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Category: Field Trip Report

Birding on the Tsawwassen Ferry Jetty — Saturday November 23

Birding on the Tsawwassen Ferry Jetty — Saturday November 23

The weather forecast looked ominous for Saturday, particularly for areas south of Vancouver proper. The second bomb cyclone of the week was due to hit late on Friday, and who knew how long it would really last?   Harvey and Michelle considered pre-emptively cancelling the trip they were leading out to the Tsawwassen Ferry Jetty, but after a brief reconnaissance trip on Friday morning that established that the waves would probably not be *too* big, they decided to go ahead with the…

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Field Trip to Hastings Park, Saturday Nov 9

Field Trip to Hastings Park, Saturday Nov 9

Thirteen waterproofed cheerful and enthusiastic naturalists spend two pleasant hours touring the nature sanctuary at Hastings Park the rainy morning of Saturday, November 9th.  A good variety of the expected winter birds were seen.  A Red-tailed Hawk solemnly surveyed the construction site of the new PNE Amphitheatre from the tower of one of the construction cranes.  An encounter with a female gingko tree that had produced a bumper crop of fruit led to a spontaneous discourse by one of the…

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Fall Colours in Stanley Park – 2024-10-22

Fall Colours in Stanley Park – 2024-10-22

Post by Nina Shoroplova It was fortunate that Caroline Penn and I moved the date of Nature Vancouver’s “Fall Colours in Stanley Park” tree-identification walk away from Saturday, October 19, the heaviest rainfall day of the latest atmospheric river. But perhaps not so good that we moved it to the morning of Tuesday, October 22, because it rained cats and dogs once again. Originally there were twenty of us registered for the Saturday, but weather and work intervened and just…

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Field Trip to OWL – 26-09-2024

Field Trip to OWL – 26-09-2024

Leaders: Alice Rose & Sylvia Smallman, long time OWL volunteersand Nature Vancouver members. Since the previous weekend had been an Atmospheric River, the 12 confirmed participants were asked to check their email at 8:00 am the morning of the event for confirmation. Fortunately, the weather was fine, so the message was positive. Everyone arrived on time for a prompt start at 10:00 am. It was everyone’s first visit to OWL! (Except Cynthia!) While we were gathering, we were delighted by…

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Birding at Trout Lake — Thanksgiving edition

Birding at Trout Lake — Thanksgiving edition

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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Birding at Trout Lake – Oct 13th Meetup Edition

Birding at Trout Lake – Oct 13th Meetup Edition

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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Trip Report: Cypress Provincial Park Picnic Area Hawkwatch Sit October 3, 2024 1-4 pm

Trip Report: Cypress Provincial Park Picnic Area Hawkwatch Sit October 3, 2024 1-4 pm

This Hawkwatch was part of a series of Nature Vancouver’s Welcome Events and intentionally designed with access and accessibility in mind. Joanna Chin and Neill Vanhinsberg were the co-leaders for this Hawkwatch Sit. Participants were a diverse group of people that came from different communities in Metro Vancouver including: downtown Vancouver, Ladner, Richmond, Vancouver, and West Vancouver. We even had a participant as young as nine years old that had the day-off from school! We started off with a land…

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Birding at Iona Beach Regional Park – 2024-09-28

Birding at Iona Beach Regional Park – 2024-09-28

Dry conditions with a mix of sun and cloud greeted the Nature Vancouver Birding field trip at Iona Beach Regional Park on September 28. Fifteen birders joined Neill Vanhinsberg and Jan Lowcock for a morning outing covering the accessible outer ponds, adjacent beach area and woodland trails. We identified 31 species including the Glossy/White-faced Ibis which had been reported previously by Neill. Our quest for the Gray Catbird, seen on each of the previous two days, wasn’t successful, but we…

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Birding at Queen Elizabeth Park

Birding at Queen Elizabeth Park

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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Birding at Jericho Beach – Saturday September 7, 2024

Birding at Jericho Beach – Saturday September 7, 2024

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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