2011 #3naturewild ponderosa

NatureWILD Magazine for Young Naturalists in British Columbia

Volume 12 Issue 3 2011

BioBlitz International Year of

Forests Salmon are Sacred The Story of Four Little Orphan Grizzly Bears A Ponderosa Pine.

Photo by Monica Belko.

www.ync.ca

“Young Naturalists Observe and Conserve”

Inside...

3 Silhouettes 4 International Year of

I have just been to a conference about how important it is for children and adults to spend a lot of time outside in nature.You can all agree with that! But it is just as important to make sure that it is also good for nature that people spend a lot of time outdoors. As young naturalists, you know the rules on how to keep nature green, safe and clean. When visiting natural spaces, practice respect and care: • Walk quietly, don’t disturb the wildlife.

• Stay on designated trails at all times.

• Leave everything as you found it.

Forests

6 Salmon

are Sacred

Please share your knowledge with others.

8 Arctic vs.

Antarctic

10 BioBlitz 12 Four Little Orphan

Grizzly Bears

14 Ask Al 15 NatureWILD News

16 Mussel-Maze ISSN: 1492-7241 NatureWILD is printed on SFI certified paper by Benwell Atkins an RR Donnelley Company,Vancouver.

Daphne Solecki, YNC BC President YNC Family Nature Clubs Lower Mainland Vancouver, Lower Mainland Home Learners, North Vancouver, Stanley Park, Burke Mountain, Eastern Fraser Valley, Powell River Vancouver Island Victoria, Victoria Home Learners, Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Oceanside (Parksville/Qualicum), Comox Valley, North Vancouver Island, Cowichan Valley Home Learners Gulf Islands Denman Island, Pender Island, Quadra Island Thompson/Okanagan Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Kelowna, North Okanagan, Lillooet Home Learners Kootenays Nelson, Rocky Mountain (Cranbrook), Elk Valley (Fernie)

Contact Us

ents y comm Have an ions? or quest YNC at Email the .ca c info@yn

Kristine Webber YNC Executive Director info@ync.ca

Tammy Keetch YNC Clubs Coordinator coordinator@ync.ca Leslie Ritchey YNC Membership Assistant info@ync.ca

YNC Board of Directors

President: Daphne Solecki Vice-President: George Bangham Treasurer: Lynne Carlson Laura Estrada, Ruth Foster,Vanessa Lee, Ian McKeachie, Eva Nagy, Bob Peart, Gail Ross

NatureWILD

Content Editor: Daphne Solecki Production Editor: Monica Belko Contributor: Al Grass

YNC of BC is supported by:

North Williams Lake, Prince George, Denny Island (Bella Bella)

YNC Nature Clubs

in Schools

Atlin, Cawston, Celista, Coquitlam, Cumberland, Denny Island, Duncan, Fort St. John, Hornby Island, Langley, Mount Currie, New Westminster, Pender Island, Powell River, Sandspit, Tappen,Vancouver (6),Victoria

RR Donnelley We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia Elders Council for Parks in British Columbia

2

NATURE VANCOUVER

Silhouettes

7 ___________

A silhouette is a plain picture or outline of the shape of an object (usually shown in black). Body shape is one of the first things expert birdwatchers use to identify birds.

Use the silhouettes on this page to identify these bird species. Answers on page 15.

3 ______________ 8 __________________

11 ______________

4 ________

12 _________ 6 ____________

13 __________

10 __________ 5 ____________ PHEASANT

HAWK

QUAIL

HUMMINGBIRD

TURKEY 1 __________

DUCK OWL GOOSE

SWALLOW SWAN

CROW

9 __________________

WOODPECKER SPARROW

HERON

2 _________

4 _____________

3

Forests

By Daphne Solecki Reviewed by Alan Vyse, RPF and Frances Vyse, BSc.

Can you name something that makes its own food, is used to create over 5,000 products, protects the environment… yet never moves? Did you answer ?

Tree

International Year of

You are right!

About Forests

What IS a forest? A forest is land that is mostly covered with trees, with shrubs and other plants growing around them. Forests cover about one third of the land area of the world (though they used to cover far more).

Forests are essential to all life, including humans. Forests store carbon, help regulate climate, purify water, hold the soil so it can’t be washed away. Forest ecosystems are home to 70% of biodiversity on land. All around the world, forests provide material that humans can use for houses, boats, firewood, furniture, baseball bats, maple syrup – you can think of many more.

The growing forest has several layers:

1. Upper canopy: (top layer) which captures most of the sunlight and turns it into energy for the trees to grow on. Flying and climbing animals can be found here – many birds from hummingbirds to owls, and insects of every kind.

2.

Understory: (middle layer) where many small trees, larger bushes and shrubs,

3.

Forest Floor: (lowest level) is dark and damp. Plants that can live with very

A Western Redcedar.

Photo by Abdallahh.

forest wildflowers and ferns grow. These provide shelter and food for many forest animals such as deer and skunks. little light grow here, also fungi and mosses, providing a home for toads, salamanders, banana slugs and insects.

Different Kinds of Trees in a Forest

In British Columbia we have 36 species of trees (plants that have a single stem at the ground and grow to a great size). Most of the tree species are conifers which produce seeds in cones and have needle-shaped leaves.

Western Redcedar is a conifer and is the Province’s tree emblem. It grows to a great size and many kids would have to link arms to surround the largest trees at ground level. Douglas-fir is another example of a conifer and is found on the coast and in the southern Interior. The tallest trees found in the province are Sitka Spruce that grow in the Carmanah Valley on Vancouver Island and reach 90 metres or more into the sky (as tall as a 45-story building… skyscrapers indeed!). We also have many beautiful broad-leaved trees in the province: Garry Oak, Paper Birch, aspen, and Bigleaf Maple among them. They produce seed from flowers rather than cones.

4

Aspen trees.

Different Kinds of Forest

Our province is blessed with many kinds of forest from the boreal in the north to the coastal Douglas-fir on Vancouver Island. Foresters recognize 13 different types which contain various combinations of tree species. In the north there are boreal and sub-boreal forest with cone-bearing trees such as Engelmann Spruce, Western Hemlock and Balsam Fir, with large areas of broad-leaved birch and aspen. Here we find ermine, Moose, lynx, Snowshoe Hare, crossbills and Great Horned Owls.

The coastal temperate rainforest includes coastal Western Hemlock, Coastal Douglas-fir, Western Redcedar and Sitka Spruce as well as numerous broad-leaved trees. Grizzly Bears, Black Bears and whitecoated Black Bears, wolves, deer, Bald Eagles and Marbled Murrelets are some of the wildlife found there.

The dry coniferous forests of the southern interior of BC have open stands of Ponderosa Pine, Douglas-fir and Lodgepole Pine. The trees are spaced wide apart and often grow beside grassland areas where you can walk easily between the trees. This forest is home to deer, elk, chipmunk, woodpeckers and bluebirds.

A huge Sitka Spruce tree!

Photo by Wsiegmund.

International Year of Forests

A coastal temperate rainforest.

Why are we paying so much attention to forests this year? A big reason is deforestation. Can you imagine British Columbia without forests? All our mountain slopes bare and rocky? That is what has happened in many parts of the world. Once upon a time, 90% of the land around the world was covered in forest. Now only about one third of that forest is left. Much of the forest was cut down before people knew how important forests are. People did not realize that without trees the soil would be washed or blown away, so after a while nothing will grow. They did not know the importance of forests in protecting the water cycle and in regulating the Earth’s temperature, so it does not get too hot or too cold. They certainly did not know that the forests are home to about threequarters of all the world’s animals and plants.

Now we do know how extremely important forests are to life on Earth. That’s why all around the world people are giving special attention to forests, making plans to stop the deforestation and finding ways to re-grow the forests. As the forests grow back they will slow down climate change and protect biodiversity. Planet Earth will be breathing easier.

5

Salmon are Sacred

Art and text by Carrielynn Victor, Stó:lō Tribal Council

The 2010 fall issue of NatureWILD was all about salmon.This fall we give you a story from the people of BC who have known about the salmon longer than anyone – the Stó:lō people of the Fraser Valley.

Salmon are sacred to the First Nations people that live in British Columbia. The First Nations people that live on the southwest Coast of BC are called ‘Coast Salish’. The Coast Salish people call the Fraser River - Stó:lō (pronounced “Stah-Low”), it means ‘the river’. Stó:lō is also the name for the people who live in the Fraser River Valley.

It is everyone’s job to make sure the river is clean and cool so the fish swimming home have a safe journey. Nobody is allowed to throw garbage in the river or spit in the river. The river is the home of the salmon, and we wouldn’t want them making a mess in our home, so we respect their home.

Each year when the salmon start swimming back up the Stó:lō, the people gather for the first salmon ceremony. The first fish is shared with all the people who attend the ceremony, and all the bones are put back in the Stó:lō as a sign of respect. The Coast Salish people believe that by thanking the salmon for coming back every year, and putting the bones back in the river in a special way, that the salmon will continue to return each year.

A lot of Stó:lō kids learn to fish when they are really young. Some kids start fishing when they are only two years old. Kids catch salmon, sturgeon, minnows, and many other types of fish. Learning to catch fish is important, because when kids get older, they will help to feed their families.

Echo 2

6

The Stó:lō people still catch fish in the same river today that they did a long time ago. To catch fish, fishers used to use hand-made wooden traps, or nets that were made of stinging nettles or cedar bark on the end of long poles, and long spears to catch salmon. Today, some fishers use big nets and boats with motors to catch salmon. Sometimes traditional ways are still used to fish.

Sunlit Shawl This jolly face of the sun, has an eagle resting on him. Two salmon arc around the chin. The wings of the eagle also appear as the shawl for the sun.

In summer Stó:lō people wind-dry and can salmon; in fall they smoke the salmon. Smoking and wind-drying salmon are old traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation.

Coast Salish people believe that the salmon used to be people. The salmon people would send the young men and women to the humans every summer so they could feed and nourish the humans. The cedar tree, many types of plants, and even rocks were once human beings, but were transformed into helpers for the rest of the people. When we see all the parts of nature as our relatives, we can respect everything like family.

The Coast Salish people sing special songs just for the salmon. Some people wear masks and blankets that have symbols on them of salmon. Dances are performed by children and adults that show the journey that salmon take in the rivers and oceans. Coast Salish people paint and draw pictures of salmon. Masks and totem poles are carved from cedar to show how important salmon are to the Coast Salish people.

Salmon are sacred.

Kw’as Hoy Kw’as Hoy Carrielynn Victor – Xwementelot Rights & Title Research, Sto:lō Tribal Council

Salmon People We the Sto:lō are the people of the river, the river and surrounding watersheds have sustained our people for thousands of years, the lifecycle of the salmon is shown in the mind of the people in the painting. It is meant to show that we need to keep a prayer and a thought for the depleting stocks of wild salmon in our territory.

Fish for Brains

7

What’s the D

Let’s start with the names.

ifference?

Arctic comes from the ancient Greek word arktikos meaning

‘bear’ as in the constellations of the Great Bear and Little Bear.

These constellations are located near the North Star, so Arctic means the north region. Antarctic is from antarktikos “opposite of north” – which of course is south. (The ancient Greeks would have been very surprised to know that their words would be used 2,500 years later to describe parts of the world they never knew existed.) We might think that the Arctic and the Antarctic regions are alike – they are each at opposite ends of the planet, they are both extremely cold with lots of snow and ice and they both have six month long winters and summers. In fact, they are much more different than they are alike, and each of them is unique and wonderful. And each of them, in spite of being so cold, is full of life.

Arctic (North Pole)

Natural Features

.

Vancouver

. Vancouver

The Arctic is an ocean mainly covered by ice.

The Arctic is water surrounded by land, an OCEAN ringed around by continents – Europe, Asia and North America. From the North Pole, the nearest land is Kaffeklubben Island which belongs to Greenland, a distance of about 1,300 kilometres. The Geographic North Pole lies in the centre of the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean is about 4,000 metres deep at the North Pole and covered with 3 – 6 metres of ice. This ice is made slowly from seawater which gradually becomes less salty. The ice often breaks up into big ice floes during the summer and freezes up again in the winter. Arctic icebergs tend to be fairly flat and not very big. The smallest size of iceberg (called a growler) is about the size of a pickup truck; a few can be big enough to land a plane on. One of the biggest icebergs measured 250 square kilometres. It’s very cold in the Arctic but nothing like as cold as Antarctica because the ocean water has a warming effect. Summer temperature is about – 0°C ( freezing) going down to – 42°C in winter.

Plants and Animals

8

On the continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean there is land called tundra where plants and very short trees can survive. Tundra has a thin layer of soil where plants can grow, but underneath it is frozen all the time (permafrost). There are mammals that live on land, such as reindeer, caribou, fox, hare, wolf, lemming, polar bears and many other smaller species. In the ocean are grey whales, belugas, narwhals, walruses, porpoises and seals, and over 200 species of fish for them to feed on. (There are no penguins in the Arctic - they only live in the southern portion of the globe!) Millions of birds come here to breed - land birds including owls and other raptors, ptarmigan and longspurs, as well as shorebirds and seabirds such as ducks, cormorants and gulls. Humans have lived in the Arctic region for many thousands of years, surviving on the natural food sources on the land and in the sea.

The Antarctic is an actual continent (not an icy ocean like the Arctic).

Cruiseship companies offer tours to visit the Antarctic. Photo by Cascoly.

Antarctic (South Pole)

Penguins only live in the southern half of the Earth (there are no penguins in the Arctic). Photo by Liam Quinn.

Natural Features The Antarctic is land surrounded by water, a CONTINENT circled by the Southern Ocean.

The nearest land to Antarctica is Cape Horn, at the very tip of South America. Cape Horn is 650 kilometres from the icy edge of Antarctica, but about 3,800 kilometres from the South Pole. The Geographic South Pole lies in the centre of the continent of Antarctica.

The Southern Ocean is 5 – 6,000 metres deep around Antarctica. The ice at the South Pole is 2,700 metres thick (two and half kilometres standing on end), rising from land which is just a few metres above sea level.

Antarctica has about 90% of the world’s ice and about 70% (almost three-quarters) of the world’s fresh water.

Antarctic icebergs are enormous – larger than you can imagine – the biggest one measured 10,991 square kilometres, the size of Jamaica (or about 1/3 the size of Vancouver Island). Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, iciest place on Earth. In summer (which happens during our winter) the warmest it gets is – 25°C. Although it is sunny, the white ice reflects the sunlight and heat back into the atmosphere. In winter the temperature can drop to – 58°C.

Plants and Animals

Although there are a few rocky patches near the shoreline where plants like moss and lichen can grow, most of Antarctica is covered in ice where absolutely nothing can grow. There are no mammals or any other kind of land creature on Antarctica.

On the other hand, the ocean surrounding Antarctica is four times as rich in nutrients as any other ocean and has great numbers of sperm whales, seals, squid and octopus. Up to one hundred million birds come here to breed as well, including penguins and albatross. It was just in 1912, almost 100 years ago, that the first group of humans travelled across Antarctica. The only people who actually live in Antarctica today are scientists; they live in special domes and do not go outside except for their observations.

9

BioBlitz Port Hardy, May 11 and 12, 2011

Laura Jones (age 12) YNC Northern Vancouver Island

A Dark-eyed Junco on a feeder.

Method

I did the BioBlitz on our property – I recorded plants, birds and mammals (not insects). I made a list then checked in reference books for scientific names. I found out which species are native and which introduced.

Area

Our yard backs onto a second-growth forest and a small creek. It’s not manicured in the least…ideal habitat for birds. We have many bushes, shrubs and large trees - four Western Redcedars and seven Western Hemlocks; a Sitka Spruce, Sitka Mountain-ash and a Balsam Fir. There’s a Douglas-fir (the seedling came from the property where my Mom once lived, near Coombs) and a Yellow Cedar grown from a “plug” given away at the Fall Fair. There is also a dead Lodgepole Pine which has been left standing so it can be a wildlife tree. Smaller native plants include blueberry, huckleberry, salmonberry, elderberry, ferns, mosses, salal, fireweed, willow herb, and other flowering species. We have two bird feeders with sunflower seeds and small seed mix and three hummingbird feeders on the patio behind our house.

A Red-breasted Nuthatch on a feeder.

Results (Editor’s note)

In total Laura recorded 13 bird species, seven tree and 16 plant species and one mammal. Included here are only the species with added notes. All species are native unless noted otherwise. Laura provided the scientific names but they had to be left out for space reasons.

10

A wren’s nest.

Birds • Brown-headed Cowbird: Five came to the feeder, and were squawking in the trees. This is the first year we have seen them in our yard.

• Ringed Turtle-dove (introduced): Up to 20 of these birds have visited our yard and feeder at one time. I’m confused as to why these birds are here because their range is LA, California and also Florida. We have a guess however: we once had a Ringed Turtle-dove in a backyard aviary. When we stopped keeping birds we sold the dove. Perhaps she escaped and has returned (with friends)? My father has also seen them in Port McNeill.

• Golden-crowned Sparrow: a flock of at least 30 have been regular visitors at our feeders.

• Band-tailed Pigeon: They have bright yellow feet and beaks, and a spotted iridescent oval ring on the neck. This is the first time I have seen these in our yard.

• Red-breasted Nuthatch: there seems to be a pair that visits the feeder and suet regularly. They are very bold and unbothered by humans. When they grab a seed they fly away immediately; they always fly to the same tree so we think they might have a nest there.

• Steller’s Jay: these noisy visitors have been here all winter, sometimes fooling us by imitating Bald Eagles and songbirds.

• Rufous Hummingbird: these birds are very predictable: we have been keeping track of when they return every year and it is always within a couple of days of the same date (April 7th this year.) Our family puts up a feeder in the last week of March or first week of April. Our Grandpa in Royston calls to tell us when they have arrived there, and it is always one week before they come to Port Hardy.

• Common Raven: the raven steals my dog’s kibble, as do the Steller’s Jays.

My dog barely notices birds, except for ravens and crows: she will bark madly at them! The raven tries to get to the suet feeder, which is tucked under the eaves of the greenhouse; you realize how big the raven is when he tries to squeeze into the tight spot.

• Winter Wren: last year a Winter Wren nested in the eaves of an old shed, burrowing into the insulation. We wanted to knock down the old shed but waited until the nest was empty before we did so.

This year the wren came back and, seeing that the old nest is not there anymore, has built a nest under the floor of the tree house.

Mammals • Red Squirrel: This squirrel has become increasingly bold since we put the sunflower seed feeder up after Christmas and now visits several times a day. He eats many individual seeds, dropping the husks; we aren’t sure if he is storing the seeds in his cheeks to stash elsewhere or not. He also eats lots of spruce cones, dissecting them and leaving heaps of cone litter. We think he lives in a hemlock tree in the backyard.

• Dog: Black Labrador Retriever, female

The Red Squirrel.

• Human: three females, one male

Photos by Laura. Laura also thanks her mother Heather for assistance with note-taking and typing.

11

The Story of Four Little Orphan Grizzly Bears

Contributed by Angelika Langen and Kiff and Ellie Archer

A Grizzly Bear mom and cub.

Bella Coola Vancouver

Grizzly Bear cubs playing.

Photo courtesy of Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter.

There is a beautiful place called Bella Coola, located in the rainforest about half way up the coast of British Columbia. But sad things happen even in beautiful places. Sometimes mother bears are killed and then there is no-one to care for their cubs.

Luckily for these four orphan Grizzly Bears there WAS someone to care for them. In 2010 two sets of sibling grizzly cubs were found and taken to the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers, which is run by Angelika and Peter Langen. Here they were named Drew and Jason, Dean and Lori.

Even better, the orphan bears were to be part of a special release project where they would be raised until they were old enough to look after themselves and then released back into the wild.

There they will be monitored to see how well they adapt and are able to look after themselves, and what happens to them over the next several years. This information will be very valuable to learning more about their food needs, how well they fit into the wild population and about Grizzly Bear behaviour in general.

This first-ever grizzly cub release project was organized by Northern Lights Wildlife Society, who secured the support of government wildlife officials, scientists, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the people who live in Bella Coola (it is planned that the results of the project will be used as a future foundation to create sustainable rehabilitation standards for grizzly cubs).

Angelika explains that raising bear cubs in such a way that they stay independent and don’t get attached to people is a very tricky business. “The cubs need to feel secure to prosper, but we don’t want to habituate them to humans, as that would make the release impossible. Luckily Mother Nature is a big help here.Young bears learn from their mother that other bears pose a big danger to them. Acting as “mother bear” one handler can give the bears the 12 security and love they need, while ensuring that the cubs learn to be wary of other people and other bears.”

“Grizzlies are very intelligent and, besides food and housing, they need a good enrichment program to keep them active both in body and mind.

For example we will hide their food in hollow trees, under rocks or in trees. This keeps them active and mimics their natural activities. We also provide natural items, such as logs, branches and fresh weeds to invite them to play. Bears love water and will spend hours playing in and with it.”

June 25, 2011: after eight months, the great day to release the cubs arrived at last! Ellie and Kiff Archer, who are part of the local Bear Aware team, tell what happened.

“Yesterday the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter Team was absolutely amazing. After the cubs had been tranquillized John Beecham (bear expert) explained interesting facts about Grizzly teeth while probing the mouth of a 170 kilogram, 18 month old bear. Behind us, a team of vets did the touchy job of giving the cubs some special injections. Beside us was a chopper warming up, about to lift two cubs up into the air.”

“To keep the siblings together and to make it possible to lift two cubs at a time, they were placed side by side on a large piece of wood; a net covered them and a rope was attached to the chopper. A legendary local pilot and firefighting hero was very impressive as he lifted the bears gently, straight up into the air, then flew them along the coast, over snow-topped mountains, to their new home.”

“And then there was Cinnamon, a tiny shy Black Bear who had waited for months for a place in the centre, all the while enjoying sockeye and old apples, courtesy of the Nuxalk people. He too was taken home and we cried as we watched him go back to freedom.”

Out for the count and ready to go.

Photo by Kiff and Ellie Archer.

One last check up.

Photo by Kiff and Ellie Archer.

“That evening 11 of us sat around a large cedar table under the stars.

Angelika and the whole team were exhausted but still we talked the night away – going over the exciting events of the day and our hopes for the future.”

“And we wondered – in the future, will there still be bears? Whatever needs to be learned about bears – living with them, saving them - must be learned quickly so that in 50 years’ time the bears can say “good on you guys, thank you for trying to help us.You did the best you could.”

Lifting Dean onto the platform.

Photo by Kiff and Ellie Archer.

‘Be-Stronger-Together’ Kiff Archer

To find out more about the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers go to

www.wildlife.com

Peter Langden has a last visit with Dean before he’s lifted to freedom. Photo courtesy of Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter.

13

Have a Nature Question?

ASK AL

Al Grass has worked as a career park naturalist and ranger throughout BC. Now he is a well-known nature tour leader and photographer. Al especially likes birds, insects and spiders.

I found these orange blobs growing on an old rotting log. What are they?

Do hummingbirds feed on anything besides nectar?

Jelly Tops, Lemon Drops and Witches’ Butter!

Hummingbirds are well-known for a ‘sweet tooth’ (except of course, they don’t have any teeth!) Nectar (sugar/water mixture) whether from a flower or a feeder provides ‘hummers’ with energy. But they also need insects for protein. I once saw a Rufous Hummingbird picking flies caught in a spider’s web. They also use spider silk in nest construction.

The orange blobs (in the photo) are a type of jelly fungus and, according to expert advice, they are probably jelly top, a species often seen in late winter. There are other jellies – some are yellow, orange, or even purple. They remind me of jujubes. One is even called witches’ butter.

Look for them growing on woody debris like twigs and logs. All jellies are fungi just like mushrooms, but they don’t have the familiar cap – they just look like gum drops, jujubes and lemon drops (but Al says DON’T EAT THEM - they might be POISONOUS).

ture If you have a na l or ai em n, questio write to Al at: ail.com yncnaturewild@hotm Road r ou ym Se t un 1620 Mo G 2R9 V7 North Vancouver, BC

Try planting hummingbird friendly flowers in your garden or in a hanging basket. Fuchsias, bee balm, scarlet sage and columbines are all good choices for nectar (and insects too!).

How can you tell the ocean is friendly?

-It waves.

Photo by Jude Grass - Hummer at feeder. The nectar solution is four parts water and one part white table sugar, boiled together. NO honey! NO food colouring.

14

What kind of shorts do clouds wear?

-Thunderwear!

What did one volcano say to the other volcano?

-I lava you!

What’s a rabbit’s favourite dance style?

-Hip-Hop.

Next issue...

L

W r e I D u t a N NEWS

What Makes a Lake Turn Over?

YNC North Okanagan. Sarah Liscombe receives her Gold Level Action Award from Aaron Deans, new YNC leader.

YNC Nelson made owl boxes.

YNC Kamloops exploring the Tranquille River.

Andrew Mitchell, 14 years, YNC North Vancouver Island, receiving his Gold Level Action Award from leader Jackie Hildering.

Notable among Andrew’s achievements were: 30 hours assisting Jackie in humpback whale research;participating in the Robson Bight Clean-up; recording activities through prizewinning photographs (as a result of which he was invited on a Tide Rip tours Grizzly Bear trip): putting in a total of 60 hours of volunteer effort at the Whale Interpretive Centre, including making cards from his photographs to raise funds for the Centre.

Photo by David Mitchell.

YNC Cowichan Valley investigates a low tide.

6-SPARROW 5-GOOSE 4-OWL 3-SWALLOW 2-SWAN 1-QUAIL

Silhouettes

YNC Nicomekl went camping in Manning Provincial Park.

YNC Lower Mainland and Home Learners learn to become entomologists by visiting a honey bee centre.

13-HERON 12-HAWK 11-PHEASANT 10-CROW 9-WOODPECKER 8-HUMMINGBIRD 7-DUCK

15

Mussel-Maze Seagulls love to eat mussels! A gull will grab a mussel, fly high in the air, and drop the mussel midflight onto rocks on the shore, cracking open the shell to get at the meat inside. Find the way through this maze and help this gull find some mussels.

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