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Category: Field Trip Report

Boundary Bay Shore Birding August 19, 2023

Boundary Bay Shore Birding August 19, 2023

Trip report by Tom Plath Twenty-two participants enjoyed a somewhat hazy and cool evening studying shorebirds along the Boundary Bay dike between 104th and 96th Street. Initially the shorebirds were far out along the tide line however the rising tide pushed the birds in. Amongst the few hundred breeding and non-breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plovers were a few other wader species. A breeding plumaged Red Knot was wandering about the plovers but unfortunately was far and views poor, even with a scope. A couple…

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Boundary Bay Shore Birding – August 13, 2023

Boundary Bay Shore Birding – August 13, 2023

Trip Report by Tom Plath The ten of us walked from the foot of 104th Street, Boundary Bay towards 112th Street and it couldn’t have been much better. A beautiful August evening and a mere 25-30 meters from the dyke were several species of juvenile shorebirds roosting and feeding. We enjoyed excellent leisurely looks, comparing Western, Least and Baird’s Sandpiper from each other, the big size difference between Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs noticeable when together, and identification features of a Stilt Sandpiper…

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Identifying Trees in Shaughnessy Park (The Circle)

Identifying Trees in Shaughnessy Park (The Circle)

Report by Nina Shoroplova On Friday, August 4, twenty-four botany enthusiasts joined Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn for a tree walk in the south half of Shaughnessy Park. We started our walk from the Osler Street entrance to the park where there are two maples. We started by telling the differences between the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) on the north side of the central path and the Norway maple (A. platanoides) on the south side. It’s important to know some of the…

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Walk in Stanley Park’s Shakespeare Garden & Around Beaver Lake

Walk in Stanley Park’s Shakespeare Garden & Around Beaver Lake

Report by Nina Shoroplova Fourteen walkers joined co-leaders Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn in Stanley Park on Friday, July 7. We met at the memorial monument to Lord Stanley, the sixth Governor General of Canada, who, in October 1989, confirmed the name of the park, saying, “To the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time.” In the direction of the Robert Burns statue, several non-native trees held our attention: a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron…

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Stanley Park – Intertidal Exploration 

Stanley Park – Intertidal Exploration 

Joint trip with Wonders of the Salish Sea & Nature Vancouver Report by Sheila Byers, Member of Nature Vancouver & Wonders of the Salish Sea What a day of intertidal exploring we had on Saturday, May 6, 2023! Spring tide low water level (LLW): 13:13 at 0.6 m elevation. The forecasted rain was just a sprinkle making our trip quite comfortable, albeit cool under an overcast sky. Fifteen participants arrived early at 12:15 to the Lumberman’s Arch area to sign…

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Phantom Orchids at Teapot Hill

Phantom Orchids at Teapot Hill

Trip Report by Vicky Earle On June 17, I joined trip leader Kelly Sekhon for a hike up Teapot Hill near Cultus Lake in search of the rare phantom orchid. This plant is globally secure but is listed as red/endangered in British Columbia. The phantom orchid (Cephalanthera austiniae) is the only Cephalanthera species entirely dependent on symbiotic mycorrhizae for its nutrition. Being an entirely white perennial with only a small yellow gland on the lip of each blossom, this plant has no chlorophyll and is unable…

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Birding in Point Roberts

Birding in Point Roberts

Trip report by Jan Lowcock and Janet Snell  On Sunday June 11, seven members of Nature Vancouver and guest expert Melissa Hafting joined birding trip leader Janet Snell and Jan Lowcock (scope carrier) to check out birds at two locations – Lily Point and Seabright Farm – in Point Roberts, Washington. The walk began in the parking lot of the Lily Point, a 111-hectare Marine Reserve including rocky tidal areas and forested uplands. The forested section, with massive Big-leaf Maples…

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Juan de Fuca Trip – 2023

Juan de Fuca Trip – 2023

NV Trip to Juan de Fuca Marine Park – June 2 to 6, 2023 Report by Denis Laplante We had no rain, and the worst patch of mud was only 2cm deep. Many of the trails required scrambling and good balance; some sections were like a walk in the park. For tides we used Fisheries & Oceans https://tides.gc.ca/en/stations stations Point No Point and Port Renfrew (also Java App jtides.jar). Beware daylight saving time – tide tables at trailheads were in…

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Tree Identification Walk in Kitsilano

Tree Identification Walk in Kitsilano

Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova On a pleasantly cool day, nineteen members of Nature Vancouver joined co-leader and photographer Caroline Penn and me to identify trees in Kitsilano Beach Park and over to Vancouver Maritime Museum. It was June 9, a day bookended by much hotter weather. Our first tree was a hiba arborvitae, Thujopsis dolobrata, growing in the verge between Cornwall Avenue and a fence beside the Kitsilano Beach cycle path. It seems to be a rather nondescript coniferous evergreen…

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Wildflower Walk in Camosun Bog

Wildflower Walk in Camosun Bog

Trip Report by Rita Li & Laura Cottle On Sunday, May 21, we had 16 participants, a group comprised of members of Nature Vancouver and Northshore Hikers, enjoying a walk in the Pacific Spirit Park. We started at the north entrance to Camosun Bog, walked around the Bog, then over to the second growth coniferous forest Southwest of the bog, and finally across Imperial Road to walk through the area west of Imperial road. The description here concentrates on the…

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