Blog

Colombian Hummingbird Feeder Livestream

Colombian Hummingbird Feeder Livestream

Nature Vancouver closed out 2023 with an experiment: a livestream of birds (mostly hummingbirds) from a bird-friendly coffee plantation located in the mountains of Colombia near the town of Jardin. Rene Montero now lives in Vancouver, but he is originally from Colombia where he has 15 years experience as a birding guide. Rene operates Jaguarundi Travel, a business he created to offer superb nature and cultural experiences in a sustainable way. Rene’s family operates an organic coffee plantation near the…

Read More Read More

New Year’s Day Walk – 2024

New Year’s Day Walk – 2024

Trip Report by Stephen Partington A mass of people gathered at Garry Point around 10 am to embark upon the 2024 incarnation of the now legendary, New Year’s Day Walk, led by Kelly Sekhon. Among the more than thirty participants were faces old & new, members old, new & prospective, plus guests. The day’s weather was benignly warm with little wind. Fog infrequently nudged a cloud cover over the walkers but otherwise the sun shone with views extending westward to…

Read More Read More

2023 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count

2023 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count

Report by Peter Candido The 2023 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday December 16th.  Volunteers were very pleased to have a dry day for the count this year, with partly sunny conditions and temperatures from 7-9 °C.  Winds were light and seas were calm.  The tide was very high for the first half of the day and dropped only slightly in the afternoon. As was the case last year, winter finches and grosbeaks were in short supply, with very few Pine Siskins…

Read More Read More

Ambleside Birding: Dec. 30 2023

Ambleside Birding: Dec. 30 2023

The weather forecast for Saturday December 30th was not promising.  In fact, as of 7am Environment Canada’s hourly forecast for Vancouver had a 100% Probability of Precipitation for every hour of the morning.  True to prediction, it was raining when we arrived at Ambleside at about 8:30 am.   But by the time all 27 of us gathered at 9am, the rain had stopped!  Even better, we didn’t see another drop for the entire morning of birding.   Because of the large…

Read More Read More

Ambleside Birding: the Prequel (Dec. 29, 2023)

Ambleside Birding: the Prequel (Dec. 29, 2023)

Harvey and Michelle don’t live close to Ambleside, but this year we surveyed the area twice:  once as part of the Christmas Bird Count on December 16th, and once as part of the Burrard Inlet Key Biodiversity Area count on October 30th.  The area has a nice mix of ocean birds, pond birds, and some shrubbery and forest birds, so it seemed like a good place for a birding field trip. A lot of people seem to agree.  More than…

Read More Read More

In Memoriam – Bernie Hanby

In Memoriam – Bernie Hanby

by Sheila Byers Bernie Hanby was a wonderful, knowledgeable, fun-loving, quick-witted and energetic man. He befriended many people who, like himself, enjoyed fishing, SCUBA-diving, photography and those who strived for better conservation efforts to protect fish and their habitats in the ocean. We need action to ensure the long-term sustainability of a marine food source on which we greatly depend. From fisherman to informed activist, Bernie was a driving force for MLSS, Vancouver Aquarium, Pacific Salmon Foundation and many other…

Read More Read More

Welcome Bird Walk: BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and Women

Welcome Bird Walk: BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and Women

Trip Report by Janet Snell On December 3, 2023, our first Welcome Walk led by Melissa Hafting took place at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island. As part of our Diversity and Inclusion outreach initiative, this walk was by a special invitation to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women who may not have participated in our activities before. Over half the participants in the group of twenty, were non-members and many of the others were newer members. Melissa Hafting provided excellent leadership as we…

Read More Read More

Dipper Quest 2023

Dipper Quest 2023

Despite the rain, eight hardy birders met trip leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais for Dipper Quest in Maple Ridge on Sunday — including Larry Cowan, who led this walk himself for 14 years. Thanks to Larry’s expertise and Josh’s keen eyes, we were successful in finding Dippers!  We had the pleasure of watching a pair of Dippers pose on rocks and logs, preen, pop into the water searching for salmon eggs, and surf down the river. Other highlights at Maple Ridge Park…

Read More Read More

Tree-Identification Walk in Grand Boulevard, North Vancouver

Tree-Identification Walk in Grand Boulevard, North Vancouver

Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova Five intrepid tree enthusiasts joined Nina Shoroplova on a Nature Vancouver tree-identification walk in Grand Boulevard, North Vancouver, on December 1, 2023, despite the temperature (3 degrees C) and precipitation (enough for umbrellas to be up the whole time). Grand Boulevard is one of Canada’s Historic Places, with the oldest of the planted trees—both native and imported—being no older than 117 years of age. And some are a whole lot younger. Check out the history…

Read More Read More

Mushroom Walk at Rice Lake Nov 19, 2023

Mushroom Walk at Rice Lake Nov 19, 2023

6 members and a guest joined leaders Anne Leathem and Teresa Gagné. We moseyed about 2 km in 3 hours on the South East side of Rice Lake, with everyone calling out their finds every few steps. Despite being late in the season there was a surprisingly large variety of fungi. One participant wrote: What I most appreciated was coming away with a process of thinking about mushroom identification (particularly your well-illustrated explanation of different systems of spore dispersal), about…

Read More Read More

Nature Vancouver