Back to Western Canada

June 2025

I'm back in my old haunts in Vancouver and surroundings. I was born and raised here, so I have a feeling of home. I have friends and family here. Nature is familiar here. 

Some general thoughts 

I was living in Vancouver, in a different time phase of its history and I can now appreciate many changes. Some are really quite fascinating. The country is not in a positive situation economically or culturally; an increase of tourism is not good; it shows. And it is not all nice and sleek. 

Gentrification and the loss of a lot of authentic aspects is obvious to me. And also the localized 'overtourism and overdevelopment' of some really spectacular locales saddens me. But is'nt that the case everywhere where outstanding beauty meets easy accessibility? 

Some points of interest, places we visited:

We stayed only 13 days, and its been 10 years since my last visit; we had a lot of seeing-visiting to to do:  

-Maplewood Flats Conservation Area. Really had a deep interest in its conservation - restoration history and prospects. 

-New Brighton Park in East Vancouver has developed very nicely after the restoration project which began nearly 10 years ago. 

-Jericho ponds at Jericho Park (Kitsilano). Water levels low, but this place still rocks - bunnies and all. 

-Lost lagoon and Stanley Park. Very crowded with tourists on both days we visited in early June. Still an amazing location and park environment in the middle of this beautiful city. 

-Hastings Park restoration (pond creation) at the former PNE grounds in East Vancouver. A fantastic locale after 26 years of its restoration initiative. 

- We did a tour visiting collaborators and investigating places and projects: Victoria - Manning Provincial Park - Southern Okanagan (Lakes Osoyoos and Vaseux, White Lake, etc)- Canadian Rockies Parks (Vermillion Lakes and riparian area at Banff) - Eagle Creek at Malakwa (near Sicamous), etc.. 

I was really happy to see how birds can be used as indicators of conservation within and near the urban enviornment. It was quite fascinating to see changes in some of these areas, and from my recall, some interesting changes in the breeding avifauna. 

Met old friends, made some new ones, saw my family. Happy to be back!

And I will be back again soon.

Some people and place photos (All photos by S. Zogaris and D. Zogaris)

NEW BRIGHTON RESTORATION PROJECT - EAST VANCOUVER

MAPLEWOOD FLATS CONSERVARTION AREA - NORTH VANCOUVER

WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

SOME SNAPSHOTS OF BIRDS

TRIP DETAILS

This is one of our short road trips during the stay in Canada. Its a good trip to do as a starter but..Anyway. Ok we spent first night at Manning Park Resort (!!!), Coast Oliver Hotel (!!), Peaks Resort in Banff (keep away from Banff town) and then one at Crazy Creek Hot Spring Resort (!!!). So that's four nights and five days driving long distances - we came back via the Coquihalla Highway to make it faster. It was not your best nature trip since it was to fast to really see anything and National Park in Alberta was not worth it.

Observed 112 species; contributed 45 checklists on eBird.