SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Location:
Ramada by Wyndham Creston
#1 1809 Highway 3A , Creston, BC V0B1G8
We acknowledge that we will be meeting on traditional and unceded territory of the Yaqan Nukiy people of the Ktunaxa Nations.
NOTE: 20 rooms (15 double queens + 5 kings) at the Ramada Creston have been set aside at conference rates ($162/night + tax) under the name BCFO AGM. First come, first served. To book a room call (250) 254-1111. The conference rate for the room applies until midnight May 7 (i.e. any rooms not booked & guaranteed by this date are put back into their inventory) There are also other accommodation options in Creston.
You must be a paid-up BCFO Member for 2024 to register for the Conference: join or renew HERE. Registration is limited to 60 people. Registration closed May 24.
Full conference registration: $195/person.
Social Only $75.00 : includes Friday evening meet & greet, and Saturday dinner & keynote speaker. Does not include field trips, lunches, afternoon presentations or AGM meeting.
Young Birders (under 19 years of age) $90.00: includes Friday evening meet & greet, Saturday & Sunday breakfasts & lunches, Saturday evening dinner & keynote speaker, plus all field trips and talks.
Friday, June 7
Registration and Social: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Ramada hotel. Pick up your conference package, socialize with fellow birders, sign the Conference waiver form (preview the content of the Waiver in advance HERE ) ; review the BCFO Code of Ethics and make your field trip selections for Saturday morning. There will be appetizers and a cash bar.
Saturday and Sunday, June 8 and 9
Location: Ramada Hotel
Breakfast: (on your own – not included in the conference rate) For those staying at the Ramada, free self-serve continental breakfast is available at the hotel starting at 6:00 AM, prior to field trips. Alternatives include Tim Horton’s across the street at 300 Helen St, Creston; which opens at 5 a.m. daily.
Lunch: 12:00 to 1:00 PM ( included in conference rate)
Conference Field Trips (Saturday and Sunday) 6:30 AM departures from the Ramada Hotel parking area.
Field Trip Selection and Waiver Forms
Field Trip selections for the morning of June 8 will be made during registration on Friday, June 7th starting at 5:00 PM. Prior to signing up, you will be asked to complete your conference waiver form and review the BCFO Code of Ethics. Sign-up sheets for the Sunday morning field trips will be available just after the AGM on Saturday afternoon.
Field trip #1 : Ripple Ridge Cabin
This 6 km out & back hike south of Highway 3, on the highest mountain pass opened year-round in North America, will take the full 5.5 hrs (at birding speed), including the 1-hr drive round-trip from Creston (at highway speed). The hike is on an old rough unmaintained gravel forest service road and the first 2.25km is a moderate climb (from 1780m – 1980m) up the mountain side through Stagleap Provincial Parkwhile the last 0.8km before the Ripple Ridge Cabin is through Crown Land, on a flat ground. The first 2.25km passes through an Engelmann’s spruce and sub-alpine fir forest (with beargrass) while the last 0.8km to the cabin is through old cut blocks in somewhat semi-alpine habitat. There are maintained outhouses available at the Ripple Ridge Cabin and picnic tables. The view is spectacular on clear days! Bridal Lake located by the parking lot immediately adjacent to Highway 3 also offers good bird sighting opportunities. eBird reports 117 species observed for Stagleap Provincial Park. Some of the species we will be looking and listening for: American Three-toed Woodpecker, Canada Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, Fox Sparrow, Cassin’s Finch, McGillivray’s Warbler, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Golden Eagle, Boreal Chickadee, Hermit Thrush, Pine Grosbeak, Red and White-winged Crossbills, Townsend’s Warbler, Dusky and Spruce Grouse, and maybe a Boreal Owl!
Field Trip #2 : Reclamation Road & Bench Lands
A driving route that will tour farm lands, meadows, timber, wet edges and the beautiful Kootenay River with big vistas and great thermals. Possible species include Sandhill Crane, Long-billed Curlew, Bobolink, Western & Eastern Kingbirds, hawks and falcons and interesting sparrows.
Field Trip #3 : Exploring Wynndel and the Arrow Creek Area
With a mix of forest, open fields, farmland and orchards, this area has the potential to discover and observe a wide variety of birds from songbirds, woodpeckers, jays, owls and other raptors and waterfowl. The trip will start in the lower Arrow Creek area and then cross over Arrow Pass into the Creston Valley to explore the Wynndel area. We will travel by car but will walk rural areas as we search for and observe the birds of this lush mixed habitat.
Field Trip #4 : Creston WMA Corn Creek Marsh/Wood Duck Walk
A pleasant walk of about 4 km (up to 10 km if Wood Duck Walk is included) through patches of cottonwood, grassy meadows and wetland edges rich with riparian birds and waterfowl. Possible species include American Bittern, Wood Duck, Great Horned Owl, Least Flycatcher, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Nashville Warbler, American Redstart and Lazuli Bunting.
Field Trip #5: Duck Lake Unit
A large active and rich shallow water lake with cattail edges, cottonwood borders and wet meadow. Possible species include Horned Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, American White Pelican, American Bittern, Sandhill Crane, Short-eared Owl, Forster’s Tern, Sage Thrasher, Lark Sparrow and some shorebirds.
Tentative Field Trip #6 : Leach Lake Unit – (pending conditions closer to the date – will depend on when the freshet happens & how severe – access may wash out) Drive out (with high clearance vehicles) along flat top dykes into a rich and seldom driven wetland unit. Possible species include Red-necked Grebe, Eared Grebe, American White Pelican, American Bittern, Sandhill Crane, Forster’s Tern, Long-eared Owl, Black and Vaux’s Swift, Least Flycatcher, Sage Thrasher, American Redstart.
Field Trip Leaders
Marc-André Beaucher – travelled to the Kootenays in 1995 from Sherbrooke, Quebec, where he grew up. He worked as a consulting biologist for a few years before taking on a biologist position at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, in 2003. Since that time, Marc-André has expanded his understanding and knowledge of wetlands, in particular freshwater marshes and has gained valuable skills in wetland management and restoration. He is now the Head of Conservation Programs, and his work encompasses a wide variety of activities ranging from wildlife monitoring, water quality assessment, water level manipulations and infrastructure management, to administrative and human resource activities, communications, public relations, and land and assets management. In his free time, Marc-André enjoys watching and photographing birds and wildlife, and spending time in the great outdoors with his family. Marc-André is a Registered Professional Biologist (B.C. College of Applied Biologists) and holds a B.Sc. in Applied Zoology from McGill University (1996) and a M.Sc. in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University (2005).
Daryl Calder – became a naturalist at an early age around the outskirts of Victoria. Following his education at UVic, he settled in Cranbrook and became involved with a number of outdoor pursuits for work and recreation. Daryl and Marianne Nahm are involved with Rocky Mountain Naturalists in the East Kootenay. The naturalist club is very active with a wide variety of projects, many of which involve the study of birds. Daryl leads weekly birding trips for naturalists, participating in Christmas Bird Counts and occasionally providing articles to the local newspapers.
Gary Davidson – lives most of the time in Nakusp, but prefers to escape to someplace warmer in the winter. In recent years he has wintered in Texas, Australia, Costa Rica and Panama. When in Nakusp he monitors the birds of the West Kootenay region. He has conducted over 30 years of Breeding Bird Surveys, greatly contributed to Wayne Campbell’s B.C. Nest Record Scheme, chaired several provincial committees, taught bird I.D. classes, written numerous articles, guided with Avocet Tours and has coordinated the Nakusp Christmas bird count for 45 years. He is a past-President of the BC Field Ornithologists.
Jo Ellen Floer – is a retired forester and longtime naturalist. She grew up in Creston and visits often. She has lived in Cranbrook for over 30 years, enjoying the Kootenays and the birds there. A favourite pastime is looking for birds in foreign places, most recently Japan and Tanzania. Birding as a passion came later in life but she is trying hard to make up for it!
Lyle Grisedale – lives in Kimberley BC and is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Guide who spends his summers leading hikers in the Selkirk, Purcell, and Rocky Mountains. He is an enthusiastic birder, an avid photographer, and naturalist who spends as much time as possible exploring the mountains, wetlands, and grasslands of the East Kootenay area of British Columbia.
Gaelen Schnare – is a young birder and photographer from Nelson, who received BCFO’s Young Birder Award in 2020. Having appreciated exploring the Creston Valley since he first took up birding, he is quite familiar with the local spots and bird life. As a younger bird enthusiast, Gaelen enjoys generating community interest in birds through presentations at local schools and other organizations as well as taking part in promoting birding in the Kootenays. Despite travelling to bird extensively throughout western Canada, the US, Ireland, and Ecuador, his favorite place to spend a day of birding remains the flats of Creston.
Ulrike Sliworsky – is a birder living in Creston. She has a science degree from the University of Manitoba with an Ornithology major. In addition to re-introducing endangered species such as Peregrine Falcons and Burrowing Owls, she has also banded waterfowl and songbirds. She has enjoyed participating in Audubon’s Christmas bird counts for over 30 years in various communities and is now the Coordinator/Compiler for the Creston Valley as well as the Kuskanook Christmas Bird Counts. Having been a Park Naturalist, she enjoys sharing her love and knowledge of nature , especially with her son and visiting birders.
Saturday, June 8
Morning field trips depart 6:30
Lunch 12 to 1:00 pm
Afternoon Speakers: 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Norm Allard
As the community planner for the Yaqan Nukiy (Lower Kootenay Band), Norm Allard is currently managing a large-scale wetland restoration project on band land in the Creston Valley, an ecological revitalization of the area that he considers to be wholly interlinked with the cultural revitalization of the local First Nations. Norm grew up on the St. Mary’s First Nation reserve near Cranbrook where his parents had many close personal ties. He worked for the Traditional Use Study as a data entry technician, the Ktunaxa Nation Council in a number of different roles, including for the Archives, before his interest in GIS led him to Okanagan College where he completed the GIS Certificate program. Hired by the Lower Kootenay Band in 2013, Norm added Community Planner to his many roles, earning certificates in Indigenous Peoples Resource Management from the University of Saskatchewan and Professional Lands Management from the National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association.
The Yaqan Nukiy Wetlands Restoration Project
The Yaqan Nukiy Wetlands Restoration Project covers approximately a 517 hectare area that in the past was significantly altered. In the late 1960s, in an effort to create duck nesting sites, Ducks Unlimited built impoundments that could be filled and drained at will using a pump/drainage system that ended up cutting the flood plains off from the rivers and streams. After Ducks Unlimited and the Lower Kootenay Band (LKB) no longer had the capacity to maintain the system, the Yaqan Nukiy Wetlands Friendship Society formed to maintain the wetlands due to the aging infrastructure and failing pumps.
For over ten years, the Yaqan Nukiy Wetlands Friendship Society focused on reinstating the wetland habitat, replacing leaking culverts, fixing or replacing pumps, removing foliage encroachment and cleaning out water intake and output canals. When the society eventually dissolved, Norm was pulled in for a crash course on the wetlands system. Using the knowledge he inherited from them, Norm managed the system for a year on his own, until he was approached by Nelson-based wildlife biologist Irene Manley, who introduced him to renowned Wetland Restoration Specialist Tom Biebighauser with the BC Wildlife Federation in 2017.
A qualified GIS technician, Norm geo-referenced a set of old aerial photos from 1929, given to him by Marc-André Beaucher, Head of Conservation Programs for the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, and discovered a lot of the nesting sites were built in historical wetlands. The larger portions of the restoration work are being done through disabling numerous drainage ditches, removing dams where possible to reconnect floodplain to rivers and streams, and constructing many of the historical wetlands back to as natural as possible.
Positive results from the restoration work to date include the return of Sandhill Cranes that are successfully breeding, an increase in the population of Great Blue Herons, Western Painted Turtles, and a population boom in ducks and migratory birds.
Janice Arndt
Janice is a birder and wildlife biologist who has lived and worked in New Brunswick, Ontario, and BC. She and her husband Steve settled in the Kootenays in the late 90s and raised their family in the Nelson area. In addition to her professional specialties in the areas of bird monitoring and butterfly ecology, Janice’s recreational pursuits extend to mothing and wilderness canoe-tripping.
Surveys for marsh birds in Creston and the West Kootenay: methods, insights, and wildlife encounters
Janice Arndt has conducted surveys for rails, grebes, and bitterns in wetlands across the West Kootenay region since 2013. Initial surveys were completed for Canadian Wildlife Service as part of a multi-year study on population status and habitat use. She has since applied the same international survey protocol to monitoring projects for Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, BC Wildlife Federation, and Kootenay Connect. Janice will share her experiences carrying out this interesting field work and some insights gained from the data.
Annual General Meeting: 3:00 PM
Social with Cash Bar: 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Dinner: 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
7:30 – Steve Cannings Award presentation
7:45 – Keynote Speaker, Dr. David Bird
The Canada Jay as Canada’s National Bird?
Canada has a national tree (the maple), a national mammal (the beaver), two national sports (lacrosse and hockey) and even a national horse (the Canadian), but it does not have an official bird. Birds are important to Canadians. Besides contributing big bucks to our economy via the fast-growing hobbies of birdwatching and bird-feeding, birds provide a number of direct services, e.g. pollination, food, clothing, etc. They also add intrinsic value by inspiring artists and aviators, to name but a few. The Canada Jay breeds in every province and territory and its range almost mirrors our country’s borders. It is a tough bird, not migrating like most other birds and able to breed in very cold temperatures. As a member of the corvid family (e.g. crows, ravens, etc.), they are arguably the smartest birds on the planet! These amazingly friendly, trusting and curious birds will also happily land on your head or hand! Best of all, the Canada Jay has not been chosen as an official bird for any geographical entity to date! Join Dr. David Bird, Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology at McGill University, as he chronicles the quest to make the Canada Jay the national bird of our country.
Dr. David Bird
As an Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Dr. Bird has published close to 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and supervised 50 graduate students on a wide range of wildlife themes, mostly on birds of prey and in more recent years, the application of UAVs (drones) to wildlife research and conservation. Until his retirement to Vancouver Island in 2013, he taught several university-level courses, including ornithology, wildlife conservation, animal behaviour, and scientific/public communication. He has written and/or edited more than a dozen books, the most recent ones being the third edition of Birds of Canada, the second edition of Pocket Birds of Canada, and The Canada Jay – A National Bird for Canada?. Besides his innumerable public lectures and radio, television and newspaper appearances, Dr. Bird is a regular columnist/contributor on birds for two magazines and does a biweekly video blog for Brome Bird News. He is currently heading a national team to establish the Canada Jay as Canada’s national bird.
Sunday, June 9
Morning field trips depart 6:30 am
Lunch 12:00 to 1:00 pm
Tally-up of Species on Summary Charts
Farewell