Hello, I am French and I am going to spend 3 weeks in British Columbia this summer. I have never been there and I wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations for observation spots to share. Thank you.
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I think @bobmcd might be thataway? And someone for whom I issued challenges recently had some Observations there as well though it was not their primary place. Maybe @arboretum_amy or @dgwdoesthings ? (Apologies to anyone erroneously tagged.)
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Yes I went to Whistler one summer years ago, before they hosted the winter Olympics. Very beautiful. Everything we saw in BC was beautiful.
Crossing the border may not be desirable in this political climate, but Olympic National Park in Washington state is also stunning. I was just there last fall. Lake Crescent in particular impressed me much more than I expected.
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Correct you are @ItsMeLucy I very much am thataway. @cernunosse I was looking at your observations and of 540 species, 477 are Animalia, 292 are Vertebrata, 180 are Aves, 68 Insecta, and only 37 plants. BC has a lot going for it with many of these species groupings. 3 weeks is a descent amount of time to scratch the surface.
The six Canadian ecozones represented in British Columbia are the Pacific Maritime, Western Interior Basin,Montane Cordillera, Boreal Plains, Boreal Cordillera, and Taiga Plains. Each one of these zones can offer up something special to see. Within each ecozone are elevation variances which can open up some big differences - we are a mountainous province. In whole the province is 944,735 square kilometer, compare to Germany which has 357,600 square kilometers. Our population density is 5.98 people per square kilometer but most live in the Vancouver and Victoria region. Compare to France which has a population density of 122 per square kilometer. It is very easy to get away from it all - only .7% is agricultural.
Victoria and Vancouver have great hotspots for birding. An article came out just recently saying Victoria is the birding capital of Canada https://cheknews.ca/south-vancouver-island-usurps-ontario-region-for-birding-capital-of-canada-1253835/ Realize though that the other ecozone will offer up their own unique species not found in the Victoria/Vancouver area.
Tofino and the surrounding area offers a lot of unique opportunities for naturalists, I would not miss it especially for the rainforests and marine. I would not miss an exploration of the Okanagan and its dry desert pockets. I also would not miss the Canadian Rockies - many hotspots here. Really each zone serves up something special with their own hotspots. I’m in my late 60s, lived here all but two years, traveled extensively in the province and there have been whole regions I have yet to explore well
I would look at the species you wish to see and figure out where and when from there.
How will you travel about? Camping? Trailer/Caravan? Motel/Hotel?
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not me, I’m on the southern side of the border