The Sooke Christmas Bird Count broke its record for the number of species sighted, including the first Boreal Owl to be documented on southern Vancouver Island.
The owl was perched on Race Rocks, “an absolutely unlikely place for this species,” said Ann Nightingale, co-ordinator of the Victoria count. The owl normally lives in boreal forests of spruce, aspen, poplar, birch, and balsam fir or in sub-alpine Western mountains.
The owl was likely just a random visitor. “I heard that they had a strong breeding season this year, so this may well be a young bird just exploring,” Nightingale said.
The preliminary count for Sooke was 121 species, but it’s expected to rise when all the tallies are in from Sunday’s event. Last year, there were 111 species sighted in Sooke and the previous year there were 118. In Victoria, 140 species were sighted.
