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Birding and Birds-
You can charter our boat and specify that you wish to "bird" any day. We are just 90 minutess 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
San Juan Safaris, on San Juan Island, departing from Friday Harbor, Saturdays in October 2006.
Join us for our Fall Wildlife/Birding Safaris. 3 - 4 hour safaris by motorboat in search of wildlife in obscure coves and backwater of the San Juan Islands.
This tour includes a knowledgeable naturalist guide and a graciously curious Captain. It is designed for adults and mature teens that wish to learn more about all aspects of our Islands eco system and wildlife. You are not likely to see orca whales after the first week of October, so we do not sell this as a whale watching tour.
Our vessel the Sea Lion has a fully enclosed and windowed cabin that easily seats 24, plus outdoor covered seating. There is also a walk around deck and a large bathroom. On board we provide some binoculars, blankets, jackets and wildlife fieldguide and wildlife books.
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-Breated Merganser Red-Necked Phalarope Black Turnstone Surfbird.
Then . . . not common, but recently seen on the water: Parasitic Jeager Sooty Sherwater Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel Western Gull Common Tern Northern Crow Common Raven Western Grebe Horned Grebe.
Photo by Claude Steelman
Photo by Claude Steelman
Thousands of people go every weekend to enjoy our feathered friends. In addition, enjoying the interpretation of our marine environment is remarkable in 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
sanjuansafaris.com is the copyrighted intellectual property of
San Juan Safaris, Inc., Friday Harbor, WA, USA updated:1-28-05
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All the following photos are by Claude Steelman of Wildshots



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
Photo by Claude Steelman
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