Early morning and the streets are still empty; it’s Canada Day and most people are off work. Trudging around the city with my binoculars and camera is not an enjoyable experience. Concrete, car exhaust, and the soulless architecture of Vancouver leave me depressed. Being able to witness and share the lives of these birds – the next generation of fry-stealing gulls – is what gets me out despite it all.

A majority of the nests now have chicks, so let’s get a start.

Cambie Nest chick

All three chicks were out at Cambie Nest. One of the chicks was already testing their wings, hopping and flapping.

It’s the last week of June and the chicks are here!

Cambie Nest

Three chicks at Cambie Nest. They were quite active, wandering around the nest site.

Since 2018, the Vancouver Avian Research Centre has been involved in Bluebird Box Monitoring around the city of Merritt in south-central British Columbia.

Last weekend I finally had the opportunity to join a few compatriots to check nest boxes and band bluebird nestlings that were old enough.

After a few hectic days I’m finally getting a chance to write an update about last Thursday’s nest survey. I’ll have another post soon about an amazing experience I had yesterday, but that will have to wait.

I’m nearing the end of book by Richard Holloway titled Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe. One of the ideas he explores is our drive for certainty and the dangers implicit in it. While his focus is on society and religion, I couldn’t help reflecting on his thought in relation to birds and the natural (aka real) world.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say I’m more familiar with Glaucous-winged Gulls than most people. This is my forth summer watching them nest, watching the chicks grow and encounter the world, and eventually vanish into the city sky. Yet I feel more uncertain about their behaviour and experience every year as more and more questions arise in my mind.

I’m also reminded of Helen Macdonald’s book Vesper Flights. I don’t have the book anymore, but to paraphrase from memory: animals and the natural world are not here to teach us, but we can learn from them.

To me, that is at the core of bird-watching or any type of curiosity about the natural world. As your attention grows and deepens, gateways and paths merge, diverge, and twist deep into mystery.

Klondike Nest

The parents on this nest tend to get quite defensive - the sidewalk on the bridge on-ramp is a little too close for their liking. Here’s a parent on the same light post last year giving me a talking-to. I couldn’t confirm if there is a nest there, but I suspect so.