James MacKenzie

Special to Black Press

As the herring spawn approaches our waters, we wildlife lovers prepare for a change of guard anticipating a lot of new birds and marine mammals to migrate to our area following the azure allure of the spawn.

Further, we expect the human conflicts that inevitably arise from out-of-control dogs, recreational and commercial vehicles and even overeager wildlife photographers and enthusiasts.

One of the most important rules of thumb when observing the herring spawn is to give animals space. Glorious bald eagles, noisy sea lions, predatory orca, and gulls all congregate at their spawning smorgasbord. Some have travelled thousands of kilometres to feast. Each off-leash dog, running child or encroaching photographer can increase their stress, causing these animals to lose energy and make them vulnerable to predators.

While many of the above-mentioned critters seem obvious candidates for our respect, a lot of people struggle to identify with and respect gulls. I get it. Even as a passionate birder, gulls are often an afterthought when reflecting on the beautiful diversity of fauna. However, I am here to provide a few gull facts to swing you on their side. Many of the gulls that come for the herring spawn have made incredible journeys, travelling from Alaska or even Russia to feast in our waters. Further, for the keen observer, you may see up to 10 unique species of gull: from our resident glaucous-winged gull to the demure short-billed gull, hardy Iceland gull, and appropriately named herring gull, just to name a few.

Many times, I have seen birders combing through a group of gulls to try and identify a rare visitor before a dog or kid barrels into the group, flushing them all. The sentiment I often hear from the offending party is: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just gulls.鈥� Despite their ubiquity and noisiness, gulls are intelligent, resourceful and crucial to our ecosystem. Each gull is a unique individual with its own life story and deserves your love. Plus, gulls are all protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act - so no harassing, please.

With the influx of eagles from across North America to the herring spawn, we can see the diversity in size of bald eagles. Females are larger than males, more northerly birds are larger than more southernly birds, and bald eagles don鈥檛 reach their piebald colouration until year three, instead appearing brown with white mottling. Therefore, a large, northern-breeding first-year female bald eagle could easily appear almost double the size of a small, southern-breeding adult male, and easily be mistaken as a golden eagle. Goldens rarely descend from their alpine abodes to the ocean, even during the herring spawn, are effectively the same size on average as bald eagles and are considerably less numerous on Vancouver Island. Nothing is impossible of course, but I strongly recommend close observation and a very critical eye when identifying coastal Golden Eagles. And, I鈥檓 talking to you dear-uncle-who-called-me-in-a-panic-yesterday-about-a-鈥済olden鈥�-eagle-on-the-beach-that-was-definitely-a-bald-eagle.

James MacKenzie is a Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) volunteer