Worms!

Digging in the dirt…
– E. Tenhoeve

We got dirty
– E. Tenhoeve

And found a lot of worms!
– E. Tenhoeve

Species unknown… but the kids sure liked them!
– E. Tenhoeve

Worms!
by Elizabeth Tenhoeve, 27 February 2010.

WOW! What a great time we had playing in the dirt and learning all about worms. We met at the Community Resource Centre on Joyce Avenue across from the First Credit Union, where there is a worm farm in the backyard.

The folks there have been raising earthworms for their kitchen garden and compost bins and it was time to see how many worms had been raised so they invited our members to come and help with the counting, measuring and weighing of the wrigglers. Worms are incredible and often overlooked little creatures that serve a purpose by mixing and adding air to the soil.

Heather Harbord – “New Zealand”

– H. Harbord

Heather Harbord – “New Zealand”
by Sherri Wretham, 25 February 2010

Our globe-trotting member Heather returned with another slide show of her recent travels – in this case to New Zealand. As always we remained impressed – and more than a little envious!

Swans of Comox

Elizabeth Tenhoeve and Clyde Burton

White-winged scoters

Swans of Comox
by Heather Harbord, 20 February 2010

Three of us attended this birding field trip. On the ferry to Comox, numerous long-tailed ducks and murres were sighted. At Little River, we stopped to see the shorebirds just outside the terminal. A large flock of dunlin were interspersed with black-bellied plover, mew gulls and glaucous-winged gulls. By the airport, we saw whistling swans swimming in a slough with some mallards.

At Goose Spit, several pintails were enjoying a muddy meal with more mallards. We got close enough to a small group of white-winged scoters to see the red tips on the ends of their beaks. Usually they are too far away for us to see this handsome detail. Clyde explained that when they dive, they swallow mussels whole and their digestive juices then open the shells which are afterwards regurgitated empty.

At the nature observation point on the dyke road, we saw about 5-6 European widgeon along with a few of their American cousins. Usually we expect to see about one European to 100 American but this was more like a 1:10 ratio. We drove as far as Oyster Bay where we saw more dunlin and other shore birds. On the ferry ride back, we saw several common loons and more long-tail ducks.