Arrived Vancouver

Squamish Estuary, British Columbia

Finally touched down at Vancouver Airport at 3pm local time having been in the air for just short of 10 hours to the usual precipitation, but the temperature was quite mild at 10C.

Having watched the dreadful scenes emerging from Japan on TV at Heathrow we weren't surprised to see most of the west coast was on tsunami alert, fortunately Vancouver wasn't one of them. We were even more thankful to see that nearly all the coastal area's and Islands on alert escaped any major damage!

Our apartment suite at Lord Stanley, where we'll be staying for the next 2 to 5 weeks, is extremely comfortable and lies right next to the famous Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver, even more exciting is that it's only a two minute walk down to the harbour. The several visits I've made to Canada over the previous years have mainly been in the interior and so I'm really looking forward to adding to my coastal birding list during this stay.

Bald Eagle (Taken in 2010)

Having said that, this is also a working holiday for my wife Dee and so excursions further afield will be  limited to weekends, but we have several plans in place. One of the most exciting is to visit the Squamish estuary and wetlands which are just to the north of Vancouver.

The wetlands are created by the fresh water of the rivers entering into the salt water of the ocean. The waterways interacting creates fresh water and salt water Eco systems coexisting and changing with each tide. A natural environment ideal for many migratory birds. Unfortunately we're a little late to view one of the largest wintering populations of Bald Eagle, but we're hopeful that a few will still be around!