Our wintering bird monitoring program is currently ongoing. For more information contact iibo [at] wildresearch.ca.

We recently concluded a successful fall migration monitoring season at Iona Island Bird Observatory. Fox and Song Sparrows as well as Yellow Warblers comprised the majority of new captures, while Fox Sparrows were the most commonly recaptured species. More detailed results from our spring and fall seasons will be published soon.

Thank you to all who attended and helped with the organization! We had a great time being entertained by stories from Russell Cannings’ Big Year in BC, duking it out for top spot in the Bird Quiz, and seeing the results from WildResearch’s 2011 projects.

Thanks to everyone who came on WildResearch’s first pelagic trip! Despite some rough seas early on, the trip was a great success. Highlights included several Black-footed Albatross, South Polar Skua, Buller’s Shearwater, Pomarine Jaeger, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Sabine’s Gull, and a Short-tailed Shearwater. We saw dozens of Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwater cruising the waves, and we had several humpback whales give us a nice show. For a complete trip list, please visit the Pelagic page.

In mid-August, WildResearch assisted with organizing the field trips for the 4th Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group Meeting. The meeting was held at Simon Fraser University and was attended by approximately 150 shorebird biologists from North and South America and Europe. WildResearch offered three field trips for the meeting participants to birding hotspots in the Lower Mainland.