Destinations

Tofino Botanical Gardens

May 16th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Destinations, Nature Viewing, Odds and Ends, Pacific Rim

Last weekend while visiting Tofino for the 2011 Tofino Shorebird Festival we stayed at the fantastic Botanical House located within the Tofino Botanical Gardens. If you’re looking for an unique place to base your nature related explorations of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the towns of Tofino and Ucluelet this is definitely worth considering, [...]

A Morning in the Marsh

May 14th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Destinations, South Vancouver Island, Sparrows, Warblers

Guest post by Marcie Callewaert The Somenos Marsh is a renowned bird watching location just north of Duncan, British Columbia. It is home to hundreds of bird species who are year-round residents, and many that just stop by on their migration path. Besides birds; muskrats, beaver and river otter also reside here. The Somenos Marsh [...]

Monkeys and Mist Maidens

May 11th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Botany, Flowers, Pacific Rim, Parks Canada

Last Saturday I joined Josie Osborne of the Raincoast Education Society and a group of birders looking for rocky shorebirds during the Tofino Shorebird Festival. Our destination was a large rock islet in Schooner Cove, a fabulous location for birds and intertidal life. It’s one of my favourite places in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve [...]

Metchosin’s BioBlitz

May 10th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Events, Odds and Ends, South Vancouver Island

Organizers of a wildlife census in Metchosin, a district on the southern tip of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, are counting results from the reports of fifty taxonomic experts, participants in Metchosin’s April 30th BioBlitz. The local BioBlitz, like hundreds of others that have been conducted around the globe in the last year, took a 24-hour [...]

Schooner Cove Shorebirds

May 8th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Destinations, Events, Pacific Rim, Parks Canada, Shorebirds

We’ve just gotten back from a fabulous weekend in Tofino where we attended several Shorebird Festival events hosted by Raincoast Education Society. The festival is over but if you haven’t had a chance to experience the incredible phenomena of spring shorebird migration you still have lots of time to make a trip to the west [...]

Canyon View Trail in Campbell River

April 12th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in BC Parks, Botany, Destinations, Flowers, North Vancouver Island

The Canyon View Trail in Elk Falls Provincial Park is a six kilometer loop that follows the banks of the Campbell River is spectacular right now and getting better every day. Allow yourself about 1.5 hours to dawdle along looking at spring wildflowers and doing some early spring birding. You’ve got a couple of options [...]

A Sad Day for Strathcona Provincial Park

April 2nd, 2011  |  By  |  Published in BC Parks, Destinations, Environmental Issues

BC Parks turned 100 just over a month ago on March 1st, 2011. On March 11, 2010, the BC Liberal government quietly and radically amended the Master Plan of Strathcona Provincial Park, the first park established in British Columbia. They did so to be able to issue the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort a permit to run [...]

Cattle Point Round-up

March 25th, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Destinations, Shorebirds, South Vancouver Island

We made a short stop at Cattle Point during our weekend in Victoria, British Columbia – both kids were asleep in the car so I was able to nip out for a quick walkabout while Jocie supervised. Cattle Point is usually pretty good for unusual birds and earlier in March a number of Rock Sandpipers [...]

Birding Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary

March 23rd, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Bird Watching, Destinations, Nature Viewing, South Vancouver Island

When I used to live in Victoria Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary was one of the places that I birded regularly. It’s got a wide range of habitat (lake, cattails, shrubs, older forest, open fields) which usually produces a variety of birds. A trail loops around the lake and it can be completed with a minimum [...]

One of these Wigeons is not like the Others

March 22nd, 2011  |  By  |  Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Destinations, Nature Viewing, South Vancouver Island, Waterfowl

We’ve just returned from a great three day trip in Victoria, British Columbia – it’s been nice to check out some of our favourite nature spots in the province’s capital and to experience a precursor of spring. It’s only about 3 hours drive from the Comox Valley but in Victoria Indian Plum and Red-flowering Currant [...]

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