Vancouver Island Nature Tours

Every year for the past 17 years I have organized the Christmas Bird Count. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years.  Sometimes it’s weather other times its people. We’ve had remarkable finds in the past too. Some notable finds have been a Cattle Egret from 1992, tundra Swans in 1995 & ’96 a [...]

I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all the readers who come here over the next month or so a warm greeting. This image was taken during an unusually early snowstorm a couple of weeks ago. I photo-shopped it to make it look like a drawing.  It ‘s a Varied Thrush. Which reminds me [...]

I think that there is lots of unrealized potential in Sproat Lake to attract visitors to the area. Even in the summer there is plenty of space for everyone. Two Rivers Arm is vacant for most of the year. And Taylor Arm, the largest arm on the lake, is also largely empty. But every summer [...]

Many of the trails on Central Vancouver Island, including the Alberni Valley, are only known by locals. Often people new to the area need to meet people who have been in the area for a while before they find out where these trails are. They are usually not mapped by anyone except perhaps by a [...]

This is a classic example of a stilt-tree. What’s a stilt-tree? Well this tree germinated where the red dot in this photo is. When this tree germinated from a seed there was a stump here. and it germinated on the stump. As time passed the seedling grew as the stump rotted. The moist rainforest climate [...]

I recently ran across a couple at Victoria Quay in Port Alberni. They had the tell-tale sign of a birder and a visitor – binoculars hanging from their necks and hanging around the signs by the Somass River. I approached them and they started asking about how to get to the bird sanctuary on the [...]

One of my favourite places to go is Fossli Provincial Park. Despite it being a provincial park, few people are aware of it. It’s on the other side of Sproat Lake. That is, on the south side. But it’s not that hard to get to. And it is a wonderful place to spend a hot [...]

Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) Originally uploaded by TheRainbird This lobster-like creature is very common in the streams and lakes of the Pacific Northwest. Although its claws are much smaller than it’s saltwater cousin they can still give a nasty pinch! I took the first picture last summer on one of my nature tours. I had [...]

“King tide” is a phrase used in Australia and the South Pacific to describe the highest tides of the year. They occur once in the summer and once in the winter. In Australia, they are considered quite dangerous for surfing. They are also becoming recognized as useful indicators of any effect of rising sea levels. [...]

How many birds in the flock? Originally uploaded by TheRainbird With Christmas Bird Counts starting all across North America next week it is timely to begin thinking about how good you are at counting birds in a flock. In this case, it is a flock of Starlings congregating in the evening before settling on a [...]