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Voices for the Islands – Thirty Years of Nature Conservation on the Salish Sea

Voices for the Islands – Thirty Years of Nature Conservation on the Salish Sea

Book Review by Caroline Penn Author: Sheila Harrington 2024Heritage House Publishing Book Dimensions: 7.5 in. x 10 in.288 Pages: Softcover $34.95 CAD; E-Book $14.99 CAD In times of much sad news, fake news and loss of hope, we need to hear some good news stories about successes that come little by little when communities work together to give the land a voice. This wonderful book is a story about the author’s journey to meet the hundreds of people who worked…

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BC Parks Foundation Purchases Saturna Island Acreage – January 31, 2025

BC Parks Foundation Purchases Saturna Island Acreage – January 31, 2025

Submitted by Bev Ramey The BC Parks Foundation has successfully protected a large acreage on Saturna Island. The land includes two and a half kilometres of south-facing rocky shoreline, plus small coves with a grove of Seaside Juniper on the point (the threatened/vulnerable Juniperus maritima). The protected land includes the steep hillside extending up from the shoreline, the ridgetop itself and its north-facing slopes. The crowd-sourced funding campaign by the BC Parks Foundation began late December and reached its goal within…

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Beginner Bird Walk at Queen Elizabeth Park – Jan 19th, 2025

Beginner Bird Walk at Queen Elizabeth Park – Jan 19th, 2025

Trip Report by Kelvin Yip Eleven beginner birders joined leaders Kelvin Yip and Neill Vanhinsberg for a frosty morning of birding at Queen Elizabeth Park on January 19th. Beginner tips and tricks were shared, and we were greeted with a visit from a female Anna’s Hummingbird in the parking lot.  In the rose garden we saw some Song Sparrows and Dark Eyed Juncos. Over behind the Lawn Bowling Club there were Ruby Crowned Kinglets picking around on the ground and…

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New Brighton 2024 Year End Reflection

New Brighton 2024 Year End Reflection

Report by Nigel Peck. With the arrival of 2025 and the approach of our fourth year of the New Brighton project, it seems a good time to reflect back on what we’ve achieved in the last year and look forward to the possibilities of this year. Reflecting back: Invasives: What stood out last year was massive invasive plant pulling efforts involving armload after armload of purple vetch, white-sweet clover and finally, scotch broom. The purple vetch was first and almost…

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White Rock Pier and Blackie Spit Birding – Jan 5, 2025

White Rock Pier and Blackie Spit Birding – Jan 5, 2025

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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Reifel Refuge Birding – Jan 2, 2025

Reifel Refuge Birding – Jan 2, 2025

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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Birding at Ambleside – Jan 4, 2025

Birding at Ambleside – Jan 4, 2025

14 intrepid birders joined leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais for a morning of birding in Ambleside Park. The weather was much better than forecast: calm with no rain until 10:30am and then only a light mist. The birds were much more cooperative than they had been for the 2024 Christmas Bird Count a few weeks earlier. We found 31 species (eBird checklist) including a female Pileated Woodpecker, two Belted Kingfishers and a flock of pretty Bonaparte’s Gulls. The gulls…

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2024 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count

2024 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count

Report by Peter Candido The 2024 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday December 14th.  On count day a powerful windstorm swept over the Vancouver area with gusts up to 100 kph. This severely affected observation conditions, particularly in areas near the water. Heavy wave action made visibility of birds on the water extremely difficult, and coverage of Area Y (English Bay) by boat was not possible.  This explains the low numbers of sea ducks, cormorants, grebes and loons on the count. Coverage of forested…

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New Year’s Day Birding Along Richmond West Dyke

New Year’s Day Birding Along Richmond West Dyke

Report by Helen Baker On New Year’s Day, 23 of us met to check out the birds along Richmond West Dyke, on a walk led by Kelly Sekhon. The weather was perfect – bright and no wind or rain.  Starting from the parking lot at Garry Point, we walked around the Kite Park and then north along the dyke to Williams Road and back.  After the walk, we went for lunch in Steveston. From the second floor of the restaurant…

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Dipper Quest Dec. 7 2024

Dipper Quest Dec. 7 2024

The morning of Saturday December 7th dawned dark and wet, with a heavy rainfall warning from Environment Canada. Several attendees cancelled at the last minute, so only 8 hardy birders joined trip leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais at 9am at Maple Ridge Park for our annual quest to find Dippers. The American Dipper is North America’s only aquatic songbird, so we were relatively confident that the rainfall would not deter our target species. Fortunately that was true! After about…

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