We’re ready to go with this year’s AGM.
You’ll find the various registration forms and conference details in ‘Annual Conference’ under the Events tab drop-down menu above.
All you need to do is download the forms, fill them in, sign the waiver and mail them to us along with your cheque.
See you in Oliver.
Under the Events tab above we’ve posted the latest summary information regarding the AGM and Extension trip. Dick Cannings will be our banquet speaker, and the cost this year will be $170.00 for the full conference, which includes field trips, meals and technical sessions.
Full details of field trips, Saturday afternoon speakers, and registration forms will be published here in March and in the March issue of BC Birding.
The Active Pass Nature and Arts Festival will take place on Mayne Island April 17 to 19, 2015. Birds and birding will be featured activities with morning guided birding tours both on land and by boat, with opportunities for photographers too.
To promote and celebrate the natural beauty and wildlife of the Active Pass Region of the Salish Sea, the unique communities within it and the art it inspires.
Ted Hillary’s Two-Day Trip to Salmon Arm, August 30th to 31st, is now at capacity. However, Ted has graciously offered to keep a waitlist of interested people to fill in for any late cancellations. There were a number in 2012 when this trip was last offered.
If you wish to be placed on the waitlist, send Ted an email to that effect, or give him a call. Contact information can be found under the Events tab above, under Tours and Trips.
Long-billed or Short-billed? Perhaps Ted Hillary’s Salmon Arm trip will help you sort them out.
We’ve just been informed of a summer closure of the inner ponds at Iona Island Sewage Treatment Plant.
The official notice is posted here:
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NOTICE TO BIRDERS from the IONA ISLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
Iona Sewage Lagoons – Richmond
Closure: Saturday July 5 through mid- September, 2014
Access Will Be Closed to the public from Saturday July 5 through to Mid Sept, 2014, between 7am and 5pm (weekends included). After 5:00pm access will be allowed into the evenings. There will be days through this closure where public access may be permitted, but there is no schedule for these open days. The natural ponds immediately west of the Sludge Storage Lagoons are not affected.
In order to clean out our South East Sludge Storage Lagoon, the contract hauler must utilize ALL of the outer perimeter lagoon roads. The tandem dump trucks will be making continuous trips through each day they work. I have deemed this condition to be too unsafe to allow simultaneous public access during these times, therefore the entire Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge Storage Lagoon area will be closed to the public during this time. Access to the Sludge Storage Lagoon area will be physically prevented by chain-locking the 2 “Birders Gates” closed during these hours/days (specifically the main birder’s gate at the SE corner, and the west birder’s gate at the far west side of the lagoons). The contractor will post a sign at each of these gate locations warning of the work and closures.
Any unauthorized visitors caught in the Sludge Storage Lagoon area in these dates/ times will be asked to leave immediately. Anyone caught re-entering the site after being asked to leave will be considered trespassing.
Andrew Hunt
Superintendent
Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant
Metro Vancouver
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You may still get to view birds such as the Yellow-headed Blackbird below in the outer ponds, but the inner ponds are closed as per the official announcement above.
After returning from our morning field trips, and following lunch, we have three great speakers lined up for AGM attendees.
In Unraveling the Migration of the Yellow-billed Loon, Ken Wright will describe his work in the High Arctic with Yellow-billed Loons (Gavia adamsii).
Inhabiting the vast tundra, little is known about the ecology of this species, which is among the rarest breeding birds on the continent. Ken will explore the migration routes of the loons he and his team have captured and tracked with high-tech satellite transmitters, and address the implications of this new knowledge for the conservation of this spectacular bird.