DARE TO BIRD

Young Birders during the youth walk in Coquitlam - Photo: Melissa Hafting We had a great trip to  ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park in Coquitlam this past Saturday. The event was put on by the Coquitlam Public Library who asked me to lead the youth walk which was a 2SLGBTQIA+ and BIPOC inclusive walk. Several youth from the BC Young Birders program came out but we also met many new keen youth birders, which was fantastic! We had 20 youth sign up and everyone showed up despite the rainy weather. We saw many great birds including Mountain Bluebirds and an American Bittern! You can read our trip report at the BC Young Birders site HERE Thank you again to the Coquitlam Public Library for sponsoring this inclusive event and asking me to lead it! American Bittern in Coquitlam - Photo: Cole O'Byrne Isabelle Groc came to me when she was making this film and asked me to ask the young birders if anyone wanted to be part of her film. I asked and Adam Ross was the first to reply he really wanted to be i...

I was awarded The King Charles III Coronation Medal earlier than expected today from the Government of Canada. I am truly honoured by this and a huge thanks to Cos van Wermeskerken and Yousif Attia for writing their MPs about me and for MP Tako van Popta for nominating me to the Governor General and to the Governor General, Mary Simon, for approving me as a recipient. The medal is administered by the Chancellery of Honours at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. It was a true honour to be awarded the medal today in the company of other amazing and worthy recipients. I was the youngest recipient present. I wish my parents had lived to see the day and I sure missed seeing them smiling back at me in the audience.  I will say again how truly honoured I am to have received this medal. It is the highest award I have ever received and it touched me to hear my work and accomplishments read aloud in front of the audience. Here is the bio the MP read in part:   “ Melissa Hafting makes exceptional a...

I am running a Young Birder Walk at   ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park , this spring break, on March 29th for young birders age 12-18 through the Coquitlam Public Library. Binoculars will be provided for any youth who don't have a pair. We will meet at 9:30 am here at the parking lot in front of the community gardens. You must pre-register for this event and youth can sign up for the FREE event HERE Thank you to the Coquitlam Public Library for sponsoring this event!

I am on the board of directors for The Frontiers in Ornithology Association and part of the of the organizing committee for the 2025 Youth Symposium. This is the first time it will ever be held on the west coast and we hope to bring it to Canada and around the world soon. We have a great list of adult and youth speakers; including some from BC, like Indigenous birder and lawyer Jeffrey Nicholls who will speak on birding from an Indigenous perspective, environmental law and activism. You can read the full list of speakers HERE Our adult keynote is Steve Hampton and our youth keynotes are Lara Tseng and Song Han Ngo. The primary mission of this event is to  focus on ornithology, conservation science and related academic pursuits.  The symposium does not focus on birding, bird identification techniques, or listing birds, but instead on  cutting-edge technologies being used in avian research and study, careers in ornithology, and how to pursue that focus in higher education,...

I was honoured to receive a letter from The House of Commons from a Member of Parliament Tako van Popta informing me that I have been awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal from the Government of Canada. This medal will be given out later this year. I am so touched and moved by this. I cried when I opened the letter. This will really be a special moment for me and I’m so humbled by it. I wish my mother and father were alive to see me get this medal. It is bittersweet and it is moments like this that I really feel their loss, even more deeply. Grief never ends because when you lose someone you love so much, they will continue to miss out on all the milestones as I move forward in life. I really miss sharing these big events in my life with my parents. I read a recent article that is entitled "Grieving During Milestones:   Since I Lost A Parent, The Happiest Moments In Life Have Become The Hardest To Cope With" and it is true.   I hope they will be watching from above ...

Female Purple Martin in Richmond - Photo: Melissa Hafting Female Purple Martin on post at Garry Point Park - Photos: Melissa Hafting We cleaned out the Purple Martin nest boxes on Jan 11th this year at my city of Richmond nest box project at Garry Point Park and were very happy to see we have had the most successful year yet! 15 nests were used and we found only one dead bird and one unhatched egg and all the other young had fledged successfully! This is over double the boxes used since last year! This means we had up to 82 young fledge from the colony this year in the second year of the project!  I will be recommending to the city to expand the nest boxes into further boat-only accessible sites along the channel, where the general public can also enjoy viewing these brilliant birds. Purple Martins used to nest in natural cavities which are sadly now in short supply and like Tree Swallows, are almost fully dependent on human-made nest boxes. The Tree Swallow nest box project, with ...

I was honoured to be asked by Peter Pyle to be a member of the American Birding Association's (ABA) Checklist Committee (CLC). They published this news at the end of November HERE . I am the first Black person and the first member from BC and less than a handful from Canada and one of the few women who have been selected. It means a lot to me to be selected. I do wish my father lived to see this and my upcoming March cover story for the ABA's Birding magazine. The CLC purpose is: Maintaining and updating the ABA Checklist Reviewing and revising the ABA Codes that cover ease of observation Voting on whether to add a species to the ABA Checklist You can read about the ABA-CLC and see my profile there now that David Sibley and Andrew Kratter have rotated off at the end of Dec/24 and Mark Lockwood from TX and I joined in Jan/25. You can also learn more about what we do  HERE

I was a guest on “The Bird Joy Podcast” you can listen to the episode in full HERE  or wherever podcasts are played. We discussed a wide range of topics from how birding helps with grief to the joy it brings and also mentoring young birders. It was a really fun podcast to do with two very wonderful hosts Dexter Patterson and Jason Hall. Dexter and Jason are also Black birders who have started this successful podcast.

I’m very honoured to see my book has been reviewed by Sheridan Alford in the American Birding Association’s December 2024 issue! The print issue is not mailed out yet in Canada but I’ve attached a PDF of the Review taken with permission from the magazine. I’m touched by her kind words and review of my book. If you are a ABA member you can read the full online issue of the magazine HERE and see the review there in full. It is also posted online HERE and  HERE  as well. December Issue of American Birding Association’s Birding Magazine