Salmon Arm Bird Watching
Dancing grebes, Kaarina James photo
Salmon Arm is a bird-watching treasure. Rivers, lakes and wetlands provide ideal habitat for nesting and resting as 250 species of birds either make this their summer home, winter haven or a stopover during migration season. Bring binoculars.
Salmon Arm Bay Nature Park
Right in the heart of Salmon Arm, the Salmon Arm Bay Nature Park protects a foreshore area that is sadly now unique in the BC Interior. Marshland created by silt dropped by the Salmon River as it empties into the bay stretches in both directions from downtown.
When winter snows melt and the lake level rises, the warm, protective, food-rich waters of the marsh become a huge fish nursery. Along with insects and plants, these fish attract the birds.
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Community action, cooperation with local First Nations and thousands of hours of volunteer time have come together to protect the area and enhance viewing opportunities for serious birders and casual observers. Stroll the boardwalk that actually stands in the marsh for a view of Canada geese and great blue herons wading in the shallows, and ospreys nesting on tower platforms.
Bald Eagles & Western Grebes
Walk 300m/984ft into the bay on the curved Salmon Arm Pier to see bald eagles fishing for their young and most spectacularly, a view of the bizarre dance of the western grebes that mate here in May. Salmon Arm Bay is home to the largest breeding colony of these birds in BC.
Bird Watching Interpretive Centre
Anybody who misses the show first hand can catch the action on a video displayed in the interpretive centre operated during July and August by the Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society and located at the head of the pier on Marine Park Drive. The centre exhibits photos and specimens of many of the bird species seen around the bay plus books, brochures and a map of the 10km/6.2mi nature trail that skirts the shoreline to the east.
Along this path watch for interpretive signs between sightings of red tailed hawks, red winged blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, various swallows and lots of ducks. En route, walk out to the low-level viewing platform in the wetlands and farther along, check the view of Christmas Island from the tower blind.
Bird Watching near Salmon Arm
Hiking trails around the area and in provincial parks provide more bird watching opportunities. Along the trail to Margaret Falls watch for some of the 70 species that have been sited in Herald Provincial Park, 14km/8.7mi west of Salmon Arm. And keep an eye in the sky at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, 48km/30mi northwest of Salmon Arm, during the Adams River Sockeye Salmon Run in October, which provides a feast for bald eagles.
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