Discover Comox Valley Awards Grant to CVN!
Discover Comox Valley in conjunction with Comox Valley Economic Development and Tourism has awarded Comox Valley Nature a substantial Grant towards the BC Nature AGM and Conference May 12 to 14, 2016. The AGM Planning Committee wishes to thank both Discover Comox Valley and the Members of the Grant of CVEDS. With your help we know the Conference will be a success.
For more information check out http://www.discovercomoxvalley.com/
A Second Field trip to Vancouver Island University’s Marine Research Station has been added to the schedule! It is now available on Friday May 13th and Saturday May 14th at 1:30.
Both trips are now posted in the latest Conference Program and Registration Form.
Holiday Inn Express, a Three-Star Hotel, and the newest hotel in Comox Valley is offering a special discount rate for Delegates to the BC Nature AGM and Conference!
Simply quote the CVN Block Code for a 14.5% discount of the rate!
All this and a short 10 minute walk via the Riverside Trail to the Conference Centre!
November 30
A list of recommended Accommodations for the BC Nature AGM in Courtenay is now available. Look in the Accommodations Tab under the BC Nature AGM 2016 Drop Down Menu
This morning turned out to be a beautiful morning….clear, calm, sunny. Ten birders saw the following 43 species:
Mallard
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Black-bellied Plover
Dunlin
Pigeon Guillemot
Mew Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Herring/Glaucous-winged Gull hybrid
Eurasian-collared Dove
Anna’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick’s Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brewer’s Blackbird
House Finch
Thursday November 19th was a cold but sunny morning at the Air Park.
Twelve birders saw the following 36 species, the highlights being a flock of 40 Red Crossbills and an immature Cooper’s Hawk.
Trumpeter Swan
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Killdeer
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collard-dove
Belted Kingfisher
Pileated Woodpecker
Northwestern Crow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
In glorious sunshine on Monday 9th a (baker’s) dozen of us walked around the trails in Miracle Beach examining mosses and liverworts under Jocie’s expert guidance. We saw all of the 10 mosses on page 1 of her handout on Mosses, plus a few of those of the second page. These included the palm tree moss (Leucolepis acanthoneuron) and the electrified cat’s tail (Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus) on the forest floor and thread moss (Isothecium myosuroides) on conifer trunks. We examined four liverworts (all with evocative common names): yellow ladle (Scapania bolanderi), cedar shake (Plagiochila porelloides), little hands (Lepidozia reptans) and tree ruffle (Porella navicularis).
Comox Valley Nature would like to introduce Kees Visser, who has a Ph.D in Geology through the Universaity of Amsterdam, and amongst much experience in the field, has worked for Petro- Canada as a Development and Exploration Geologist in Alberta, Saskatchewan, BC and Yukon and a Exploration Manager for North Africa and the Middle East.
Before retiring, in his last few years he worked as an Advisor to the VP Exploration, where he made a report on the HC potential of the WestCoast (with a Shell colleague) and the potential of the Yukon and NW territories. Kees’s talk he will mostly touch upon rocks, timescales, but also on LNG, drilling, fracking and other geological disciplines, such as paleontology, stratigraphy and tectonics. This lecture, entitled: “Geology, Rocks and Times, An Education” will take place at the Florence Filberg Seniors Centre at 7pm (sharp) November 15, 2015.
This Thursday November 5th thirteen birders went to Oyster Bay and the mouth of the Oyster River where we found 38 species. The morning was cool and sunny but warmed up later. We enjoyed large numbers of the regular winter waterbirds. The highlights were a Rock Sandpiper feeding with a flock of Dunlin and a Peregrine Falcon – presumably waiting to feed on the Dunlin.
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Harlequin
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black Turnstone
Dunlin
Rock Sandpiper
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Peregrine Falcon
Steller’s Jay
Northwestern Crow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Golden-crowned Sparrow
House Finch
This is the first notice of Christmas Bird Counts so mark your calendars!
The count dates and contact information are as follows:
Comox CBC –- Sunday Dec 20 –- Carol Muirhead : caroljmuirhead at shaw dot ca or call 250-331-0511.
Little River-Powell River Ferry CBC — Wednesday Dec. 30 –- Art Martell : amartell at shaw dot ca or call 250-334-2979. Meet at the Little River ferry terminal by 0945 for the 10 AM sailing. All are welcome.
Remember to sign up for 2 or 3 — the opportunity comes only once a year. Many of our members take part in all counts held in our area.
The Deep Bay CBC will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Please contact Bill Stewart at bmstewart at shaw dot ca or at (250) 338-1855 if you would like to help on this count. More details will be provided as the date gets closer.
The Campbell River CBC will be held on Sunday, Dec. 27. Each year in the past several Comox Valley birders have gone up to help on this count, so if you would like to do so please contact Luisa Richardson at (250) 923-9918. More details to follow at a later date.
