Bird life is about habitat. Clayoquot Sound's enormously rich habitats include ocean, rocky shoreline, mudflats and old growth rainforest. Tofino's great bird show headlines hundreds of species including bald eagles, great blue herons, Steller jays, Rufous hummingbirds, western sandpipers, lesser yellowlegs, black oystercatchers and Pacific loons.
You don't even have to leave town to find the bald eagles. Not at all shy, baby eagles are frequently spotted in nests right in Tofino and on resort properties.
Most tour operators now offer bird watching adventures. In fact, it's never been so easy to locate the fantastical feathered population of Clayoquot Sound.
Bird and Breakfast
Tofino's Just Birding is the first of its kind on the Esowista Peninsula. Its owners have 40 years of professional bird-watching under their belts. Their B&B is called B&B – for Bird-and-Breakfast. Departing guests rave about the numbers of birds they've seen in a span of 48 hours.
Early Bird Tour
Radd's Early Bird Tour focuses on shore and sea birds. For Paddle with Eagles, participants travel in 6.7m/22ft Voyageur canoes and quietly approach bald eagles atop ancient cedars. During the autumn salmon migration, tours take on extra excitement as eagles swoop to the sea in pursuit of salmon dinners.
Bird Species
Supporting players include pileated woodpeckers, goshawks, grouse, Peregrine falcons, river otters, seals, beaver and salmon-hunting black bears. Needless to say, powerful zoom lenses are a good idea.
Pelagic Birding
Pelagic Birding is an all-day-long, off-shore tour to the point where the Continental Shelf meets the Pacific Ocean. Bird-watchers' targets turn to black-footed albatross, brown pelicans, short-tailed and black-vented shearwaters, Arctic terns, tufted and horned puffins and flocks of phalaropes.
Bird Photography
Renowned nature photographer Adrian Dorst offers guided birding walks and nature hikes in the Meares Island rainforest. Dorst's keen visual sense, marrying artistry and nature, makes this a dream trip tour for aspiring photographers.
West Coast Aquatic Safaris
West Coast Aquatic Safaris offers casual tours 2.5 hours long aboard its 3-deck, 12-passenger boat WASCO. The destination is the ecological preserve of Cleland Island. Binoculars and zoom lenses pursue rhinoceros auklets, wandering tattlers, tufted puffins, black oystercatchers and harlequin ducks.
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