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

Gary Davidson has just published a new, revised, and improved checklist for the West Kootenay. Copies will be available for $2.50 each at the upcoming Tumbler Ridge AGM.

Sample page here:

Setting a new level for donations to the organization, BCFO is delighted to announce a $5000 donation in support of our society and our programs. For more details, see the Members Area.

The British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas is now complete, and freely available online for everyone. It’s a stunning document visually and impressively detailed in its coverage of BC’s 320 breeding birds. This landmark publication is the first of its kind in Canada to be published online, and it’s thought to be the most comprehensive web resource of its type in the world. User-friendly features make it accessible to environmental professionals, students, educators, and members of the public.

The Atlas is the result of one of the largest citizen science initiatives the province has ever seen:  1,300 British Columbians, including many BCFO members, contributed 60,000 hours of dedicated volunteerism over the eight years of the project.  The public-private initiative was supported by 140 partners, donors and special contributors.

This milestone is particularly rewarding for BCFO members as we have been supporters of this major project since its inception. Congratulations to all involved.

A sample species account is copied below, but there is so much more available at the Atlas website.

We all prefer to see this:

Varied Thrush in Aronia bush

Not this:

Varied Thrush killed by a window-strike

BCFO Member and past BCFO Director June Ryder is getting a campaign off the ground to raise public awareness of the importance of reducing the numbers birds that collide with windows. BCFO supports this campaign and urges all members and others to download the Birds Against Buildings flyer compiled by June and shown below. Please share this important information with friends, neighbours, and organizations to which you belong. Make your own home more bird friendly, and encourage others to do the same whether houses, apartments, or places of work.

Download Birds Against Buildings .

Some BCFO members may find this Open Access Review of interest. Here’s the summary:

Birds are one of the most recognizable and diverse groups of modern vertebrates. Over the past two decades, a wealth of new fossil discoveries and phylogenetic and macroevolutionary studies has transformed our understanding of how birds originated and became so successful. Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic (around 165–150 million years ago) and their classic small, lightweight, feathered, and winged body plan was pieced together gradually over tens of millions of years of evolution rather than in one burst of innovation. Early birds diversified throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous, becoming capable fliers with supercharged growth rates, but were decimated at the end-Cretaceous extinction alongside their close dinosaurian relatives. After the mass extinction, modern birds (members of the avian crown group) explosively diversified, culminating in more than 10,000 species distributed worldwide today.

A PDF of The Origin and Diversification of Birds can be found here: http://is.gd/FtPGWD