Volunteer Leaders: Katie Kuker & Wes Wong
Club Email: TriCities@naturekidsbc.ca
Presently seeking additional volunteer co-leaders. Click here for more information.
Presently seeking additional volunteer co-leaders. Click here for more information.
My name is Katie Kuker and I'm excited to be part of Nature Kids BC. I have been a wildlife biologist for over 15 years. I have spent a lot of time outside in the field on boats, helicopters, and on the ground studying whales, sea otters, songbirds, waterfowl, seabirds, and big terrestrial mammals. I've traveled all over to study these amazing animals - Scotland, Hawaii, Alaska, Quebec, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, NWT, and of course right here in BC! I spend most of my time now with my 1-year-old daughter and sharing my love for nature with her. I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm with Nature Kids families too!
Wes is a home schooling parent that believes outdoor exploration is an important component in the education of all individuals, especially children. To echo Richard Louv, nature deficit disorder threatens our health, our spirit, our economy and the future of the environment. He hopes participants in NatureKids events will gain a greater understanding of the world around us, away from screens and the built environment. Also, he feel that getting kids outside helps them appreciate the intrinsic value of nature.
Upcoming Explorer Days
Sunday March 26th, 2017
Nature Walk
2:00 - 4:00 pm Nature Walk
Minnekhada
Meet at the Quarry Road Parking lot
RSVP by March 23rd
RSVP by March 23rd
We are very lucky to have an excellent naturalist Melissa from Metro Vancouver Parks as our Nature Mentor. She will take us on a short loop walk and talk about forests and the changing seasons, and some fun log rolling to search for salamanders and bugs! She'll bring magnifiers and dip nets as well. Please bring binoculars if you have them. Please and dress appropriately for the weather and walking. Boots are recommended as it can be quite wet this time of year!
Past Explorer Days
Christmas Bird Count for Kids
Sunday, Jan 8, 2017
9:00am-11:30am
Noons Creek Hatchery in Port Moody
The CBC4Kids is a fun birdwatch event that teaches children and their parents bird identification skills and contributes to important citizen science for bird conservation.
This Explorer Days will begin with a short indoor session that includes learning about birds, how to identify them and practice using binoculars. We then head outdoors, and each participant (and accompanying parent) will be part of a small birding team led by an experienced birder. Each team will conduct a 45 minute bird survey around Noons Creek Hatchery and Rocky Point, recording the number of bird species and individuals seen. After the survey all teams will meet up again for a snack or lunch and we'll tally up all the bird numbers and compare sightings.
Monday, November 14
Bee Houses & Oil Spills
Located at Burnaby Campus, RSVP in link sent via email
9:30-10:30 Bee Houses
10:30-11 break
11-12 Oil Spill
Bee Houses - 60 minutes
Solitary bees make homes in hollow, tube-like structures that can be naturally occurring or created by humans. The naturally occurring ones are disappearing from the Lower Mainland, but we can help! Learn about bees while making structures for leaf cutter bees to lay eggs in and hide from predators. This workshop is in partnership with Science in Action and is designed for students from K - Grade 7.
Oil Spill - 60 minutes
When oil leaks from a supertanker at sea or a pipe on land, the impact on the surrounding environment is severe and complex. After learning about what happens at ground zero, we'll test out a number of the different clean-up methods used by rescue workers and engineers. This workshop is in partnership with Science in Action and is designed for students from Grades 4-7.
Friday, October 21st
Burnaby campus - TASC-1 (Technology and Science Complex 1) Room 7011
Start time is 10am and will last approximately 1.5 hours.
Cindy from SFU will be leading the group and typically has tables set out with displays, things to touch, microscopes to try out etc. Then she leads the students in identification of some minerals and look at mineralstones and earthquakes, including very large EQs every few hundred years or so). She is open to suggestions, so if your son or daughter has a keen interest in a certain area of geology - please let me know and I will pass on the request (there is a spot on the Google Form for this request)!
The attendance will be capped at a group size of approximately 25, since we will all need to fit in a lab.
Cindy from SFU will be leading the group and typically has tables set out with displays, things to touch, microscopes to try out etc. Then she leads the students in identification of some minerals and look at mineralstones and earthquakes, including very large EQs every few hundred years or so). She is open to suggestions, so if your son or daughter has a keen interest in a certain area of geology - please let me know and I will pass on the request (there is a spot on the Google Form for this request)!
The attendance will be capped at a group size of approximately 25, since we will all need to fit in a lab.
Iona Island Bird Observatory (IIBO)
Date: Sunday September 18th
Time: TBD. I am thinking around 9am-9:30am [SEE EMAIL FROM LEADER]
Location: Please see email
Cost: The cost (per participant) for day memberships is $1.
The hands on component usually allows children to release the birds after they have pointed out features of the bird, details for ID'ing them by species, difference between males and females (sometimes pointed out in a bird book to encourage continued learning after the group visit for parents and children) and some of the information that that the are collecting when they do the banding work. They provide a handout that shows some general features to look for ie bill shape and feet for different species of birds, and they try to align this sheet with the bird species that we happen to catch while the groups are visiting. They hope for good species diversity, but it doesn't always happen that way - can't predict nature.
Location: Please see email
Cost: The cost (per participant) for day memberships is $1.
The hands on component usually allows children to release the birds after they have pointed out features of the bird, details for ID'ing them by species, difference between males and females (sometimes pointed out in a bird book to encourage continued learning after the group visit for parents and children) and some of the information that that the are collecting when they do the banding work. They provide a handout that shows some general features to look for ie bill shape and feet for different species of birds, and they try to align this sheet with the bird species that we happen to catch while the groups are visiting. They hope for good species diversity, but it doesn't always happen that way - can't predict nature.
July 17, 2016
Location: Marine Animal Rescue Center.
Times Tours: 10am & 11am. Spaced are limited and you must register to attend.
Directions: Meeting locations and directions will be emailed to all the participants.
Cost: Tours are free and no admission is charged for the tours. If you would like to enter the Aquarium then admission/pass is required
Generally a tour will last 30-40 minutes, and involves an introduction to what they do at Marine Mammal Rescue and a chance to see some of the patients in care. We will visit the intensive care area, longer-term rehabilitation section, as well as the kitchen where volunteers prepare food for the patients. Depending on the timing we may also get to see the animals having a meal, but that is not a guarantee as it depends on the exact time of a visit and what is going on at the site each day.
Sat. June 4th, 2016
Scavenger Hunt & Gentle Hike
Golden Ears Provincial Park
Meet at Spirea Nature Trail parking lot
11am-1:30pm
Please bring a packed lunch for a pitstop at Alouette Lake.
Golden Ears Provincial Park
Meet at Spirea Nature Trail parking lot
11am-1:30pm
Please bring a packed lunch for a pitstop at Alouette Lake.
Scavenger hunt for nature's wonders... Bracket fungi, mushrooms, moss, Labrador tea, Salal, and other tree and shrub species used by First Nations and animals. Learn to identify birds by their sounds, sign and visual observation of wildlife species most likely to use the habitat. Nature Mentor will be Sue Sloboda club leader of the new Ridge Meadows NatureKids Club.
Saturday May 7th, 2016
NatureKids BC AGM
Campbell Valley Nature House,
20290 16 Ave, Langley, BC
11:30 am-12:15 pm
Plus free optional Nature Program Breakfast with the Birds (8am-11am). This event is free but you must pre-register. All current members of NatureKids BC are invited to attend the AGM and to participate in this important annual celebration and brief business meeting.
Campbell Valley Nature House,
20290 16 Ave, Langley, BC
11:30 am-12:15 pm
Plus free optional Nature Program Breakfast with the Birds (8am-11am). This event is free but you must pre-register. All current members of NatureKids BC are invited to attend the AGM and to participate in this important annual celebration and brief business meeting.
Saturday April 30, 2016
Birding Walk in Colony Farm with Adrian Grant Duff (Nature Vancouver)
9:30am - 11:00am
Colony Farm Regional Park
Check email for details.
Saturday, November 28, 2015 1:00 - 2:30 pm Bird Nest Boxes 101 with Kiyoshi Takahashi, BMN member
Hyde Creek Education Centre
3636 Coast Meridian Road, Port Coquitlam
Sunday, June 7th, 2015
9 - 10:30 AM
Widgeon Creek Regional Park Reserve
"Flying Jewels" with master-bird-bander Roy Teo
Did you know that our most common hummingbird spends most of the year in Mexico and flies here every spring to mate and raise its young? The Rufous Hummingbird weighs only as much as a penny, yet it makes this long flight early each spring and does the return journey in the late summer.
The BMN YNC will visit this hummingbird monitoring site to observe researchers catching, weighing, measuring, banding and releasing these tiny jewels of the air. The leader, Roy Teo, will describe the entire process to us and tell us why it is important to do.
Saturday, May 30th 2015
10:00 - 11:30 AM
Discovery Zone Adventure
Discovery Zone Adventure
Prepare to discover the Fraser River! This fun hands-on, guided tour of the Discovery Centre’s newest exhibit – the Discovery Zone, will have kids uncovering amazing stories as you explore archaeology, meet a living dinosaur, the Fraser River white sturgeon, and discover how pollutants affect the River.
9:30 - 11:30 AM
SFU Department of Earth Sciences (8888 University Dr., Burnaby)
SFU Department of Earth Sciences (8888 University Dr., Burnaby)
We are going to visit SFU Professor John Clague at the Department of Earth Sciences teaching lab!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Birding with Khalid
9:30 am – 11:00 am
Deer Lake, Burnaby
Our Nature Mentor this month is Khalid Boudreau, a grade 10 student living near Deer Lake, who is one of the three inaugural recipients of the newly established BC Young Birder Award that welcomes talented young birders into the BC birding community and recognizes their accomplishments, contributions to and engagement with birds and birding in the province.
Sun, May 04, 2014
Nature Walk at PoCo Trail
Erica Williams, Riverside Secondary School teacher will be leading a nature walk!
Our Nature Mentor this month is Khalid Boudreau, a grade 10 student living near Deer Lake, who is one of the three inaugural recipients of the newly established BC Young Birder Award that welcomes talented young birders into the BC birding community and recognizes their accomplishments, contributions to and engagement with birds and birding in the province.
Sun. June 1, 2014
Geology walk
Join us for a walk with SFU Geology professor John Clague where we will learn about different Geological landscapes!
Geology walk
Join us for a walk with SFU Geology professor John Clague where we will learn about different Geological landscapes!
Sun, May 04, 2014
Nature Walk at PoCo Trail
Erica Williams, Riverside Secondary School teacher will be leading a nature walk!
