Nature Vancouver

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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Eight participants joined trip leader Harvey Dueck for a morning of birding the southwest corner of Burnaby Lake. We were able to find 32 species, two more than were seen on Saturday! Here’s the ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S183369988 We met in the parking lot near the Burnaby Lake Rowing Club, where we could watch a Tree Swallow go in and out of its nest box as we did introductions. From there we headed to the rowing club’s dock. Barn Swallows nest…

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Trip leaders Michelle Baudais and Harvey Dueck were joined by 12 curious birders in the parking lot of the Burnaby Lake Rowing Club at 8am on Saturday June 22nd.   Many birding expeditions to Burnaby Lake focus on Piper Spit. But during COVID Michelle and Harvey did some exploring around the west end of Burnaby Lake.  The area has become one of our new semi-regular destinations because it offers a nice mix of habitats: water, marsh, shrubbery and open forest with lots…

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Submitted by Joanna Chin Joanna Chin and Donna McKenzie were the trip leaders for this event. Krissi Martin, Annie Maki, and Alan McKenzie came along to help out. We had a great turnout of 20 participants considering that it was cold and windy! Participants were diverse in terms of age, cultural backgrounds, and home location. We had participants from Burnaby, Richmond, and one from as far as Maple Ridge. We did an introduction and showed participants how to calibrate binoculars…

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Cloudy but dry skies welcomed us to the park as the group met up at the wooden bridge over the pond. Our small group of 6 consisted of a couple of new birders who joined us for their first Nature Vancouver outing. Right away we enjoyed some pleasant views of a male Wood Duck transitioning into eclipse plumage, a singing Western Tanager, and a flock of 8 Cedar Waxwings before we even finished sigining waivers and introductions. Proceeding around the…

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Submitted by Jan Lowcock. Grey, rainy, windy weather set the stage for the Iona Beach Regional Park bird walk led by John Chandler and Jan Lowcock. Our group of 10 included several new birders who had attended the beginning birder Welcome Walks. They have earned their stripes by birding in wet weather. We identified 49 species in total, a few of which were seen and heard after we had completed the larger group walk. The trip began with a survey…

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Submitted By Thomas Plath April 20th Fifteen keen participants met at the McDonald’s in Merritt for an afternoon and morning of birding. After the customary sign in and organization of people and overnight gear we were able to accommodate everyone in five vehicles. We headed up to our first birding area – the Interior Douglas-fir/Lodgepole Pine forest of the Interior Plateau south of Kamloops. The numerous small meadows inundating the montane forest make this prime habitat for Great Grey Owl….

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