Young Birder Walk with Coquitlam Public Library and check out a Western Sandpiper documentary featuring a young birder!

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 in it and Isabelle said working with him was a dream. He did a great job in his feature in Esquimalt Lagoon and at Brunswick Point. David Suzuki's daughter is the host and Dr. Bob Elner (whom in 2008 with Dr Tomohiro Kuwae, discovered that Western Sandpipers eat biofilm here) are discussing important issues in the 25 min documentary such as the plight of a near local extinction these birds will face when the approved Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project will come into effect and how far the birds will have to fly between stopovers from WA to Alaska if they can no longer stop to feed and rest at Roberts Bank. The species will likely become endangered in the next 30 years and the shorebirding we enjoy so much will be another sad nostalgic moment of the past.

You can watch the excellent documentary HERE on CBC Gem.

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