Eight members from the Nature Nanaimo club ventured up to Parksville to experience part of the annual Brant Wildlife Festival. Hosted by the Arrowsmith club, Brant in the Bay featured a number of scopes that visitors could use to view a gaggle of Brant geese feeding in a sheltered coastal lagoon in Parksville Bay, at …
Brant in the Bay with the Arrowsmith Naturalists – Mar. 31, 2019Read More »
Unfortunately today’s club outing leader, Staffan, was hit with a bad cold and couldn’t make it out. However, we received this fantastic report by Ilse: We certainly missed you at today’s outing. But we made the best of it, saw hundreds of sea lions, thousands of gulls, and millions of herring being unloaded from the …
Twenty enthusiastic Nature Nanaimo members boarded “Janie’s Got A Bus” last Saturday morning and headed across the island to Port Renfrew and Botanical Beach for some nature enjoyment under a beautiful blue sky. We stopped along the way for views of the massive Harris Creek Sitka spruce, Harris creek and a small canyon, as well …
Lance Nordstrom, with contributed photographs by Bob Harvey Braving a rather chilly wind, a dozen Nature Nanaimo members ventured out onto the mud flats at Rathtrevor provincial park to view migrating Brant and other shore birds, including Surf scoters, Glaucous-winged gulls, California gulls, Mew gulls, Dunlins, Mallards, Common goldeneye, Black oystercatchers and several other species. …
On a sunny but slightly chilly morning, 15 Nature Nanaimo members gathered for a walk around the trails of Morrell Nature Sanctuary. Lance Nordstrom led us up the Tranquility trail towards Morrell Lake. A few minutes in a Barred Owl called its typical “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” Shortly thereafter we heard …
Nature Ramble to Morrell Nature Sanctuary – Feb. 2, 2019Read More »
A cheerful crowd of 13 Nature Nanaimo members gathered at the Morell Nature Sanctuary at 9 am. To everyone’s surprise and delight, the weather gods were in a good mood, making for a pleasant outing. The purpose of the excursion was to learn about mushrooms and other fungi from Andy, who graciously had come to …
A mushroom walk with Andy MacKinnon – Nov. 23, 2018Read More »
Trip to the Raptors – Sept 16, 2018 An enthusiastic group of a dozen plus Nature Nanaimoites visited The Raptors in Duncan, on Sun. Sept 16th, carpooling together from Chase River. The Centre is dedicated to the conservation of birds of prey, care of a number of raptors (and other unusual residents), wildlife …
We joined local paleontologist Graham Beard for a fossil hunt in Nanoose.
A small group of members gathered outside the Oyster Bay Cafe at the Ladysmith Community Marina where we received an excellent education about the biology and conservation of our largest swallow from Bruce Cousens and Charlene Lee. There are opportunities for volunteer participation in this program, including building and servicing nest boxes. For more information …
Western Purple Martin Recovery Program – June 8, 2018Read More »
We explored Lotus pinnatus park to view the abundant wildflowers.
A small but intrepid group of Nature Nanaimoites met at Milner Gardens in Qualicum on Sat. April 28. The rain didn’t stop us from enjoying a tour of the Gardens and a presentation on phenology research being conducted jointly by the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) and Milner through Vancouver Island University, and …
Nature Nanaimo members joined author and marine biologist Rick Harbo, on an outing to examine life in the intertidal zone on Holland Bank beach in Ladysmith.
We toured the 8 acre recovery centre to learn about the work being done at the centre as well as viewing captive eagles, owls, ravens and other wildlife. Learn more here.
We had a lecture and guided tour of the VIU field station in Bowser and learned about their extensive oyster research program. For more information about the station, click here.