DARE TO BIRD

A N ew E ra for Y oung B irders in BC Young Birders at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting We are all getting older and so are the young birders. I founded the  young birder field program   in 2014. I saw all these young birders that were birding alone locally in Metro Vancouver and wanted to bring them together. The program took off with a bang. It attracted many youth and we started taking field trips in the city and outside of it. The goal was to show the youth birds they don't normally get a chance to see at home. I wanted to show them as much of BC and its birds as possible. We were quite successful at this.   Hiking together in Whistler BC - Photo: Alice Sun In 2016, British Columbia Field Ornithologists aka BCFO (through George Clulow and Carlo Giovanella) asked me to bring my program and run it under their organization. I happily did so.  We would combine the young birder award program they designed with my field trip program.This worked very well. T

BC Young Birder Toby Theriault from Tofino won a $14,000 scholarship this past July for Students on Ice - 2019 Arctic Expedition . This is a scholarship that allows and brings together 130 young naturalists from around the world to go to Nunavut for 16 days, to explore nature and learn about the Inuit culture. They also learnt a lot about the effects of climate change on this fragile landscape  and why the area needs to be conserved. Read more about Students on Ice HERE The application deadline for students wanting to go in 2020 is November 30, 2019. Toby had an amazing experience she saw a rare Ivory Gull, Walruses and Polar Bears. She got to connect with other youth and learn about the Inuit culture. In this photo you can see her getting ready to explore the glacier at Sirmilik National Park. You can see a photo of the Ivory Gull they saw at Maxwell Bay  HERE You can see a photo of the Polar Bear s they saw   HERE You can see a photo of her and some other students with s

The Audubon Society has just released a new Climate Change report called "Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink". Two-thirds of North American birds are facing extinction due to global temperature rise the report states. You can read the new full report in PDF format HERE You can also read the peer reviewed scientific studies they used HERE and HERE As Audubon puts on instagram "IT'S TIME TO GIVE A FLOCK!" The common birds below are just a few of many being affected by climate change: Female American Kestrel - Photo: Melissa Hafting Juvenile and adult Snow Geese - Photo: Melissa Hafting Belted Kingfisher - Photo: Melissa Hafting

The Christmas Bird Count For Young Birders aged 12-18 is happening on Dec 29th!. Please register HERE at our website and meet me on the dyke at the foot of 72nd St at Boundary Bay at 8 am . FULL details are HERE Young Birders at the Christmas Bird Count at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting Looking forward to seeing you all!

You may remember my previous posts on this topic. See my previous posts on the topic. https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2019/01/more-owls-die-from-rat-poison-in-bcs.html https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2018/01/rodenticide-affects-northern-spotted.html https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2018/12/more-owls-are-dying-in-north-vancouver.html https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2018/01/another-owl-dead-and-for-what-rat-poison.html https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2018/02/rat-poison-and-owls-in-metro-vancouver.html It's frustrating how many I've done and it's still the same old story. Well sadly as expected another Owl has died of ingesting Rat Poison and this is just one I've heard about. Many have sadly continued to die since my owl posts. The city of Richmond for example and other municipalities like it, give out free Rat Poison in bait boxes to all residents suffering with rodent problems. The boxes are deemed safe because raccoons and pets can't get into t