Since 2005, members of Nature Vancouver have participated in a New Year’s Day birding walk along Sturgeon Banks in SW Richmond, followed by lunch at a restaurant in quaint old fishing village of Steveston. We missed one year due to heavy snowfall. This year due to Covid, we did not organize this walk but a few members decided to keep the tradition going and met at Garry Point Park at 10 am. The forecast was for heavy rain but it…
by Bev Ramey These dark days of November and December have been a productive time to spend at my computer, posting plant photos onto the iNaturalist – BC Parks website. The photos are from our summer weeks spent in Kakwa Provincial Park over the past eight years. My husband, Bill, has posted butterfly and other insect photos, as well as bird photos, with more yet to come. The iNaturalist website encourages all to post your nature photos. Two “Project” areas that may interest you are: BC Provincial Parks and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks. View more photos for Kakwa that Bill and I have posted, from…
By Bill Merilees “Whales are disporting themselves in Saanich Inlet. Mr. Warren is preparing whale boats and apparatus for waging war on the monsters of the deep”, so read the British Colonist Newspaper in Victoria, September 10th, 1866. This was the beginning of whaling in British Columbia. A century later (1967), the whale stocks were so diminished that the last provincial shore based commercial whaling station, at Quatsino Sound, on northwest coast of Vancouver Island, shut down for good. The Humpback…
Dec 12 Update: The Vancouver Area Christmas Bird Count has been cancelled due to increasing cases of Covid-19. The Christmas Bird Count is the oldest and longest running Citizen Science Project in the Western Hemisphere that started in Dec 1900. Members of Nature Vancouver organize the annual Christmas Bird Count for Vancouver Area and participate in other CBC’s in the Metro Vancouver Area. This year the Vancouver Area count will be held on Saturday, December 19, 2020. For more information…
Members of Nature Vancouver conduct monthly bird surveys at UBC Farm and UBC Botanical Gardens. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, our outdoor activities are on hold at the moment. We plan to restart these activities as soon as the restrictions are lifted and we develop a safe protocol for distancing. UBC Farm Every third Sunday of each month, join in a bird survey at the UBC Farm. All levels of birding knowledge are welcome to participate. The monthly survey takes from two to…
Text and Photos by Bettina Matzkuhn (bettinamatzkuhn.ca) My favourite thing about being a member of Nature Vancouver, is that when we are on a walk, it’s like walking with an encyclopedia. I know I can get bird and flower apps but it’s much more interesting when a living person points out something I may have passed by. I also appreciate having stops where I can take photos or draw. Drawing, which is any artist’s planning tool, forces me to pay…
Report & Photos by Doug Cooper Things perked up, bird-wise, in September at the sanctuary. Southward migration began with species such as Western Tanagers, Lincoln’s and Golden-crowned Sparrows once again showing up. Warblers also became more common, as did waterfowl. Drake Mallards and Wood Ducks began to come out of their eclipse plumages. This Orange-crowned Warbler belongs to one of the two “Gray-headed” subspecies, either orestera (“Interior Montane”) or celata (“Taiga”). When I first spotted this individual its greyish head and broken eye…
BC SPCA has published a bird-friendly rodent-proofing guide and checklist. It is available to download from the link below: Also see more information by Sofi Hindmarch (barnowlsbc.ca) from the link below:
Report & Photos by Doug Cooper The summer months of June, July and August were much quieter at the Hastings Park Sanctuary. From eBird, my species count at the sanctuary for June was 25, for July 21, and for August a grand total of 17. But there were some highlights. In general birding news of local interest was about the two species of crows – American and the Northwestern. In June 2020, following a recent study on the genetics of…
Report and Photos by Doug Cooper Time seems to have, both dragged and flown by in the last few months. I thought it was time to give an update on what has been happening at the sanctuary at Hastings Park, at least from my perspective. May seemed to have been the busiest month, so I’ll devote this report to that period. In May this year, 60 species were reported to eBird from Hastings Park Sanctuary. I ran into more fellow birders…