Submitted by Peter Ward and Ken Hall 

It is with great sadness we report the loss of our lifelong birding friend John. John passed away on February 27th, 2025 at the age of 91.

John joined the Nature Vancouver (Vancouver Natural History Society) in 1959 and was a Lifetime member. He contributed a great deal to the Birding Section of Nature Vancouver in the sixties and seventies. He led field trips to most of the key birding locations in the lower mainland, and to Point Roberts. He was extremely observant and very knowledgeable about natural history. John willingly shared his understanding of nature. He helped with collecting Snowy Owl pellets during good years, and led owl watching trips to Stanley Park. He was instrumental in introducing Al and Jude Grass to each other during a birding trip. 

In 1979, John set up the Vancouver Area Rare Bird Alert. This phone-in service helped all birders to learn about recently observed uncommon birds species. His work for Nature Vancouver was acknowledged in 1992 with a BC Nature Award for Club Service. 

John was a Mathematics teacher at Vancouver Tech, and very well liked amongst the students, for his down to earth approach. Later he started a small contracting business and helped a large number of clients in Vancouver with small and large house projects. 

In November 2003, John led a BC-based based group of bird watchers to Taiwan, which gave the group a special opportunity to see endemics and other tropical birds from this amazing island. 

In 2009, John, along with Peter Ward and Ken Hall, started building Tree Swallow, Chickadee and Barn Owl boxes. Later this successful group became the Tsawwassen based, Cascade Bird Box Team. John’s work was acknowledged with a Davidson Award for Nature Conservation in 2017. 

John participated in Christmas counts in the Vancouver count circle, for at least 50 years, never missed a count, and was still contributing a couple of years ago at age 89. 

John’s ability has been passed on to his sons Mike and Rick, both outstanding bird watchers and guides.