Title

Teacher's Guide
Songbird Guide
BC Map
Bird Feathers Home
An Activity Guide About the Songbirds of
British Columbia




A WORD from the BIRD

Dee Byrd

"Hey, did you know that British Columbia is home to more living species of plants and animals than any other province in Canada? And it's no wonder, let me tell you, since we've got a whole bunch of different homes for a whole bunch of different creatures: everything from mountains to valleys, to grasslands and coasts. Scientists have come up with classification systems to help us make some sense of the patterns in our province's landscapes."

"One system separates the province into ten regions called ecoprovinces. Simply put, this is a region with similar biological and physical features. If you take a look below, I have collected a little bit of information about the ecoprovinces for you.

Then, scroll down further and you'll find a lovely little map of the ecoprovinces, that I coloured all by myself. I even took the time to label some of the main towns in each ecoprovince. You can use my map to find out which ecoprovince you live in and which songbirds you may find there."

list"To get a complete list of every single songbird in the province, click here. "

Northern Boreal Mountains
Mountains, plateaus, wide valleys and lowlands east of the northern Coast Mountains. This region has dry summers and long arctic winters. The vegetation consists mainly of white and black spruce, willow and birch forests.
Main towns: Atlin, Cassiar & Telegraph Creek

Boreal Plains
Plateaus, plains, prairies and lowlands east of the Rocky Mountains. The summers are dry and sunny with cold, arctic winters. The most common vegetation is white or black spruce forests and aspen parklands.
Main towns: Fort St. John & Dawson Creek
Taiga Plains
Lowlands to the east of the northern Rocky Mountains with rivers, streams and muskeg. The summers are variable and the winters are long and cold. The main vegetation is white and black spruce forests, bogs and wetlands.
Main town: Fort Neslon
Sub-Boreal Interior
Broad level plateaus east of the Coast Mountains. Most of the region is in a rainshadow and is very dry with warm summers and cold winters. The vegetation consists of dense coniferous forests, mainly spruce, as well as some mixed forests.
Main towns: Prince George, Mackenzie & Quesnel
Southern Interior Mnts.
This region is full of vast mountain ranges including the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, and the highlands, valleys and trenches that go with them. It has dense coniferous forests as well as some mixed and deciduous forests. The summers are warm and the winters are cold.
Main towns: Cranbrook, Nelson, Revelstoke & Trail

Central Interior
Flat to rolling plateaus east of the Coast Mountains with many wetlands and small lakes. The summers are warm, cooled by the ocean breeze off the Pacific, and the winters are cold. The vegetation consists of spruce and Douglas-fir forests, dry sagebrush and grasslands.
Main towns: Williams Lake & Smithers

Southern Interior
Rainshadow region east of the Coast and Cascade Mountains and west of the Columbia Mountains. There are many large deep lakes and scattered wetlands and rivers. The summers are hot and dry and the winters are cool. The vegetation consists of dry grasslands as well as Ponderosa Pine and Douglas-fir forests.
Main towns: Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna & Penticton

Georgia  Depression
A broad, sheltered basin that borders Georgia Strait, sandwiched between the Vancouver Island mountains and the southern Coast Mountains. The climate is moderated by the ocean. The vegetation is dominated by Douglas-fir, Western Hemlock and Garry Oak forests. Most of the humans in British Columbia live here.
Main towns: Vancouver, Powell River, Victoria & Nanaimo

Coast and Mountains
Here you'll find large coastal mountains, lowlands, shorelines, deep inlets, islands, and the Continental Shelf. There's plenty of rainfall from the Pacific Ocean. The vegetation changes from Western Hemlock forests to alpine tundra. This ecoprovince is pretty big and it's full of some pretty diverse areas. It can be divided into four differnt regions. The first covers the western part of Vancouver Island. The second covers the Queen Charlotte Islands. The third and fourth regions divide the mainland into northern and southern portions from Bella Coola.
Main towns: Prince Rupert, Terrace, Queen Charlotte City, Kitimat, Bella Coola & Port Hardy.

Northeast Pacific
Oceanic portion west of the Continental Slope. This region has light summer winds and rain and gale force storms during the winter. I haven't included this ecoprovince in the map below since I can't think of any of my buddies that do much more than migrate through this region.

"So which ecoprovince do you live in? Which one of our feathered friends is your neighbour? Here's where you get to find out:"


ecoprovince map


bird tracks

 

northern mainland coast northern mainland coast queen charlotte islands southern mainland coast western vancouver island coast and mountains georgia depression southern interior southern interior southern interior mountains sub-boreal interior sub-boreal interior boreal plains taiga plains northern boreal mountains northern boreal mountains

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