Meetings
Let’s Get Together
2024 Meetings
Please see new venue for meetings.
We respectfully acknowledge that we are meeting within the unceded traditional territories of the Snaw-naw-as people and the Qualicum First Nation, the traditional keepers of these lands.
Today, many First Nations and Métis peoples continue to live, work and play here as do we. We intend to nurture better understanding and pursue opportunities for collaboration with our First Nations neighbours.
Arrowsmith Naturalists Members Meeting
Thursday Sept. 26th 2024
* New Venue *
General Meeting of the Arrowsmith Naturalists
Thursday, 7pm, doors open at 6:30pm.
St. Columba Church, 921 Wembley Rd., Parksville
Speaker: Dan Strickland
Dan was the Chief Park Naturalist of Algonquin Provincial in Ontario, a career which he retired in 2000.
As a sideline to his official duties, early in his career Dan began researching the life of the Canada Jay, a.k.a. Whiskeyjack, a study which is now in its 56th year and is one of the longest running studies of a vertebrate anywhere in the world.
After retirement Dan moved west and lives on Vancouver Island where he began a new study of the Canada Jay found in Mt. Washington’s Paradise Meadows, which has been running for 8 years so far. Over the years findings show that there are many differences in Canada Jays in different areas of the country, and now Dan has a team of helpers enabling the study to continue year round.
Dan will be sharing his knowledge about his research on the bird which many of us are familiar when hiking, skiing or snowshoeing in the local mountains. It has been nominated as Canada’s National bird.
TBA
Speaker: Sara Ellison
Title:
Snorkelling Adventures Around Vancouver Island and The Gulf Islands
The chilly waters of the Pacific Northwest might not be top of your snorkelling bucket list, but our oceans are chockfull of stunning wildlife. Here, you can find some 30 species of seastars, giant anemones, fabulously coloured nudibranchs and of course the giant Pacific octopus. Although BC is a well known scuba diving location, it is less appreciated that the vast majority of these species can be found in the inter-tidal and shallow sub-tidal zones that are accessible to snorkellers. In this talk I will share my adventures and experiences, explaining the gear you need, the kinds of critters you will see and my personal top picks for places to go to see our wondrous wildlife.
Sara Ellison received her PhD in astronomy from the University of Cambridge. After spending three years doing astronomy research at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, she moved to the University of Victoria to take up a Canada Research Chair. Sara is an international leader in the field of galaxy evolution, with numerous honours and awards to her name, including the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics from the Royal Society of Canada. She is also a keen athlete and world traveller, but having snorkelled all around the world, BC is her favourite place to go for a swim! In 2023, Sara published “Snorkelling Adventures Around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands: The Ultimate Guide”, which was a #1 bestseller on the BC booklist. Sara will have copies of her book at the meeting for sale at a discounted price of $25.00 CASH ONLY, no other payments accepted.
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Mailing Address
Parksville, B.C.
V9P 2H4
