The Pigeons and Doves of Mayne Island Birds provide a rich contribution to our island soundscape through their songs, calls and other sounds. We have three representatives of the pigeon and dove family which contribute the wonderful cooing sounds we can hear through out the forests, shorelines and gardens of Mayne Read more…
Editor’s note: we are delighted to welcome Herbie Rochet as our guest writer for this post. Herbie and Bernard Rochet are Mayne Island’s stewards of the BC Purple Martin Stewardship and Recovery Project. Among the beautiful sights and sounds of summer on Mayne Island are the aerobatics and voices of the Read more…
Article by Michael Dunn. Photos by Don Enright. Meet the Anna’s Hummingbird The Anna’s hummingbird is a relative newcomer to Mayne Island. In fact, it has only been a year-round resident for the last decade or so, although we don’t know for sure that the birds that breed here are Read more…
Mayne Island is full of beautiful, brightly-coloured birds right now—they’re just a bit hard to spot. As a kid growing up, I was captivated by images of tropical birds, with their impossibly bright feathers. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I realized we have some outrageously bright Read more…
Do you have bats on your property? Have you seen them entering or exiting their daytime roosts? The Mayne Island Community Bat Conservation Program is looking for roosting colony sites for our Annual Bat Count. Currently we know of only one roost colony, and we are looking for more on Read more…
What’s up with all the Steller’s jays? Article by Michael Dunn. Photos by Don Enright When I was young and growing up in Victoria, I recall late summer and early fall months when Steller’s jays were everywhere around my neighbourhood. I lived very close to Beacon Hill Park and knew then Read more…
The Conservancy’s second annual Community Bat Program has increased in size with several important milestones including: a celebrated Community Bat presentation by HAT wildlife biologists, 18 bat surveys across Mayne Island, and over 100 bat sightings. These observations coupled with guano samples support species identification and assist in monitoring population Read more…
The long, dark winter is over. by Don Enright Yesterday, we took a walk along St. John Point. We’ve been leading our Sunday visits there for a while now, and it has been remarkable to watch the changing of the seasons along its rocky shores. Particularly this year, with its wild Read more…
One of my favourite rituals of spring is to seek out the very first flowers of the salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis). Once I’ve found a good patch of blooms, I settle in and listen for quick, low humming sound whizzing by my ears. There! A rufous hummingbird, hovering for salmonberry nectar. Read more…
Introduction by Michael Dunn and Mike Hoebel For 2013, six stewards provided their observations of bird and marine mammal activities within the Important Bird Area (IBA.) Compared to the first year of steward observations, the number of reports were down and coming on a less regular basis. Michael Dunn and Read more…