Led by Scott Loarie, Executive Director of iNaturalist, this program will guide participants through finding birds in Stanley Park. Keep your eyes and ears sharp for hummingbirds, migratory warblers, colourful ducks, and more!
No experience necessary, and participants will be able to borrow binoculars. We reccommend downloading the iNaturalist app before the walk.
This April, join us for a day of nature education and connecting with local ecosystems in Stanley Park. We'll have nature walks, information booths, and hands-on activities to learn more about our planet and commit to taking action for the Earth!
This Earth Day, connect with nature with the whole family! As part of our Stanley Park Earth Day celebration, join our Family Forest Nature Walk, where we'll explore the forest ecosystem and learn about the plants and animals who live there. Come along as we engage our senses and listen for the calls of nearby birds, feel the textures of the forest, and use magnifiers to get an up-close look at the hidden life around us.
As you wander the trails of our coastal forests, do you recognize the plants around you? Are you familiar with the trees towering above, and the ferns and mosses at your feet? Join us for a stroll through the forest to get to know the common trees and forest plants of our region and appreciate the “green” that we celebrate this Earth Day!
Join us for a walk to the heron colony, where we'll learn all about the herons who nest in what we call "Stanley Park" and get updates about the rookery so far this season. In May, the herons typically spend a lot of time coming and going from the nests to care for their young, and should be quite active as we venture around Lost Lagoon and to their nests. The walk will end with a drink at Stanley Park Brewing for lunchtime. Tickets include one can* of a limited edition beer collaboration from Stanley Park Brewing that supports Stanley Park Ecology's ongoing conservation and monitoring efforts of the heron colony.
This event is in collaboration with Stanley Park Brewing and offered as part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Get ready to immerse yourself in nature and contribute to community science! Bring your smartphone and join us in competing with cities across North America to collect the most observations of wildlife and plants. Explore the forest surrounding the Beaver Lake wetland ecosystem while using the iNaturalist app. Don’t worry if you’re not an expert – no species identification knowledge is required! We'll have staff and volunteers at the event hub to help get you started uploading your observations on the app, assist with species identification, and teach you about the ecology of the surrounding ecosystems. Join us and our partners at the University of British Columbia Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Douglas College Institute of Urban Ecology, the Entomological Society of British Columbia, and a member of the iNaturalist Ambassador Program!
We’re in the height of the spring season and the birds are plentiful! Join our flock for our monthly birding program, Birds of a Feather. This month, join local birder Melissa Hafting for a relaxed interpretive outing and learn to identify and appreciate spring migrants like the first returning warblers, flycatchers, and hummingbirds. No specific birding experience necessary, come along and take flight! We will have binoculars available to borrow.
May marks the middle of spring avian migration for Vancouver. During this incredible time, millions of birds follow the pacific flyway from as far south as Argentina to their spring breeding grounds as far north as Alaska. Every year in May, World Migratory Bird Day, and the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration promote birding and bird...
With spring in full swing, the plants are showing off their colourful flowers and soft leaves as the migratory birds have started their nesting season. Join us for a walk along Lost Lagoon to learn how birds rely on native plants throughout the seasons, from hummingbirds drinking sweet nectar to woodpeckers drilling cavities and bushtits pulling soft lichens and plant fibers for nesting materials. No bird or plant ID skills necessary! Join us for a bird and plant walk during the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Join us and our friends at Birds Canada for a beginner-friendly bird count at Lost Lagoon where, with your help, we will try to count as many species as possible in the same area! As we identify and count birds, we'll learn more about the feathered friends we see and hear along the way and gain useful insight for identifying traits of birds. Expect to see species such as hummingbirds, swallows, wood ducks, bald eagles, herons, warblers, and more!
This event is part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Calling all bird-lovers, artists, the craft-curious, and anyone else who wants to spend a spring Saturday morning painting in Stanley Park! Join us for a bright, beginner-friendly, and bird-themed watercolour workshop this spring during the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration. Our instructor, Jenna Leith, will introduce several basic watercolour techniques, guiding you as you bring avian scenes to life on paper, such as a beautiful black-capped chickadee!
No prior experience is needed—just curiosity and a love for creativity. All materials are provided, and you’ll leave with finished paintings and skills to continue your watercolour journey at home. This event is part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
This spring migration season, join us to volunteer in our Global Big Day Bird Count! Timed with World Migratory Bird Day, the worldwide event invites tens of thousands of people every year to go birding and record their species lists on eBird. The theme for this year's World Migratory Bird Day highlights the importance of citizen science: Every Bird Counts – Your Observation Matter.
In addition to our monthly bird counts, we at Stanley Park Ecology participate in Global Big Day every year with a team of birders who venture around Lost Lagoon and Beaver Lake to record as many birds as we can.
Discover the incredible variety and lives of local birds and wildlife in our local greenspaces during the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration. Join a local bird educator for a relaxed introduction to birding for beginners. Learn to identify and appreciate seasonal bird species and participate in community science through apps like eBird, while witnessing the wildlife that call these restored local greenspaces home. No birding experience required, just bring your curiosity and take flight! Participants can borrow binoculars.
This no cost guided walk is presented in collaboration with the City of Vancouver.
Join our stamp-making workshop to create your own bird stamp using the linocut technique! If you've ever wanted to try print-making, this is a beginner-friendly technique that can transform a simple design into a beautiful piece of art. Taking inspiration from the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration, we'll learn how to carve a bird design into a rubber carving block to create your stamp, then ink the stamp and print it onto paper to take home! Some techniques use actual linoleum blocks, but this workshop will use rubber carving blocks.
Join us for a hands-on virtual illustration workshop where you’ll learn to sketch an Anna's hummingbird, step by step! Perfect for beginners, this session will guide you through simple shapes, basic shading, and the key parts of a bird—like the beak, wings, and feathers. By the end, you’ll have your own bird sketch and a solid foundation in pencil drawing techniques.
Materials needed: Paper and pencil.
This event is part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Did you know that every spring, Pacific great blue herons take to over 100 nests to raise their young, right here in Stanley Park at the edge of Downtown Vancouver? Join Educator Julia for a special site visit to the heron rookery and learn all about how these beautiful and large birds navigate the canopy, build their nests, and raise their fledglings. You’ll also discover how Stanley Park Ecology supports the heron colony by monitoring their success during regular surveys and installing anti-predation tools. This is part of our annual series of heron programming! This time of year, the first hatchlings can be heard making their chorus of 'tik-tik-tik' sounds in the nests above, as other adult herons continue to lay and incubate eggs. This event is part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Join us for an adventure across the world to appreciate the avian diversity of the western Pacific Ocean. Through photographs from the past 10 years on his trips to Taiwan, Nature House educator Frank Lin presents some of the spectacular bird life found in Taiwan, including many of the migratory, resident and endemic species found on the island and how they compare to what we see here in Vancouver -- such as learning the difference between a grey heron and a great blue heron! This event is part of the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration!
Join our Birding with Me program! Get to know our local feathered friends during the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration while in community outdoors. Led by local birder Syd Burstein, this program will guide participants through encounters with the birds found in Stanley Park. Keep your eyes and ears tuned for hummingbirds, the first migratory warblers, colourful ducks, and more! No experience necessary, and participants will be able to borrow binoculars.
This event is reserved specifically for LGBTQ2S+ individuals, in order to provide a safe and inclusive space to explore birding and nature.
Take time on your seawall visit to meet the marine mammals and birds of səl̓ilw̓ət. Led by Nature House Educator and wildlife photographer, Frank Lin, join us to view birds along the shoreline like cormorants and gulls, plus possible sightings of orcas, grey whales, or harbour porpoises. Harbour seals are a regular sight and a river otter may share the morning with us too. Bring your binoculars or borrow a pair of ours and come along for a spring seawall stroll.
səl̓ilw̓ət (Burrard Inlet) is part of an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA), supporting wildlife food chains. Land-based wildlife watching is a sustainable way to appreciate local biodiversity.
Do you hear the chirps, tweets, and melodious songs in the air? The trees, waters, and skies of Stanley Park are filled with the sounds of birds here for the warm season. Join our flock for our monthly birding program, Birds of a Feather! This month, author, naturalist, and Capilano University faculty instructor Roy Jantzen takes us on a multi-sensory birding excursion to listen for the sounds of our late spring and summer resident birds in the Park, with practice birding-by-ear. No birding knowledge or experience necessary, just bring your curiosity and enjoy nature with each other!
