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Galiano Island - Trip Report
Fri, 2010/04/30 - 4:58am | 
Kelly_Sekhon
This year again, twenty two members of Nature Vancouver participated in the trip to Galiano Island. As the ferry was leaving the Tsawwassen ferry terminal we watched two orcas swim into the bay towards the coal port.
On the ferry I met Nancy Baron, a former member and director of Nature Vancouver. Nancy now lives in California and was visiting friends on Galiano Island.
Shortly after arriving on the island, a local resident offered to take a group picture of us at the corner of Sturdies Bay and Burrill Roads. Please click on the image to enlarge it.
Along the trail to the Bluffs Park were a few lady slipper orchids, two deer and a Townsend’s Solitaire.
We arrived at the view point on top of Mt. Galiano where we watched Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures and a Peregrine Falcon fly below us.
This year the trip was two weeks later than usual and the spring flowers were two weeks early. As a result we saw some wildflowers that we normally do not see. There was only a single blue camas, but three large patches of death camas. Spring gold, a small clover and two coloured lupine were every where. A few delphiniums were growing on the cliffs.
On the return trip some of us stopped at the Hummingbird Pub and enjoyed refreshments and watched Rufous Hummingbirds come to the feeders. The trail from the pub back to Sturdies Bay had abundance of Calypso orchids.
Tags:
Galiano Island 2010 Trip Photos
Please check my pics from the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benrose/sets/72157624860805224/
Bird and Plant Lists
At Kelly's request, here is a partial list of plants from the hike.
Achlys triphylla - vanilla-leaf
Allium cernuum - nodding onion
Amelanchier alnifolia - saskatoon
Berberis nervosa - dull Oregon-grape
Calypso bulbosa - fairyslipper
Camassia quamash -blue camas
Cerastium arvense - field chickweed
Collinsia parviflora - small-flowered blue-eyed Mary
Corallorhiza maculata -spotted coralroot
Dicentra formosa - pacific bleeding-heart
Erythronium oregonum - white fawn lily
Fragaria vesca ? - wood strawberry
Fritillaria lanceolata - chocolate lily
Galium sp - bedstraw
Geum macrophyllum - large-leaved avens
Lithophragma parviflora - small-flowered woodland-star
Lomatium utriculatum - spring-gold
Lupinus polycarpus - small-flowered lupine
Mimulus alsinoides - chickweed monkeyflower
Montia sibirica - Siberian miners-lettuce
Montia perfoliata - perfoliate miners-lettuce
Ranunculus sp. - buttercup
Ribes sanguineum - red-flowering currant
Rubus spectabilis - salmonberry
Sambucus racemosa - red elderberry
Tiarella trifoliata - foamflower
Trifolium tridentata - tomcat clover
Zygadenus venenosus - white death camas
Birds seen or heard
On island:
Mallard, Canada Goose, Sooty Grouse, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Belted Kingfisher, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Rock Pigeon, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Rough-winged Swallow, Common Raven, Northwestern Crow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Winter Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, Varied Thrush, Townsend's Solitaire, Cassin's Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Red Crossbill
On ferry or at Sturdies Bay terminal:
Common Merganser, Barrow's Goldeneye, Surf Scoter, Pacific Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Marbled Murrelet, Bonaparte's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull