It’s coming to an end for bird migration this season. A few weeks ago, was the biggest movement for species so, my parents and I went to East Sooke Park and hiked to the hawk watch spot. We arrived at the lookout around 8:00am and began scanning for songbirds and seabirds with our binoculars and scope. There were hundreds of California Gulls on the rocks and flying around the fishing boats, and hundreds Common Murres on the water. After a few hours, it had warmed a bit up, so we redirected our focus to the treeline. And fair enough, the raptors started appearing over the ridge. It was a calm day, and they showed beautifully against the white clouds. In the first hour we managed to see 63 Red-tailed Hawks, 44 Turkey Vultures, 16 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 14 Cooper’s Hawk, and the odd Osprey and Bald Eagles. All these raptors are trying to migrate south for the winter, but they must wait for the perfect weather to cross the strait (piece of ocean between Canada and USA). Especially the Turkey Vultures because they will not flap until they have crossed. They must get high enough and wait for the wind to blow in the right direction because attempting to cross as a group. They also travel the furthest. Some flying to southern USA, whilst others go as far as South America where they will spend the next five months before heading back north. As the day carried on, the cloud crept away from us making it more challenging to see the hawks against the blue sky. Over 200 Vaux’s Swifts were also migrating through, as well as over 300 Band-tailed Pigeons. That day, we saw a total of 48 species at that hawk lookout spot.