DARE TO BIRD

I will be leading a bird walk and moderating at the Decolonizing Ornithology Symposium being held at Maplewood Flats in North Van on Nov 30th from 9am until 4pm. It is being put on by the Wild Bird Trust and speakers will be Steve Hampton (Indigenous expert birder and  member of the American Ornithological Society’s Committee for English Bird Names) and Jordan Rutter (co-founder of the Birds Names for Birds movement to replace eponymous bird names). Also Tykee James a Black birder who works hard to make birding more inclusive. He wears many hats in his activism work and he is also the founder of the Freedom Birders project . There will also be local Indigenous birders and naturalists as well who  will be speaking. It is so important to have so many Indigenous voices talking about these issues and hearing how they have been affected. It is a blessing to be having the Indigenous knowledge perspective and learning about ways in which we can work together to make everyone feel welcome and

It was nice to see my book “ Dare to Bird ” prominently featured in an advertisement for Buteo Books in the American Birding Association’s Birding Magazine. My book will be reviewed in the upcoming December 2024 Birding issue and I’m honoured to have the feature and cover story in 2025 but more on that huge honour later. The book is available for purchase in hardcover or ebook wherever books are sold and free to rent in all major libraries.

Please sign up for our annual Christmas Bird Count for Youth on Dec 7th! This event is open to youth aged 12-18 and runs from 9:30 am until 2:30pm and is FREE . All info is also posted on the events page of the BC Young Birders Program website . Please register for tickets HERE   This event is BIPOC and LGBTQ+ inclusive.

I am leading a BIPOC birding walk for the Stanley Park Ecology Society at 9:30 am on Dec 1st at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta. This is open to all ages and is FREE. Binoculars will be provided for those who don't have them. Please sign up for a ticket HERE Thank you to the  Canadian Race Relations Foundation’s National Anti-Racism Fund for funding this event and allowing it to be barrier free for all.

I was honoured to be a made a mentor for the American Birding Association (ABA) Young Birder of the Year (YBY) Mentoring Program. You can read more about the panel of mentors  HERE  and the YBY mentorship program  HERE !

I was a guest on the Bird Banter Podcast with Ed Pullen and you can listen to it below and HERE

I was honoured to be featured in the new edition of The Wild Bird Trust's Wingspan Magazine. You can read the interview about my new book and work with young birders HERE Nice to see a photo from our recent Young Birder Trip on Aug 10th to Maplewood Flats featured too!

Young Birders attending the Female Nat Geo/Girls Who Click Photo Workshop in Vancouver This weekend we had a fun Young Birder-filled weekend! On Saturday we met up at Maplewood Flats and had a nice walk around the park. We saw 55 species including a fully leucistic Short-billed Gull, Chipping Sparrow and Evening Grosbeaks. A full list of species can be found HERE and our full report at the BC Young Birders website HERE . Young Birders at Maplewood Flats - Photo: Melissa Hafting On Sunday I took part in and co-led a National Geographic and Girls Who Click photo workshop for Female identifying Young Birder/Wildlife photographers for ages 13-18 year olds. I co-led with National Geographic Explorer photographer Gunjan Menon. Gunjan made a famous film on Red Pandas and she discussed her ethical approach to conservation and wildlife photography and taught the girls how to most effectively use their cameras; which was very helpful. The field is mostly male dominated and that is why Gunjan c

I was honoured to be featured in an interview for Canadian Geographic magazine. You can read the full story HERE