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Category: Field Trip Report

Hike to Whyte Lake via Arbutus Ridge

Hike to Whyte Lake via Arbutus Ridge

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 – Text and photos by Kate H. Joint Hike with Friends of Cypress Provincial Park led by Anne Leathem (FCPP & NV) Map: North Shore Trail Map (Updated Second Edition) available at MEC We all readily agreed to postpone this hike to Thursday September 16th to avoid stormy weather. Five of us, including the leader, enjoyed a beautiful, calm and sunny day exploring the Arbutus Ridge area before continuing on the trail from the old helicopter pad…

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Sugar Mountain Ridge hike

Sugar Mountain Ridge hike

On August 16 2021, six members hiked from Buntzen Lake to Sugar Mountain (South of Diez Vistas trail). It’s a beautiful forest, with most of the trip on easy to follow pleasant trails. After 2 months of hot dry weather, we were delighted to get some much needed rain.

Echo Lake Field Trip

Echo Lake Field Trip

Trip Report and Photos by Caroline Penn Fifteen members of Nature Vancouver enjoyed a day hike to Echo Lake near Harrison Mills on 21 August 2021. Access was graciously granted by owners of this privately owned land which is in the traditional territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation.  Echo lake is circled by old forests. On the South side, 60% were protected in a 2012 campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance group as an Old Growth Management Area (see protectecholake.com), but the West…

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Brohm Lake – July 5, 2021

Brohm Lake – July 5, 2021

Trip Report & Photos by Denis Laplante and Teresa Gagné Five members (including two Board members) joined Teresa and Denis for 7 hours of walking (9.5km), botanizing and birdwatching. Our route included a mix of steep climbs (Tantalus Viewpoint, and Cheakamus Loop trails) and gentler strolls through beautiful mixed conifer-deciduous forest around the lake (Bridge Trail, Brohm Lake Trail) –  see Brohm Lake Interpretive Forest. We met at 8:30 to reduce our exposure to the predicted 27 C afternoon temperature, and…

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Sugar Mtn Ridge hike 2021-01-08

Sugar Mtn Ridge hike 2021-01-08

Friday Jan 8 Teresa and I hiked from White Pine Beach to the junction with Diez Vistas trail, half along the logging road, and half along the parallel Ted’s Trail, then back along the ridge of Sugar Mountain (sometimes known as Buntzen Ridge). We enjoyed a lovely 4 hour walk under drizzle, 7.4km with 360m elevation gain, and met 6 people and 4 nice dogs. It’s a nice trail, a good workout, not much mud, and lovely trees and greenery….

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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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Summer in Hastings Park Sanctuary

Summer in Hastings Park Sanctuary

Report & Photos by Doug Cooper The summer months of June, July and August were much quieter at the Hastings Park Sanctuary. From eBird, my species count at the sanctuary for June was 25, for July 21, and for August a grand total of 17. But there were some highlights.  In general birding news of local interest was about the two species of crows – American and the Northwestern. In June 2020, following a recent study on the genetics of…

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Elk Mountain 2020-June-22 trip report

Elk Mountain 2020-June-22 trip report

The two of us drove out Monday to Elk Mountain, South of Chilliwack. The easy to follow trail starts out in a beautiful conifer woods and after 800 metres of climb over 4.5km arrives at beautiful sub-alpine meadows with views of nearby Mt Baker and other mountains. The trail was somewhat muddy in patches but we didn’t sink in. And the bugs kept away. What a wonderful day! We identified 58 species of plants, and one toad. Get species list…

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May 2020 at the Hastings Park sanctuary

May 2020 at the Hastings Park sanctuary

Text and Photos by Doug Cooper It was a great May for birding and nature in general at the Hastings Park sanctuary.  As May came to a close, the sanctuary was much quieter than earlier in the month, both in volume and variety of bird song as well as in numbers and species of birds.  Eight types of warblers were reported during the month:  Yellow, Yellow-rumped (of both subspecies types), MacGillivray’s, Wilson’s, Orange-crowned, Black-throated Grey, Townsend’s and Common Yellowthroat.  At…

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