The weather forecast for Saturday December 30th was not promising. In fact, as of 7am Environment Canada’s hourly forecast for Vancouver had a 100% Probability of Precipitation for every hour of the morning. True to prediction, it was raining when we arrived at Ambleside at about 8:30 am. But by the time all 27 of us gathered at 9am, the rain had stopped! Even better, we didn’t see another drop for the entire morning of birding. Because of the large…
Harvey and Michelle don’t live close to Ambleside, but this year we surveyed the area twice: once as part of the Christmas Bird Count on December 16th, and once as part of the Burrard Inlet Key Biodiversity Area count on October 30th. The area has a nice mix of ocean birds, pond birds, and some shrubbery and forest birds, so it seemed like a good place for a birding field trip. A lot of people seem to agree. More than…
Trip Report by Janet Snell On December 3, 2023, our first Welcome Walk led by Melissa Hafting took place at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island. As part of our Diversity and Inclusion outreach initiative, this walk was by a special invitation to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women who may not have participated in our activities before. Over half the participants in the group of twenty, were non-members and many of the others were newer members. Melissa Hafting provided excellent leadership as we…
Despite the rain, eight hardy birders met trip leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais for Dipper Quest in Maple Ridge on Sunday — including Larry Cowan, who led this walk himself for 14 years. Thanks to Larry’s expertise and Josh’s keen eyes, we were successful in finding Dippers! We had the pleasure of watching a pair of Dippers pose on rocks and logs, preen, pop into the water searching for salmon eggs, and surf down the river. Other highlights at Maple Ridge Park…
Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova Five intrepid tree enthusiasts joined Nina Shoroplova on a Nature Vancouver tree-identification walk in Grand Boulevard, North Vancouver, on December 1, 2023, despite the temperature (3 degrees C) and precipitation (enough for umbrellas to be up the whole time). Grand Boulevard is one of Canada’s Historic Places, with the oldest of the planted trees—both native and imported—being no older than 117 years of age. And some are a whole lot younger. Check out the history…
6 members and a guest joined leaders Anne Leathem and Teresa Gagné. We moseyed about 2 km in 3 hours on the South East side of Rice Lake, with everyone calling out their finds every few steps. Despite being late in the season there was a surprisingly large variety of fungi. One participant wrote: What I most appreciated was coming away with a process of thinking about mushroom identification (particularly your well-illustrated explanation of different systems of spore dispersal), about…
Trip Report by Naomi Ross Sunday, November 13, was a brisk sunny day, which was a real treat having had rain the preceding few days. The group of seven hikers met at 9am at the base of Burnaby Mountain. A welcome surprise was that two birders and a grade twelve teacher had joined us. The walk quickly became a fascinating medley of facts about birds, fall leaves, mushrooms and lichens. Some of us were experimenting with “Seek” and “Google Lens”…
It didn’t rain! The better-than-forecast weather was the first natural gift that we collectively received on Saturday November 18th when a group of (eventually) twelve Nature Vancouver members and one non-member met trip leaders Harvey Dueck and Michelle Baudais for a morning of birding along Tsawwassen Jetty. The group convened at the very bumpy parking lot at the base of the jetty at 9am. After taking a quick look at the birds visible from the beach (most notably the group…
Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova Nature Vancouver members and a few others—all of us interested in trees—gathered at the south end of Trout Lake Park on October 23 to identify some trees. What a glorious fall day. We first looked at some of the trees at that south end: red maples, London plane trees, and a circle of young deciduous tree we couldn’t identify. We looked at the difference between a deodar cedar and a western redcedar growing beside each…
Trip Report by Lona Lonergan Trout Lake was the destination for our October 23, 2023 Nature Vancouver Walk. 20 people, 22 gorgeous trees, 9 degrees with blazing fall colours. Nina Shoroplova, Author of Legacy of Trees – Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, led the trip. Caroline Penn organized the details. Elizabeth Barthel reflected on growing up in the Trout Lake area: the freedom of playing in the bushes. Knowing all the trees like they were friends. She recalls swimming in the lake and…