White-tailed Ptarmigan x
- Sooty Grouse r
- Wild Turkey r
- Red-throated Loon w
- Pacific Loon w
- Common Loon w
- Yellow-billed Loon w
- Pied-billed Grebe r
- Horned Grebe w
- Red-necked Grebe w
- Western Grebe w
- Brandt’s Cormorant r
- Double-crested Cormorant w
- Pelagic Cormorant r
- American Bittern r
- Great Blue Heron r
- Great Egret w
- Green Heron s
- Black-crowned Night-Heron w
- 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-shouldered Hawk 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 x
- Snowy Plover r
- Semipalmated Plover w
- Killdeer r
- Spotted Sandpiper r
- Solitary Sandpiper m
- Wandering Tattler m
- Greater Yellowlegs w
- Willet w
- Lesser Yellowlegs m
- Whimbrel m
- Long-billed Curlew x
- Marbled Godwit w
- Ruddy Turnstone m
- Black Turnstone w
- Red Knot m
- Surfbird w
- Sanderling 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
- Red Phalarope x
- Parasitic Jaeger x
- Common Murre r
- Pigeon Guillemot s
- Marbled Murrelet s
- Ancient Murrelet x
- Cassin’s Auklet x
- Rhinoceros Auklet x
- Tufted Puffin s
- Black-legged Kittiwake x
- Bonaparte’s Gull w
- Heermann’s Gull m
- Mew Gull w
- Ring-billed Gull w
- Western Gull r
- California Gull w
- Herring Gull w
- Thayer’s Gull w
- Glaucous-winged Gull r
- Glaucous Gull w
- Caspian Tern s
- Common Tern m
- Forster’s 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 x
- Northern Pygmy-Owl r
- Spotted Owl r
- Barred Owl r
- Long-eared Owl w
- 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
- Allen’s Hummingbird x
- Belted Kingfisher r
- Lewis’s Woodpecker x
- Acorn Woodpecker x
- Red-breasted Sapsucker r
- Downy Woodpecker r
- Hairy Woodpecker r
- American Three-toed Woodpecker x
- Northern Flicker r
- Pileated Woodpecker r
- American Kestrel r
- Merlin r
- Peregrine Falcon r
- Olive-sided Flycatcher s
- Western Wood-Pewee s
- Willow Flycatcher s
- Hammond’s Flycatcher s
- Dusky Flycatcher x
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher s
- Black Phoebe r
- Say’s Phoebe x
- Ash-throated Flycatcher x
- Western Kingbird m
- Northern Shrike w
- Cassin’s Vireo s
- Hutton’s Vireo r
- Warbling Vireo s
- Red-eyed Vireo x
- Gray Jay r
- Steller’s Jay r
- Western Scrub-Jay r
- American Crow r
- Northwestern Crow r
- Common Raven r
- Eurasian Skylark r
- Horned Lark s
- Purple Martin s
- Tree Swallow s
- Violet-green Swallow s
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow s
- Cliff Swallow s
- Barn Swallow s
- Black-capped Chickadee r
- Mountain Chickadee x
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee r
- Oak Titmouse x
- Bushtit r
- Red-breasted Nuthatch r
- White-breasted Nuthatch x
- 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 r
- Wrentit r
- Western Bluebird s
- Mountain Bluebird x
- Townsend’s Solitaire s
- Swainson’s Thrush s
- Hermit Thrush r
- American Robin r
- Varied Thrush r
- European Starling r
- American Pipit w
- Cedar Waxwing r
- Lapland Longspur m
- Snow Bunting w
- Orange-crowned Warbler r
- 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
- Yellow-breasted Chat s
- Spotted Towhee r
- Chipping Sparrow s
- Vesper Sparrow s
- Savannah Sparrow r
- Fox Sparrow r
- Song Sparrow r
- Lincoln’s Sparrow w
- White-throated Sparrow w
- White-crowned Sparrow r
- Golden-crowned Sparrow w
- Dark-eyed Junco r
- Western Tanager s
- Black-headed Grosbeak s
- Lazuli Bunting x
- Red-winged Blackbird r
- Western Meadowlark r
- Brewer’s Blackbird r
- Brown-headed Cowbird r
- Bullock’s Oriole s
- Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch x
- Pine Grosbeak x
- House Finch r
- Purple Finch r
- Red Crossbill r
- Pine Siskin r
- Lesser Goldfinch r
- American Goldfinch r
- Evening Grosbeak r
- House Sparrow r
Summer breeders (s) 43
Resident breeders (r) 104
Migrants (m) 20
Wintering (w) 62
Peripheral (x); not in Total 28
TOTAL 229
72 spp. (Aug. 22, 2014)