January 4th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Events, Nature Viewing
Another early morning and I was on my way north to Campbell River to do my second (and last) Christmas Bird Count of the 2011/12 count period. I didn’t do the Campbell River count last year (substituting it with the Nanaimo CBC) and, since I was able to do the Comox count this year, I [...]
December 29th, 2011 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Events
I was up at around 5:30 this morning and, after a quick breakfast, was on the road and heading south to Nanaimo for the city’s 2011 Christmas Bird Count. I have to admit that I wasn’t too optimistic about the weather but I was pleasantly surprised to see clear skies and stars when I loaded [...]
August 23rd, 2011 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Events, Hawks
I was up at Strathcona Provincial Park this weekend helping out with the Friends of Strathcona Park Wilderness Festival and had the good fortune to get a closer look at a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Scarlet is a Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society ambassador and is present at many local events, giving visitors a chance to [...]
May 10th, 2011 |
By Editor |
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 [...]
May 8th, 2011 |
By Dave Ingram |
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 [...]
April 10th, 2011 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Events
Back from a full day of birding with some good folks down in the Parksville/Qualicum area. The weather cooperated and the rain held off. Our Big Day team – “Herring Today Gull Tomorrow” took 2nd prize in the “expert” category, with 104 species. One of the things I like about any kind of bird counts [...]
April 6th, 2011 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Events, Fish
I never seem to get the timing right when it comes to the spectacle that is the herring spawn on the east side of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I’m usually a little too early or a little too late and I have to settle with looking at the amazing photographs of other birders and naturalists [...]
December 30th, 2010 |
By Editor |
Published in Bird Watching, Birds, Central Vancouver Island, Destinations, Events
I was up at around 6 am yesterday to make the drive down to meet a group of birders doing the 2010 Nanaimo Christmas Bird Count. As I scraped the frost of the windows of the car I was hopeful – the sky was clear and it actually felt fairly mild. Weather on Vancouver Island [...]
August 31st, 2010 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Bird Watching, Events, Natural History, South Vancouver Island
Joining a local natural history club is an excellent way to learn more about nature and meet like-minded people. The Victoria Natural History Society (VNHS) has a number of interesting walks and presentations for both members and non-members throughout the year. Field trips are ranked according to difficulty: Level 1 – easy walking, mostly level [...]
August 17th, 2010 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in Events, Pacific Rim
If you’re like me you’ve always kept an eye open for flotsam and jetsam while hiking the long sandy beaches of the West Coast. Occasionally a glass ball will turn up but today that has become an increasingly rare event except on the more remote and less visited places on the west side of Vancouver [...]