Like the Okanagan Dry Forests to the south, this exclusively British Columbia ecoregion is essentially nestled between the Coastal Range Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. It covers the Nechako and Fraser Plateaus, extending southward to just north of Cache Creek.
Adjacent ecoregions: starting at the northern tip and proceeding clockwise, we find i) the ecoregion to the northeast, south to about Upper Fraser, BC is the Central British Columbia Mountain Forests (NA0509); ii) to the southeast, south to the little projection just northeast of 100 Mile House, are the higher-altitude North Central Rockies Forests (NA0518); iii) off to the extreme southeast, continuing clockwise to just north of Cache Creek, are the Okanagan Dry Forests (NA0522); (iv) off to the southwest, north to about Atnarko, BC, are the Cascade Mountains Leeward Forests (NA0507); v) north to about the latitude of Terrace, BC, the adjoining ecoregion to the west is the British Columbia Mainland Coastal Forests (NA0506); and finally, vi) the remaining northwest corner of the ecoregion abuts the Northern Transitional Alpine Forests (NA0521).
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 vegetation of this ecoregion is transitional from the coastal forests to the west and the drier interior forests to the east. The subalpine zone is characterized by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa). Montane forests include lodgepole pine, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), white spruce (P. glauca) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Bunchgrass-dominated grasslands occur at valley bottoms along the Fraser and Chilcotin Rivers. Alpine tundra vegetation is also present at the highest elevations. Fire is probably the most important disturbance regime.
Birds of the Ecoregion
WWF notes that the following birds are characteristic: Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), Spruce Grouse (D. canadensis), Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus), and migratory waterfowl. Of interest is that the ecoregion has the largest concentrations of breeding pairs of Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) and Bufflehead (B. albeola) in North America.
This ecoregion’s avifauna is most similar to that of the Okanagan Dry Forests to the south, the latter being an extension of the Fraser Plateau’s dry intermontane areas. The list of characteristic species (see below) are largely the same although less rich (214 to 224), lacking the species of the very dry southern part of the Okanagan Valley (Sage Thrasher, Brewer’s Sparrow, etc.). There is however a dramatic difference between them. About 40 species that are classed as resident in the Okanagan Dry Forests are primarily summer breeders only in the more northerly Fraser Plateau (numerous waterfowl species, Song Sparrow, etc.).
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.
List of Characteristic Bird Species of the Ecoregion
The list below of the “characteristic species” of the ecoregion (see an explanation on the About page) are those that are of regular occurrence and thus excludes very rare or accidental species. The species are classed as residents (r), summer breeders (s), 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. The peripheral species are not included in the ecoregion total.
- Cackling Goose m
- Canada Goose s
- Trumpeter Swan w
- Tundra Swan m
- Wood Duck s
- Gadwall s
- American Wigeon s
- Mallard s
- Blue-winged Teal s
- Cinnamon Teal s
- Northern Shoveler s
- Northern Pintail s
- Green-winged Teal s
- Canvasback s
- Redhead s
- Ring-necked Duck s
- Greater Scaup m
- Lesser Scaup s
- Harlequin Duck s
- Surf Scoter m
- White-winged Scoter x
- Bufflehead r
- Common Goldeneye r
- Barrow’s Goldeneye s
- Hooded Merganser r
- Common Merganser r
- Red-breasted Merganser m
- Ruddy Duck s
- Gray Partridge x
- Ring-necked Pheasant r
- Ruffed Grouse r
- Spruce Grouse r
- Willow Ptarmigan x
- Rock Ptarmigan x
- White-tailed Ptarmigan r
- Dusky Grouse r
- Sharp-tailed Grouse r
- Common Loon s
- Pied-billed Grebe s
- Horned Grebe s
- Red-necked Grebe s
- Eared Grebe s
- Western Grebe s
- Double-crested Cormorant m
- American White Pelican x
- American Bittern s
- Great Blue Heron m
- Turkey Vulture s
- Osprey s
- Bald Eagle r
- Northern Harrier r
- Sharp-shinned Hawk r
- Cooper’s Hawk s
- Northern Goshawk r
- Swainson’s Hawk s
- Red-tailed Hawk r
- Rough-legged Hawk w
- Golden Eagle r
- Virginia Rail s
- Sora s
- American Coot s
- Sandhill Crane s
- American Avocet s
- Semipalmated Plover m
- Killdeer r
- Spotted Sandpiper s
- Solitary Sandpiper s
- Greater Yellowlegs s
- Lesser Yellowlegs m
- Long-billed Curlew s
- Stilt Sandpiper m
- Dunlin m
- Baird’s Sandpiper m
- Least Sandpiper m
- Pectoral Sandpiper m
- Semipalmated Sandpiper m
- Western Sandpiper m
- Long-billed Dowitcher m
- Wilson’s Snipe s
- Wilson’s Phalarope s
- Red-necked Phalarope m
- Bonaparte’s Gull m
- Mew Gull m
- Ring-billed Gull s
- California Gull s
- Herring Gull s
- Caspian Tern x
- Black Tern s
- Common Tern m
- Rock Pigeon r
- Band-tailed Pigeon x
- Mourning Dove s
- Flammulated Owl s
- Western Screech-Owl r
- Great Horned Owl r
- Snowy Owl w
- Northern Hawk Owl r
- Northern Pygmy-Owl r
- Barred Owl r
- Great Gray Owl r
- Long-eared Owl s
- Short-eared Owl s
- Boreal Owl r
- Northern Saw-whet Owl r
- Common Nighthawk s
- Common Poorwill s
- Black Swift s
- Vaux’s Swift s
- White-throated Swift s
- Black-chinned Hummingbird x
- Rufous Hummingbird s
- Calliope Hummingbird s
- Belted Kingfisher s
- Lewis’s Woodpecker s
- Red-naped Sapsucker s
- Red-breasted Sapsucker s
- Downy Woodpecker r
- Hairy Woodpecker r
- American Three-toed Woodpecker r
- Black-backed Woodpecker r
- Northern Flicker s
- Pileated Woodpecker r
- American Kestrel s
- Merlin r
- Peregrine Falcon m
- Prairie Falcon s
- Olive-sided Flycatcher s
- Western Wood-Pewee s
- Alder Flycatcher s
- Willow Flycatcher s
- Least Flycatcher s
- Hammond’s Flycatcher s
- Dusky Flycatcher s
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher s
- Say’s Phoebe s
- Western Kingbird s
- Eastern Kingbird s
- Northern Shrike w
- Cassin’s Vireo s
- Warbling Vireo s
- Red-eyed Vireo s
- Canada Jay r
- Steller’s Jay r
- Clark’s Nutcracker r
- Black-billed Magpie r
- American Crow r
- Common Raven r
- Horned Lark r
- Tree Swallow s
- Violet-green Swallow s
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow s
- Bank Swallow s
- Cliff Swallow s
- Barn Swallow s
- Black-capped Chickadee r
- Mountain Chickadee r
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee x
- Boreal Chickadee r
- Red-breasted Nuthatch r
- White-breasted Nuthatch r
- Pygmy Nuthatch x
- Brown Creeper r
- Rock Wren s
- House Wren s
- Pacific Wren s
- Marsh Wren s
- American Dipper r
- Golden-crowned Kinglet r
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet s
- Western Bluebird x
- Mountain Bluebird s
- Townsend’s Solitaire s
- Veery s
- Swainson’s Thrush s
- Hermit Thrush s
- American Robin s
- Varied Thrush s
- Gray Catbird s
- European Starling r
- American Pipit s
- Bohemian Waxwing r
- Cedar Waxwing r
- Lapland Longspur m
- Snow Bunting w
- Northern Waterthrush s
- Tennessee Warbler x
- Orange-crowned Warbler s
- Nashville Warbler x
- MacGillivray’s Warbler s
- Common Yellowthroat s
- American Redstart s
- Yellow Warbler s
- Blackpoll Warbler x
- Yellow-rumped Warbler s
- Townsend’s Warbler s
- Wilson’s Warbler s
- American Tree Sparrow m
- Chipping Sparrow s
- Clay-colored Sparrow s
- Vesper Sparrow s
- Savannah Sparrow s
- Fox Sparrow s
- Song Sparrow s
- Lincoln’s Sparrow s
- White-throated Sparrow m
- White-crowned Sparrow s
- Golden-crowned Sparrow s
- Dark-eyed Junco s
- Western Tanager s
- Black-headed Grosbeak s
- Lazuli Bunting x
- Bobolink s
- Red-winged Blackbird s
- Western Meadowlark s
- Yellow-headed Blackbird s
- Rusty Blackbird x
- Brewer’s Blackbird s
- Brown-headed Cowbird s
- Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch r
- Pine Grosbeak r
- House Finch r
- Purple Finch s
- Cassin’s Finch s
- Red Crossbill r
- White-winged Crossbill r
- Common Redpoll w
- Pine Siskin r
- American Goldfinch s
- Evening Grosbeak r
- House Sparrow r
Resident breeders (r) 58
Summer breeders (s) 125
Migrants (m) 25
Wintering (w) 6
Peripheral (x) [not in Total] 16
TOTAL 214
DJG: 167 spp. (Aug. 1, 2014)