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24 November 2024: Fraser Estuary Key Biodiversity Area Bird Count!
Hi Vancouver birders, The Fraser Estuary KBA Bird Count event will be held on Sunday, November 24 this year! This event is for EVERYONE (beginners should be in a team with more experienced birders, if possible). It is time to form teams! You can register yourself and your team of max. 4 birders (if possible, in order to maximize coverage of the full KBA) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XPKy6iqUxvC-IHMHJ9W1Z7m-V7OeioIMBaQTTvgReo4/edit?usp=sharing The map of the different count zones lies here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1FzdWehCoESncblifp3-PfywZP1aVXzlB&usp=sharing I will send more details about the count to the people who have registered. Rémi Torrenta
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How Are Birds Doing In Canada?
Have you read the new State of Canada's Birds 2024 Report yet? Clear, compelling, and beautifully illustrated! A partnership between Birds Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, and a mine of information about the different bird groups, trend data, and population goals: StateOfCanadasBirds.org If you want to look at specific species accounts: https://naturecounts.ca/nc/socb-epoc/search.jsp
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[bcvibirds] Bob's Guardian Nature report link today
FYI Begin forwarded message: From: "Robert Hay via groups.io" <rbhay2020@...> Date: 11 October 2024 at 9:06:27 am GMT-7 To: bcvibirds@groups.io Subject: Re: [bcvibirds] Bob's Guardian Nature report link today Reply-To: bcvibirds@groups.io ?Thanks for your detailed input Robin. We all need to do our part to help avert the pending ecotastrophe, including for our children. Circulating relevant info & taking appropriate actions are called for. Cheers Bob On 10 Oct 2024, at 4:15 pm, Robin Lawson via groups.io <robinlawson646@...> wrote: ? Thx for these links and sendouts, Bob. It is depressing but still - someone has to care. The local CVNS Mission (Cowichan Valley) statement published in every Newsletter is to speak for nature that cannot speak for itself. Elizabeth May spoke at Duncan Campus VIU in very early 2016 just after the Paris Accord that was such a fob, exactly as later, soon to be cordoned and contained, Greta depicted it. And Elizabeth attempted to be less cynical with her experience and be mildly optimistic at that point for the magic 2 degree rise. Ironically she was a nature consultant lawyer in Mulroney's government which has the weird distinction of a better environmental record than any Canadian government to follow, perhaps. She stated that back in the 80s "we" all knew the warming was happening but nothing a trillion dollars worth of lobbying, controlling key governments, supporting flakey, corrupt populist leaders, sloganist campaigneering and repeat, repeat, repeat dumbed down messages could not erase. An Orwellian prophecy made flesh in a braver, newer world where Huxleyan Soma exudes from every cell phone. I am no politician but I do feel the people in this world need to back off on the stimulation, pause, reset and think for a moment re the rising, loomingly ominous Iceberg ahead on the charted trajectory of Progress. And milling economies. Or shall we merely rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic as the Band plays on? I have heard for decades from those around me, in my age cohort of early boomers, that they would not live to see the inexorable debacle as opportunistically grazing, pilfering and rapacious humans denude the 12 mile (20 km) thin atmosphere, contaminate the 5 mile ( 8 km) deep ocean and all the Eden greenness they have so magically sustained to keep us going. And now the throes of the Warming are upon us as we await the major conveyor ocean currents from the hurricane-riddled Gulf of Mexico past Labrador to flip, as with the other major ocean circulations. Alas poor European farmers and all others. The predictability of El Nino may be getting foggy in the rear view mirror. The agricultural farm factory mentality of tilling every square meter of arable soil propped up with energy hogging, imported fertilizers (far fetched such as the former and disappearing Guano from Chile) and pesticides to accelerate yields, all while lying to the people as to dosages, and toxic effects with loaded, decadent and prevaricating approval committees may get its comeuppance soon as forecast plantings will no longer thrive and produce. Big Pharma mirrors our agriculture model in its methods reminiscent of Nero's Fiddling Rome. Appearances are all that count for the nonce (it seems!) but it is the substance whose only apparent erasure will come back to haunt. Getting off the readily available energy, addictive junk hydrocarbons will never be easy. Tightening one's belt in such luxury seems unthinkable. So far. This is what I shared with loved ones this morning in the final orgiastics of yet another meaningless Election : The controlling mega AI purveyors automatically download all stored pics, personal data from our computers into their cloud Drives with the whole planet's sensitive personal info and store that in their massive southern hemisphere servers and elsewhere. We all gotta serve somebody, the good Dylan pronounced it and we are letting them suck ever more energy reserves (reported more energy than all the gas guzzlers in North America last year and almost equivalent to the carbon release of Cana
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Collapsing wildlife populations near ‘points of no return’, report warns | Biodiversity | The Guardian
It’s happening in our neighborhoods too! Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/10/collapsing-wildlife-populations-points-no-return-living-planet-report-wwf-zsl-warns
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‘You could single-handedly push it to extinction’: how social media is putting our rarest wildlife at risk | Endangered species | The Guardian
Uh oh - it couldn’t happen around here, eh Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/26/social-media-posts-endangered-species-capercaillie-birders-aoe
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FYI - this applies to the lower Mainland too Bob Begin forwarded message: From: Robert Hay <rbhay2020@...> Date: 23 September 2024 at 11:58:01 am GMT-7 To: bcvibirds@groups.io Cc: Duncan Taylor <dmtaylor@...>, Paul Johal <pauljohal1@...> Subject: I’ve spent 32 years writing about the great outdoors. We’ve both changed more than I could ever have imagined | Birdwatching | The Guardian ?Declining birds in the UK. I’ve witnessed the same here in southeastern Vancouver Island over the past 5 decades. It’s great that expert birders with powerful scopes can see pelagic birds off our seacoast & others find vagrants, but many of the once fairly common bird species are decreasing. I’ve gone out recently around Cassidy, Ladysmith & Nanaimo & have seen few passerines during what should be fall migration. What will it be like in another couple decades? I hope that birder groups detail this trend, help with conservation efforts & don’t just concentrate on reporting rarities. Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/23/ive-spent-32-years-writing-about-the-great-outdoors
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A very depressing new study! :( https://focusingonwildlife.com/news/new-study-confirms-building-collisions-kill-over-one-billion-birds-annually-in-u-s/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=newsletter-post-title_1120 Daniel Bastaja danielbastaja@... <mailto:danielbastaja@...>
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Thanks to all for input. Update on the swallows. Barn swallows - confirmed. The person emailed the Mayor, had an almost immediate response and a followup from Engineering. Appears the birds are on the verge of leaving - it was suggested it would be a great opportunity for the city to put up nesting boxes in time for next year. Perry Edwards North Vancouver
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Swallow Nests - Protected?
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Contacted by a friend who has been monitoring swallow nests in a PoCo park. The city is about to knock down the structure where the active nests are located. Are there any relevant provincial or federal statutes that would prevent this, and if so who would he talk to? Thanks, Perry Edwards North Vancouver
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Breeding habitat loss linked to declines in Rufous Hummingbirds
Hello, Thought this article about rufous hummingbird declines would be of interest to some on this list. Best, Greg Richmond
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cormorants V formation
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Hi everyone, This evening, I saw quite a big flock of cormorants in V formation flying over the Burrard Inlet eastbound. I was surprise to see such a thing as I thought V formations occured only during long flights/migration. But cormorants wouldn’t be migrating now, right? I would love to have your input on this. Thank you! Véro
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“Scientists are still learning about the various pathways mercury can take as it cycles between the atmosphere, land, and water. Wildfires are an important pathway because when forests burn, the mercury sequestered in the trees and soils can be released into the atmosphere or washed into waterways in ash and destabilized post-fire soils. Once released, the mercury may encounter conditions where it can be converted into methylmercury and pose a hazard to wildlife and humans.” https://birdpop.org/pages/blogPost.php?id=122 Pamela Zevit RPBio | Biodiversity Conservation Planner T 604.590.7254 Check out how we are conserving biodiversity in Surrey As the second generation descendant of settlers, it is a privilege for me to work on the traditional lands (tém:éxw) of the s?myám? (Semiahmoo), sq??c?iy?a?? (Katzie), K?ik?????m (Kwikwetlem), q??ɑ:n????n? (Kwantlen), Qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Sc??waθ?n (Tsawwassen) and x?m?θk??y??m (Musqueam). *Please note my work week is Monday – Friday, 7:30-3:30.
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Hello, I wanted to share the interesting results of our Birds Canada study in Iona from last year (insect monitoring and bird data analyses), thanks to the group of students from UBC who analyzed the data. Please find attached their Executive Summary (3 pictures). Based on this study, students provided management recommendations to minimize disturbance of the Aerial Insectivore bird community, as the upgrades to the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant are ongoing. We are hoping to resume insect and bird monitoring next year, as well as nest box monitoring and Tree Swallow tagging, so stay tuned! Rémi Torrenta Birds Canada rtorrenta@...
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Birds adapt flight mechanics using lungs Respiratory system affects light in soaring birds.
Birds adapt flight mechanics using lungs Birds adapt flight mechanics using lungs Dr. Prajakta Banik Respiratory system affects light in soaring birds. Rob Alexander North Vancouver http://www.flickr.com/photos/northvanrob/
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“New research mapping a hummingbirds’ sense of touch onto specific areas of the brain shows the little creatures are sensitive to even slight puffs of air.” https://science.ubc.ca/news/may-05-2024/hummingbirds-have-feelings-too-acute-sense-touch-could-help-them-hover Pamela Zevit RPBio | Biodiversity Conservation Planner T 604.590.7254 Check out how we are conserving biodiversity in Surrey As the second generation descendant of settlers, it is a privilege for me to work on the traditional lands (tém:éxw) of the s?myám? (Semiahmoo), sq??c?iy?a?? (Katzie), K?ik?????m (Kwikwetlem), q??ɑ:n????n? (Kwantlen), Qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Sc??waθ?n (Tsawwassen) and x?m?θk??y??m (Musqueam). *Please note my work week is Monday – Friday, 7:30-3:30.
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Invitation to Apply to Bird Records Committee | British Columbia Field Ornithologists
FYI Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://bcfo.ca/invitation-to-apply-to-bird-records-committee/
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Just a reminder that the global City Nature Challenge starts Friday! It’s looking to be a bit of a damp one this year (for Metro Vancouver anyway). I recognize many birding folks use eBird, but if you use iNaturalist as well and happen to be in Surrey Friday-Monday feel free to add to our local count. We're also part of a Metro Vancouver Regional-wide project this year. Participating cities can also use help with ID'ing observations on iNaturalist from April 30 - May 5. Further info https://www.surrey.ca/citynaturechallenge, and the Metro project page journal for specific events. Would love to see that Oriental Turtle-dove get included this weekend, would make for a unique observation to report in the international results! Pamela Zevit RPBio | Biodiversity Conservation Planner T 604.590.7254 Check out how we are conserving biodiversity in Surrey As a second generation settler, it is a privilege for me to work on the traditional lands (tém:éxw) of the s?myám? (Semiahmoo), sq??c?iy?a?? (Katzie), K?ik?????m (Kwikwetlem), q??ɑ:n????n? (Kwantlen), Qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Sc??waθ?n (Tsawwassen) and x?m?θk??y??m (Musqueam). *Please note my work week is Monday – Friday, 7:30-3:30.
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Birds in the eclipse
Some fantastic photography by a BC birder/photographer: https://petapixel.com/2024/04/21/how-a-photographer-captured-his-spectacular-dream-eclipse-photo/ -- From an Island in the Pacific, Richard James, Victoria, BC
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‘You can’t love something that isn’t there’: readers on how the sounds of nature have changed around them | Environment | The Guardian
The sounds of silence around the world: anecdotal yet scary. Also I’ve noticed being back in southeast Vancouver Island the past 4 years after over 30 years away (as a resident) that many local bird species have declined in sheer numbers. Only a few have increased (eg vultures in summer). Lately when I drive along the local highways for 10-30 km I hardly see any birds, except crows/ravens & sometimes starlings. I play a game with my 8 yr old son to get a prize for the 1st bird that one of us sees. We can often drive for 10 km or more before seeing anything. I wonder what it’ll be like when he’s a senior around here (& I’m long gone). I’ve been a birder for over 50 yrs, have been involved in wildlife mgt & taught for over 15 yrs in universities, including ornithology at UBC Okanagan 2 yrs ago. I have several publications on seabirds, estuaries, sense of place & sustainability. Plus I’ve been the organizer for the Ladysmith Xmas Bird Count for the past 4 yrs. So U think that I have some expertise in this area of concern. A lot of posts on these sites involve chasing rarities. However, there’s more for us all to consider than a few oddities showing up in our neighborhoods. Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/22/readers-on-changes-to-the-natural-world-around-them-aoe ps I saw the recent post about birdlife comeback around Wellington, NZ: a great initiative to have sanctuaries & control feral predators. But there’s much more to do globally, such as restricting neonicotinoids in agricultural applications. Otherwise the decline in nature sounds & birds will make us all the poorer.
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No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent | Climate crisis | The Guardian
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FYI - another Silent Spring unfolds … its happening here too Bob Hay Cassidy, BC https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/nature-silent-bernie-krause-recording-sound-californian-state-park-aoe
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