Nature Vancouver

Twelve birders braved the very wet weather forecast to join trip leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais at Trout Lake on October 14th, including a visitor from Ottawa who happened upon our gathering on the South Beach and asked if he could join. We started by focusing on the birds on the water: more than 80 Canada Geese, about 40 Wood Ducks, and a few Mallards.  After a Downy Woodpecker flew into the willow behind us, we started moving counterclockwise around the…

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14 birders joined leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais for a morning of birding at Trout Lake on a beautiful sunny autumn Sunday. We were pleased to have a mix of familiar faces and new birders joining us for the first time. As we started the walk, the lake was covered with Canada Geese. Surprisingly many wood ducks (45+) were hiding among the lily pads. The Northern Shovelers and other ducks kept to the margins of the lake, out of…

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Fifteen folks joined Kelvin and Neill on a cloudy, cool morning at Queen Elizabeth Park. As folks were arriving a Purple Finch sang from the cedars beside the parking lot. A reminder to always bird the parking lot before you head out. We started off and the first birds we encountered were on the west side of the pitch and putt. A flock of Black-Capped Chickadees were joined by at least 2 Golden-Crowned Kinglets, a few Orange-Crowned Warblers and several…

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Fourteen birders joined Harvey and Michelle at Jericho Beach at 8am on a bright and sunny Saturday for a morning of birding.  We began our observations right by our meeting spot when Harvey spotted a California gull lounging alongside some Ring-billed Gulls on the beach.  California Gulls share black wing tips with Ring-billed gulls, but have a large orange spot on their lower mandible rather than the black ring of the Ring-billed. After preliminaries were concluded, we made our way…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath Six participants and a couple of stragglers showed up for the shorebird identification field trip at Reifel Refuge. We began at the House Pond where approximately 30 juvenile and a couple of adult Long-billed Dowitchers gave us close views. Close by were a few feeding Greater Yellowlegs. A non-breeding plumaged Wood Duck perched on the railing at Fuller’s Slough looking for handouts and a female Hooded Merganser was resting on a log along with a…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath The dozen participants viewed a variety of shorebirds along the Boundary Bay foreshore on a very pleasant and productive evening. We arrived at the foot of 104th Street to a low but rising tide with shorebirds far out along the water’s edge towards 96th Street. We headed west stopping at the pilings for a scan. The large group of Black-bellied Plovers and peep far out along the water’s edge took flight and headed east towards…

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Trip Report by Thomas Plath Wow! What a great morning birding. The nine participants of this field trip would likely agree. It was a 9AM start at Reifel Sanctuary taking advantage of the morning high tide. The question was: would there be Peregrine’s about flushing the shorebirds out of the sanctuary? The house pond was empty. Not a good sign. Walking towards the southwest marsh a dark falcon flashed by that may have been a Merlin. The one-second look was…

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Post by Thomas Plath; Photographs by Harvey Dueck Twelve participants enjoyed an overcast but warm evening studying shorebirds along the Boundary Bay dike between 104th and 96th Street. At the parking lot two adult Caspian Terns with a begging juvenile flew over to begin the birding. As we crested the dike we were looking at a high tide with no exposed mudflats. Despite the absence of feeding habitat, shorebirds were present. Small groups of Black-bellied Plover and a few “peep”…

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