Many of the young birders in my program have been asking me to make a website for years. Since I started the program in 2014 I have been using my blog to post my trip reports and events but I really should have done this earlier. Young Birder Program graduate Alice Sun who now works for Audubon in NYC who is also a graphic designer stepped up and helped me to create the website. I took input from the interested young birders and showcase photos from our trips, all our past trip reports and I will post new events at the website. We also have a press section for the many times that young birders ..read more

Taking Flight: Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration Opening Event On May 10th during the Greater Vancouver Bird Celebration, they will be screening the 2023 film "The Young Birders" featuring myself and some of the BC Young Birders in a documentary created by former young birder program graduate and talented photographer Liron Gertsman. They will also be screening 2 other films "The Commute" and "Ptarmigan Trek" produced by Liron Gertsman that night. Also Dr. Rob Butler (ornithologist) will be giving a talk on birds! You can register for free tickets and learn more at the ..read more

Today is the 10th anniversary of BC Book Day! My book "Dare to Bird - Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds" was featured at the Legislative Assembly of BC in Victoria today and photos were shared with me! My own personal first copy of my book is on its way to me and I can’t wait to see it! So far the cover looks good in these photos. The first printed copy of my book on display for BC Book Day at the BC Parliament in Victoria  My book on display at the Legislative Assembly of BC Below is a short video where you can see my book at the display: I wis ..read more

It is so nice to see 4 young birders in my BC Young Birders program, featured in the new book “Get Outside! - How Humans Connect With Nature” by Leah Payne. Leah approached me after interviewing me for Alive Magazine to see if 4 young birders wanted to be featured in her new book about this important topic. Anica, Clay, Harry and Lukas were keen to be part of it! It is nice to see the youth featured in this book which is geared for youth that are 12-15 years old.  Here is a summary of the book:  “Get Outside! How Humans Connect with Nature explores the important relationship bet ..read more

I was honoured that so many esteemed birders, authors, photographers and ornithologists have reviewed my book so far, from Peter Pyle to Melissa Groo and all the other amazing birders in between! I am truly touched! The words they all have written are so moving and it means so much to me that birders of their calibre liked it so much. “Like Melissa Hafting, I enjoy helping others via email. And throughout our more than seven years of such correspondence, Mel’s questions indicated a sharp and enthusiastic birder whose passion and curiosity transcended simple species identification to delve in ..read more

Male Bee Hummingbird in Playa Larga, Cuba - Photo: Melissa Hafting My friend Chris Charlesworth invited me to go to Cuba with him with Avocet Tours. One of the tour participants from my first NFLD tour I led with Avocet was Nimali Seneviratne and my friend Chris Siddle from Vernon as well. I also got to meet nice folks from TX, AB and BC. March 13 I flew in to Varadero via Air Canada and took a coach to our casa in Havana. En route I had Palm Warbler, Greater Antillean Grackle, Turkey Vulture, Magnificent Frigatebird, Cuban Blackbird and a Gray Kingbird. At a rest stop for lunch ..read more

I was hired to write an article for The Narwhal. (The Narwhal is a Canadian investigative online magazine that focuses on environmental issues). The article I wrote talks about how birding can heal and restore us; especially for those who are grieving or going through trauma or health issues. It was an honour to be asked to write an article for this esteemed publication. You can read the full article HERE ..read more

King Penguins in Chile - Photo: Melissa Hafting Dec 19 I've always wanted to see Penguins and the amazing birds of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile. Since I lost my dad earlier this year I didn't want to celebrate Christmas. My mom died Christmas Eve too; so I felt this Christmas would be the hardest of my life, so I decided to do a big trip to distract myself with beautiful birds. I chose to not visit Northern Argentina or Buenos Aires for 3 reasons. 1, I only had 3.5 weeks of holiday, 2, they are having the worst Dengue outbreak that has killed thousands of people and there is no va ..read more

I was honoured to be asked to be interviewed for Birds Canada’s “The Warblers” Podcast. The topic of this podcast is about the healing power of birds and nature and how birding can help with grief, especially during the tough Christmas and winter holidays. This is an exceptionally hard time for those grieving as I know too well. I hope that this podcast episode helps anyone who has gone through or is experiencing grief and loss. Birds really can help those in states of grief. It is great that grief is being a bit more normalized in society these days, as we all must sadly go through ..read more

We had a great Young Birders CBC yesterday. This year BC Nature and Birds Canada (in particular would like to thank Yousif Attia who helped incorporate our count with the Ladner CBC) generously sponsored us to go on a boat by White Rock Sea Tours and survey the birds from water. They covered the cost for all the youth and me! Thank you so much for doing this! The young birders were thrilled and excited. We met up at Crescent Beach Marina and dressed up in our fashionable survival suits and headed out on the water just after 8:30 am. Thanks to the captain and crew who were so kind to the youth ..read more