Birding and Bird Safaris on San Juan Island
You can charter our boat and specify that you wish to "bird" any day. We are just 90 minutes north of Seattle driving time or 30 minutes by air, across the water west of Anacortes (near Bellingham) and 7 miles east of Victoria.
Make San Juan Island your destination or visit us in passing to your next destination.
Recent Bird Sightings
once on the Audubon site, click on "sightings" in the left hand navigation
Birding Sightings San Juan Islands
Charter one of our boats for a Birding Safari which is 3 - 4 hour in search of birds and wildlife in obscure coves and backwaters of the San Juan Islands.
This tour includes a knowledgeable naturalist guide and a graciously curious Captain.
Our vessel the Sea Lion has a fully enclosed and windowed cabin that seats 24, plus outdoor covered seating. There is also a walk around deck, seating on the bow and a large bathroom. On board we provide high quality binoculars, blankets, jackets and wildlife field guides, wildlife books and maps.
Here is a list of birds that you are likely to see on the water in the San Juan Islands Fall, Winter and Spring. There are some birds that will stay over summer, but most will migrate by spring.
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Red-Necked Grebe
Double-Crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
Black Oystercatcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
Glaucous-Winged Gull
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Belted Kingfisher
White-winged Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-Necked Phalarope
Black Turnstone
Surfbird.
Then . . . not common, but seen on the water:
Parasitic Jager
Sooty Shearwater
Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel
Western Gull
Common Tern
Northern Crow
Common Raven
Western Grebe
Horned Grebe
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Thousands have enjoyed our feathered friends with us in addition, enjoying the interpretation of our marine environment is remarkable in and of itself. We believe a sojourn through the islands in the shoulder season (Sept - Oct & April - May) will be invigorating and rewarding.
Join us!
Links:
Audubon- San Juan Archipelago
Washington Ornithological Society
San Juan Islands Audubon Society
American Birding Association
Tweeters Birding Email Digests
Seattle Audubon Society
Falcon Research Group
British Columbia Field Ornithologists
Big February Bird Count
Great Backyard Bird Count Ambassadors Wanted
The biggest birding event of the year is just around the corner. The Great
Backyard Bird Count takes place every February. Audubon
And let us not forget the Christmas Bird Count in the San Juan Island contact
San Juan Islands Audubon Society
Sea gulls fighting for a tidbit of a Stellar Sea Lions catch
Cormorants share a rock with Stellar Sea Lions by John Eldridge
Trumpeter swans are here November to about first of April.
They like fresh water only, not salt water by Colleen Johansen
A mature Bald Eagle being harrased by a small bird by Frederick Kohler
 Annas Hummingbird. We also have, Rufous, Black Chinned and Calliope hummingbirds in the San Juan Islands
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 Immatue eagle by Laura Simmons 2009
 Hooded Merganser by Claude Steelman of Wild Shots
 Common Murre by Mark Gardner of San Juan Island
 Mature Bald Eagle by Mark Gardner of San Juan Island
 Rhinoceros Auklet by Mark Gardner of San Juan Island
This list is birds that are in the islands in October, not necessarily on the water, and not listed above
Pied-Billed Grebe
Brandt's Cormorant
Trumpeter Swan
Brant
Green-Winged Teal
Mallard Duck
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Ring-Necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Oldsquaw
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-Tailed Hawk
Rough-Legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Blue Grouse
Wild Turkey
Northern Bobwhite
California Quail
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Black-Bellied Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowleg
Lesser Yellowleg
Solitary Sandpiper
Wandering Tattler
Whimbrel
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Rock Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-Billed Dowitcher
Herring Gull
Thayer's Gull
Ancient Murrelet
Rock Dove
Band-Tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Common Barn Owl
Western Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Short-Eared Owl
Northern Saw-Whet Owl
Red-Breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eurasian Skylark
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-Breated Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Shrike
European Starling
Hutton's Vireo
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Spotted Towheee
Fox Sparrow
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San Juan Safaris, Inc.,
Friday Harbor, WA, USA
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