Thinking about Wildlife Photography

If you haven’t been down to Boundary Bay yet this year, you might want to take a stroll on the dike between 64th Street and 72nd Street. It’s a decent walk and will give you plenty of time to think about wildlife photography and the ethical decisions that one makes as a bird photographer. You’ll see good behaviour and bad …

Boundary Bay Birding

Last weekend I went over to Vancouver with two other birders/photographers to “twitch” the red-flanked bluetail and brambling reported on British Columbia Bird Alert. Part of our plan was to spend the remainder of the day out looking for owls and other birds out at Boundary Bay. Large drift logs with root masses make for great places for lichen to …

Red-flanked Bluetail, Brambling, Lower Mainland Twitch

This weekend was the first chance that I was able to get over to the Lower Mainland to twitch the red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) that was found by Colin McKenzie on January 13. Like the citrine wagtail, the red-flanked bluetail at Queens Park in New Westminster is a Canadian first. Since it seeing it involved a ferry crossing and navigating Vancouver …

Coastal Naturalists on BC Ferries this Summer

The Coastal Naturalist program begins on Friday, June 25th on BC Ferries sailings between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Photo by Sara Borck – © Parks Canada Have you ever wondered why Orcas are called ‘Killer Whales’ or what an eelgrass meadow is? Did you know that during the BC Ferries sailing between Victoria and Vancouver, you are actually in the …

Birding at Reifel

If you’re a birder and in Vancouver, British Columbia, you will probably eventually end up at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island. Reifel was one of my stops on a whirlwind birding trip to the Lower Mainland this past weekend. I have to admit that it was a bit of a love/hate experience. Maybe that’s putting it a little too …

Birding Boundary Bay

Shorebird Sculpture at 72nd Street I spent the weekend in Vancouver hitting some of the Lower Mainland’s birding hot spots including the 72nd Street access to the Boundary Bay dyke. I arrived there fairly late in the day so there wasn’t too much in the way of birds aside from the ubiquitous Northern Harrier. Any of the dyke access points …