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Category: Nature Walk

A Summer Hike in Cypress Provincial Park

A Summer Hike in Cypress Provincial Park

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…

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Trip Report – Jericho Beach Park Bird Walk – May 31, 2025

Trip Report – Jericho Beach Park Bird Walk – May 31, 2025

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…

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Trip Report – Dawn Chorus at Burnaby Lake – May 18, 2025

Trip Report – Dawn Chorus at Burnaby Lake – May 18, 2025

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…

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Nature Walk along Burnaby Lake and Brunette River

Nature Walk along Burnaby Lake and Brunette River

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…

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Beginner Bird Walk at Queen Elizabeth Park – Jan 19th, 2025

Beginner Bird Walk at Queen Elizabeth Park – Jan 19th, 2025

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…

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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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Jericho Beach Park in front and the North Shore beyond, seen through the layering branch of a southern catalpa tree.
August 1st Tree ID Walk at Jericho Beach Park

August 1st Tree ID Walk at Jericho Beach Park

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…

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Walking in Memorial South Park to Learn About Its Trees – June 22, 2024

Walking in Memorial South Park to Learn About Its Trees – June 22, 2024

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…

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Walk in Ornamental Gardens and Forest Trails in Stanley Park – May 25, 2024

Walk in Ornamental Gardens and Forest Trails in Stanley Park – May 25, 2024

Submitted by Nina Shoroplova Twenty or so of us Nature Vancouver members gathered on the plaza above Lost Lagoon and the Nature House for this tree-identification walk through one ornamental garden and several forest trails in Stanley Park.  With people picking out which plant they wanted to see from my list of trees, shrubs, and native herbaceous plants growing along the route, we soon had the morning planned. We stopped at the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Tortuosa’, and admired its…

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Galiano Island Hike – May 4, 2024

Galiano Island Hike – May 4, 2024

Submitted by Bettina Matzkuhn. Trip leader Bettina Matzkuhn met her group of seven at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. The weather was overcast and windy, but quite warm and pleasant for walking. We tried the “Bluffs Peak” trail, which meant a quick hike up to the bluffs and backtrack down to continue on to Mt. Galiano. The Warbler Road route is better as one gets to enjoy the length of the bluffs. Return trip was approximately 15km. We saw the bright…

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