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Category: Birding

Bald Eagle Nest Monitors Needed by Hancock Wildlife Foundation

Bald Eagle Nest Monitors Needed by Hancock Wildlife Foundation

A Message from David Hancock, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, Surrey, BC  Tracking Bald Eagles is a big challenge since British Columbia hosts the world’s largest winter gatherings of these raptors. BC also hosts some of the densest breeding concentrations in all of North America. Handcock Wildlife Foundation is expanding its data base to cover the entire province. Can you help? Can you find some local nesting eagles, bald or golden, ospreys, peregrine falcons etc. and make a few observations during the…

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Proposal for a Bird Sanctuary at Iona Island

Proposal for a Bird Sanctuary at Iona Island

Proposed by Dr. Rob Butler Pacific Wildlife Foundation, PO Box 1-12, 850 Barnet Highway, Port Moody, B.C. V3H 1V6 The proposed changes to Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant offer a unique opportunity to create a bird sanctuary on Iona island of world class proportions. The Fraser River Delta has long been recognized as a premier bird habitat in Canada. Among the many designations of the delta are the premier Important Bird Area in the 700 sites recognized in Canada, a Hemisphere Reserve in…

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Appeal of Permit for Removal of Peregrine Falcon Nest

Appeal of Permit for Removal of Peregrine Falcon Nest

A wildlife permit was issued to Mountainside Quarries, which own rights to mine rock and gravel at “Quadling Quarry”, located at 40251 Quadling Road, Abbotsford. The permit will allow the company to remove a peregrine falcon nest on the property. The permit is being appealed. The appeal has the support of various nature clubs and organizations. Nature Vancouver has now signed on as an NGO in support of the appeal. Individuals can also support the appeal by emailing Environmental Appeal…

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Hastings Park Sanctuary – in Fall & Winter

Hastings Park Sanctuary – in Fall & Winter

Text and Photos by Doug Cooper Now that spring is beginning to drop hints of its arrival, I thought I would send out this update on my nature observations at the sanctuary over the fall and winter months. Winter is the time to see Varied Thrushes at the sanctuary, although they often see me first and fly off out of camera range. I never tire of watching them fling leaves about in their search for tasty morsels on the forest…

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Extreme Bird Feeding in East Vancouver

Extreme Bird Feeding in East Vancouver

Feedback by Nigel Peck on Ron Long’s Experience in Port Moody. (Please see Ron’s article on page 63 of Vol. 48 of DISCOVERY) Here in East Vancouver, we do not have all the critters that Ron Long had to contend with in Port Moody, however I am sure that the contingent of rats on our block (right next to Commercial Drive restaurant garbage bins) would take your breath away. Therefore, our bird feeding system includes a tin roof covering the…

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Witnessing & reporting obvious wildlife harassment

Witnessing & reporting obvious wildlife harassment

For many years now there has been an ongoing problem of birds of prey being harassed by unethical photographers in the Metro Vancouver region, particularly in the salt marshes of Boundary Bay and Brunswick Point. Recently the problem has been especially serious in the Brunswick Point area. For example just in the past week photos have been taken by ethical birders witnessing violators off-trail, out in the marsh, getting as close as possible to perched Short-eared Owls. The violators show…

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Disinfecting Bird Feeders to Control Salmonella Outbreak

Disinfecting Bird Feeders to Control Salmonella Outbreak

There have been numerous sightings of large flocks of Pine Siskins in the Metro Vancouver region this winter. Dirty bird feeders are prone to salmonella infection, which is often lethal to Pine Siskins and other species. You might not actually see them at your feeder while you’re home. However since they tend to move around frequently, they might visit your feeder while you’re out and infect it without you even knowing it. Therefore it’s safest to assume they do come…

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Bird Photography During a Gloomy Covid Winter

Bird Photography During a Gloomy Covid Winter

by Ron Long I’m an old dog, and I have been a photographer for over 60 years – but I’m still learning new tricks. I have lots of birds coming to my feeders and to the special photography perches that I have set up outside my kitchen. During warm weather I sit at the open patio door and happily snap away. But what to do when it’s too cold to sit at an open door? Conventional wisdom tells us not…

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New Year’s Day Walk

New Year’s Day Walk

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…

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September in Hastings Park Sanctuary

September in Hastings Park Sanctuary

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…

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