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"To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing" Birding by Bicycle: Dick Cannings takes the two-wheeled approach to a Big Day i *^ j wels in Flight: .. acking hummingbirds er acific: look atlrfmiorthern THE PUBLICATION OF THE FEDERATION OF BC NATURALISTS www.naturalists.bc.ca FALL 2004 VOL.42 NO.3 ISSN 0228-8824

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Page 1: To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing€¦ · "To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing" Birding by Bicycle: Dick Cannings takes the two-wheeled approac • i *h to a Big

"To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing"

Birding by Bicycle:Dick Cannings takesthe two-wheeledapproach to a Big Day• i *^ j

wels in Flight:.. acking hummingbirds

eracific:

look atlrfmiorthern

THE PUBLICATION OF THE FEDERATION OF BC NATURALISTS

www.naturalists.bc.ca • FALL 2004 • VOL.42 NO.3 • ISSN 0228-8824

Page 2: To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing€¦ · "To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing" Birding by Bicycle: Dick Cannings takes the two-wheeled approac • i *h to a Big

BCNaturalistVolume 42, No.3

In This Issue:Objectives of the FBCNEditorial features are the sole responsibility of their

authors. Opinions expressed therein are not necessarilythose of the FBCN. 1 • To provide naturalists and natural history clubs of

Bristish Columbia with a unified voice on conservation

Departments: an(^ environmental issues.

Editor's Notebook 3 ^" ^° f°ster an awareness, appreciation and under-_ . _, . standing of our natural environment, that it may be wiselyYour federation is Working; For You 4 , , . . ,c r

0 used and maintained tor future generations.1 residents Message 3 ^ -j^ encourage tne formation and cooperation of nat-

Conservation Report 6 ural history clubs throughout British Columbia.

FBCN grants 10 4. To provide a means of communication betweenf^\ rM oo naturalists in British Columbia.Club Chat 28

Regular Columns: BC Naturalist is published quarterly by the

Secret Places: Tale ofTwo Estuaries 15 Federation of BC Naturalists.

Book Reviews: 22 Publication Agreement No.40043545 Circulation 4,500.

s Editor: Dawn Hanna ([email protected])Advertising: Linda Halls ([email protected])

2004 Science Fair Winners 8 n j • T-I- i i \x- i r / • i i -> i \: hhzabeth Mincnenko ([email protected])

Natures Apartment Buildings 9 Website: David Lassmann ([email protected])

Birding by Bicycle 11

Pachyderm of the Pacific: We welcome your articles, photos, camera-ready ads, and let-

The northern elephant seal 13 ters" Please send them to the editor; ̂ ou are requesced to sendmaterial well in advance of the deadline whenever possible.

Jewels in Flight:An update in monitoring BC's hummingbirds 16

T i 1 ™^xT ^ , Submission Deadlines:Saturna Island rnCN Camp report 18

Spring February 15 Fall August 15The Soul of BC, Part 4 c , , i r ,vr. X T , ,,n

Summer May 15 Winter November 01The Fraser River, where the river meets the sea 20

Advertising RatesNew nature education facility planned for thec i - ^ oc $400 Back Page $120 1/3 pageSunshine Coast 25

$300 full page $80 1/4 pageDancing in the Bay: .._ ,_ . ,_ . . ,_ , . ,

b 7 $160 1/2 page $40 business cardSecrets of the Shuswap 32

Spring 2005 AGM 33 Special rates for ad placement in four or more issues

Cover photo credit: Ralph HockenRalph Hocken lives in Lantzville and takes most of his imageswith a Canon digital camera. He has been a birdwatcher forjust a couple of years. For more samples of his work, you cancheck the files section on the "bcbzrdingvanisland" group atYahoo! (http://groups.yahoo. comlgrouplbcbirdingvanislandl)

Federation of BC Naturalists307-1367 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 4A9

Tel: 604-737-3057 Fax:604-738-7175http://www.naturahsts.bc.ca [email protected]

Office Manager: Maria Hamann

A membership form is provided on page 31.

BC Naturalist

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More Superb Tours with Eagle-Eye!

Editor's Notebook— by Dawn Hanna

This summer, I was fortunate enough to spend time in anumber of BC's provincial parks. But there were two parks

that made an impression on me for a simple reason: I encoun-

tered a species at risk — the Park Naturalist.

The Erst place was Montague Harbour Provincial Park on GalianoIsland. My son and I had decided to beat the crowds by arriving ona Sunday for a few days of camping. In retrospect, I'm really glad wedid — not because we experienced a less crowded campground, butbecause we got a chance to visit Montagues floating Nature House.

Once, Montague had a vibrant nature interpretation program, adedicated amphitheatre and resident naturalists who showed visi-tors some of the marvels of coastal BC. And it was as it should be

— funded by the government as an integral part of the parks system.

Now, the Nature House is only open between 12 and 5 p.m.,four days a week (Thursday to Sunday). And that is only by thegraces of the Galiano Conservancy Association, whose membersscrabbled together enough funding (with the help of other

organizations) to hire a staffer with a biology background. Thatshe also manages to host interpretive walks on such things as bigtrees, ethnobotany and shore crabs is a tribute to her passion forthe natural world and that of the Galiano Conservancy.

The other park experience that left an impression on me was atManning Provincial Park. There, I had the fortune to tag alongon a Coast Mountain Field Institute course that included twodays of subalpine hiking guided by Kelly Pearce.

Now, I've been to Manning many times. I've hiked the sub-alpine many times. I've packed the wildflower guides and thecamera gear and spent hours upon hours -getting up close andintimate with the resident flora and fauna. But I still learned stufffrom Kelly that blew me away. And I know that the other tripparticipants felt the same way.

Some of you may have even encountered Kelly during his decade-long stint as a paid park naturalist at Manning. He is one of thosepeople who knows the park's history, natural history, quirks andwonders better than anyone in the province.

But when the provincial government cut Rinding for interpretiveprograms, Kelly was forced to go into business for himself— as acontractor of interpretive services. And it is only through his initia-tive, passion and dedication that there is even a park visitor centreat Manning — one of the very few in the entire province.

It's a story that has been repeated at just about every provincialpark in BC. And it is nothing short of disgraceful.

As people who care about the natural world and who arepassionate about parks, we should take every summer sea-son as a personal reminder to keep fighting the good fightfor restoring funding for nature interpretation. And bringpark naturalists back from the brink of extinction.

West MexicoJan. 22 - Feb. 3, 2005 with Hector Gomez de Silva

Excellent birding, lots of endemics in spectacularsurroundings!

CubaFebruary 5-17, 2005 with Blake Maybank & Arluro Kirkconnell

Wonderful tropical island - golden beaches, hugewetlands, rainforests, temperate mountains, & 25 or more

endemics.

Antarctica - Polar Circle CrossingFeb. 7 - 20, 2005 with Richard Knapton

Cruise of a lifetime! Fabulous wildlife, fascinatinghuman history! Amazing spectacular scenery,

breathtaking vistas of icy waterways, glaciers, icebergsand rugged mountains. Berths from $4995.

Southern FloridaFeb. 25 - Mar. 7, 2005 with Colin Jones

Birding tropical North America! Superb birding in theEverglades, pine flatwoods, mangroves, & the Keys.

Alberta OwlsMar. 16-20, 2005 with Richard Knapton & Com Gillies

A chance for Northern owls - Great Gray, Northern Hawkand more.

Dominican Republic & Puerto RicoApr. 2 - 13, 2005 with Rob Williams & Colin Jones

Many endemics on diverse and fascinating islands.

Eggle-Eye ToursI/UU/CJ6 LOttft, ViAt^K,

Return the enclosed postcard for your free 2005 Catalog!

1-800-373-5678 www.eagle-eye.com

BC Naturalist

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Your Federation is Working For YouLetters Sent

• Jun. 25 to various government officials, covering letters andresolutions passed at AGM

• Jiil. 13 to Bill Barisoff, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protec-tion (WLAP) re: Protected Areas in Okanagan-Shuswap LRMPand Proposed National Park

• Jul. 14 to Ernie Maynard, Process Coordinator Valemount- BlueRiver SRMP re: Valemount to Blue River Winter RecreationPlan• Aug. 7 to Colin Hansen, Minister of Health Services re: WestNile Virus Control Regulation

• Aug. 13 to George Abbott, Minister of Sustainable ResourceManagement re: Jul. 22 announcement of draft land use planfor Lillooet Region and reduction in size of Spruce Lake (SouthChilcotin) Provincial Park.

Letters Received• May 25 from Nancy Wilkin, Ministry of WLAP re: Muskwa-Kechika Wildlife Plan

• Jun. 3 from Bill Barisoff, Minister of WLAP re: Species at RiskReport Card

• Jun. 15 from Bill Barisoff, Minister of WLAP re: Proposed Ripar-ian Areas Regulations

• Jul. 15 from Bill Barisoff, Minister of WLAP re: lakes withinprovincial parks where floatplanes are not permitted to land

1 Jul. 26 from GVRD re: Fraser River estuary

• Jul. 27 from Bill Barisoff, Minister of WLAP re: Spotted Owlresolution

• Jul. 27 (copy) from Bill Barisoff, Minister of WLAP re: implemen-tation of the Recreation Stewardship Panel's recommendations.

• Jul. 29 from Don Fast, regional director-general, EnvironmentCanada re: marine protected areas

• Jul. 30 from Paul Macgillivray, regional director, Department ofFisheries and Oceans re: marine protected areas re: the resolutionon Okanagan water supply:

• Jul. 12 from the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen• Jul. 14 from Okanagan Basin Water Board• Jul. 14 from the City of Penticton

• Jul. 14 form District of Lake Country• Aug. 11 from Regional District of Central Okanagan

• Aug. 5 from the Regional District of North Okanagan

Meetings Attended• Several organizational meetings for BC Parks Day, Jeremy McCall• Agriculture Wildlife Advisory Committee, Jun. 2, Harold King• Off Road Vehicle Licensing and Registration Coalition, Jul. 7,Joan Best• Wetlands Stewardship Partnership, Jul. 7, Bev Ramey

• Invasive Plant Council (Fraser Basin Council), Ernie Sellentin,Bev Ramey

Nature Explorations onVancouver IslandExperience the Island's natural beauty atYellow Point and Pacific Rim Park!

Here's your chance to enjoy a leisurely vacationwhile you learn about the extraordinary envi-ronment of Vancouver Island. Led by facilitatorAnne Fraser and biologist Marc Bell, theseunique programs combine explorations ofCanada's west coast wilderness with accommo-dations at its most memorable resorts.

For details or to register, please call us at(250) 721-8481 or visit our Web site athttp://wwwMvcs.uvic.CQ/artsd/awl scrolldown to Nature Field trips under Travel Study.

Autumn Explorations atYellow Point Lodge in LadysmithDATES: Monday, October 11 to Friday,October 15,2004FEE: $740 Includes accommodation (based ondouble occupancy), meals, taxes, gratuities, andtuition (tax deductible); transportation is NOTincluded. A limited number of single roomsmay be available at extra cost - please indicateyour preference when registering.REGISTER NOW, AS SPACEMAY BE LIMITED.

Winter Storm Watching at theWickaninnish InnDATES: Monday, January 31 to Thursday,February 3,2005FEE: $885 Includes accommodation in deluxeview-room (based on double occupancy),breakfasts and luncheons, taxes, and tuition(tax deductible); transportation and dinnersNOT included. Single supplement: $350PLEASE REGISTER BY:November 19,2004

University of VictoriaDivision of Continuing Studies

BC Naturalist

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President'sMessage— by Jeremy McCall

111 begin by expressing my great appreciation to RosemaryFox for her eloquent vice president's message in the sum-

mer issue. There are always so many conservation issues inthe southern half of the province that we tend to overlook thenorth. Rosemary's message is required reading and it is extreme-ly troubling. It behooves us all to become more familiar withwhat is happening in the vast area north of Highway 16 and. tobe in a position to advocate caution to our elected representa-tives when appropriate. In the past year or so, the FBCN madea serious contribution to development of the Muskwa-KechikaWildlife Management Plan and we wrote appropriate cabinetministers about our concerns for Gladys Lake Ecological Re-serve in the Spatsizi Wilderness and the legislated removal ofland from Graham Laurier Provincial Park. There is obviouslymuch more to do.

In response to the recent announcement of the draft landuse plan for the Lillooet Region by the Minister of SustainableResource Management, the FBCN issued a news release andwrote Minister George Abbott (with a copy to Premier GordonCampbell) to express its extreme disappointment at the 20 per-cent reduction of South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Parkand the decision to open parts of the former park area to min-ing. In our letter we also advised that we did not agree with theway the government conducted selective consultation with cer-tain stakeholders ~ to the exclusion of naturalists very familiarwith the area -- that resulted in a process that was neither opennor fair. That was quite unlike the open process of the LillooetLRMP, however laborious that might have been, which resultedin the 2001 decision to designate the park.

Process is what it is all about these days -- or the lack thereof-- and FBCN members must continue to be vigilant. Rightnow, we are especially concerned about the mandate of Landand Water BC (LWBC), a crown corporation that has becomea powerful force in the administration of recreation in vast

Autumn Art AuctionWilderness and What it Means to the ArtistHave fun and participate in this fundraiser to support the

efforts of the Granby Wilderness Society to protect precioushabitat for the endangered Granby Grizzly.

Works have been donated by Canadian and internationalartists including Robert Bateman and Mark Hobson.

Casf your bids from Oct. 2 to Oct. 23at the Grand Forks Art Gallery, or at

www.granbywilderness.org/auctionFor more info, contact Julie Draper at (250) 442-3931

backcountry areas of BC. From recent anecdotal evidence, wehave serious questions regarding the extent to which LWBC isaccountable to cabinet, the way its regulations are developedand the way it conducts business.

As this incredible summer comes to a close, there are othermajor challenges for the FBCN: the potential development ofcoalbed methane, the reintroduction of interpretation pro-grams in BC's provincial parks and the fledging of the YoungNaturalists Club of BC (YNC). The Vermilion Forks FieldNaturalists are to be commended for blowing the whistle oncoalbed methane, which is being considered for the Princetonarea as well as for the Kootenays. Experience in Montana doesnot bode well for its development in this province and we mustensure that any proposed development is subjected to a fullenvironmental assessment. Right now, there is no assuranceof that.

Bev Ramey and I are not happy with the progress beingmade on the reintroduction of interpretation programs in BC'sprovincial parks so we plan to make that a priority this fall andcontinue on the work done by Canadian Parks & WildernessSociety and the FBCN earlier this year. We made the reasonableproposal that such a reintroduction should involve a joint vol-unteer and government effort, and we want to make sure thatit has received full consideration by Water, Land and Air Pro-tection Minister Bill Barisoff. We also want to try to get someprograms for 2005. We note with pride that the FBCN hasbeen far from idle and I commend. Bev Ramey for her initiativein arranging for eight students to be hired under the auspices ofFBCN with financial assistance from Human Resources Devel-opment Canada, to assist nature interpreters in provincial parkssuch as Manning, Scotch Creek, Lac Le Jeune, Porteau Cove,Sidney Spit, Goldstream, Newscastle and Gordon Bay.

Since March 2000, the YNC has expanded to 21 branchesthroughout BC. There are now about 1,200 children and 50schools and libraries involved in its programs. It has been a tre-mendous success story, thanks to the untiring efforts of DaphneSolecki and to many adult volunteers. Throughout this periodthe YNC has been able to rely on the Vancouver Natural His-tory Society for its administration as well as financial support.The time is fast approaching when the YNC must strike out onits own as a society and a registered charity. This fall, we willbe developing its constitution and bylaws, one provision ofwhich will be an indissoluble link between its board of direc-tors and the FBCN. After that, we will take steps to form aboard of directors and make the necessary filings in Victoriaand Ottawa.

The Central Okanagan Naturalist Club has organized somevery attractive activities for the FGM in Kelowna from Sep-tember 30 to October 2 and I hope many of our members willtake part. Visiting an area when special field trips have beenlaid on for visitors always offers a unique opportunity to takeadvantage of the knowledge of local naturalists! I look forwardto seeing you there! iu/

BC Naturalist

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Conservation Report— by Bev Ramey

South Chilcotins and Liliooet LRMPThe July 22 announcement by the BC government with the

strangely-worded heading, "Liliooet Plan Brings Land UseCertainty to Region", was very disappointing news. The pressrelease described how government plans to reduce the size ofSpruce Lake (South Chilcocin Mountains) Provincial Park from71,500 hectares to 56,500 hectares.Three separate areas are tobe cut from the park: Taylor Basin/Eldorado Mountain, lowerGun Creek and Paradise Creek headwaters. This amounts to 20percent of the park which, the government press release states,will be used for mining and tourism, but not logging. TaylorBasin is widely known for its outstanding wildflower meadows.Paradise Creek headwaters, on the more remote north side ofthe park, provides excellent habitat for grizzly.

This announced cut to the park is deplorable, especially giventhe lengthy public process that led to the establishment of thepark.

The government announcement included another seven areasproposed for Protected Area status. The 2001 Liliooet Land andResource Management Plan had proposed 13 Protected Areas

Penguins.... At Goldstream?Not yet, but the NatureHouse has a greatselection of field guidesfor around the world.Whether you aretraveling to Patagonia,Mexico, or your backyardwe have the field guideyou need to i.d. thewildlife - even if it's aPenguin.

The Nature House gift shop has a great selection offield guides for home and abroad, children's books,

stuffed animals, and more.Proceeds help keep the Nature Rouse open.

250 478-9414/www.arenaria.com Gift Certificates available.

Goldstream Nature House & Bookstore(25Q) 478-9414 www.arenaria.com

n̂ Open daily 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

for the region, so this recent government review has droppedfive areas from the list of proposed protected areas. The pressrelease states that the next steps will be consultation with FirstNations, followed by Cabinet review and decision on the finalland use plan.

A week after the government announcement, on July 30, theSt'at'imc First Nations held a notification forum in Liliooet torelease their preliminary Draft Land Use Plan for the portionof St'at'imc territory that corresponds to the provincial LiliooetLRMP area. With a refreshing vision, their plan focuses "firston what to leave behind on the land to sustain ecology andculture, rather than on resource extraction and short-termeconomic benefit". Their 30-page plan is definitely worthreading, and is available on their web site at www.statimc.netThe St'at'imc First Nations press release states that: "There willbe no land use certainty until our Title and Rights have beendealt with honourably by the Crown. . . In the interim, it is our

expectation that our land use designations will be respected."

Coalbed Methane Gas Exploration andDevelopment

In June, the Vermilion Forks Field Naturalists mailed PremierGordon Campbell a resolution calling for a moratorium onfurther exploration and exttaction of coalbed methane gas untilseveral concerns have been addressed and. eliminated. This reso-lution merits province-wide attention, since exploration workand leasing is proceeding in several regions of BC, including thePeace River, northwestern BC, Comox-Strathcona, Nanaimo,Cache Creek and the Kootenays. The resolution, forwardedto FBCN by Madelon Schouten, expresses concerns such asimpacts on local water tables and wells, increases to watertemperatures, pollution of water bodies — particularly from thedisposal of coalbed-methane-produced water — and impactsfrom chemicals used to fracture the coalbed. The resolutionalso notes that the BC government's reduction of regulatorystaff has steadily diminished government's ability to effectivelyregulate and monitor. Copies of the resolution are available

from the FBCN office.

Working Forest LegislationIn an unexpected announcement on July 29, the provincial

government put on hold the Working Forest Legislation. The

LodgeJlmsmlth Lake

In theEast Kootenaysan all season

recreation area.

4101 Lakeview Dr. Beautiful, Private, Log CabinCranbrook, B.C. VIC 6W4 NOW RENTING(250) 489-2566 Daily and Weekly [email protected] www.beaverlodgeatjimsmithlake.com

BC Naturalist

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Hiker at Taylor Pass, an area in the South Chilcotins now open to "mining and tourism" under the government's recentlyreleased Lillooet Land and Resource Management Plan.

Resolutions:Several reply letters, summa-

rized below, have been receivedto resolutions passed at ourMay AGM. Contact Maria atthe FBCN office if you wouldlike a copy of a letter.

Spotted Owls: Water, Landand Air Protection MinisterBill Barisoff replied providingan update on the work of theprovince. He notes that whilethe work of the recovery teamis continuing, the Spotted OwlManagement Plan is being fol-lowed. Yet consideration is alsobeing given to "whether thereare opportunities to makestrategic adjustments to theplan that would provide forenhanced protection of owlsand owl habitat in the shortterm."

press release stated that they can achieve the same through exist-ing planning tools. Thanks to all who wrote letters.

West Nile VirusFBCN has sent a letter to the Minister of Health to express

our concern with the June 25 amendment to the Pesticide UsePermit, which appears to be a blanket authority to use pesti-cides to kill adult mosquitoes. Hie regulation does not distin-guish between the use of non-specific adulticides (which alsokill many beneficial insect species and can contaminate waterbodies) and the use of larvicides specific to mosquito larvae.No recognition has been given to the important role played bynatural predators of mosquitoes and to the science of control-ling mosquito populations.

Codd WetlandSome good news was the May 31 dedication of the Codd

Wetland/Aquilini Conservation Reserve in Pitt Meadows. This100-hectare wetland, located near the Pitt Wildlife Manage-ment Area and the Blaney Bog Conservation Reserve, wassecured through a partnership of the provincial government,Greater Vancouver Regional District, municipal District ofPitt Meadows, Aquilini Investment, Ducks Unlimited andThe Land Conservancy (including donations from numerousindividuals and the Vancouver Natural History Society). TheAlouette Field Naturalists and the Pitt Polder Preservation Soci-ety deserve major thanks for all their community work over thepast five years to bring together these several partners to protectthis wetland.

On the Fraser River Estuary, the GVRD sent a detailedletter and reports outlining their involvement on several initia-tives, including: Sustainable Region Initiative, Estuary Man-agement Program (and that an updated Monitoring Report willbe prepared in late 2004), protecting the Green Zone as part ofthe Livable Region Strategic Plan, Parks and Greenways, andLiquid Waste Management.

On Marine Protected Areas, both Environment Canada andthe federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans have replied,noting the collaborative approach with the province to coastaland marine planning and conservation, and the developmentof a memorandum of understanding. One of the first prioritiesis to establish a network of marine protected areas over the com-ing months. The Environment Canada letter mentions theirefforts to designate the marine area around the Scott Islands asa Marine Wildlife Area.

The Okanagan Water Supply resolution was refined byFBCN Executive following discussion at the AGM and wassent out in late June. Positive responses have been receivedfrom: Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, RegionalDistrict of Central Okanagan, Regional District of NorthOkanagan, City of Penticton, District of Lake Country andthe Okanagan Basin Water Board. These letters outline positivesteps being taken as well as the need for more effective overallmanagement and use of water.

BC Naturalist

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2004 Science Fair Winners— by Marianne Larsen

Each year, students across theprovince participate in science

fairs. They're a great way for buddingscientists to create original research orinnovative projecrs which are then dis-played at various levels of competition,starting at school, then district, thenregional and beyond.

In BC, there are 13 regional fairs thatculminate in the province-wide BCRegional Science Fair held at ScienceWorld in Vancouver.

In addition to the gold, silver andbronze medal winners, there are alsospecial awards sponsored by a numberof organizations. The Federation ofBC Naturalists sponsors a namesakeaward that is given to the best naturalhistory project done by a student (orstudents) in Grades 7 to 12 for each

region. The project can include stud- Devon Wong of Vancouver and her project: Plankton Pack a Punch on the Ecosystem"ies of any aspect of natural history,conservation of natural habitats or the conservation of naturalspecies. Each recipient receives a certificate and $50.

A reminder: Science fairs represent an opportunity not justfor students across the province, but also for naturalist clubs toget involved and to act as mentors to kids with an interest inknowing nature and keeping it worth knowing.

If you are collecting data or researching a local natural historyproject, think of the extra time, energy and creativity that keenteenage naturalists could, bring to such a project. It's also a way

of giving a student something real to get involved with.For more information on BC's science fairs, check the web-

site at www.sciencefairs.bc.ca or contact provincial coordina-tor Patti Leigh at [email protected] or FBCN contactMarianne Larsen by at [email protected]

Marianne Larsen is a member of the Sunshine Coast Conser-vation Association. She is also the Western Zone representativeof the National Science Fair Committee and the representativefor the Greater Vancouver Region Science Fair..

2004 Science Fair winners of the Federation of BC Naturalists Award

Cariboo/Mainline RegionNathan Stewart, 150 Mile House Elementary, 150 Mile House

Project: Natures Apartment Buildings

Central InteriorRose Loerke, Prince George

Project: Do Chickadees Count Calories

Central OkanaganTravis Schulz, Penticton

Project: Killer Soaps, Deadly Hoax

East KootenayTom Kotlarz, Parkland Jr. Secondary, Cranbrook

Project: Beetle Invasion: The Last Strand

Fraser Valley

Greater VancouverDevon Wong, Little Flower Academy, Vancouver

Project: Plankton Pack a Punch on the Ecosystem

Northern BCSage Birley, Baldonnel Elementary, Baldonnel

Project: Wind vs. Trees

Pacific NorthwestTaylor Hett, A.L. Mathers (e-school), Sandspit

Project: White Garbage: Styrofoam

Vancouver IslandHannah Oh, Glenlyon Norfolk, Victoria

Project: The Soap of Hope

(Northern Vancouver Island and Northern Okanagan/Stephanie DeGagne and Britanny Vis, Clayburn Middle School, Abbotsford Shuswap regions did not have a regional science fair.)Project: Water Works

BC Naturalist

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Nature's Apartment Buildings— by Nathan Stewart

(Editor's note: Apologies both to Nathan and our read-ers. What follows is an abbreviated version of Nathansprize-winning report. While we were impressed with histhoroughness, we just couldn't find the space to reproduceit all here.)

In the forests of British Columbia, forest bird and mammalspecies rely on tree cavities as habitat. About 80 bird and

mammal species use tree cavities for feeding, nesting andperching.

Cavity nesters make up 30 to 65 percent of the forest dwellingbirds and mammals in BC. The amount of cavities depends onthe number and availability of dead or damaged trees wherecavity excavators can cut into softenedwood. Cavities are made in trees by agroup of species called primary cavityexcavators, usually woodpeckers thatmake these holes when searching forinsect food in parts of a tree that arerotting or broken.

After woodpeckers have madethe first cavity in a tree, species ofgroups called weak cavity excavatorsor secondary cavity nesters make thehole bieeer for nests, or for hiding

Do ' O

from predators. These species includeswallows, owls, perching birds likenuthatches, small raptors like kestrels,bats and other small mammals likeweasels, and some ducks.

The research papers I reviewed, havefound that trees that can be excavatedfor cavities are not very common inforests around Williams Lake, BC.These trees are not common becausethey get blown down by wind or aretaken down during logging. Somecan be dangerous to forest workers, soare cut. Timber harvesting, manage-ment of healthy second growth forests, and faster harvestingschedules decrease the availability of trees where cavities canbe made.

The small number and low availability of these trees, and theirimportance to wildlife, makes it important that foresters thinkabout how to leave some of these trees so that cavity nestershave habitat. These trees can be left in areas that are not cutsuch as along streams, or they can be left in patches of trees ona logged area.

When trees are killed by root rot and bark beetles, the treesseem to start rotting right away. Short stubs are caused when

these rotting trees blow down. About 10 years ago, biologistsand foresters started to leave artificial stubs in logged areas.Made by using a fellerbuncher to cut trees so as to leave a highstump, these stubs are about 3 to 4 metres tall, not dangerousto workers but leave enough of a standing tree to provide somewildlife habitat.

Some research is being done to see if these tree stubs are beingused by wildlife. In one study done over 10 years, 86 cavitynests were found in 170 stubs (Harris, 2001). Most of the nest-ing was in stubs in the clearcut part of the logged areas.

One interesting finding was that no new holes were madein the stubs. All nesting occurred in cavities that were already

in there. Another research paper foundthat aspen trees are used most often bycavity nesters (Martin, Mossop andAitken, 2002.). These researchers alsofound that 94 percent of the cavitynests were in unhealthy or dead stand-ing trees. This study was carried out todetermine if stubs created by loggingare effective as wildlife habitat. Are theyworth the effort to leave after logging?Are such stubs useful contributions toachieving forest practice objectives forwildlife habitat conservation?

Nathan Stewart

Results, Observations andConclusions

I sampled 126 wildlife tree stubs. Ofthese stubs 81 were aspen, 38 were pine,and 7 were made from spruce trees. Thestubs were created between three andnine years before this study.

Only 43 percent of the aspen stubshad some kind of cavity, but there weremore cavities per stub than for pines.Of the pine stubs sampled, 53 percenthad some kind of cavity and seemed to

be used more than the aspen and spruce stubs.Stubs left after logging are being used by wildlife for feeding,

but not very often for nesting. My observations suggest that thebest place to leave stubs, if you want them to be used by wildlife,is in the open clearcut areas.

Stubs appear to be only moderately effective as wildlife habitat,and do not seem to take the place of whole trees. Trees selectedfor stubs should be of a variety of species and should have somedecay and damage to provide cavity excavation opportunities.Stubs from healthy trees may take too lone to soften enough toprovide cavity excavation opportunities.

BC Naturalist

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New funding process for FBCN grants— by Jeremy McCall

The core sources of revenue for the Federation of BC Natu-ralists are the membership dues and the annual fundraising

appeal that is always generously supported by our members.Another important source is advertising revenue from BCNaturalist. We have also been fortunate in recent years to re-ceive a Direct Access Program Grant from the Gaming Policy& Enforcement Branch, which contributes to the printing andmailing costs of BC Naturalist.

Although members' bequests are most likely to be directed tothe BC Naturalists' Foundation, every now and then the FBCNitself receives a bequest. The FBCN was especially fortunate in2004 to receive a major bequest from the late Willie Dickenson,formerly a member of the Vancouver Natural History Society.Most of these funds, in excess of $40,000, have been placedin various funds administered by the FBCN. These includethe Club Support Fund, Conservation Fund, Education Fundand the Young Naturalists' Club Fund. These funds are nowavailable to supplement the annual grant of about $4,000 thatthe FBCN receives from the BC Naturalists' Foundation forconservation and. education projects.

The income frorryour donationbequestBC Natura&u'/Foundationwill be used tosupport the, conservation

and educatipnprojects of theFBCN, its,mbmber clubsand naturalists

I

apross BGfor many ,years to come.

Even with a generous bequest such as this, the FBCN willnever be in a position to finance the major projects of its clubs,nor can it be the primary source of funds for its own majorprojects such as Living by Water or the Important Bird Areasprogram. However, we can offer a few modest grants for someFBCN clubs in those years when we have funds available -- aswe do in 2004.

In recent years, there has been no formal process for consider-ing these grants so the executive committee has resolved to makethe process more equitable by rationalizing the procedure.

First, when funds are available all clubs will be advised andinvited to apply within a certain time frame for grants to amaximum of $2,000. Second, an application questionnaireis being developed that will ensure that the critical questionsrelated to a project are answered. These include such questionsas the purpose and objectives of the project, the overall projectbudget (including any required funding from other sources)and confirmation that the project has been approved by theclub's board of directors.

This questionnaire will be available to clubs prior to the FallGeneral Meeting in Kelowna on October 2. The applicationtime frame and use of the questionnaire will ensure that allapplications are considered by the executive committee on thesame basis so that available funds can be awarded equitably,Applications will be accepted this fall, so clubs may wish toconsider what projecrs they might undertake in 2005.

In closing, I would remind the boards of directors of clubsthat FBCN funds can only be a supplement for major fund-ing sources. When clubs are seeking other sources of financing,we are always ready to provide any information we can aboutinstitutional sources.

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10 BC Naturalist

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Birding by Bicycle— by Dick Cannings

This year I convinced Orville Dyer, Kevin Fort and DavidCunnington to join me in a bicycle birdathon in the south

Okanagan as part of the Okanagan Big Day Challenge and Bail-lie Birdathon. I had never done a Big Day by bicycle before, butother teams had—usually reporting a species total in the 120s,except for a remarkable effort by Ralph Heinrich a couple ofyears ago. Ralph had pedalled 139 kilometres on a route thatwas clearly beyond our abilities en route to getting 142 species.

We began the day high in the mountains east of OkanaganFalls, thinking it best to cycle downhill as much as possible. Soat 4 a.m. we got out of the car into a steady drizzle at VennerMeadows, a swale of willows at about 1,700 metres elevation.

Red-necked grebe

By 4:30 it was light enough to cycle up the road a ways, and wewere rewarded with the rollicking song of Lincoln's sparrows,the dawn twitterings of mountain bluebirds and most welcomeof all, the flutter and double wing-clap of the spruce grouse. Asora called from the sedges as we left Venner for the stands ofmature western larch four kilometres downhill.

The Venner larches are one of my favourite spots for dawnbirding. The rain tapered off and a barred owl called to the southas we entered the stand. After a quick search, we found a black-backed woodpecker nest — the female poked her head out whenwe scratched the trunk. A little farther down the road a William-son's sapsucker drummed in the distance and a white-crownedsparrow called. Kevin, used to the song of the Puget Sound race,couldn't believe how different the interior birds sounded.

We took a side trip down the Dutton Creek road to find a pairof three-toed woodpeckers I had seen a week before in a standof beetle-infested spruce. We never did see them (though myson's team, there at the same time, did), but called up a north-ern pygmy-owl and heard winter wren and brown creeper, bothgood birds to get on this event.

It was 7 a.m. already and we only had 44 species, so we speddown the gravel road for seven kilometres, our binoculars fog-ging in the cold mist. A grey jay appeared at the last possible

— continued on page 12

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BC Naturalist 11

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Birding by Bicycle — continued from page 11

spot for that species and soon we were in ponderosa pine forestsscorched by last summer's wildfire. The rain came down heavilythere, so we had to wait a while before a gray flycatcher called,but we had no trouble in adding some of the pine specialtiessuch as western bluebird, pygmy and white-breasted nuthatchesand Cassin's finches. By 8 a.m. the rain had stopped and wewere in the valley bottom at Okanagan Falls, where we removedseveral layers of clothing and scanned the more-or-less emptywaters of Skaha Lake. I decided not to make the extra trip over

White-crowned sparrow

to the falls, having heard the dippers were not in residence thisyear, but found out later they were. Another lesson in the valueof scouting ahead of time!

We headed south along Highway 97 to Vaseux Lake, stoppingoff at the Bird Observatory to cycle across to the river dyke inhopes for pied-billed grebe. We got the grebe but were happilysurprised by a singing clay-coloured sparrow as well. It was nowsunny enough to get out the sunscreen but still pleasantly cool.We met up with Mike Toochin and the Klirnkos on the board-walk (dressed in matching shirts, since they called their team"Men in Plaid"), and were surprised again with a common tern

perched on a floating tire just out from the blind. It was 10 a.m.before we got our 100th species—-a pair of red-necked grebes attheir nest. Usually I try to get 100 species by 8 a.m., but I feltwe were still on track for a good day. We still needed the rockciiffbirds, so made the climb up the Irrigation (Mclntyre) Creekroad to get canyon and rock wrens, but couldn't hear any chukarthere. A common loon was a very welcome sight at the south endof Vaseux Lake, as was the local Lewis's woodpecker under thetowering face of Mclntyre Bluff. We couldn't hear any yellow-breasted chats singing from the highway just south of GallagherLake, so cycled up River Road to the usual site, where we metIstvan Orosi and a group of Vancouver birders watching twochats and two or three black-chinned hummingbirds.

It was almost noon by then, so we got onto the riverside bike

path and pedaled south as fast as we could, adding wood duck,belted kingfisher and downy woodpecker as we went along. Atthe north end of Osoyoos Lake, along the Road 22 dykes, we

quickly added lark sparrow,cedar waxwing, bobolink

and least flycatcher, butcouldn't find a great hornedowl despite wading throughwaist-high nettles and poi-son ivy. But Road 22 hadother disappointments aswell—no harriers, heronsor curlews. For the firsttime in the day, thingsweren't going as well as I'dhoped, and cycling up theaptly named Deadman'sHill I began to wonder if Tree swallow

we were going to reach my lofty goal of 140 species.

Keeping my head down (I was suffering a nagging neck-achefrom holding rny head up) I missed the 146th St. turnoff sowe had to backtrack a kilometre to get to the Dickson's house.Elaine Dickson had told me they'd had a northern saw-whetowl roosting off and on in their yard, and I thought it wouldbe worth a quick look. Our hopes fell when she said that it hadbeen on its usual roost until 12:30 p.m., but had disappearedduring a rainstorm. I quickly toured their yard, which had about200 spots suitable for a roosting saw-whet, and then saw a bigcurrant bush draped with Virginia creeper against the shed. Thatlooked like an ideal spot to wait out a rainstorm so I peeked in

and there it was!

•— continued on page 26

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12 BC Naturalist

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Pachyderm of the Pacific:The northern elephant seal— story and photos by Kristin Charleton

B ristly and smelling of dried grass, a piece of molted skin lieson the shore. I pick it up, shove it in my pocket thinking

I will give it to a friend with whom I trade oddities from ourcrazy adventures. So far I have received a glow-in-the-dark Bar-bie, and a twangy musical instrument from Japan. In light ofthis, I feel confident that my gift of molted northern elephantseal skin will be considered a celebrated treasure.

In British Columbia, sightings of northern elephant seals arerare to be sure. The majority of their time is spent breedingon California's offshore islands and on remote coastal areas orfeeding as far as 8,000 km from the North American mainland.The bulls spend about 250 days at sea each year and travel atleast 21,000 km; the females spend about 300 days at sea andtravel at least 18,000 km. But, somehow, between the monthsof April and August, a select few find their way to the isolatedspots of BC's coast to molt.

I had never seen or heard of these seals with the long proboscisuntil I worked at a remote seabird research station on TriangleIsland, off the northwest tip of Vancouver Island. (Editor's note:Triangle Island is an ecological reserve that is closed to the publicto protect nesting birds and their habitat. Researchers must apply

for a permit from the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protectionfor access.)

Triangle Island

Lying in bed one night, I heard what sounded like an idlingmotorcycle just in front of the hut. With my headlamp on andfleece pajamas tucked into gumboots, I sauntered over the slimyintertidal zone to find what appeared to be a very large slug. In

fact, it was two tonnes of silver-sided seal snorting elephantstyle under the moonlight.

The northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) is thesecond largest seal in the world after the southern elephantseal. Adult males can grow to four metres in length and weighas much as 2,000 kilograms; females are smaller at up to threemetres in length and 600 kilograms in weight.

In the 19th century, elephant seals were hunted for their oil;by the 1880s, they were thought to be extinct.But on Guadalupe, an island off the coast ofBaja California, a colony of about 100 to 1,000seals survived and multiplied. Today, the popu-lation continues to grow at an average annualrate of 20 to 30 percent with new rookeriesbeing established in locations not previouslyused by the seals.

My second sighting of these grandiose crea-tures occurred while conducting counts ofSteller's and California sea lions along TriangleIsland's shore. From a distance, elephant sealslook like gray driftwood lying in the sand, thatis until they cough and their blubber reverber-ates like a bowl of jelly. With such a large per-centage of blubber (20 to 50 percent dependingon the time of year and the sex of the animal),it's amazing that these animals even make itbelow the surface, but make it they do.

Elephant seals are able to dive up to 1.5 kilo-metres below the oceans surface. That's deep. On their longestdives they spend up to two hours munching on fish, squid,octopus and crabs. During these dives, elephant seals return to

— continued on page 14

BC Naturalist 13

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Pachyderm of the Pacific — continued from page 13

the ocean's surface for onlythree to four minutes ofbreathing before descend-ing to the darkness andtheir carnivorous ways.

During molting, themajority of the day isspent tying on a bed ofsand trying to keep cool.With their eyes closedand white drool drib-bling from their noses,they periodically dig theirflippers into a pile offist-sized rocks and tossthem over their shoulderin what appears to be anattempt to create shade ontheir backsides. Or maybethey're just bored.

For several hours we satand watched the sea lionscavort about the beachwhile the elephant seals slept. Finally, one seal must have beentoo hot or hungry to lie in the sun and began to work its waytowards the breaking waves.

In general, S tellers bullsdon't appreciate intrud-ers passing through theirdomain, so I was surprisedto see an elephant seal slothits way through several ter-ritories without so muchas a charge from the kingsof the respective harems."When it appeared as if ourelephant seal had made itto the open ocean a Steller'sbull that had been lookingdistracted, made a lunge. Inan instant, the elephant sealdisplayed a mouthful of largewhite grinders. The Steller'sbull made a lunge for theseal's neck, drawing blood.The seal turned and divedbeneath the surface.

I reached into my pocket,pulled out the molted skin

and threw it back on the beach. Everyone knows you can't takeartifacts out of an ecological reserve.

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14 BC Naturalisi

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Secret Places:A Tale of Two Estuaries— by Carolyn Redl

Toothwort!" exclaimed Will Lemmon, one of eight natural-ists guiding groups through the estuaries of the Englishman

and Little Qualicum Rivers this past spring. "What's your toothworth?" he joked and added, "This little woodland flower waslikely named when shapes in nature were thought to determinepurposes. It resembles a tooth; hence, it was probably consid-ered useful in healing toothache."

Lemmon, a volunteer with the local Mount ArrowsmithNaturalists, recounted anecdotes on several other natuial fea-tures as the group hiked through the forest to the EnglishmanRiver Estuary.

Killdeer

Nature abounded in all her glory. Two bald eagles perched at

the edge of their exposed nest, bunched into a cottonwood tree

overhanging the Englishman River. A killdeer filled the air with

its characteristic "Kill-dee, dee, dee, dee" while, on shore, towhees,

robin, and finches reminded everyone that spring is the time to

sing and mate. Where river meets ocean, thousands of mergansers,

scoters and sundry gulls pecked at the decadent banquet provided

by the recent herring spawn.

"For me, the highlight was seeing a northern shrike," said Hans

Boerger, a local birder and biologist. "They're migrating to theiri_> O J o O

breeding grounds in the northern boreal forest. We could identify

it as a northern and not a loggerhead shrike by the dark grey bar-

ring on its breast. I'm so thrilled, I'm going back to check for it

again."

Most important, given the day's focus on estuaries, was learning

that the Little Qualicum and Englishman estuaries are entirely

different. Although less than ten kilometres apart, one estuary is

predominantly saltwatet, the other, fresh water.

Brackish and flushed by a steady, fresh water flow from Cameron

Lake, the Little Qualicum River estuary consists of intertidal mud-

flats, large eelgrass beds and sandbars. It is the spawning and rear-

ing grounds for various salmon species and home to the expected

clams and mussels. Its spit is frequented by many duck species, in

particular, the black brant, celebrated in the annual Brant Festival

held at Parksville-Qualicum Beach every April.

"There are at least six harlequin ducks in view," Alan Poynter

noted, directing us to a closer look through his spotting scope.

"Can you see bands on any of them?" he asked. "Sometime after

March 15 every year, hundreds of harlequin ducks collect in Trib-

une Bay on Hornby Island. Biologists band the well-fed harlequins

before their departure for inland rivers and streams. You might

see these same birds nesting in the mountains of Jasper, Banff or

Alaska."

According to Neil Dawe, whose office with Canadian Wildlife

Service is located at the Little Qualicum estuary, the ecology of the

estuary is at risk. As more and more development occurs upstream,

the water table below drops. Many shoreline trees and shrubs show

signs of stress or have died.

Of note to historians are the buildings on this site, formally

known as the Marshall-Stevenson Wildfowl Sanctuary. The Cana-

dian Wildlife Service offices are in a log house built in 1884, a

remnant of one of the oldest settlements on the Island. An old barn

and a rusty manure spreader are reminders, too, of the Sanctuary's

earlier agricultural life.

Many birds filled the air in song as we walked through the

meadows. Before the day was out, more than 60 bird species were

identified.

Suggested by well-known naturalist, historian and author, Bill

Merilees, and implemented by Arrowsmith Naturalists' secretary,

Maggie Little, this outing to the two estuaries was the first in what

is hoped to be a series of outings regularly drawing all island natu-

ralists together. Some 50 keen birders and botanists from the area

and from Victoria, Lake Cowichan, Duncan, Saltspring Island,

Campbell River and elsewhere attended and were led by four pairs

of able interpreters: Will Lemmon and David Helem; Alan Poyn-

ter and Pam Helem; John and Lois McKenzie; and Roger Simms

and Hans Boerger.

We're all looking forward to the next event. In the meantime, all

naturalists are welcome to attend Arrowsmith Naturalist meetings,

held on the fourth Monday of every month, 7:30 p.m. at Spring-

wood School in Parksville. In between meetings, the Naturalists

take walks weekly to various points of interest.

Naturalists from all over Vancouver Island enjoy a day at the estuary

BC Naturalist 15

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Jewels in Flight:An update to monitoring BC's hummingbirds— by J. Cam Finlay; photos by— Ralph Hocken

Since 1997,1 have been banding and studying rufous hum-mingbirds in BC. It began at our home on the Saanich

Peninsula near Victoria and later expanded to Galiano andGabriola islands plus several other spots on southern Vancou-ver Island.

Last winter, in BC Naturalist I asked for help in rindingplaces across BC that hosted large numbers of hummingbirds.I received some very encouraging emails and phone calls.

In late May, I drove east and south to meet some of thosepeople and see what they had to offer. First stop was near Chilli-wack (Lee and Denis Knopp) then Tappen, west of SalmonArm (Russell and Erin Siemens and Adam Jarvis, owners ofSky Blue Waters Resort and naturalists Doris and Frank Kime)followed by the Vernon area (Gail Loughridge and Jim Bodkin)on to Castlegar (Sharon and Gary Lelliott) and to south of FortSteele (Rae McFarlane and Tom Roberts).

Rufous hummingbird

With the help of these keen individuals, we banded 56 rufous,155 calliope, six black-chinned and three Annas hummers. Amonth later, at the start of July, I took another fast trip, thistime north to near Quesnel (Shirley Robertson and DanChurchill with the assistance of Susan Harper) and then overto Dunster (Bonnie and Curtis Culp) near McBride.

Like the earlier trip it was quite productive, resulting in thebanding of 68 calliope and 104 rufous. On these visits, eve-

ryone was exceedingly kind andwilling to share their homesand knowledge. They all wentout of their way to accom-modate and feed me andlined, up large numbersof birds.

In addition, somemay soon become ^banding sub-permittees who plan on setting up monitoringsites in their region. These new areas will greatly help to assessthe BC hummer populations across the province.

The other big news is that we are now participating in theHummingbird Monitoring Network (also known as Hum-MonNet). Earlier this year, I was contacted by a group of hum-mingbird researchers from Arizona and southern California

— Dr Susan Wethington of Patagonia,Arizona is the team leader along withtwo other biologists — who had heardabout the many hummingbirds wehave banded in the past, (more than1,600 in 2003 alone!).

The first step was to find sites wherea fair number of birds came regularlyto feeders. We chose four sites usedin previous years - our home in Saan-ich, at Betry Kennedy's on south Galiano Island, at JimTyhurst's on southGabriola Island and one in the highcountry, at Sue and Al Walker's whoreside on Mount Washington. Thefifth site was found by our daughter.Rhonda Johnson, just north of PortAlberni at Joan and Art Thompson's.

This year, the first rufous was notedby Jim Tyhurst at his feeders anGabriola on March 21. The next day,two females arrived. Each day there-after more birds arrived. Ac dusk on

April 5 — the day before we began our monitoring session there-- he counted 61 hummers around his feeders.

The rufous hummingbirds arrived at about the same time atthe Finlay house in Saanich, at Kennedy's on Galiano Islandand Thompson's near Port Alberni. Shortly thereafter, the birdsbegan arriving at Mount Washington.

We delayed trapping at Mount Washington for the first twosessions because of the large amount of snow. When we did

16 BC Natural!

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Dwarfed by a human hand, this female rufous hummingbird patiently awaitsexamination and release.

The Hummingbird Monitoring

Network guidelinesThe Network is a group of scientists, citizen scientists, land managers,property owners and volunteers who are committed to maintainingthe diversity of hummingbirds.

We began the monitoring project in 2002 with the following researchgoals:

•To determine the best long-term monitoring sites for hummingbirds inwestern USA and northwestern Mexico (BC is now included - Ed^}

» To effectively sample populations sizes so that trends can be de-tected

* To use the resulting information to assist in the preservation andprotection of hummingbirds.

Our research is a systematic banding study that generates knowl-edge about hummingbird diversity, abundance, productivity, andsurvivorship at a number of sites. We choose these sites based upongeographic factors, such as elevation, longitude, and latitude, andvegetation types.

Once every other week, we band hummingbirds from late Marchthrough October. We also use other counting techniques to assesspopulation sizes of hummingbirds. At the end of a season, resultsfrom each site are evaluated to determine which ones are still con-tenders for long-term monitoring or if a new site should be addedand evaluated.

Banding at each site follows a standardized methodology, changes inspecies occurrence and abundance patterns can be compared amongyears and among sites. Thus, we are beginning to understand howhummingbird diversity varies from place to place and from region toregion and how hummingbirds move through these regions.

Our results will provide land managers with information about whichareas support a high diversity of hummingbirds, which areas areimportant breeding sites, the timing of their occurrence, and seasonalmovement patterns that may indicate the size of the areas needed tomaintain hummingbird diversity and abundance.

L to R: Volunteers Sandy McRuer, Maxine Munsil, Joan Thompson and Cam Finlayrecord and measure rufous hummingbirds trapped at the Thompson farmstead,north of Port Alberni.

start there on April 30, four of the nine females trapped werecarrying eggs even though the ground was covered with morethan a metre of snow. Three weeks later, there was still about60 cm of snow, yet six of the seven females caught were carry-ing eggs.

The accompanying table (see p.24) summarizes the results ofthe monitoring program for this year. All birds shown in thereturn column had been banded earlier at the same site, eitherthis or in previous years. Seven of the recaptured birds had beenbanded in 2000, making them at least four years old. The oldestrufous in North America crapped to date was eight years and 10months old and was banded and recaptured by Betty McGinnisat Fanny Bay, north of Nanairno.

The only real interesting retrap this season was a female wecaught at the Franklin Mill site about 20 km south of PorrAlberni on the Alberni Inlet. It had been banded 10 days earlierhi a yard at about 300 metres up the side of Mt. Fromme inNorth Vancouver.

From observations, it seems that females begin nesting assoon as they arrive mid-March and by early April are carryingeggs. Fledglings first appear at feeders at the end of May withthe sex ratio about 1:1. However, by mid-June, female juvenilesseem to have departed, with most of the trapped juveniles beingmales except at Port Alberni where female fledglings outnum-bered males.

By mid-July, most birds have gone, and by the end of themonth only the very odd juvenile appeared at feeders. In earlyJuly as the birds departed I was hoping ro see an increase at thehigh country feeders, but very few showed up even though theflowers were abundant at nearby Paradise Meadows. There werefew if any Indian paintbrush (Castilleja spp.) on these meadowswhich may explain the hummers' absence.

— continued on page 24

BC Naturalist 17

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Saturna Island FBCN Camp report— by Chris Pielou

In the warm, sunny days of early May, 32 FBCN membersspent five days exploring Saturna Island's trails, beaches, and

offshore islands. We stayed in comfortable cabins at the EastPoint Resort, at the eastern tip of Saturna next to a grassy penin-sula, sprinkled with red maids (Calandrinia ciliata). Big flocksof harlequin ducks swam offshore, Steller sea lions and harbourseals basked on wave-swept rocks, violet-green and barn swal-lows flew about and, surprisingly, so did a western kingbird,far from its breeding range. From this base we did nature tripsguided by Anne Murray and Bev Ramey, supported by WallyKiel and Bob Holden.

The first day's hike began with a boat trip to Tumbo Island, 10minutes north across Tumbo Channel. Crossing the low ridgeof the island's backbone from its south-facing to its north-fac-ing slope, we noted the contrasting plant communities. Salaland arbutus dominated the southern, sunny side; Douglas-firand sword fern filled the northern, shady side. From Tumbo,another short boat ride took us to Cabbage Island, smaller andseparated from Tumbo by a shallow channel that is left highand dry at low tide. This allowed us to walk back to Tumbolater in the day, exploring a myriad of rock pools en route.

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SELL CALENDARS FOR $13 each and make $6.50Ask about bulk prices 604-683-8220

www.wildernesscommittee.org

Next day we drove to Saturna Beach and hiked along thesteep, forested (Douglas-fir and arbutus) bluffs overlookingPlumper Sound and the Pender Islands beyond. Many treeswere wrapped around by thick tropical-looking lianas, withstems up to 5 cm thick — unusually vigorous orange honey'suckle (Lonicera ciliata]. After lunching at Taylor Point and

-»•——- • • ' I I • I I I !••

Saturna Island Campers enjoyed good weather, good company and the nature ofcoastal BC.

exploring its rock pools, we returned along the bench separating the bluffs from the steep slopes of Mount WarburtonPike. The bench is part of a farm belonging to the Campbellfamily, who kindly allowed us to use their farm road, an avenuebetween magnificent trees. We saw a flock of the feral goats thaigraxe on Saturna -- robust, heraldic-looking beasts. The traiended at the Saturna Island Vineyards, where we dined ancenjoyed wine from the winery.

Our most spectacular hike was along Brown's Ridge, whiclgave a view of hundreds of islands and islets forming innume:able receding planes fading gradually into the distance. Belo\e ridge are steep, dry, grassy slopes on which grow a numbe

of tiny flowering plants found in BC only on or close to thGulf Islands. Under the expert guidance of Harvey Janszen, wsaw several. Two are red-listed: American hedge-parsley (Yabe.microcarpa) and scalepod (Idahoa scapigem); one is blue-listecfarewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena] and one is yellow-listecAmerican wild carrot (Daucus pusillus). In the evening wenjoyed wonderful slide shows by the Janszens — Pam on funjand Harvey on flowering plants.

We saw much else besides including Narvaez Bay in the ea;and Lyall Creek trail in the west joined by a deep valley th;cuts the island in half. A torrent of water flows out througBoat Pass as the tide falls in Winter Cove, then rushes backiagain as the tide rises.

Geologically, Saturna once consisted of horizontal layers <sedimentary rocks 65 to 90 million years old (Cretaceous). 5did all the lowland of eastern Vancouver Island from CampbeRiver to Mill Bay. As the tectonic plate of the Pacific floimoves eastward, subducting below the plate supporting 01continent, new tracts of land, or terranes, are added. The tw

18 BC NaturaU

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'-

most recent ter-ranes to arrive (55million and 42million years agorespectively) wereforced against thethen southern endof Vancouver Islandand are now part ofthat island. Theyare still exertingtremendous force,crumpling die sedi-mentary layers ofthe land ahead ofthem so that theybecome folded and

| faulted into ridges^ and valleys — them landforms of the•§ Gulf Islands and

__^ °- adjacent mainland.Ss the way for a group of hikers on one of $aturna anc[ rne

nearby islands areI the action than is the coastal plain north of Nanaimo,liswhat makes their topography so much more dra-

fcjoyed ourselves tremendously, and thank Bev, Anne,for planning and conducting a most successful

Blsland Campf Report

ke Lee•find and clouds, butterflies emerged only for our•is was a great send off as most of the species and•nerged after lunch to coincide with our walks in

lusher (more mesic) habitats. Butterflies flashed[trails and beaches offering brilliant oranges, blues

Remainder of camp, our count was filled up by greyMitring on the beach, blue spring azures flutteringbray bushes and dusky brown butterflies dashingfcoak. Most noteworthy were three large California[seen. Considered spring migrants, these bright

ifliers passed above the abundant stinging nettles infove and Lyle Creek areas.

to fortunate to see the Propertius dusky-wing but-jis completely dependent on Garry oak for larval

fill Garry oak ecosystems themselves at risk, the•dusky-wing is considered a vulnerable species. ItItosee the dark brown forms in and about the oaks.Ire are few Garry oak butterflies seen.

Butterfly species that were seen during camp were: propertiusdusky-wing, western pine elfin, satyr anglewing, California tor-toiseshell, western tiger swallowtail, pale swallowtail, cabbagewhite, spring azure, grey hairstreak and Rosner s hairstreak. Tenspecies; 63 individuals in total. All in all, an average count forMay butterflies.

Counts and records consistently over time for a species canafford a picture of ecosystem health. Naturalists in the past havegiven us an understanding of our natural world through birdsand flowers. We can do the same for our butterflies.

Saturna Island Camp Birds(and more) Report— by Anne Murray

The keen birders on the camp were able to record a total of81 species, including two new co Harvey and Pam Janszen'schecklist for Saturna. These were a Vaux's swift, flying over-head at East Point, and a wandering tattler, initially identifiedby Wayne Erikson at Taylor Point, where it was foraging onthe rocky shoreline. Two spotted sandpipers were later seen inthe bay and the contrast in plumage and behaviour could benoted.

East Point had a good mixture of birds, including harlequinducks, black oystercatchers, white-crowned and savannahsparrows and a western kingbird. An Anna's hummingbirdwas observed near the cabins and rufous hummingbirdswere common throughout Saturna. Forest of Douglas-fir andarbutus, especially on new national park land at Taylor Pointand Tumbo Island, were full of calling house wrens and Pacific-slope flycatchers, and olive-sided flycatchers had arrived andwere singing vigorously. A number of wood-warblers wereheard, presenting a challenge for identification. A close viewof a Townsends warbler in gorgeous black and yellow springplumage, repaid the hours of peering up at trees.

Other interesting birds seen included two yellow variant redcrossbills at Brown Ridge, chipping sparrows in the hot, dryvalley of Campbell's farm, a brightly-coloured western tanagerat Bev's cabin and four species of woodpeckers. Non-bird spe-cies included Pacific tree frogs (also known as Pacific chorusfrogs), garter snake, Columbian black-tailed deer, river otters,harbour seals, killer whales and Steller sea lions.<

signia that'sconvoys of

ght of theirDealers skipgs on caulk-illenge Fred>ut with thatofficiousnesss and there acurrent. Butometreoflog: current, theof the almost1 passing outportal of thehe industrialon. In a way,. These trees,;ars old, repre-ain - certainly

re gone, when•iefly at Russell.ter that beganthey and theirthat land and

lue heron, theids of eulachonn the thermals,iller whale andmanhood with

:or her spirit init is to becomes are entangled,

Campers explore the intertida! zone between Saturna and Tumbo islands. 21

19

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The Soul of BC, Part 4:The Fraser River, where the river meets the sea— by Stephen Hume

Hoe following text is excerptedfrom Stephen Hume's book

Off the Map. It is taken fromthe chapter titled Soul of ECand is the last in a series offour installments. Permissionto reproduce the text here hasbeen graciously given both byStephen and by his publisher,Howard White of HarbourPublishing.

Officially, the lower Fraser ex-tends west of Hope to the

Strait of Georgia, south to theCanada-US border and northto the heights of land where thetributaries that feed the Lillooet,Pitt and Stave rivers rise. Hereconditions shift dramatically from the arid Interior to a wet,humid, temperate marine climate where annual rainfall canreach 3,500 millimetres. This region, too, has historically beenan immense natural salmon factory. The federal Department ofFisheries and Oceans estimates that the small tributaries of thelower Fraser between Vancouver and Hope support 80 percentof the Fraser's chinook salmon and 90 percent of its chum,65 percent of its coho, 80 percent of its pink and significantnumbers of sockeye. Even the ditches in this environment canprovide important coho habitat. But precisely what made theFraser Valley ideal for salmon runs makes it the most valuablelandscape in the province and a platform for inevitable con-flicts between the demands of development and those of theenvironment.

The single biggest impact upon the Fraser River occurs dur-ing its final 100-kilometre journey to the sea and it comesfrom human population pressure. Almost 60 percent of BC'spopulation lives in this region and growth here is double theprovincial average. Municipalities discharge 50 percent of thewaster water entering the lower Fraser, most of it from showers,bathtubs, kitchen sinks, washing machines, dishwashers andtoilets. Even after treatment, these effluents can damage aquatichabitats by introducing excessive nutrients, suspended solids,detergents and soaps that are lethal to important micro-organ-isms, while sewage can introduce unwanted bacteria and othermicro-organisms. So, in considering the state offish stocks inthe Fraser Basin, it's not so much an issue of distant dams andfaraway landslides, as it is an issue of what must happen inGreater Vancouver's own backyard, where population growth

Although dykes.such as this one at Brunswick Point in Ladner, provide trails for walking or bike riding, they have altered ttiewetlands of the Fraser delta, often to the detriment of salmon and other native wildlife species.

is driving urban sprawl east of the metropolis and farther intothe river's floodplain.

"Replacing the natural environment with impermeable sur-faces such as roads, parking lots and buildings has more perma-nent impact on natural hydrology (water flow patterns) thanany other human activity," says one federal report on FraserBasin sustainability. "Significant changes in hydrology occurwhen 10 percent or more of a watershed is developed. Consid-ering that 50 to 75 percent of the average city lot is covered withimpermeable materials, it is easy to understand the tremendousimpact that urbanization has on water flow."

Nowhere on the Fraser has the natural hydrology been changedso much as here in the last stretch before the sea. Watershedssurrounding the Pitt and Stave rivers have been repeatedlylogged for more than a century, many of the lower tributarieshave been dammed for hydroelectricity, and the massive dikesof the Fraser estuary designed to protect residential, commerciaand agricultural areas from flooding are estimated to have novdestroyed 75 percent of the natural wetlands, intertidal marshesand side sloughs that are vital for fish and waterfowl. The inten-sive nature of farming in the Fraser Valley poses yet anotherthreat to the river's health, particularly where there are highconcentrations of livestock adjacent to the small, slow-movingtributary streams that are critical to more than 65 percent of 'the Fraser's coho stocks. In addition, agricultural chemicals canbe a pervasive problem, contaminating groundwater as well asentering surface water.

But travelling toward tidewater, it doesn't take long for thefarm fields to give way to the dense complex of factories, boom-

20 BC Naturalist

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Great blue heron

ing grounds, shipyards, sawmills, containerlandings, shipping berths, chip barges, scrapheap piles and lines of shiny new vehiclesawaiting transshipment that mark the bound-aries of the Fraser port. Located on the mainarm of the Fraser and extending 62 kilometresupriver from salt water, this is the largest sin-gle concentration of industry in the province.More than 350 businesses and industries areactive here; they directly employ 6,000 peopleand contribute $1.4 billion to Canada's grossnational product. The 22 million tonnes ofcargo that pass through the Fraser mouth eachyear is valued at $9.2 billion and is comprisedof lumber, steel, pulp, papers, automobiles,wood products, chemicals, specialty grains,construction aggregate and various industrialchemicals.

Drifting down the river from the Port Mannbridge, the observer discovers the raw industrial beauty of thislandscape, as stark in its own way as the rock and ice where theriver began. Everywhere one looks there seems to be an ironicmetaphor. Here's the dirt-stained hull of a ferro-cement yachtshorn of its masts, a filthy tarp over the cockpit - somebody'shalf-finished dream moored, not behind the gleaming reef of aSouth Seas atoll, but in a grimy industrial backwater. There's thegleaming white, and inexpressibly tacky, splendour of the RoyalCity Star, a faux riverboat that doesn't quite ring true to thegritty past it purports to emulate. On one barge, a neat stack ofcrushed cars — worth about $4 million to the few hundred peoplewho bought them new - and just around the bend, a shipmentof gleaming Japanese models just arrived and lined up in rows,waiting to go out to the dealerships. The shadows of jumbo jetsfrom Sea Island bound for Asia pass over the long-vanished vil-lage site of the Musqueam. When the chiefs whose great houseslined this shore first encountered Simon Fraser almost 200 yearsago, the river, not the runway was the path to the future.

In the delta, the industrial insignia that'smost evident is wood. Whole convoys ofchip bames list under the weight of theirr o o

pungent new-sawn cargo. Sealers skipacross the rafts of floating logs on caulk-booted feet that would challenge FredAstaire. Boom boats bustle about with thatpeculiar, rotund, rust-covered officiousness

dj that only they can affect. Here and there ao

'£ log salvor strains against the current. But0> o D

*£ mostly just kilometre after kilometre of log2 booms bob in the hiss of the current, the-a raw, unadulterated evidence of the almostc

£ unbelievable deluge of wood passing out,££k- into the world through the portal of theco c> r?- Fraser. The magnitude of the industrialJ= event staggers the imagination. In a way,

it's become a river of time. These trees,some of them 600 or 700 years old, repre-

sent a vanishing heritage that may never be seen again - certainlynot for another 35 generations.

When the industries that seem so permanent are gone, whenthe laughing Gulf Island children who splash so briefly at RussellBeach, gathering their basket of memories in water that beganits journey in the clouds on the Fraser Pass, when they and theirchildren's children are long gone in their graves, that land andthe might river that shapes it will still be there.

But will we? Will the salmon and the great blue heron, thePacific shrew and the Salish sucker, the silvery clouds of eulachonand the distant speck of the bald eagle rising on the thermals,the grizzly bear and the green sturgeon, the killer whale andthe Nooksack dace, the young man finding his manhood withthe dip net and the old woman seeking solace for her spirit inthe timeless mysteries of the smokehouse? What is to becomeof them? And, in an ecology where all our fates are entangled,what is to become of us?

A tugboat pulls a tog boom along the north arm of the Fraser adjacent to lona Beach Regional Park. Other booms sit just offshore.

BC Naturalist 21

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Boo reviews

A;

Wetlands ofBritish Columbia:A guide to identificationWilliam H. MacKenzie and JenniferMoran

Paperback, 287 pages

Crown Publications, $28.95

— Reviewed by Ted Leanyone who has worked or ex-

.plored the province of BritishColumbia has seen the wide diversity of wetlands that occurhere. Now, there is a book that provides a comprehensivelook at wetland plant communities.

Wetlands of British Columbia: A guide to identification isbeautifully designed and illustrated. It provides descriptionof wetland ecosystems in a variety of classes and also includesecosystems often not considered in other documents includ-ing floodplains, riparian and transitional wetlands. The bookalso includes wise management actions in terms of rangemanagement, forestry and values for wildlife habitat.

More than 100 wetland, riparian, floodplain, shallow-water and transition site associations are each described ina one page summary that includes information about pro-vincial distribution, vegetation and site characteristics, and aphotograph. Many excellent photos help illustrate the majorwetland classes. Line drawings of common wetland plantsare sprinkled throughout the book.

The book's introduction provides information on the wet-land classes, including environmental characteristics. It alsodescribes the Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification withits various levels, taxonomic conventions and provides toolsfor identification of wetlands (including keys and summa-ries).

A section on conservation and management issues pro-vides a look at sensitivities and values of wetlands in termsof range management, forestry management and wildlife useof wetlands.

For those familiar with the edatopic grid used in the Bioge-oclimatic Ecosystem Classification, which combines, in thiscase, actual soil moisture regime and soil nutrient regime,this guide adds an interesting modification that also includesfive classes of pH (acidity/alkalinity), and a hydrodynamicindex that has five classes of vertical and lateral water move-ment in the soil.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking tounderstand the many wetland types in the province and howto manage for values associated with them.

Note: Wetlands of British Columbia is avail-able in book form from Crown Publications or onlineat www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Lmh/Lmh52.htm

Ted Lea. works in the Biodiversity Branch of the Ministryof Water, Land and Air Protection.

Hiking the Gulf Islands:An Outdoor Guide toBC's Enchanted IslesCharles KahnPaperback, 248 pages

Harbour Publishing, $24.95

— Reviewed by Dawn Hanna

Some hikers - mostly the hard-core purists who believe that a ;

hike is not a hike unless it takes anunrelenting route straight up a steep mountainside — will tellyou that a hiking guide to the Gulf Islands is an oxymoron.

They do have a point, but only in so far that yes, the GulfIslands do not harbour any monster peaks among them.(Mount Davies on Texada Island, at 760 metres is about thetallest.) That said, if those hardcore hikers want to stay homeand away from the trails on the Gulf Islands, I say only "yip-pee" because it means that I will have to share those naturalwonders with fewer people.

Truth be known, the Gulf Islands have so much to experi-ence on two feet. While many visitors never go farther thanthe quaint village shops or busiest public beaches, there are Iso many amazing places to experience on all of the islands.You won't find many of them in the usual guidebooks, whichis what makes Charles Kahn's guidebook so valuable.

My son and I used the book this summer to explore somegreat little natural haunts on Galiano and Gabriola Islands.Some we knew about beforehand, but others were the kindsof places that locals usually only know about.

And now, on to the gushing. There is much to recommendthis book as a companion guide to anyone who ventures toexplore the natural side of any Gulf Island. It is well organ-ized, has all the pertinent details for each outing includinglength, degree of difficulty and ratings for attractiveness. Ithas great maps that make it easy to find not just the startingpoint for an outing, but also a good idea of where the trail(or route) itself goes.

In addition, Mr. Kahn has done his homework and offerslots of interesting tidbits of history as well as practical infor-mation on hiking safety. There is a small section in the intro-

22 BC Naturalist j

Page 23: To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing€¦ · "To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing" Birding by Bicycle: Dick Cannings takes the two-wheeled approac • i *h to a Big

duction on wildlife in the Gulf Islands. And there is my onlyquibble. As an unrepentant lover of nature, I would love tohave seen this theme amplified throughout the book - tellme more about how those amazing sandstone formationson Galiano happened, give me the goods on those Garryoak meadows that adorn the slopes of Salt-spring's MountMaxwell and tease me with details of the wildflowers to befound at Helliwell Park on Hornby Island.

Maybe it's too much to include in one book. Maybe its acompanion guide just aching to be written.

Dawn Hanna is the author of two hiking guides to south-

western BC.

Pacific Reef and Shore:A photo guide tonorthwest marine lifeRick M. Harbo

Paperback, 80 pages

Harbour Publishing, $9.95

— Reviewed by Annie

Prud'homme-Genereux

PACIFICREEFdSHORE

Every marine life enthusiast on,'the West Coast is familiar with

Rick Harbo's books. These include Whelks to Whales, Shellsand Shellfish of the Pacific Northivest, and Tidepool and Reef.

The latter book has been revised and updated, and can nowbe found under the title Pacific Reef and Shore.

Beach walkers and divers will find this book most useful inidentifying animals and seaweeds found on our shores. It isa small yet comprehensive field guide that is sure to interestboth beginning and experienced naturalists. The book incor-porates more than 300 colour photographs and descriptionsof the most common marine animals found on our coast.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The pictures are beauti-ful and are often sufficient to identify an animal. My onlycriticism is that although some pictures have been updated,most are the same used in Whelks to Whales and Tidepooland Reef. This is also true of the descriptions that accompanyeach photograph. Therefore, I would tend to describe Pacific

Reef and Shore as an abridged version of Whelks to Whales. Ifyou already own either of these older titles, you may find thisnew one somewhat redundant.

If you do not yet own a copy of these books, I wouldrecommend this one. Although it does not cover as manyanimals as Whelks to Whales, it does manage to describe themost commonly encountered flora and fauna of our coast.Each picture is accompanied by a short description of theanimal. The high quality of the pictures lessened the useful-ness of this text, although in a few cases the description was

helpful in identifying a species. Some of the descriptionscontain information on the natural history of the animal.Although not provided for each animal, I find this portionvery worthwhile.

Overall, the book is well organized. Each of the plants andanimals are grouped by phylum. An introductory paragraph,outlining some of the features of the phylum, precedes thespecies descriptions. Grouping the animals by phylummakes it easy for a knowledgeable user to find informationon an animal, but may make the task a bit challenging fora novice.

In my opinion, Whelks to Whales has only one competi-tor: The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life in the PacificNorthwe$t\yy], Duane Sept. I own both books and find themequally delightful, for different reasons. To my knowledge,Pacific Reef and Shore has no true competitor and can thusonly be compared to the former two books. I find this bookcomprehensive, easy to use, compact, well laid-out, andbeautifully illustrated. It is also very reasonably priced! Iwould thus highly recommend it to anyone who plans toexplore our shores.

Annie Prud'homme-Genereux has recently completed aPh.D. in the life sciences. She volunteers at the VancouverAquarium and heads the Marine Biology Section of theVancouver Natural History Society.

Crown Publications Inc.Distributors of Government Publications and BC Specialty Shop

WetlaWetlandsof British ColumbiaA field guide to commonwetland ecosystems ofBritish Columbia, Providestools for the identificationof wetland, flood, andtransitional siteassociations for allbiogeoclimatic zonesexcept the alpine tundra.

Some Other Titles• Understanding Wetlands

(A handbook for EC's Interior)

• Alien Invaders In Canada's Waters,Wetlands, and Forests.

521 Fort Street, Victoria BC V8W 1E7Tel: (250) 3864636 Fax: (250) 386-0221email: [email protected] website: www.crownpub.bc.ca

BC Naturalist 23

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Jewels in flight— continued from page 17

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEGMENTSSpecial thanks to Ann Nightingale who, with help from several people, made up more

than 2,000 bands who built five special traps. Without her assistance this project neverwould have been so complete. To undertake such a massive amount of data for the monitor-ing sites, several helpers (at least two besides me) were required every time for each site. Thehomeowners at the sites, including Betty Kennedy, Jim Tyhurst, Joan and Art Thompson, andSue and Al Walker, were exceedingly kind. Linda and Keith Poulton on Gabriola, the Walkers onMount Washington, and. Rhonda and Blake Johnson in Port Alberni housed and fed me well!

T-I r . j r c i / • j \c I A - I A male rufous hummingbirdme nve sites were operated tor nve hours (starting at dawn) every two weeks rrom early April 3

until mid-July. Such a project could not have been accomplished without the volunteer efforts ofmany people.

I have attempted to name them all, but inadvertentlymay have missed some.Please accept my apologies if you are not on the list andLet me know so that you can be added. — Cam Finlay

Stan ActonSally AndersonLibby and Rick AvisJerry AzevedoJudy BarkerCheryl BastedoLanaye BaxterPat BourgeoisDorothy BrooksRay BuchananIrene and Frank BukovacJennifer CorlettJohn CoulsonBruce CousensLaura DarlingDiane EdwardsKate Emm ingsPhyllis FarfardGavin FinleyTheron FinleyGiovanna Forlini-LoneyPam FrierNathan Gay]orSharon GodkinCarol GuinRalph HockenMike HoebelCathy HolahanJacquie HowardsonBarrie InnesLeigh-Anne IsaacsMildred JefferyLeslie KarnesKary LekichCharlene Lee

Agnes LynnEileen McConnellSandy McRtietBarbara MooreJon & Alison MoranMaxine MunsilJessica MurrayRichard NathansAnn NightingaleJill PalenicekKindle ParsonsCarlo PavanEd PellizzonKeith PoultonNeil RobinsAttelley RobinsonHeidi RoemerDonna RossLaurie SavardOgdin ScholzRick ShortinghuisCamilla SmithJacquie SuttonMargaret TaylorJoan and Art ThompsonFern WalkerHarrison WalkerStuart and Andy WalkerSusan WalkerLydia and Bill WeaverLindsay WightKaren WoodHeather WylieLynne YoungRene Zich

Summary of BC Hummingbird Monitoring Sites, 2004

Site

Saanich

Table KeyAd-Adult

Juv-JuvenileF-female

M-Mal

Date

Apr 04

Apr 18

May 02

May 16May 30

Jun l3

Jun 27In! 14

Ad-F

382521591831

Ad-M

269099800

F w/egg Juv-F

21 0

3 , 04 00 01 20 20 0n i

Juv-M

0

000163n

Returnbirds

23124

51

130n

Total

64342114213469

Galiano Apr 05Apr 19May 03May 17May 3 1

Jun 14

Jun 28

J u l l 5

113

27695223145

400

228500

512

206000

Gabriola Apr 06

Apr 20

May 04May 18

Jun 01

Jun 15

]un29

Jull3

31

13252714603

97363300

2658

211000

000015.934

•00003712

Pt.Alberni Apr 07Apr 21

May 05

May 19

Jun 02

Jun 16

Jun 30

Ju l l 4

544080304847111

_ 4 2 ,3

231111800

428

181431?00

00001523187

51111311130

153279190603516

00009

2043

201

1296309

40202833303658

00000

320

014018241100

9643103416278152

Mount

Washington

Apr 30

May 20

Jun 3

Jun 17

Jun 30

Jul l l

9

76

554110

000100

4 0 06 0 02 0 01? 3 20 0 00 0 0

1012

32

976614110

24 BC Naturalist

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New nature education facility planned for theSunshine CoastThe Ruby Lake Lagoon Nature Reserve Society, a registered

charity, is working hard to build a first-class Field Studiesand Interpretive Centre.

The Iris Griffith Field Studies Centre, named in honour of thelate local naturalist Iris Griffith, is designed using innovativeconstruction techniques and sustainable practices. The focus ison educational excellence in the study and appreciation of ournatural world for students of all ages. The primary goal of thisproject is to bring long-term, sustainable economic benefit tothe Sunshine Coast through low-impact ecotourism and envi-ronmental education.

The Field Studies Centre, situated within a nature reserveprotected by a joint land conservation covenant with the LandConservancy and the Sunshine Coast Conservation Associa-tion, will house an extensive interpretive display area, advancedclassrooms, wet laboratory, seminar/lecture room, referencelibrary, as well as a natural resources retail outlet. The six-hec-tare reserve, including the beautiful Ruby Lake Lagoon, willhave walkways, trails, and observation stations for everyone toenjoy nature in action.

The entire project is a not-for-profit enterprise, operated bythe Ruby Lake Lagoon Society. Support from the local commu-nity is unanimous; a huge effort has already been expended by asmall army of kind-hearted local volunteers.

Project DescriptionThe Field Studies Centre involves the con-

struction of a 4,500 sq. ft. state-of-the-artbuilding designed to blend in with the sur-rounding landscape. The Centre includes thefollowing components:

•a display area open to the public.

•advanced study areas to facilitate a range of courses for profes-sionals, students, eco-tourists, and special interest groups

• retail space

The Centre is designed to have minimal impact on the sur-rounding environment and to meet the standards necessary toqualify for the Natural Resources Commercial Building Incen-tive Program and the LEED green building rating system.Where possible, construction incorporates reclaimed timberfrom the surrounding locality, and other re-used and recycledbuilding materials. Features such as a reed-bed septic system,thermal water storage control, and solar and wind powersources are included. The aim is to provide an exemplarymodel of the symbiotic relationship between people, ecology,technology and culture.

Our focus is on the conservation, monitoring, and protec-tion of Ruby Lake Lagoon (a relatively undisturbed inlandfreshwater shallow lake ecosystem) and the surrounding naturereserve.

Field Studies CentreAn exciting elementary/secondary school program empowers

young students to connect to the rich and diverse habitat thatsurrounds them. Teachers are invited to host their classroomsfor a primary environmental educational experience.

A teacher-led workshop, with support from the Nature SchoolCoordinator, is part of a long-term curriculum-based course.Many of the courses are field-based with hands-on explorationof the lagoon, the wetland restoration area and guided field tripsto many local nature attractions. The program is modeled on theInnovative Open Minds/Campus Calgary Project, which recentlywon a prestigious National Geographic education award.

Interpretive AreaDivided between two levels with five zones representing

human interaction with the natural environment from "Sea-to-Sky", the area has a viewing room for high-tech audio-visualpresentations and will seat up to 20 people. The viewing roomintroduces background and historical information, such asmight be described through "The Life of the Marbled Mur-relet". Observation platforms, a canopy walkway and wetlandboardwalks encourages outdoor exploration with a minimum

impact on the environment and local wildlife.

For more information on the RubyLake project, check the website atwww.lagoonsociety.com

Ruby Lake LagoonNATURE RESERVE SOCIETY

BC Naturalist 25

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Birding by bicycle— continued from page 12

The owl sighting picked up our spirits so I decided it wouldbe worth it to cycle down the hill into Osoyoos to scan the lakeat the highway bridge. It felt good to sail down through town,trying not to think of the climb backup. On Friday I'd had threespecies at the bridge we hadn't seen yet—Bonaparte's gull, west-ern grebe and bufflehead—and the first two were waiting forus when we arrived. We couldn't find any buffleheads, but didsee three black terns coursing over the water along with a flockof common terns. After a short but steep climb to the Osoyoos

Golf Course, we ped-alled along the main-tenance track to reachthe sewage lagoons andadded five waterfowlspecies in quick order,including a pair of buf-fleheads!

It was 4:30 p.m. bynow, and we couldn't-c

fs delay any longer part.co of the route we wereco most definitely noto looking forward to:E a 14-kilometre climbQ_

to Kilpoola Lake, 600Northern pygmy-owl me(res (2QOO fat)

above the valley floor. We needed to get to Kilpoola to finish offour waterfowl list and be in reasonable habitat for evening owl-ing. We were making such slow time against a north wind thatmy only comforting thought was that perhaps our lack of move-ment might attract a turkey vulture, something we needed forour list. We rested at the highway lookout about four kilometresup the hill, drinking in the spectacular view of Osoyoos Lake,the vineyards and mountains, surrounded by several large thun-derstorm cells we hoped would miss us. On top of the first hill,we took the turnorf to Kilpoola and were immediately (exceptfor Kevin) reduced to pushing our bikes up a very steep stretch.We finally reached Kruger Mountain Road and the first goodbirding pond, adding Wilson's phalarope and green-wingedteal, but a large mixed flock of swallows and white-throatedswifts failed to produce the hoped-for Vaux's swift. Exhausted,we dropped in on our friend Sherry Linn, happy to see that ourwives had dropped off our vehicle as planned. Sherry invited usin for a beer, but we had ginger ale instead, since the last bigclimb to Kilpoola still lay ahead. Sherry's hummingbird feedersare legendary, and we saw all three local species before reachingthe house. As we reclined in the patio chairs, a pair of goldeneagles hovered overhead in the wind.

Reluctantly, we said our thanks to Sherry and headed back upthe hill. Within a few hundred metres I realized I was so tiredI could barely walk my bike up the hill. I called a halt and werested, Orville passed around granola bars and Kevin unpackedthe last of his chocolate chip cookies, hoping that it was a serious

case of low blood sugar that was plaguing me. Within minutesI felt much better and we pedalled on, checking Cooper's hawkoff our list at a staked-out nest, then Swainson's thrushes sing-ing in the dusk. We reached Kilpoola Lake just after sunset andimmediately saw Brewers sparrow and American wigeon, thetwo sought-after species there. A male common goldeneye wasa big bonus, and a great horned owl hooted from the hillside aswe turned to leave. We coasted down through the cool eveningair to Reed Lake, where we stopped to listen for flammulatedowls, and one quickly obliged high above us on the western hill.We had one last possibility to add, and sure enough, just beforereaching Sherry's house again, a common poorwill whistled itsclear song from the pines.

It was 9:30 p.m., we were exhausted and elated. We had cycled108 kilometres over 17 hours and seen a lot of birds. My note-book running tally came to 137 species, but a crosscheck withKevin's checklist showed that I had missed nine, so our day'stotal was a wonderful 146 species. We settled our sore bottomsinto the comfortable car seats and headed north for home.

Dick Cannings was legendary even before his bicyclebirdathon. He is the co-author ^British Columbia, ANatural History, author of the Roadside Naturalist andBirds of the Okanagan. He is also the Canadian coordina-tor of the Christmas Bird Count for Bird Studies Canada.And many other things, but we only have so much space. jf

VANCOUVERTELESCOPE CENTRE

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birding and nature study binoculars and spottingscopes by bushnell and bausch & loinb

VANCOUVER TELESCOPE CENTRE2565 YEW STREET, VANCOUVER, BC, V6K 4T7

TEL/FAX: 604-738-5717WWWVANCOUVERTELESCOPE.COM

26 BC Naturalist

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FBCN presents three new publications

Anew brochure on one of BC's most important bird areas, a trail map of one of BC's

newest — and most controversial - provincial parks and a handy reference guide for field

trips are among the projects the Federation of BC Naturalists has been working on these past

months. Now, they are all available through the FBCN office to any member naturalist.

Below, a bit more about each.

Acollaboration between the Outdoor

Recreation Council of BC, the Ca-

nadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the

Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, the

Southern Chilcotin Mountains Wilder-

ness Society and the Federation of BC

Naturalists, this brochure provides a 1:

100,000 scale map of the South Chil-

cotin Mountains Provincial Park and

nearby areas. Trailhead access, trails and

trail descriptions are included as is an

overview of the area and a brief, but criti-cal section on the long - and continuing

— struggle to ensure that this special place

is truly protected.

Although the map retails for $5, a lim-ited number are available free of charge

to FBCN members.

Federation ofB.C. Naturalists

FEASEKKIVEK

ESTUARY

Under the Important Bird Area

criteria, Boundary Bay, Roberts

Bank and Sturgeon Bank exceed global,

continental and national standards for

the diversity and numbers of birds they

support. The Fraser River Estuary is the

most significant out of 597 IBA sites inCanada. Learn more about the birds, the

habitat and the protection it has.

POCKET FIELD TRIP GUIDE FOR

NATURALIST CLUBS

Federation ofB.C. Naturalists

Designed as a reference for leaders of

day trips — or longer outings — this

pocket field guide is intended to be usedwhen planning and leading field trips.

It was also written for use by boards

of directors when setting up a fieldtrip organization. The guide includes

checklists for field trip leaders and trip

participants. It also lists considerationssuch as waivers, liability insurance and

other factors that boards need to take

into account when organizing field trips

for their club. As well, there is a review

of practical information on such things

as bear awareness in the backcountry,

first aid principles and what to do if a

trip participant becomes lost. While the

pocket guide may not be the only refer-

ence you'll want to have as a trip leader,

it provides lots of information in a small,

handy format, perfect for slipping into

a backpack.

BC Naturalist 27

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Club Chat— compiled by Maria Hamann

Arrowsmith NaturalistsThe Arrowsmith Naturalists have had a very busy summer.

On average, the club has three field trips each month, including

very informative and enjoyable trips to Skutz Falls (near Cow-

ichan), Butchart Gardens (Victoria), Newcastle Island (near

Nanaimo), Mount Arrowsmith (near Port Alberni), Oyster

River (near Courtenay), Home Lake (near Qualicum) to learn

about butterflies, and Paradise Meadows with the Comox Val-

ley Naturalists.

At our May meeting, Hans Boerger told us about the hidden

life in ponds and in June, Nadine Pinnell spoke to us about

whales, dolphins and porpoises. For BC Parks Day in July, the

club was present at three provincial parks - Rathtrevor, Little

Qualicum River and Englishman River. Club members led

several hikes and shared information on flora, fauna and the

natural history of the parks. On July 26, the annual club picnicand potluck was held and enjoyed by many members.

— submitted by Pat Bourgeois

Central Okanagan Naturalists ClubOver the spring and summer, work has continued on erecting

signage on the Mildred Wardlaw Trails. Phase 2 of the Mission

Greenway is well underway, with the first bridge in place and

fundraising has exceeded expectations.

Young Naturalists Club is getting lots of publicity; their most

recent outing focussed on survival in the woods.

Several summer hikes took place, including trips to the Juan

de Fuca Trail on western Vancouver Island, to Manning Park

and to the Kananaskis in Alberta.

It appears that we are getting some response to our water

supply concerns.

On a sad note, the club lost long-time member Clarice

Dupreis- a great hiker and friend to all.

— submitted by Pat Westheuser

Comox Valley Naturalists SocietyThe Comox Valley Naturalists were active participants in the

FBCN's Parks Day activities. We hosted interpretive events for

the public at BC's oldest provincial park — Strathcona - as well

as at Miracle Beach Provincial Park.

Our club also hosted our first regional interclub trip to Para-

dise Meadows in Strathcona Park. Over 50 members of our

Vancouver Island sister clubs turned up to enjoy the flora in ahigh elevation fen.

We have both good and bad news from our Wetlands Restora-

tion Project. The good news is that more than 400 individual

native plants have been planted around the Courtenay river

estuary. They are being watered by club members, Young Natu-

ralists, and the Courtenay 5th Scout Troop. Our project was

featured in the August 14th edition of the Vancouver Sun.

Trie bad news is that our new outboard motor, purchased with

grant money, was stolen from the boat that our crew uses to

access much of the estuary in pursuit of invasive plants.

— submitted by Frank Hovenden

Friends of Semiahmoo Bay SocietyThe society is now in its third year of mapping eelgrass

meadows in Boundary Bay and continues to ground FREMP

aerial-photo-interpreted polygons with partners. The collected

data is entered into the Boundary Bay Area Habitat Atlas on

the Community Mapping Network, www.cmnbc.ca

Amazing volunteers are monitoring eelgrass to note changes

over time. They now have the use of a small inflatable boat and

with the recent purchase of an electric motor they can count

more eelgrass over a wider area and row less!

This year we have a number of scuba events planned and Sept.

12 will see both our land and diver volunteers removing debris

in the eelgrass meadows around the White Rock pier. We have

two amazing coordinators organizing the land and sub-tidalmapping this year.

Other data collection activities include a spring training

workshop for volunteers in the Coastal Shoreline Inventory

Mapping methods followed by the collection of baseline data

of Boundary Bay for the atlas. We also held a June Shorekeep-

ers training workshop where awesome folks formed groups to

commit to survey a section of shoreline annually.

As if the three-day training wasn't enough, they all got out

there in the ensuing few weeks to do their annual survey. Due to

volunteer enthusiasm and commitment we have five sections of

shoreline surveyed already this first year and three more coming

aboard. The surveys tell us what habitat zones and critters are

in that area at a particular time. We also discovered we are only

the second group (the first is in Kitimat) on the mainland doing

Third Annual Canada Taiwan Bird Fair

Saturday October 16Vancouver Public Library

350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver11 am to 5 pm

Opening ceremonies, slide presentations,videos, bird art, prizes, music, exhibits.

Photograph display: "Enchanting Taiwan"October 16 to 30

For details, go to www.canadabirdfair.org

BC Naturalist

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this program. We really hope other groups living by marine

waters will consider the program too.

Birds on the Bay celebrates the Boundary Bay area, part of the

Fraser River estuary, as the number one Important Bird Area

in Canada of 597 sites. The 2004 program was a great success,

again due to all those who contributed their time to make it so.

We are about to reconvene the working committee to plan the

Eelgrass in Serniahmoo Bay

2005 events and update the website, www.birdsonthebay.ca

We continue to steward tree swallow nest boxes and shortly

plan to expand that program to include wood duck nest boxes

by restoring a couple of local discontinued programs.

We've also been participating with the White Rock and Surrey

Naturalists developing a Butterfly Garden in White Rock. They

contributed Eve Bene funds and expert knowledge to the city

to realize that project.

We also have the Eve Bene Funds granted by the White

Rock and Surrey Naturalists to thank for giving us the capac-

ity to achieve much of our project goals in conservation in the

Boundary Bay area.

If anyone would like to participate with us, please contact

our voicemail at (604) 536-3552 and leave a number where

you can be reached.

— submitted by Margaret Cuthbert

Kamloops Naturalist ClubThe club contributed to the City of Kamloops bid to win

the national 2004 Communities in Bloom competition. Our

CIB project, titled "Natural Wonders: Landscape and Nature

in Kamloops" was meant to increase public awareness of and

appreciation for the special natural world that exists within the

city boundaries.

We produced a four-page colour newspaper supplement that

highlighted the geologic history of the area as well as some of

the wildlife and special features found here. The supplement

was free of advertising, thanks to sponsorship funding from

the City of Kamloops Community Enhancement Fund, the

TD Friends of the Environment Fund and the Kamloops Daily

News. The supplement was distributed to 32,000 households.

We had an extra 2,000 copies printed for use as an educational

resource for city schools.

In addition to the supplement, our CIB project had three

other components. The first was a unique Nature Pledge,

printed as a fridge magnet, for distribution to children. We

were also successful in getting city council to adopt the mari-

posa lily as a symbol for nature in Kamloops. And we will work

with the city to enhance interpretive nature signage.

The Young Naturalist Club had its year-end wind-up at the

McQueen Lake Environmental Education Centre. Children,

parents and leaders spent the night in cozy cabins and partici-

pated in a variety of activities. We also said good-bye to our

leader, Stephanie Waggoner who has now moved to Dawson

Creek with her family. Tliank you Stephanie, for a great year

of programs.

— submitted by Margaret Graham

Langley Field NaturalistsOur summer walks each Wednesday evening began in July

and we were joined by the Central Valley club. This gave us

more diversity in our walks and we were able to explore areas as

the Mission Tree Forest and the new Matsqui Trail. The purple

loosestrife control program began in May with the propaga-

tion of Galerucella calmariemis beetles, with more than 3,000

beetles raised from the original 200. These were seeded in mid-

July in three Langley areas affected with purple loosestrife: the

Nicomekel/Brydon floodplain, Aldergrove Park and Langley

Bypass near the Twin Rinks. Areas seeded in the previous five

years showed high numbers of surviving beetles and very weak-

ened plants.

The Forslund-Watson Nature Preserve was visited by a work

party from the club. Armed with clippers and shears, club

members cut back encroaching brambles from the main trail,

from recently planted trees and from the areas where a licensed

bird bander will continue this fall with a bird survey of the

preserve. Our first fall meeting will be on September 17 at the

Langley Arts Centre.

— submitted by Joan WiLmshurst

Lillooet Naturalist SocietyThe club has held educational evenings on Antarctica, Ecua-

dor and the northern spotted owl. Our AGM in July was well

attended. The trail project is coming along slowly, step by step.

We are doing preliminary footwork on the feasibility of hosting

the Fall 2005 FBCN general meeting here and hope to include

the St'at'imc and a presentation on their land use plan. Good

reviews on our bird, bat and bat house brochures, articles and

projects. Our local fundraiser with the calendars is off to a

good start.

— submitted by Vivian Birch-Jones— continued on page 30

BC Naturalist 29

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Club Chat — continued from page 29

Oliver-Osoyoos Naturalist ClubOur club has been very active with walks and hikes this spring.

Our expert birder, Doug Brown, has shared his knowledge onmany of the outings, making them, really enjoyable learningexperiences. As a club and as individuals, we have helped withthe Meadowlark Festival, the Osoyoos Desert Centre, The LandConservancy, a clean-up at Road 22 Birding area. We have alsoadvocated to clean up an Osoyoos wetland area (sadly, no suc-cess with this). We've helped out with Oliver hikes and trails.With the study of the National Park proposal for our area nowin progress, we have many challenges ahead!

— submitted by Vivienne Calder

Rocky Mountain NaturalistsAs always, the Rocky Mountain Naturalists have had a busy

summer out scouring the East Kootenay for plants, butterflies,birds and anything else that piques our interest. A few of ourmembers attended the southeast regional meeting in Trail,where they learned about the diverse range of activities thateach club undertakes. This is an annual event held in differentparts of the region and provides an excellent forum for sharingideas and information and simply providing support.

We've been lucky to have a few locally "rare" species pass bythese parts, including a great egret, white-faced ibis and several

Ross' geese. As the summer winds to a close, we'll pack in a fullday of activities at Kikomun Creek, and then relax with ourannual Beach and BBQday at Jim Smith Lake.

— submitted by Tara Szkorupa

Salt Spring Island Trail & Nature ClubOur Trail Committee has done a magnificent job recently,

monitoring and working on trails all over the island: they have

team of enthusiasts who report on the condition of their localtrails and groups are mustered. Another member has carvedsigns that have been erected at the entrance to most possiblepublic trails and water accesses.

In early June, our Ramblers group made a two-day excursion north of Courtenay ro visit the Kitty Coleman WoodlandGardens and see the 3,500 rhododendrons at their best. On theway home, they stopped at Milner Gardens and Woodland inQualicum with its 2.5-hectare ocean-garden in 15 hectares ofold-growth forest.

In September, a large contingent has planned a three-day visitto Strathcona Park.

Charles Kahn launched his new book, Hiking the Gulf Islands(see review on page 22 — Ed.) at our May social gathering.

A number of members were involved in nature educationtours for students organized by the Salt Spring Island Conserv-

ancy on the recently-acquired Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. Itwas a great success and we hope a new generation of natural-ists may spring up. At least they have all learned how ro tacklebroom even if they can't yet remember the difference berweensalal and Oregon grape.

— submitted by J.N. Braithwaite

Sunshine Coast Conservation AssociationNew issues continue to fall our way and, as the umbrella

group for conservation groups on the Sunshine Coast, we feelwe must take these on. One huge piece is that we now havethe ability to hold covenants on property that has identifiedecological values. This includes ecological giving.

We are also very involved with the Habitat Stewardship Pro-gram-HSP and the Pacific Salmon Foundation, working on

the Sakinaw sockeye recovery plan and the private land in areasadjacent to some Texada lakes that are homes to endangeredsticklebacks.

DISCOVERY Open Subscription Form.̂ ~~\

We are now offering subscriptions to readers everywhere, without the obligation of membershipin the Vancouver Natural History Society. (Members of the society will, of course, continueto receive their journal as part of their membership.)

Name :

Address:

E-mail: Tel:(

Subscription enclosed: Q $7.50 for one issue U $15 for two issues

Please mail this to:The Editor, Discovery, 4635 Bellevue Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6R 1E7 Canada, with your cheque or money order payable toVancouver Natural History Society.

30 BC Naturalist

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SCCA is putting together a history of the Chapman Water-shed, which is the main source of water for homes and industryon the Sunshine Coast- There is a private landowner now log-ging in this watershed, and the rumour is that the companywill apply for permission to extract gravel after logging. Wehave had a presentation from the Regional District on waterconservation program that must be developed.

We are also getting involved with Marine Protected Areas andreduction of toxics into the environment.

— submitted by Marianne Larsen

Vancouver Natural History SocietyThe annual summer camp was held from July 25 to August

1 at McGillivray Pass, southeast of Bralorne toward AndersonLake. The site was on the side of the valley affording magnifi-cent views. Fifty-two club members and family attended Mostpeople hiked in to the pass (about three to four hours). BillKinkaid, Botany Section liaison director, for one, led educa-tional hikes featuring botany and birds. The flowers were abun-dant highlighted by cascades of yellow and pink mimulus; 43bird species were seen and one wolf. Members hiked both sidesof the valley with small groups reaching the summits of bothStar (2,297 metres) and McGillivray (2,543 metres) moun-tains. Easier hikes, photography and swimming were enjoyedby all. David Foreman, camp liaison director, will supply a fullreport in the next issue of Discovery. Another camper (4th year)declared this the best camp. The whole group was extremely

congenial. In the evenings after a gourmet meal, tall tales andbanjo and fiddle music were marvellous. See you there nextyear for sure.

Closer to home, the club became one of the founding organi-zations involved in the Jericho Stewardship Group. Over time,the group hopes to enhance and restore the more natural habi-tat found in Jericho Park in Vancouver. A successful work partyfor removing invasive plants such as Scotch broom, Japaneseknotweed, English ivy and yellow flag happened in August.Monthly work parties are in the works.

— submitted by Adrian Grant-Duff £&

Northwest Recreation

www.northwestrecreation.com(866)626-3949

AH-lnclusive Land-based Guided Tours ofHaida Gwaii/the Queen Charlotte Islands

"Your guide io discovery on Ihe Queen Charlotte Islands"

If you love nature and if you live in BC

Get involved!Development and other pressures are eroding many of EC's forests, grasslands and wetlands. To preservethese precious areas and maintain viable ecosystems and wildlife habitat, we must spread the word abouttheir importance and work to ensure their protection.

The Federation of BC Naturalists has 4,000 members in 45 clubs throughout the province who do just that.You can join a Federated Club and become a member of the FBCN at the same time. Or, if there is nonaturalist club in your area, you can join the FBCN as a Direct Member and receive BC Naturalistfour times a year.

Please provide me with information about naturalist clubs in my area LI

I would like to become a Direct Member of the Federation of BC Naturalists Q

I enclose $15 for the annual dues for a Direct Membership (if applicable) U

Name Street address

Postal Code E-mail address

Mail to: FBCN, 307 - 1367 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 4A9or by e-mail to [email protected] ,

The above information will be used solely for the purpose of providing services to members orfor the organization of the Federation's programs and activities.

For more information about the FBCN visit the website at www.naturalists.bc.ca

BC Naturalist 31

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Dancing in the Bay: Secrets of the Shuswap— by Ed Mcdonald

When you look at a map of the Shuswap Lake you mightthink: "Wow, it looks like an octopus!" Of course, you

would be only half right since the lake has only four arms. Halfan octopus or not, it is still very large. To walk the entire shore-line, you would cover a distance of 1,430 kilometres.

The lake also has a sizeable appetite. Five generous rivers — theAdams, Seymour, Eagle, Shuswap and Salmon — feed it. Thelake was sculpted by glacierscutting through granite which,for the most part, provided asteep-sided lake with crystalclear water. In fact, the word'shuswap' is a First Nationsword that means "shimmeringwaters".

The Salmon Arm Bay, referredto as the gem of the Shuswap,does not glitter like the rest ofthe lake. It has more of an opal-escence quality caused by siltdeposited by the Salmon River.This river begins its course highon the Douglas Plateau andmeanders some 100 kilometresto the mouth. Over the centu-ries, this has led to the only sig-nificant marshland in the entirelake. This marsh extends fromSandy Point to Mallard Bay - adistance of about 8 kilometres.

The marsh is best known for being the home of the largestnesting colony of western grebes in all of BC. Visitors comeeach spring to witness the courtship ritual that consists ofelaborate dancing displays.

SALMON ARM

The marsh teems with an abundance and variety of life. Itboasts some rare plants, including moss grass (Coleanthus sub-tills) and mosquito fern (Azola mexicana). In a four-year moni-toring program, naturalists have identified 230 species of birdsthat have come to the area. It is also home to muskrats, beavers,river otters, painted turtles and Pacific tree frogs making it oneof the most productive ecosystems in the southern interior.

Encroaching on this complexityof life is an ever-growing popula-tion of people, which in turn, hasbrought about ever-increasingdevelopment.

The goal of the naturalists inthe area is to have people recog-nize the marsh as a most precioushabitat and not to view it as awasteland. Students from kindergarten to college are encouraged to use it as a classroom, tostudy the inter-relationships ofliving species, including humansWe want to continue to hear thesilver chain of song — chirrupswhistles, croaks and twitters

— and to somehow protect iifrom the urban sprawl. A hugttask, but we won't despair lesiwe become paralyzed and dtnothing.

So like the grebes, we are dancing as fast as we can to preserve the marsh. Please join us for;dance at the Spring 2005 AGM in Salmon Arm.

Look for registration forms and more details on programs ancoutings in the winter issue of BC Naturalist.

32

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The Shuswap Naturalist Clubis proud to host the

Federation of BC Naturalists 2005 Annual General Meeting

May 12 to 15at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort

Federation of Dancing in the Bay:B.C. Naturalists A study ofwetlands in an urban setting

Thursday evening:Register in the lobby of the Prestige Resort and enjoy a casual guided tour along the interior's longest wharf

for your first glimpse of dancing grebes.

Friday:Keynote speaker will be Rick Howie, who was the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection's representative

for many years in the management of the area under Nature Trust. Rick will relate the fascinating story of the

marsh over the past 15 years.

Visit Gardom Lake, the birthplace of the "Living by Water" project. Sarah Kipp and Clive Galloway will take

you on a walk and provide you with a before and after look at the lakeshore.

Frank Kime, who, along with his wife Doris, has monitored western grebes in the bay for the past 15 years,will offer a slide presentation.

The Salmon River Roundtable Committee will show you how - by a community effort - life was restored to

the river.

Field tripsA variety of field trips will be offered that will focus on different aspects of the marsh.

Evening reception accompanied by a video showiug the flora and fauna of the bay.

Saturday:Directors' meeting in the morning.

Annual General Meeting in the afternoon.

A field trip in the morning to Haney Heritage Park to view spring wildflowers and to learn about the early

history of Salmon Arm, which will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2005.

In the evening there will be the banquet and awards ceremony and the guest speaker will talk on Species atRisk in the Wetlands.

Sunday:Several tours are planned, such as to a wetlands on private property and Mara Meadows, an ecological reserve.

BC Naturalist - 33

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Federation of BC NaturalistsHonorary President Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan

PresidentVice PresidentVice PresidentPast PresidentTreasurerRecording SecretaryConservation ChairKootenay Regional CoordinatorLower Mainland Regional CoordinatorNorthern B.C. Regional CoordinatorVancouver Island Regional CoordinatorThompson Okanagan Regional Coordinator

Member

Jeremy McCallRosemary FoxTom BurgessAnne MurrayDonald McLellanAnne MurrayBev RameyBrenda BalaamGeorge BanghamSandra KinseyBetty CollinsEd McDonald

Tel604-876-3313250-847-5150250-642-0015604-943-4460604-526-6521604-943-4460604-224-7689250-368-9677604-731-7669250-963-8381250-752-4744250-835-8802

Fax604-876-3313250-847-5150

604-943-0273604-252-3175

604-224-7622250-368-9676

250-963-8381

Email

[email protected]@bulkley.nettandjburgess@shaw,[email protected]

[email protected]@telus.net

[email protected]@[email protected]@jetstream.net

Consultants to the FBCN:

Ross C. McCutcheonJoe Wan

Lower Mainland

Partner, Maitland & Company, Barristers and SolicitorsCertified Management Accountant

700-625 Howe, Vancouver V6C 2T6203-223 W. Broadway, Vancouver V5Y1P5

Dir./Pres. Address Tel Fax EmailAlouette Field NaturalistsBowen Nature ClubBurke Mountain NaturalistsCentral Valley NaturalistsChilliwack Field NaturalistDelta Naturalists'SocietyFriends of Semiahmoo Bay Society, White RockLangley Field Naturalist SocietyRender Harbour & District Wildlife SocietyRoyal City Field NaturalistsSquamish Estuary Conservation SocietySunshine Coast Natural History SocietyVancouver Natural History SocietyVancouver Natural History SocietyVancouver Natural History SocietyVancouver Natural History SocietyWhistler Naturalists SocietyWhite Rock & Surrey Naturalists Society

Terry McComasMargaret CuthbertJoan WilmshurstJoe Harrison

Box J18,1455 Upland Trail, Bowen Island VON 1GOPO Box 52540 RPO Coq. Ctr,Coquitlam V3B 7J4Box 612 Mamstation, Abbotsford V2S 6R7

13691-113thAve,SurreyV6R2J215425 Columbia Ave White Rock BC V4B1K1Box 56052 Valley Centre PO.Langley V3A 8B3S4C9RR1, Garden Bay, BON 150903-1219 Harwood, Vancouver V6E1S5Box 1274, Squamish VON 3GOBox543,SecheltVON3AO4317W12lhAve,Vancouver4135W16ihAve.,Vancouver1039 Scantlings, Vancouver V6H3N94139 Sunsei Blvd. N.Vancouver7-6320 Lorimer Road.Whistler VON 1B6Box 75004, White Rock V4B5L3

604-585-4416604-536-3552604-534-4314

604-854-3204

[email protected][email protected]

[email protected]@telus.nei

[email protected]@hotmail.com

[email protected]{[email protected]

[email protected]@istar.ca

[email protected]@inspection.gc.ca

Northern BC

Dir./Pres. Address Tel Fax EmailBulkley Valley NaturalistsMackenzie Nature ObservatoryPrince George Naturalist ClubQuesnel NaturalistsSkeena Valley NaturalistsTimberline Trail & Nature ClubWilliams Lake Field Naturalists Society

Box 3126, Smithers VOJ 2NO 250-846-9231Box 1598, Mackenzie VOJ 2CO 250-997-6913Box 1092, Stn A, Prince George V2L4V2 250-564-8432Box 4296 Quesnel BCV2J3J3513 C-A1RR4 Water Lily Bay Road, Terrace V8G 4V2 250-798-25359049 Elwood Drive, Dawson Creek V1G 3M8 250-782-44851305ABorland Dr, Williams lake V2G 5K5 250-392-7680

[email protected]@telus.net

[email protected][email protected]

Publications mail agreement no. 40043545

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:

Federation of BC Naturalists

307-1367 West Broadway

Vancouver BC V6H 4A9

email:[email protected]

34 BC Naturalist

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Kootenay

Boundary Naturalists AssociationRocky Mountain NaturalistsWest Kootenay Naturalists' Association

Dir./Pres. Address Tel250-442-0447

250-226-0012

Fax Email

Thompson-Okanagan

Dir./Pres. Address Tel Fax EmailCentral Okanagan Naturalist ClubKamloops Naturalist ClubLillooet Naturalist SocietyNorth Okanagan Naturalists' ClubNorth Shuswap Naturalist ClubOliver-Osoyoos NaturalistsShuswap Naturalists ClubSimilkameen Naturalist ClubSouth Okanagan Naturalist ClubVermilion Forks Field Naturalists

Vancouver Island

Box396,StnA,KelownaV1Y7N8Box 625, Kamloops V2C5L7Box 1065, Lillooet VOK1VO5777McClureRd,VernonV1B3R1Site16,Comp,24,RR1,CelislaVOE1LOBox 1181, OsoyoosVOKMTOBox1076, Salmon Arm V1E4P2RR1,C5S33,CawstonVOX1CORR1 rS32,C84, Okanagan Falls VON 1ROBox 2074, Princeton VOX 1WO

250-769-6627

Dir./Pres. Address Tel Fax EmailArrowsmith Naturalists UVComox Valley Naturalists Society ) 10Cowichan Valley Naturalists Society <^4Mitlenatch Field Naturalists Society 5 ,jNanaimo Field Naturalists V ̂Pender Island Field Naturalists ^>Rtihet's Bog Conservation Society ] "̂Rocky Point Bird Observatory \Saltspring Trail & Nature Club 1 f 1Victoria Natural History Society < icfVictoria Natural History Society

Affiliate Groups

Box 7944, ParksvilleV9P2H71420 McPhee Ave., Courtenay V9N 5N4Box 361, Duncan V9L 3X5Box 105, Quathiaski Cove VOP1NOBox 125, Stn A, Nanaimo V9R5K41102 Stanley Point Dr., Pender Island VON 2M14337 Northridge Ores, Victoria5308 Mynabird Lane, Victoria V8Y 3H6Box 203, Ganges, Salt Spring Island V8K 2V9Box 5220, Stn B, Victoria VSR 6N4Box 5220, Stn B, Victoria V8R6N4

250-285-2981

Dir./Pres. Address Tel Fax EmailRichmond Field NaturalistsKitimat Valley NaturalistsOsoyoos Desert SocietyMalaspina Naturalist ClubSunshine Coast Conservation AssociationNanoose Naturalists

Associate GroupsAllan Brooks Nature Centre Society, Vemon, 250-260-4227Alexander McKenzie Voyageur Route Association, Kelowna, 250-860-4782Boundary Bay Conservation Committee, Delta, 604-943-6406Biology Coop. Education Coordinators, Univ. of VictoriaBurns Bog Conservation Society, Delta 604-572-0373Cfiarlie Lake Conservation Society, Charlie LakeCreston Valley Wildlife Mgt, Area Society, Creston, 250-428-3260Comox Valley Project Watershed, CourtenayEvergreen Foundation. Vancouver 604-689-0766Federation of BC Mountain Clubs, Vancouver, 604-878-7007Francis Ft Marine Park Society, Madeira Park, 604-883-2730Friends of Caren, Madeira Park, www.friendsofcaren.orgFriends of Cortes Island Society, Whaleton, 250-935-0087Friends of Cypress Provincial Park Society, West Vancouver, 604-922-7949Friends of the Stikine, GibsonsGarry Oak Meadow Preservation Society, VictoriaGrassy Plains School, Burns LakeThe Land Conservancy of BC, Victoria 250-479-8053, Vancouver 604-733-2313Land Trust Alliance of BC, Salt Spring Island, 250-538-0112Lighthouse Park Preservation Society, West Vancouver 604-921 -3382

250-495-6161

Macdonald Wood Park Society, Comox, 250-339-4370Native Plant Society of BC, Vancouver, 604-255-5719Natural History Soc. of Nfld & Labrador, St. Johns, NfldNature Saskatchewan, Regina, SK, 306-713-6698Nature Trust of BC, North Vancouver, 604-924-9771Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society, Summerland, 250-494-8996Riverview Horticultural Society, Coquitlam, 604-290-9910Sargeant Bay Society, SecheltSave Our Parkland Association, Vancouver, 604-224-7027Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC),Vancouver, 604-736-7732Soil & Water Conservation Society, Langley, 604-888-7511Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society, DuncanStanley Park Ecology Association,Vancouver 604-257-6908Stoney Creek Environment Commitee, Burnaby, BC 604-420-9132Students for Environmenlal Awareness, Camosun College, Victoria, 250-370-3139Swan Lake/Christmas Hill Nature Centre, Victoria, 250-479-0811Trails BC, Vancouver 604-737-3188West Vancouver Streamkeepers, Vancouver, 604-984-9311Wild Bird Trust of BC, Vancouver 604-921-8253World Wildlife Fund, 1-800-26PANDAB.E.A.R.S., North Vancouver 604-924-9281

BC Naturalist 35

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TOURS FOR NATURALISTS

BC FALL COLOURS/WATERFALLS

15-18th October 2004 (4 days) Cost $599 (Dbl occup) from VancouverWe visit Wells Gray Park, "the waterfall park", with its many beautiful falls. Our drive throughthe Coquihalla, the Cariboo, Duffey Lake Road and Sea to Sky Highway will coincide with the

peak of the golden fall colour of the aspen, birch, cottonwood and maple.

HAWAII FOR NATURALISTS%

24 January-3 February 2005 (10 days) Cost c.$2500 (Dbl occup) from HonoluluThe Hawaiian Islands are famous for many things: their climate, their natural beauty rangingfrom tropical beaches to waterfalls and high volcanoes, their endemic vegetation, unique bird

species and marine life. The tour will introduce you to these various elements on3 of the islands, Oahu, Maui & Hawaii.

ARIZONA IN FEBRUARY

21 February-3 March 2005 (11 days) Cost $1950 (Dbl occup) from PhoenixJoin us in exploring some of the most famous desert landscapes in the world.

Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon, Santa Catalina Mountains, Tombstone,Chiracahuas, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Sedona.

THE SUNSHINE COAST FOR NATURALISTS

11-15 July 2005 (5 days) Cost $1450 (Dbl occup) from VancouverThe Sunshine Coast exemplifies the best of coastal BC, where the temperate rainforest meets the

blue of the Salish Sea in a confusion of magnificent fjords and green islands. Our base is thestunning West Coast Wilderness Lodge (meals included). Four separate cruises

are included on different days: world famous Princess Louisa

"On a scale of 1 to 10, we decided this little trip deserved a 10+" Mr. & Mrs. Z. (Delta)

Please call or e-mail for more info

Leader: TONY GREENFIELD(Pres, Sunshine Coast Natural History Society, Past Pres. BC Field Ornithologists)

WHISKEYJACK NATURE TOURSBOX 319, SECHELT, BC, VON 3AO

Tel: 604-885-5539, E-m: [email protected]

BC Naturalist is published four times per year by the Federation of BC Naturalists - #307 - 1367 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 41

Publication Agreement No. 40043545