Wall Lizards in BC

 The  introduced Wall Lizard (Podacris muralis) in BC was previously  reported from a small area east of Victoria (Matsuda 2006) but has expanded its distribution to adjacent areas, including adjacent islands. Citizen scientist and photographer Catherine Babault  has photographed the lizard on Denman Island (March 2020), providing documentation.   Reptile and amphibian specialist Brent Matsuda is working to confirm her observation. 

Read more about the Wall Lizard from the Habitat Acquisition Trust here. 

Broad-winged Hawk in BC

A new article on the Broad-winged Hawk in BC by Rick Toochin, E. Alan Russell, David Baker, Paul Baker, Louis Haviland is now posted on our Birds of BC pages.

This is an interesting bird species and the authors provide a good overview and some insight into occurrences in BC:   "In British Columbia, this species has been rapidly increasing in frequency of detection since 1990, and has been found breeding in the Peace River Region, the Golden area, and the Prince George region, but the northern region of the province is highly under-birded and it is far more likely that the Broad-winged Hawk has moved further west as a breeder than current records reflect (e-bird database 2020). The secretive nature of this species, coupled with its relative scarcity, makes finding nest sites difficult. This is likely why there are to date only a few known nest sites in the province. Despite few nests discovered, there have been an ever increasing number of fall and spring migrants all over the province in the past 10-20 years (e-bird database 2020)."

Yellow-browed Warbler in BC

Yellow-browed Warbler, photo by Peter Candido

Several new bird articles prepared by Rick Toochin have been posted on the E-Fauna Birds of BC pages, including an article on the Yellow-browed Warbler.  Rick says:  "The Yellow-browed Warbler is a recent addition to the avifauna of British Columbia in the fall of 2019 and is classified as an accidental vagrant."  Bird articles by Rick are added on an on-going basis, so keep an eye on the bird page for more.