Trip Report by Thomas Plath Despite the bad weather, six participants showed up to bird Reifel Bird Sanctuary in the rain. The recent cold spell and snow had pushed out most of the birds so the refuge was quieter than usual. An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron was roosting at the usual location at the entrance slough and nice male Anna’s Hummingbirds at the feeders. A thorough search for Saw-whet Owls along the east dike was unsuccessful but did produce several Wood…

Read More Read More

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

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

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

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

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