Nature Vancouver

Trip Report by Thomas Plath; Photos by Selina Wong Thirteen participants participated on this half-day excursion despite the less than ideal conditions. Heavy mist hampered viewing at White Rock Pier nonetheless almost all of the regular seabirds were observed including great views of Greater Scaup, Surf and White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe and Common Loon. A feeding Red-throated Loon, constantly diving was not very co-operative and unfortunately an Eared Grebe was too far out for…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath Ten participants braved the poor weather of light rain and enjoyed a productive morning birding at the sanctuary. At the parking lot the resident pair of Sandhill Cranes and their two grown chicks greeted us. The wintering adult Black-crowned Night-Heron was buried deep in its usual hideout near the entrance. Great looks of common, wintering seed-eating birds were had at the numerous feeding stations and a careful search of the Douglas-fir and Holly bordering the…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath Six participants and a couple of stragglers showed up for the shorebird identification field trip at Reifel Refuge. We began at the House Pond where approximately 30 juvenile and a couple of adult Long-billed Dowitchers gave us close views. Close by were a few feeding Greater Yellowlegs. A non-breeding plumaged Wood Duck perched on the railing at Fuller’s Slough looking for handouts and a female Hooded Merganser was resting on a log along with a…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath The dozen participants viewed a variety of shorebirds along the Boundary Bay foreshore on a very pleasant and productive evening. We arrived at the foot of 104th Street to a low but rising tide with shorebirds far out along the water’s edge towards 96th Street. We headed west stopping at the pilings for a scan. The large group of Black-bellied Plovers and peep far out along the water’s edge took flight and headed east towards…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath Wow! What a great morning birding. The nine participants of this field trip would likely agree. It was a 9AM start at Reifel Sanctuary taking advantage of the morning high tide. The question was: would there be Peregrine’s about flushing the shorebirds out of the sanctuary? The house pond was empty. Not a good sign. Walking towards the southwest marsh a dark falcon flashed by that may have been a Merlin. The one-second look was…

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Post by Thomas Plath; Photographs by Harvey Dueck Twelve participants enjoyed an overcast but warm evening studying shorebirds along the Boundary Bay dike between 104th and 96th Street. At the parking lot two adult Caspian Terns with a begging juvenile flew over to begin the birding. As we crested the dike we were looking at a high tide with no exposed mudflats. Despite the absence of feeding habitat, shorebirds were present. Small groups of Black-bellied Plover and a few “peep”…

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