We recently took a trip to British Columbia, Canada. That province is so large with so many places to see that we focused on Vancouver Island. We started our visit near Vancouver city on the mainland where evidence of preparation for the 2010 Olympics is everywhere and visited the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, B.C. There we were treated to nesting hummingbirds and sandhill cranes. We rode the ferry to and from the island for our two-week visit and enjoyed the opportunity to see whales and sea birds. Vancouver Island has one of the world's most diverse ecosystems with rainforests, marshes, meadows, beaches, mountains, oceans, rivers and lakes that create habitats for multitudes of wildlife species. There are many parks that contain pockets of old-growth fir and cedar forests. We saw over 100 different species of birds (nine of them new species for me) along with black bears, and majestic scenery. We enjoyed our visit so much that we have already picked out the locations where we want to return. One of the highlights of the visit was seeing my first varied thrush, a large, robin-like bird of the northwest. It has a haunting, penetrating song that echoes through the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. We also enjoyed listening to the song of the winter wren, a long, complicated affair that seems to go on forever. Here is the painting of a varied thrush I completed several years ago for the Arts for the Parks competition representing Olympic National Park in Washington.
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