Love Bird Watching?

At the peak of the migration, you might see up to 1,000 turkey vultures and other raptors kettling (a term that birders use to describe a group of birds wheeling and circling in the air). The migrating birds visit our area from mid-September to late October around East Sooke Regional Park.

The southbound birds use the park as a staging area to rest and feed before they make a 29-kilometre crossing over the Juan de Fuca Strait on their way to Olympic National Park in Washington state.

The most common raptors you can expect to see are turkey vultures, bald eagles and red-tailed hawks. Other less common raptors that may be present include Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, merlin, northern harrier and osprey.

Beechey Head is an excellent place to observe raptors during their fall migration.

Reference: https://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/explore-birds-of-prey-flock-to-east-sooke-1.23965105