Return of the Osprey Festival. Sounds intriguing. Where do ospreys go? When do they leave? And why?
The osprey’s story, and many others, will be revealed at the annual Return of the Osprey Festival at the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver July 23-24.
Ospreys and the purple martin, another migratory avian species, are conservation projects of the Wild Bird Trust. When the Vancouver Port Authority leased the land to
Environment Canada for a wildlife conservation area, the Wild Bird Trust, founded by Richard Beard and Patricia Banning-Lover, became the site manager.
Patricia reflects on the journey that began nearly a quarter century ago. “We started literally from scratch, gathering pop cans along the road to raise funds, and it is slowly turning into a success thanks to a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.”
Before the Wild Bird Trust took on the task of creating the North Shore’s first wildlife sanctuary, Maplewood Flats, or the mud flats, as they were known, wore the scars of industry.
Gravel was quarried and loaded onto barges. Excavation debris from the West End – porches, stonework, gardens – was dumped here.
In recent memory, fishing shacks along the foreshore sheltered creative types – novelist Malcolm Lowry, poet Earl Birney and artist Al Neil – and people who wished to live close to nature. That time is remembered in Ken Lum’s public art installation, from shangri-la to shangri-la, which has a permanent home in the conservation area.
This industrial wasteland and squatters haven has been restored and transformed over time into an Eden for flora, fauna and fowl. Landscape architect Patrick Mooney developed habitat to return the site to its natural state. Mooney describes the reclamation process in a video produced by the Suzuki Foundation for its Making Policy Live series at youtube.com/watch?v=IRyAmymTyDE.
With the Pacific Flyway directly overhead, the site is a migration pit stop as well as a permanent residence for close to 250 avian species, a significant increase from 208 species recorded when the reclamation project was getting underway.
The good people at the Wild Bird Trust make it easy and interesting to learn about the varieties of plant, avian, insect and animal life that share our community. The B.C. Native Plant Nursery opened this month.
At the Return of the Osprey Festival July 24, at Corrigan Nature House, an onsite resource and education centre, Richard Beard will give a talk entitled Bring Back the Butterflies.
The anise swallowtail restoration project is another of the Wild Bird Trust’s conservation initiatives. A release of anise swallowtail caterpillars might occur during the festival. As Patricia explains, this depends on the caterpillars’ schedule. “We work with nature here; we don’t insist.”
Patricia was raised in the English countryside, where family outings instilled an appreciation of the natural world. “I grew up among the deer and the woodpeckers. I could observe their behaviour because the forest was quiet and I was too.”
The Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats is quiet most days. Along its family-friendly paths, suitable for strollers and walkers, the observant eye might spot deer and woodpeckers, and many other resident animals.
Over time, the site has evolved into an incubator for conservation projects. It is a living al fresco laboratory for citizen science, public participation in scientific research.
This year at the festival, local citizen scientists can participate in the annual “Big Sit.” Teams will be deployed to locations throughout the area to record any and all activity observed over a specific period of time. The results, or snapshots will be added to the continually expanding database.
While the adults are contributing to scientific research, children can be introduced to nature’s miracles during the Bird Migration Parade. Naturalists Al and Jude Grass (Al’s column appears in this newspaper) will lead walks through the site to observation posts at Osprey Point, to view the purple martin and the osprey.
Of the osprey, one nesting pair is living privately, away from the public gaze. The other is raising a family of chicks in a nest perched on a dolphin or piling off Osprey Point.
The Return of the Osprey Festival takes place Saturday, July 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, July 24 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats, 2645 Dollarton Hwy., North Vancouver, rain or shine. Find more about festival activities at wildbirdtrust.org.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. 778-279-2275 [email protected]
