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,…
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…
Trip Report by Janet Snell and Jan Lowcock On Sunday, November 13, a group of nine enthusiastic birders visited Lighthouse Park in Point Roberts, Washington. For quite a few participants, this was their first visit to Point Roberts and we couldn’t have picked a better day. A sunny sky and calm seas provided good visibility and excellent conditions for birding. Point Roberts is a squarish peninsula that juts into the Salish Sea as the coastline turns the corner from south…
Report by Nikhil Patwardhan On Saturday, October 29, 2022, ten members of Nature Vancouver participated in this walk led by Kelly Sekhon. Thankfully the rain had taken a break on Friday and we had cool overcast conditions to bird until it picked up again on Saturday night. Talk about perfect timing. The walk began with a short introduction to the area by Kelly as we stood near the parked cars. A Great Blue Heron stood guard near the shore while a flock…
Report by Leona Axbey On Sunday, October 23, 2022, twelve members of Nature Vancouver participated in this walk led by Leona Axbey and Maureen Collier. There were two keen photographers in the group, who are most welcome on these walks. The rain kindly agreed to cease for the day. We were off to a fine start with Elly spotting two female deer before our meetup. The tide was out so there wasn’t a whole lot we could see from the shore….