BCFO proudly presents this year’s recipients of the BCFO Young Birder Award and welcomes these talented young birders into the BC birding community. Winning the award recognizes their accomplishments, contributions, and engagement with birds and birding in the province.

As the Young Birder Program has continued to grow over the past four years, we continue to find many young, keen, committed birders from around BC. This year we are pleased to have six outstandingly worthy recipients.

To be selected for a BCFO Young Birder Program Award, recipients must be 18 or under and have:

• exceptional observational and birding skills well beyond the ‘novice’ level
• shown substantive engagement in the activities of the birding community through their accomplishments, participation, and contributions
• been nominated and sponsored by a BCFO member and approved by the Executive Committee.

As the Young Birder Program has grown over the past four years, we are finding that BC is home a large number of young, keen, committed birders. This year we are pleased to have six tremendous, worthy recipients.

Here are our 2017 recipients, presented in alphabetical order:

Willa Crowley

Willa’s love of birds evolved as she grew up in the John Prince Research Forest, in North-Central BC. She loves participating in citizen science projects, like FeederWatch, NestWatch, the BC-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey and the Christmas Bird Count. Willa began observing birds in earnest at the age of eight, but her favourites have always been hummingbirds. When she was four years old, a local Tl’azten Elder asked her what her spirit animal was and she declared, “Hummingbird!” The 2016 season was her third volunteering with Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s Hummingbird Project. It was an exciting season, because it was the first year she acted as scribe and began learning about morphological measurements. Willa also collected data on hummingbird feeder hygiene in the Fort St. James area, which will be presented at SD91’s 2017 Science Fair.

Adam Dhalla

Adam has been birding for three years now. He loves to travel for birding and has already been to Japan, Hawaii and all over Southern BC. He hopes to get to Costa Rica and Australia next! At 11 years old he already has a life list of 300 species. Adam has told me that he loves learning about birds and getting to spend time with them in nature. Adam is a great photographer and loves taking photos of every bird he spots! He enjoys posting his photos on his Flickr site. He has great fun chasing local rarities with his dad. Adam likes to blog about his birding adventures on his website adamdhalla.com. Adam enjoys interacting with others in the birding community and appreciates all the help he has received from them.  Adam has several favourite birds but his top 3 favourites are: The Steller’s Jay, Black Oystercatcher and Great Gray Owl. Adam enjoys creating bird art out of lego pieces and is always eager to ask me about where he should next plan his birding trip in BC. He particularly enjoys visiting Manning Park where he can feed and interact with the Gray Jays. Adam is an active contributor on the Birding in British Columbia forum at Birding.bc.ca. Adam is a keen, excellent birder who is never afraid to ask questions and learn from others. We can only expect great things from Adam as he continues to  enrich the birding community with his contributions.
Website: <www.adamdhalla.com>
Flickr: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/134098256@N05>

Matyas Gerloczy

Matyas started birding 3 years ago. He loves to bird in the Okanagan with his friend, Logan, whom he has learnt a lot from. Matyas also has travelled to Europe with his family where he has done some birding as well. He likes to take part in discussing bird identification on the Birds in British Columbia forum at birding.bc.ca. Matyas is very eager to learn more about bird identification and likes to share his photos on flickr. His favourite sport is skiing and whenever he is outdoors in the mountains, he is looking for winter birds like Bohemian Waxwings and Northern Pygmy-Owls.
Flickr: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/145162454@N02/>

Katya Kondratyuk

Katya is the most enthusiastic birder you could ever meet and her enthusiasm is infectious! To know her is to love her. She is great fun on all our field trips telling the other kids about her bird adventures. Katya has only recently started birding, since she is 11 years old but her spotting skills are exceptional! We’ve never seen anyone pick out Black Swifts the way she did at Grant Narrows when they were distant tiny specs for the rest of the group! She has laser beam eyes. Katya has been really helpful in suggesting field trips  and loves to take part in them with the other children. First connecting with the Young Birders at the Christmas Bird Count for Kids held at Iona Regional Park, she has been inseparable from the group ever since. As she gets older she will only continue to grow in her knowledge, which is already extremely impressive. We’re confident she will be a great birders and twitcher. She absolutely loves chasing after local rarities in Greater Vancouver. Katya contributes to eBird routinely, the Birding in BC forum (Birding.bc.ca) where she enjoys posting her photos and sightings, Christmas Bird Count for Kids, and the Young Birder Program field trips. She also loves posting her great bird photos to her Flickr website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141005852@N07/

Toby Theriault

Toby lives on a floathouse in Tofino. At age 12 she is already remarkably good at bird identification, as demonstrated by her accomplishments this year. She decided at the beginning of the year to do a Big Year, with a goal of seeing 120 species of birds. Up to today, she has seen 202 species. Most were seen on the Island but she also travelled with her family to the lower mainland and to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. I should add that Toby is the bird expert in her family and the parents are learning from her. Toby and her close friend, Cedar, also a birder, founded a birding club called the Tough City Twitchers currently with four members. This summer she was interviewed on CBC radio about her birding passion.
Her birding blog can be found at: <http://birdymcbirdface.blogspot.ca>

Viktor Vandereyk

Viktor started birding when he was eight years old and is an avid hiker and naturalist. He joined the Young Birder program in 2016 and I have been very impressed by his great bird identification skills. He is never afraid to ask questions about birds and is eager to learn more about them. I was impressed by how fast he spotted birds during our field trips and how well he fit into the group with the other children. I have noticed how helpful he is to the younger children in the group and he behaves as a good role model. Viktor enjoys contributing to the British Columbia Birds Forum (Birding.bc.ca) and adding his photos to Flickr. He and his brother Marnix, who is also a birder enjoy watching the birds that come to their backyard, where they have had some uncommon birds show up. Viktor is a talented artist and enjoys painting and drawing birds.
Flickr: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/144379173@N02/>

Congratulations all.

<2016 Young Birders>

<2015 Young Birders>

<2014 Young Birders>

BCFO proudly presents this year’s recipients of the BCFO Young Birder Program Awards and welcomes these talented young birders into the BC birding community. Winning the award recognizes their accomplishments, contributions, and engagement with birds and birding in the province.

To be selected for a BCFO Young Birder Program Award, recipients must be 17 or under and have:

• exceptional observational and birding skills well beyond the ’novice’ level
• shown substantive engagement in the activities of the birding community through their accomplishments, participation, and contributions
• been nominated and sponsored by a BCFO member and approved by the Executive Committee.

As the Young Birder Program has grown over the past three years, we are finding that BC is home a large number of young, keen, committed birders. This year we are pleased to have eight outstandingly worthy recipients.

Here are our 2016 recipients, presented in alphabetical order:

Leo Donnecke14 year old Leo loves birding with his dad who is an active birder as well. He enjoys pelagics and is an excellent spotter. He has co-led bird walks at the Rocky Point Bird Observatory and has volunteered at the Pedder Bay Banding station for many years. When Leo is not birding he is busy enjoying his other hobby competitive rowing.

Jamie Gadsden
12 year old Jamie actively contributes to the Fraser Valley Birding Forum as a moderator where he has written an article on leucism and albinism. He is always eager to help out anyone who posts with identification questions. He submits to eBird and loves to bird with his dad especially in such events as the Christmas Bird Count.

Cole Gaerber

14 year old Cole is a walking encyclopedia on rare birds in North America which are his passion. Cole enjoys reading everything he can to further his knowledge on birds. He is always eager to share information on birds (both common and rare) with other children, which is inspiring. He volunteers at The Vancouver Aquarium and specifically takes an interest in working with the Penguins.

Ian Harland16 year old Ian enjoys volunteering at Grouse Mountain’s Raptor Program where he specifically works with Barn and Snowy Owls. His work with these owls has sparked a major interest in conservation and wetland habitat restoration. Ian is an avid hiker and enjoys taking part in birding youth field trips especially when situated in the mountains. Now that he has recently turned 16, he plans to volunteer at Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) and The Wildlife Rescue Association.

Liam Singh 13 year old Liam from Victoria has been birding for three years and frequently conducts the census for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s Pedder Bay site. He leads Sunday walks at The Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary. In his 2nd year of volunteer work he has accumulated over 200 hours at RPBOs banding station in Pedder Bay. Liam also donates proceeds from the sale of his photos to RPBO. Liam helps out with the youth education program there and has begun training to be a licensed bird bander.

Bridget Spencer 14 year old Bridget is passionate about having more young women in birding and has actively been participating in CBC’s for years in the city of Vancouver. She submits to eBird regularly and actively rescues birds of all sorts. Bridget has got her young sister into birding and is always eager to help out young birders and adults alike at the Birding in British Columbia Forum, where she is an active participant. Her knowledge of birds is astonishing and she enjoys travelling around the world to accumulate her life list which is ever growing.

Virginia Spencer 12 year old Virginia quickly began birding after she saw how much fun her sister was having in it. Bridget has taught her a lot but now Virginia is a fine young birder in her own right. She is passionate about bird rescue and has rescued many window strike birds near her home and sick ducks. When she turns 16 she plans to volunteer at The Wildlife Rescue Association. She enjoys looking after the nesting Barn Swallows and Owls in her barn and takes part in Project Nest Watch.

Alice Sun 17 year old Alice is a passionate bird photographer. She has used her love of bird photography to enhance her birding skills and pursue her love of birding. Alice volunteers with the Stanley Park monthly bird count and the bird banding program at Colony Farm with the Vancouver Avian Research Centre. Alice participates in stewardship events with Evergreen and has recently began participating in the Vancouver Window Collision Project with Bird Studies Canada. Alice plans to pursue her love of Birding in University with an Environmental Science degree. When she is not birding she is a competitive swimmer.

This year, 2016, saw the Young Birder Program become an official program of BCFO. Field trips will be run specifically for these young birders. In a group that includes award recipients from previous years, first up in 2016 is a birding trip to Merritt.

Congratulations all.

<2015 Young Birders>

<2014 Young Birders>

BCFO proudly presents this year’s recipients of the recently established BCFO Young Birder Award. The program, started in 2014, welcomes talented young birders into the BC birding community and recognizes their accomplishments, contributions to, and engagement with birds and birding in the province.

To be selected for a BC Young Birder Award, recipients must be 16 or under and have:

• exceptional observational and birding skills well beyond the ’novice’ level
• shown substantive engagement in the activities of the birding community through their accomplishments, participation, and contributions
• been nominated and sponsored by a BCFO member and approved by the Executive Committee.

This year we are pleased to have four outstandingly worthy recipients, including our first young women, the first siblings, and the first from Vancouver Island. Interestingly, three of the recipients participated in last year’s Baillie Birdathon at Penticton’s Meadowlark Festival as members of the ‘Western Teenagers’ team, organized by Russ Cannings. All of them submit sighting records to eBird.

Here are our 2015 recipients, presented in alphabetical order:

Joshua Brown, North Vancouver, age 14, nominated by Russell Cannings.

Josh has been birding with his family for quite a few years, and has recently upped his game to an impressive level. He takes excellent bird photos, posts to birding lists, and submits copious records to eBird. Last May he was part of the ‘Western Teenagers’ team at the Penticton Meadowlark Festival. In August he joined up with two of last year’s Young Birder recipients Liron Gertsman and Logan Lalonde <2014 Young Birders> for a Vancouver Big Day when they found a real rarity, a Reeve at Reifel Refuge.

Joshua Brown

Isaac Nelson, Kamloops, age 14, nominated by Rick Howie.

Isaac is a very skilled and active birder in the Kamloops area and has also birded around the Lower Fraser Valley. He participates in virtually every kind of local bird survey – Christmas Bird Counts, Swan & Eagle Counts, Feederwatch – you name it – he does it.  He participated as a member of the ‘Western Teenagers’ at the Penticton Meadowlark Festival. He contributes frequently to on-line birding forums, with over 400 postings to one particular list, often offering help with ID’s and hints for bird-finding. He has submitted well over 300 entries to eBird.

Isaac Nelson

Emma Reader-Lee, Victoria, age 15, nominated by Ann Nightingale.

Emma has been attracted to birds ever since she could walk and talk. She is particularly fascinated by bird behaviour, and is considering a career in ornithology. She participates in numerous bird-related activities, including volunteering at the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Christmas Bird Counts, Baillie Birdathon, and contributing to eBird. As evident in the photo, photography is yet another part of her credentials.

Emma Reader-Lee

Rebecca Reader-Lee, Victoria, age 12, nominated by Ann Nightingale.

Despite her relative youth, Rebecca has already established herself as an exceptionally skilled and keen-eyed observer. She is very actively involved with the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Christmas Bird Counts, bird photography and sketching, and eBird submissions.  She was a member of the ‘Western Teenagers’ team of youthful birders at Penticton’s Meadowlark Festival last May.

Rebecca Reader-Lee

We think you will agree that this is a most impressive lineup! Each recipient receives complimentary membership in BCFO until age 16, and a formal plaque in recognition of their achievement.

Congratulations and a hearty “Welcome to the flock!” to Josh, Isaac, Emma and Rebecca. We hope and expect to be hearing more of and from you in the future.

<2014 Young Birders>