DARE TO BIRD

I gave a sound bite to the Globe and Mail for an article they were writing on ethical owl photography and they used many of the young birders’ photos from our previous field trips where we saw owls which was nice to see. You can read the article HERE   Bridget Spencer’s Great Gray Owlet photo is just one of many young birder’s photos featured in this ethical owl article. We took this photo during a field trip to Kamloops in years past.

The proposal to ban lead shot for hunters in BC is up for public commentary. It is more expensive to switch to copper bullets but Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures and other raptors die from lead poisoning every year from eating carcasses contaminated by lead. Please voice your comments HERE on the BC Gov't website to help get this ban enacted. Commentary closes on Feb 13th at 4:30pm 

On Christmas Day Ethan Moon found a mega rare Taiga Flycatcher at Sunset Beach Park in Vancouver.  I was lucky to see it with over 60 birders on Boxing Day!  It is the first record for Canada and only the second record for mainland North America. The other record outside of Alaska was in 2006 near Winters, California. The California bird was only seen by ten people or so, therefore many will want to come see this bird! CTV and Global News have interviewed for this rarity and the local paper. You can read a news article on the bird from CTV News HERE   Many Canadians across Canada and Americans across the US are coming up to see the bird and have contacted me for details as I run the BC RBA website . Today many from Washington and Oregon State, Kelowna, Penticton and Vancouver Island saw it. It is exciting to see a Canada first and be living in an area of such a mega rare ABA find for listers. I’ve seen many of these birds in Thailand but seeing one like this up close in V...

I’m leading a FREE walk for BIPOC birders at Blackie Spit in Surrey on January 11 at 9:30 am. This walk is run by the Stanley Park Ecology Society. You can register at this LINK Hope to see you there! It’s open to birders of all ages.

We had our annual Christmas Bird Count for Youth on Dec 6th we had a great count. You can read our trip report at the BC Young Birders website  HERE . Young Birders in Delta for the Christmas Bird Count for Youth - Photo: Kris Cu

Ornithologist Dr. Rob Butler’s new film “The Society of Crows” is out and the film screening and crow talk is on Jan 22nd at 6 pm in North Vancouver at the Blueshore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Tickets are FREE and sure to go fast. Grab your ticket  HERE You can watch a trailer for the film below:

New study by my friend Dr Benjamin Freeman conducted in Metro Vancouver shows that Canada Jays are severely impacted by climate change and on an “escalator to extinction.” It is very sad to see these adorable and favourite birds of many impacted in such a way. You can read the news article and interview Ben did about his research HERE   Thanks as well to Ben for using two of my photos for his article. You can read his open access research paper HERE   as well. Canada Jay on Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Update this event is now FULL We are having our annual Christmas Bird Count for Youth on Dec 6th. Full details are posted as well on the BC Young Birders website HERE We will meet at Reifel Bird Sanctuary at 9 am and we will finish at 2pm. Entrance is free for youth attending. Come look for winter birds like Redpolls, American Tree Sparrows, Northern Saw-whet Owls, Short-eared Owls and Rough-legged Hawks and other great birds at our CBC4Kids in Delta. All data we collect from our count will be sent to eBird and Bird Studies Canada to aid in studies for bird conservation. The Christmas Bird Count for Kids (CBC4Kids), based on the traditional Christmas Bird Count, is a fun winter birdwatching event that engages youth in real Citizen Science. The goal is to promote nature appreciation, ecological literacy, build bird ID and monitoring skills, and environmental stewardship in the next generation of naturalists. More info on the program can be found here : Please bring binoculars, a toque, ...

I was honoured to co-host a winter birding talk called “Feathers in the Frost” with Jason Hudecki for the Nature Conservancy of Canada. We had over 5300 people sign up to watch it. If you want to watch the recording you can do so at the link below:

I am co-leading a FREE talk and Q and A about winter birding “Feathers in the Frost” for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) at 2:30pm on Nov 6th. It is an honour to be doing this for NCC and should be a lot of fun so hope you can join us! You can sign up for it HERE