11 February 2023 Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon Seven members of Nature Vancouver and a guest participated in this birding field trip for beginners. Istvan Orosi, a long time member of Nature Vancouver, helped us identify several birds from their calls or songs. At the mouth of the Eagle Creek we saw males and females of several species of ducks up close. Visitors to the park bring bird seed to feed the birds. As a result, Song and Fox Sparrows,…
On Sunday, February 5th, thirteen Nature Vancouver members joined this season’s quest to find American Dippers along the Alouette River in Maple Ridge. Larry Cowan led Dipper Quest in December from 2006 until he retired in 2019 and managed to find at least one dipper every year. In 2021, Michelle Baudais and Harvey Dueck continued the quest. We were away in December 2022, so the 2022 quest was delayed until February 2023. We began the quest in Maple Ridge Park….
Submitted by Caroline Penn There have been several flocks of snow geese in Vancouver since December. One flock was in Carnarvon Park adjacent to 16th av. in December. Last week a flock has been gathering daily in Winona Park near South Cambie and 59th av. They are very busy feeding and seem to be extremely tolerant of people, and dogs, sitting or even walking through their flock. I am not sure how common it is to see them north of the Fraser…
Trip Report by Leona Axbey Sunday, January 29, 2023 On a cold, crisp January morning, fifteen members of Nature Vancouver ventured out to Vanier Park for a birding field trip. As on past trips to this locale, one of the first birds to greet us was an Anna’s hummingbird. Close by a bald eagle was being murdered by crows. (Not really folks.) We headed east towards the ponds, our arrival announced by a singing House Finch’. Here we viewed Mallards, American Widgeons,…
Trip Report by Tom Plath On Jan 31st, 2023, despite the bad road conditions due to the previous night’s snowfall, four participants showed up for a morning of birding in South Surrey. At the base of the White Rock Pier, a dog flushed a couple of Killdeer, and in front of us rafts of shellfish-eating sea ducks were scattered on the water. Great views of Surf and White-winged Scoters were had, the latter being BC’s largest duck. The dark cap,…
Book Review by Nina Shoroplova Linda P. J. Lipsen and Derek Tan’s Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium, published in February 2023 by Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia One of the hobbies I enjoyed as a girl was pressing wildflowers. My friend Rosemary lived in a house that backed on to some wild land near Cyncoed Village. We would walk the lanes and trails collecting wildflowers: lesser celandine and meadow buttercup (we could tell the difference), willowherb, red campion, and red clover….
Leader Tom Plath scheduled a birding field trip to Boundary Bay for the morning of January 16th. Only two participants, Michelle and Harvey, braved the heavy early morning rain to get there, but the rain stopped pretty much at the scheduled start time. The very high tide brought the water right up to the dike at the planned starting point at 104th St, so all the birds had gone elsewhere. Tom suggested a change of venue to Blackie Spit, so…
Dr. David Bird is a Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Biology at McGill University, including teaching university-level courses in ornithology. He has been the strongest promoter for the Canada Jay to be designated as Canada’s national bird. He gave a wonderful Zoom presentation about this for the Nature Vancouver Birders’ Night in January 2022. For 8 years Dr. Bird has been petitioning the federal government to make this happen, but so far it has shown no initiative in doing so. Therefore,…
Report by Peter Candido The 2022 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday December 17th. The morning saw intermittent rain, the temperature was 2-3 C and winds were light at about 7 kph from the east. Light fog offshore in the morning limited visibility for observing waterbirds, though the sea was fairly calm. The rain ended around noon and skies cleared somewhat. Though some shoreline was exposed early in the morning, the tide was high for most of the…
Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon Twenty three members of Nature Vancouver enjoyed a fairy mild and at times sunny day in the quaint old fishing village of Steveston. We met in the parking lot of Garry Point Kite Park. After introductions we started the walk around the Kite Park and then continuing north along the Richmond West Dyke. A number of immature and adult Bald Eagles were spotted on various pilings. Northern Harriers, Great Blue Herons, and Snow Geese were…