A cloudy, cool morning with a bit of a breeze greeted us at the parking lot. As we set off, right at the trailhead we were treated to two adult Cooper’s Hawks in a snag. They then flew about for a few minutes before disappearing into the forest. We set out and were accompanied by Chestnut-backed Chickadees as we headed towards Yew Lake. Stopping to check out plants along the way, we noted Bunchberry berries, Copperbush berries, Pearly Everlasting in…
Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova. Photos by Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn. Twenty-five of us went on a tree-identification walk in Queen Elizabeth Park on August 30, 2025. We started at the southeast corner—actually an off-leash dog park—and went first toward the Vancouver Lawn Bowling Club and then around the tennis, pickleball and basketball courts and sports field. It’s an area that’s full of both native and ornamental trees. We gathered around an English oak, Quercus robur, and learned to…
Trip Report by Helen Baker “Find something different,” our hike leader Gail Ross challenged us. Our group of nine were strolling on a cool green path that winds through a grove of old-growth Hemlock and Yellow-Cedar in Cypress Provincial Park. We all stopped and peered through the tree trunks and underground. “I see something!” someone said, pointing to a clump of spindly purple stems growing straight up from the forest floor. Gail nodded and explained the unusual coral-like growth was…
Trip Report By Christine Balkwill, Photos by C Balkwill 13 intrepid birders joined Christine and Neill on what turned out to be a very rainy outing. Attendees included a few seasoned birders who were very helpful at spotting and hearing and also some eager beginners who were excited to meet some of their first birds. Neill spotted a Western Wood Pewee from the parking lot, setting a hopeful tone for the outing. Starting out from the East we found a…
Trip report by Kelvin Yip; Photos by Richard L & Kelvin Y Thirteen early birders joined trip leaders Neill and Kelvin at Burnaby Lake to audience the daily “dawn chorus” when the birds all wake up right before sunrise and start singing their songs. The birds didn’t sing for very long and within half an hour started their day of searching around for food and going about their day. We heard mostly Song Sparrows, American Robins, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and Spotted…
Trip Report by Bev Ramey On 16 March 2025, Kelly Sekhon led a group of nine on a lovely spring walk from Still Creek, along the North side trails of Burnaby Lake and down the Brunette River. We followed about ten kilometres of trails including the Brunette-Fraser Regional Greenway to Hume Park. We enjoyed sightings of several birds along the way and especially the close-up views of the rich assortment of birds at Piper Spit and the viewing tower where…
Trip Report by Kelvin Yip Eleven beginner birders joined leaders Kelvin Yip and Neill Vanhinsberg for a frosty morning of birding at Queen Elizabeth Park on January 19th. Beginner tips and tricks were shared, and we were greeted with a visit from a female Anna’s Hummingbird in the parking lot. In the rose garden we saw some Song Sparrows and Dark Eyed Juncos. Over behind the Lawn Bowling Club there were Ruby Crowned Kinglets picking around on the ground and…
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…
Photographs by Caroline Penn; post by Nina Shoroplova Twenty-three members of Nature Vancouver gathered in front of a leafy entrance to Jericho Beach Park. We each had a list of native and naturalized shrubs, native and ornamental trees growing in the park. Numbered from right to left: 1) a western redcedar, Thuja plicata, with seed cones; not a true cedar; 2) three Sawara false cypresses, Chamaecyparis pisifera var. squarrosa, with seed cones; a feathery form; 3) a yellow cedar, most…
Submitted by Nina Shoroplova Few of us Nature Vancouver members knew Memorial South Park when we first met at its Cenotaph on Saturday, June 22, to learn more about its trees (https://covapp.vancouver.ca/parkfinder/ParkDetail.aspx?InParkId=186). Memorial South Park opened on May 22, 1926, almost a hundred years ago, before South Vancouver, Point Grey, and Vancouver amalgamated into the City of Vancouver in 1929. The park seems primarily to be a sports park, offering tennis courts, soccer fields, a baseball diamond, a field hockey…