Recent events, including the racism directed at Christian Cooper on the Ramble in New York City’s Central Park, demonstrate that racism and discrimination are everywhere, even in the birding world. British Columbia Field Ornithologists is committed to ensuring inclusion and diversity within its own ranks and within the wider birding community. All of us have a responsibility to challenge racism and discrimination whenever they appear and to work towards respect and inclusivity, whether we are in the field or meeting with our members and fellow birders.

As many readers already know, we now have a new BCFO Checklist of British Columbia Birds (August 2018). The checklist’s publication coincided with the 27th International Ornithological Congress just held in Vancouver August 19 – 26th. Each delegate to the conference received a special commemorative edition of the checklist included in their registration package.

The checklist is the result of the concerted efforts of many people, but our particular thanks should be extended to the members of the BCFO Bird Records Committee, and committee chair Nathan Hentze.

BCFO is now pleased to announce the general availability of the new checklist.

Distribution

BCFO members will receive their copies, at no cost, by mail shortly.

We are now accepting orders, in increments of 50 copies, @ $2.00 per copy plus shipping for the twenty-four page, stapled booklet.

Please enter your order in the Leave a Reply box below and include your name, address, delivery location, and an email contact address for us to follow up with payment requirements and advice on shipping costs.

We anticipate receiving orders from businesses, nature clubs, NGO’s, other organizations, and perhaps individuals who will act as local distribution contacts in more under-serviced areas of the province.

We are doing our best to make the checklist available as widely as possible, but at this time, we are unable to fill individual orders, or supply the checklists in smaller batches.

However, the checklist is available for immediate download here, albeit not in the handy stapled booklet form of the printed copy.

For those outside the Lower Mainland, Wild Birds Unlimited will, on request, include a checklist with orders which it ships to customers.

For Lower Mainlanders, copies of the checklist will be available at the Reifel bookstore, and in the two Wild Birds Unlimited stores in Vancouver and North Vancouver.

Below are sample pages to illustrate the organization and set up of the checklist.

Sample checklist page.

BCFO’s Bird Records Committee (BRC) is presently finalizing details of its soon to be published 2018 Checklist of BC Birds.

July is the target date for publication, and we are looking for a cover photograph or image for this completely revised and newly formatted checklist. With the work of the BRC continuing apace, many new birds have been added to the database since the last checklist was published in 2007.

Given that the Steller’s Jay is BC’s provincial bird, and also the featured bird in our BCFO logo, it can’t be a surprise that we’re looking for a Steller’s Jay photograph or graphic image suitable for the cover of the checklist booklet.

Only BCFO members are eligible to submit photographs or images and all members are encouraged to do so. The final decision will rest with the BRC, which will work with a small committee of members to make the final recommendation.

There are no prizes on offer here, just the chance for fame, international recognition, and kudos from all around if your image is selected.

Please submit photos or images at 1000 pixels in the longest dimension. A larger file size may be requested for final printing, which will be in colour.

The deadline for submissions is 07 July 2018 and submissions should be emailed as an attachment to: bcbrc.chair AT gmail.com (replace AT with @; no spaces) under the subject Steller’s Jay.

Looking for rare birds? Well, the BCFO Bird Records Committee certainly is. Or, to be more accurate , the BRC is looking for reports of rare British Columbia birds that you may have seen, or know about, but just haven’t got around to reporting to the committee yet.

As an incentive, BCFO is announcing today a contest to win free memberships in the organization. Open to everyone, details of the contest are linked here, or you can follow the drop-down under BRC above. On the contest page you’ll also find a sample completed Rare Bird Report Form, and a handy set of guidelines to support your documentation of rare bird sightings.

Start digging out those notes and photos!

It is with great sadness that we report that Martin McNicholl passed away on Friday, December 15th. It is great loss to the birding community.

Martin was known as an ornithologist who made contributions both nationally and internationally. He joined the BCFO board in the early 90’s and was a long time editor of our journal, BC Birds, as well as a regular contributor to BC Birding. As a result of Martin’s contributions to ornithology, he was awarded the Steve Cannings Award at the BCFO AGM held in Pemberton in 2014.

The citation for Martin’s award presentation at the Pemberton AGM was published in the September 2014 issue of BC Birding. The citation appears below.

MARTIN K. MCNICHOLL
STEVE CANNINGS AWARD WINNER FOR 2014

The Steve Cannings Award is presented annually by the British Columbia Field Ornithologists. It honours the memory of Stephen R. Cannings (1914-2003) of Penticton, BC, who was a much-loved and admired ornithologist, naturalist, nature photographer,conservationist, and mentor to many young and beginning
naturalists. The Cannings Award recognizes achievement in any or all of three areas: (1) research on bird biology or ecology, or detailed documentation of the birdlife of any part of BC; (2) conservation of birds or bird habitats in BC;
and (3) public education about birds in BC.

It should be noted that the Cannings award is mainly for contributions to ornithology in BC. Many of Martin‟s accomplishments have taken place in other provinces, and he is well-known as an ornithologist at the national and even international level. However, as he has made his home in BC for more than 20 years, and as many of his contributions were made in BC, we consider him to be a most worthy recipient of this award, and we have cited many of his accomplishments from other provinces as well.

Martin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on April 16, 1946, and grew up in the Winnipeg area. He became interested in birds at a very early age, and says that his first memory of a bird, at age 3, was a Common Loon yodeling as it flew
over a rowboat containing Martin, his father, and his grandfather. His interest in birds was encouraged and fostered by his aunt, Gertrude McNicholl, and a second cousin, Grace Keith, both of whom were keen birdwatchers. In addition to the immediate vicinity of Winnipeg, much of his early birding was done during the summers near Gimli, Manitoba (on Lake Winnipeg) and in the lake country near Ingolf, Ontario (west of Kenora), around property owned by his relatives.

Martin enrolled in a Zoology program at the University of Manitoba, and earned a bachelor‟s degree (Honours Zoology) in 1968. While an undergraduate, he met Dr. Roger Evans, who employed him one summer to do surveys of waterbirds and Sharp-tailed Grouse. He then embarked on a M.Sc. program under Dr. Evans, and completed his Master‟s thesis on Forster‟s Tern biology in 1971. For his Ph.D. work, Martin moved to Edmonton and studied Blue Grouse (now called Sooty Grouse) biology under Dr. Fred Zwickel. However, his study area, where he did research for four summers, was in the Comox Burn on Vancouver Island. Martin‟s Ph.D. dissertation, which he completed in 1978, was entitled Behavioural and Social Organization in a Population of Blue Grouse on Vancouver Island.

After completing his Ph.D., Martin worked for several environmental consulting firms between B.C. and Ontario. From 1984 to 1987, he served as General Manager and Executive Director of the Long Point Bird Observatory, now part of Bird Studies Canada. Since moving to B.C., and until recently, he has worked mainly at the Vancouver International Airport, first for LGL Environmental Research Associates and then with Airport Wildlife Management International, with the objective of managing birds on the airport and reducing bird hazards to aircraft.

Martin is widely known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the scientific literature of ornithology, and for his strong abilities as a writer and editor. He has published dozens of articles and short notes in scientific journals. He edited
Manitoba Bird Studies: a Bibliography of Manitoba Ornithology (1975), and was senior editor of A Bibliography of Alberta Ornithology (1981), as well as
Ornithology in Ontario (1994), a 400-page historical review of ornithology and ornithologists in Ontario. He also authored 45 entries in the Canadian Encyclopedia, mainly dealing with birds and natural history. Finally, for more than 30 years, he was in charge of the “Recent Literature” section of the North American Bird Bander.

Martin has served in many volunteer capacities, and has always been willing to donate his time to worthwhile projects and activities. Over the years, he has served on more than 30 boards and committees from B.C. to Ontario.

For BCFO, he was the editor of our journal, British Columbia Birds, from 1994 to 2002, a time-consuming and exacting task. He has also been the compiler or co-compiler of the “Upcoming Meetings and Events” column in our newsmagazine for much of its history, and a valued member of the Awards Committee since its inception. In addition, he has served for many years on the Birding Section Committee of Nature Vancouver, and as the Program Chairman of the Langley Field Naturalists.

Given his many accomplishments and his generosity with his time, it will not surprise you that Martin has been the recipient of several previous awards. These include the Loran L. Goulden Award (1983) for contributions to the natural history of Alberta; being named an Elective Member of the American Ornithologists Union (1986); the Ernest Thompson Seton medal for contributions to Manitoba‟s natural history (1995); and being named an Honorary Life Member of both the Langley Field Naturalists (2001) and B.C. Field Ornithologists (2002).

In this brief citation, we have had to omit many of Martin McNicholl‟s accomplishments, particularly those that took place outside B.C. Nevertheless, we think it should be obvious to everyone that Martin is a most deserving
recipient of the Steve Cannings Award, and we take great pleasure in presenting it to him.

This spring, the 20-year-old public bird blind at Vaseux Lake was replaced with a three-level, architect-designed structure with a significantly larger floor area, central staircase, enclosed second level, and rodent-proof construction. The entry level of the blind is wheelchair accessible as will be the boardwalk when it is rebuilt later this year.

View from marsh

The four+-year project was organized through the BC Nature Important Bird and Biodiversity Program with Eva Durance, volunteer Caretaker for the Vaseux IBBA, as project manager assisted by a team of people with responsibilities in that area. Funding was provided by a number of agencies and businesses including the Public Conservation Assistance Fund of HCTF, BC Nature Foundation, Fortis BC Community Fund, Penticton Rotary Club, and Lake Breeze Winery. Many other individuals, government and non-profit agencies, and businesses assisted in a variety of ways to complete the project.

Eva hopes many BCFO members will enjoy the new facility throughout the years.

View from approach