This area is for BC birding news, events and related announcements.
#68327
birdergirl wrote:Set your alarm clocks kids!! I'll see you tomorrow at 6:30am at the ferry!

I'm excited for it! The weather is supposed to be great :P.

Don't forget to review what you have to bring (review my email!) and take your gravol tonight!

Cheers,
Mel
I can't wait! :D We better get some nice birds. :wink:
#68374
Our youth birding field trip was fantastic! We couldn't have asked for a better bunch of kids or better weather or a nicer boat or frankly a better guide! Thanks Guy for all your hard work spotting birds for us and for bringing the chum that brought in the gull and jaegers. Your help was invaluable to us and the kids and I appreciate it so much!!!!

Thank you to all the parent volunteers for helping me out Rob Lyske, Daniel Donnecke, Cathy Reader-Lee and Warren Lee, it really meant a lot to me and I am truly grateful!

The kids will be posting photos and detailing the trip, I am sure but some of our highlights were: Parasitic Jaegers, possible Pomarine Jaegers and Red Phalarope (need to review photos) and the bird of the day a Long-tailed Jaeger! Heermann's Gulls, a Humpback Whale! Stellar's and California Sea Lions, Loon species, Red-necked Phalarope, Western Gulls, Rhino auklets, Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, Marbled Murrelet, Brandt's Cormorants,Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants, Surfbirds, Black Oystercatchers, Kingfisher, Mew, Ring-billed and California Gulls, Peregrine Falcon, Baird's Sandpipers and Black Turnstones.

We had a great time birding and laughing and having fun. 15 kids just having the time of their life sharing great fun and birding excitement. Again, I was totally just blown away by their sheer appreciation for nature and birds and their vast knowledge!

Thanks guys for all the joy you brought to me today and for memories I won't ever forget.

Cheers your friend,
Mel
#68381
You are a special person BG to take that many kids and bring them joy is friggin selfless. From reading the one little girl's post and I'm sure there are many more to come you are a hero to these kids for organizing a trip like this.

Seeing a long-tailed jaeger so close to Victoria is friggin sweet and a humpback whale you guys rock but most of all deserve it.

I was thrilled to see the weather panned out for you guys and to see this post today.

You have really changed the birding community for the better.

Can't wait to see the pics and hear the kids stories.

Mark
#68411
Thanks for your kind comments everyone I am touched!

We had a great great time.


The experts have weighed in both Nathan Hentze and Guy Monty and we have 1 Pomarine Jaeger, 3 Parasitic Jaegers and 1 Long-tailed Jaeger!

Just amazing. Congrats guys! :mrgreen: 8)

Still waiting for the Red Phalarope shots to get confirmed when we get them all in but Nathan Hentze said the photo has great traits for Red but since the photo we got isn't so clear we would like other ones so kids please email them to me if you have them!

Cheers,
Mel
#68416
I hope that everyone on the trip enjoyed it as much as I did. It was wonderful meeting everyone, and I was very impressed by how enthusiastic everyone was. It is encouraging that there are this many young people out there interested in the natural world.

A huge thank you to Melissa for bringing all of this together.

Here is a short video I took during the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyL12kkv9F4

Guy L. Monty
Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC
#68419
That video is fantastic Guy! Look at all the gulls coming to the chum and the cute kids enjoying every minute! :mrgreen: Thank you Guy for all you did and for sharing the video. :P

Here is one photo of the Pomarine Jaeger this was taken by Daniel Donnecke

Image

and one of the Long-tailed Jaeger!

Image
Photo by E.M.

*Photos used with permission*

Cheers,
Mel

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