Canada: Waldie Island Trail

Alison and I spent yesterday’s midday on a damp and chilly Saturday at the Waldie Island Trail, a relatively new preserve established along the Columbia River near Castlegar, British Columbia.

It wasn’t the optimal time of day, but birding was still pleasant, with the full suite of riparian singers singing riparianly: among them Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, and Spotted Towhee. The quiet backwaters were inhabited by the usual Mallards, Wood Ducks, and Canada Geese (with chubby yellow goslings), and Alison of the sharp eye discovered a lone female Common Goldeneye. The most abundant, or at least the most conspicuous, among the passerines was Song Sparrow, fine dark reddish birds with sparse markings above and sweet, deep voices.

Bald Eagles soared overhead, and Common Ravens and American Crows croaked and cawed through the pines. The prize, though, of the entire walk was a splendid “red” Ruffed Grouse, shy in her huckleberry thicket, but all the same giving me some of the best views I’ve ever had of that species.