Goose Spit Park is located a short distance from Comox, on Vancouver Island. Goose spit is a pretty cool place that is found at the entrance to Comox Bay, forming a natural breakwater. It is a little over two km long, the beach is made up of sand, cobble, and rock that has been deposited as glacial till and the sand comes from Willemar Bluffs. The beach and bluffs are part of an ongoing erosion and repositioning system that changes the landscape gradually over the years. When walking here you have a great chance to view bald eagles, loons, and gulls along with a variety of other birds and animals including deer and the occasional black bear. Brant Geese visit the area in the spring as they migrate north. There is nothing more exciting to children walking below the bluffs and exploring the tidal pools farther at low tide, it’s hard to get my grandson back to the van from here. The spit is home to rare species of plants such as black knotweed, large-headed sedge, and rare insects such as the sand-verbena moth.
Goose Spit is a prime wintering location for waterbirds, but not so good for nesting as there is very little habitat for breeding birds. The mudflats begin filling up with winter birds by late August. Surf scoters are usually the first of the winter waterfowl to show up. Over the next few months, the waterbird variety and numbers build up. Bird-watching viewing is often determined by weather and tide conditions, but I think it’s pretty good, no matter what the weather is doing. Stormy seas bring fewer birds. I have seen Pigeon Guillemots and Marbled Murrelets here during the winter months. Sometimes you can see Eurasian Wigeon amongst the other dabbling birds. At the tip of the spit, you can sometimes see long-tailed ducks, these birds are quite beautiful, and you just might catch sight of a short-eared owl while you are out there.
There is a road along the spit and lots of parking, there have been logs embedded into the spit on the seaward side to help stop erosion in the winter that provides shady areas in the summer heat, the access to the beach is through these logs and there are many openings for this. This is such a great place to spend the afternoon, so grab your camera, pack up a lunch and head down to goose spit, you will enjoy your visit here.