DARE TO BIRD

**Update: Sadly this event was cancelled since the BC Gov’t put in travel restrictions effective Aug 19th, banning non-essential travel to the Okanagan due to severe wildfires. Read HERE  ** Hey Young Birders I’m hosting a 2 night camping trip in August near Osoyoos! If you want to join me please send me an email. The dates are Aug 19-21. Some targets will be birds like Veery, Lewis's Woodpecker, Bobolink, Lark Sparrow, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Black-backed and Three-toed Woodpecker, Flammulated Owl, Great Gray Owl, Western Screech Owl, Burrowing Owl, Rock and Canyon Wren, Chukar, Gray Partridge, Dusky and Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Common Poorwills, Sage Thrasher, Grasshopper Sparrow and more! You can read a trip report from one of our really fun young birder overnight trips in the area HERE Email me for all the details at bcbirdergirl (at) gmail (dot) com . Looking forward to seeing the group who registered for the sold out overnight Tofino pelagic Puffin excursion on July 2

Liron Gertsman a graduate of my young birder program and friend has won the Grand Prize for the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards I was on the judging panel for. Judging is completely blind so when I found out Liron won the grand prize and professional honourable mention I was beyond thrilled and couldn’t be more proud of him! Congrats to all the award winners and honourable mentions. It is a tough contest to judge each year with such incredible submissions. You can see a full list of the winners  HERE The top 100 will be posted HERE on June 28th. Liron did a couple interviews with CBC you can check it them out and listen to them  HERE  and HERE as well. He discusses why common birds like Rock Pigeons are worthy of our appreciation. Grand Prize Winning Image of Rock Pigeons in White Rock, BC - Photo: Liron Gertsman

The day I lay my father to rest beside my mother. I miss my beautiful dad whom I lost 3 months ago on my mom’s bday. I miss my mom. His death on her bday has made me relive my mom’s death again. I still have to learn how to live each day without them. It sucks. My heart is eternally broken. I loved him so very much. My mom and dad and sister and I. I miss my parents so much. Today is the first Father’s Day without him. I feel so much sadness on a day that used to bring me so much joy. We used to go out every Father’s Day and I’d buy him a present. I hate this new reality. It’s a nightmare. No Father’s Day will ever be the same for me again. I hate having no parents alive anymore. Last Father’s Day I took him on a trip to the Okanagan a memory I will forever treasure.  We were supposed to be going to Norway in August with his new passport, now never more :(. I miss him today so much my heart and soul hurt. This beautiful poem Adrift by Mark Nepo echoes everything I am feeling. I was giv

This year once again I was asked by several young birders in my BC Young Birders Program to write reference letters for those applying to the week long  Doug Tarry Young Ornithologists workshop in Long Point, ONT and for the week long  Geoff Holyrod Young Ornithologists Workshop in Beaverhill, AB. It is highly competitive, so unfortunately some youth I wrote for did not get in but please don’t let this discourage you and apply again next year! I want to congratulate those who got into Long Point, young birder Gaelen from Nelson. I also want to congratulate those from the lower mainland, who got into Beaverhill, Toby, Paul and Heather! You all will have such a blast this summer and I can’t wait to hear all about it! Massive congratulations and see you on our next field trip soon. Really looking forward to our upcoming overnight pelagic trip in July to Tofino to see Puffins!

Had a great day on June 4-2023. On June 3rd, Joachim Bertrands found BC's second ever White-eyed Vireo in Ucluelet. When  he told me I started making plans to head there. Even if it was far and a long shot a bird like this was worth a try. So I packed up my stuff and headed to the ferry. Got to the ferry by 8 am and waited for the 10: 15 am ferry. I just made it and was the second to last car on. Phew! One hurdle down. Finally arrived at Ukee around 3pm with Sabine Decamp and Mike and Sharon Toochin also looking and we looked till dark but not a peep and the other birds were singing away including its cousins the Warbling and Hutton's Vireos. Decided to come back at 5:30 am and give it a try. Did just that and pretty darn quiet.... at around 6:45am I heard the bird singing and I called and notified Sabine as she was looking elsewhere and Mike and Sharon had left for a coffee. By the time I was done notifying Sabine Mike had called as he had heard it too and we all came running

Updated on July 3, 2023* I am so thrilled to report that the nestbox colony I set up at Garry Point Park in Richmond now has 8 nesting pairs of Purple Martins!!! This has happened incredibly fast and I am overcome with happiness. I wish I could share this news with my dad! I hope it attracts even more birds in this year and the next! To read about the installation process and the 3 years it took for me to get approval head here and here . Thanks again to Rob Lyske for helping me by building the boxes after being hired by the City of Richmond, John Reynolds for lending me his boat for the installation. Thanks to the City of Richmond and Rich Kenny and city councillor Carol Day and thanks to ECCC and DFO and the Vancouver Port Authority agreeing to let me help out this blue-listed species. Purple Martins at Garry Point Park in Richmond - Photos: Geoff McDonell Purple Martins at Garry Point Park - Photos: Geoff McDonell You can watch a couple videos of them by Kate Paton below: QR code i

'I'iwi in Maui, HI - Photo: Melissa Hafting You may remember we went in search of Hawaiian endemics in 2022. You can read about that trip here . This year went back to try and clean up the remaining critically endangered endemics I still needed for the Hawaiian Islands. The Akikiki on Kauai is actively being collected by the State because there are less than 45 in the wild and are so affected by avian malaria. One had already been collected from the trail we were planning to go on, so we weren't sure we would even find it. Before I get into Kauai I will start with Maui where the trip began. A month prior I had successfully obtained a permit pass for Waikamoi Preserve that is run by the Nature Conservancy. It is the only publicly accessible area to see the Kiwikiu (Maui Parrotbill) and The ʻAkohekoke (Crested Honeycreeper). Inside Waikamoi Preserve (restricted access site) in Haleakala, Maui - Photo: Melissa Hafting On the boardwalk in native forest in Waikamoi Preserve in