SGI OUTSIDE

Third on my list of Five Finest Feathered Friends. No other bird soars in the warm thermal updrafts quite like a Turkey Vulture—wings stretched and feathered fingers splayed; together as wide as sliding patio doors—wobbly but gracefully drifting to higher elevations or descending to near ground level to catch the scent of or see carrion. Another of the nearly two hundred resident and part-time bird species in the Southern Gulf Islands.

Perhaps the most recognizable and magnificent bird of the islands is “Baldy,” easily making my list of Five Finest Feathered Friends (Great Blue Heron • Bald Eagle • Turkey Vulture • Cormorants • Black Oystercatcher). Of the nearly two hundred resident and part-time bird species in the Southern Gulf Islands, those that spend much of their time along the ocean shorelines, with their eyes on a meal, are the ones I enjoy seeing most.

The 6 km Brown Ridge trail atop Saturna Island’s Mount Warburton Pike is one of the best high-peak viewpoints in the Southern Gulf Islands.