Winter Birding on the Saanich Peninsula
The peninsula empties of tourists in November, and the birds move in.
Winter birding here is good. Not in the way that Point Pelee or the Fraser River delta is good, with overwhelming numbers and rare vagrants making the listservs light up. Good in a quieter way: a slow morning with binoculars, standing at the edge of a flooded field while trumpeter swans feed fifty metres away, breath visible in the cold air.
Trumpeter swans
The swans arrive in October and stay through March. They feed in the agricultural fields along Martindale Road, Island View Road, and the flatlands south of the airport. A flooded winter field with thirty or forty swans standing in it is an easy find from December through February.
Pull over on Martindale and scan the fields. The swans are hard to miss; they’re enormous, white, and tend to cluster. Bring a scope if you have one, but binoculars work. Keep your distance and stay in the car if possible. They tolerate vehicles better than people on foot.
Raptors
Bald eagles are common residents, but winter concentrations increase as birds from farther north move in. They perch along the shoreline, in tall firs near the water, and occasionally on utility poles along the highway. The trees along the Martindale flats often hold eagles scanning the fields for opportunities.
Red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks work the open farm fields through winter. Cooper’s hawks turn up in the residential areas and around bird feeders, hunting songbirds with that sudden, explosive acceleration they’re built for.
Northern harriers quarter the fields at Island View Beach and the agricultural land north of the airport. Watch for a long-winged bird flying low and slow, rocking side to side, over the grass.
Shoreline and waterfront
The mudflats at Island View Beach and Bazan Bay attract shorebirds and waterfowl through the winter months. At low tide, dunlin swirl in tight flocks over the exposed mud. Black oystercatchers, with their red bills and loud calls, work the rocky shorelines.
The Sidney waterfront and pier are productive for harbour and marine species. Check the breakwater for cormorants, the harbour for loons and grebes, and the pilings for great blue herons. Herons are resident year-round, but they’re easier to spot in winter when they stand motionless on rocks or dock edges, waiting.
Harlequin ducks show up along rocky shorelines from October onward. Look for them in the turbulent water around breakwaters and exposed rocky points. The males are unmistakable; nothing else on the coast looks like that.
Forest birds
The woodlands at John Dean Park and Horth Hill hold resident species that are easier to locate in winter when the canopy is thinner. Pileated woodpeckers drum on dead snags. Chestnut-backed chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches move through the understorey in mixed flocks. Pacific wrens sing from the salal, an improbably loud song from a bird the size of your thumb.
Varied thrushes arrive from higher elevations in fall and spend the winter in the lowland forests. They’re shy and hard to see, but their song, a single sustained note repeated at different pitches, carries through the wet forest on grey mornings.
Practical notes
Bring rubber boots. The farm fields and shoreline access points are wet from November through March. A waterproof jacket matters more than a warm one; it rarely gets truly cold here, but it rains persistently.
The Victoria Natural History Society maintains a rare bird alert and seasonal checklists. The eBird hotspot data for the Saanich Peninsula is extensive and up to date, covering most of the locations mentioned above.
Sunrise in December is around 8 a.m., which means you don’t have to wake up at an unreasonable hour to catch the morning activity. The birds tend to feed actively through mid-morning and again in the late afternoon before the early sunset.