Feather-loving friends flocked together on Mother’s Day weekend for the 13th annual Creston Valley Bird Festival.
It was another successful season, welcoming 200 enthusiastic participants who spotted a record-breaking number of species. Every year, this event draws visitors from across the Kootenays — and even farther afield — to enjoy a rich variety of guided birding tours, engaging workshops, and other nature-focused activities.
At the opening banquet held at the Rotacrest, Adrian Leslie with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, gave an engaging presentation of what happens in the Darkwoods area on the east side of Kootenay Lake.
The Birds Canada team arrived from Vancouver Island to help with the festival and then continued on to do some exciting work in the Kootenays this summer.
Other expert bird guides migrated from Burnaby, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Nakusp, Nelson, Queens Bay, and Westbridge. First-time guide 16-year-old Seth Benoit not only has talented photography skills but also has a real knack at identifying species. He spotted a very rare bird which has never appeared anywhere in the interior of BC – the Red Knot (a shorebird). Benoit was the recipient of the 2024 “Young Birder” award with the British Columbia Field Ornithologist with a bright future ahead of him.
Collectively, all our guides with their team of eagle-eyes, spotted an impressive 152 bird species. A day after the festival ended, birdwatching continued resulting in eight additional species bringing the total to 160. The previous record was 145 back in 2018.
Festival co-ordinator, Ulrike Sliworsky would like to thank the hardworking committee members whose passion and effort make the festival a highlight in the Creston Valley year after year.
Here's the list of 2025 sightings:
Common Loon
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Pied-bill Grebe
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Lesser Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
Redhead
Canvasback
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
American Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Sora
Virginia Rail
Sandhill Crane
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Avocet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper*
Solitary Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Wilson’s Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope*
Dunlin
Bonaparte’s Gull
California Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Vaux’s Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Piliated Woodpecker
Lewis’s Woodpecker*
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Western Flycatcher
Say’s Phoebe
Cassin’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Steller’s Jay
Blue Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Pacific Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Townsend’s Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Evening Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Cassin’s Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock’s Oriole
Western Meadowlark
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson’s Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Western Tanager
Lazuli Bunting
House Sparrow
California Quail*
Red Knot*
Loggerhead Shrike
*Rare sightings
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