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New West centre is going to the birds with its next online offering

What's happening Around Town
Rob Butler - Record file
Rob Butler, shown here during a previous visit to Glenbrook Ravine, is talking birds at the upcoming Fraser River Dialogue presentation.

Fraser River Discovery Centre is going to the birds.

Rob Butler, an ornithologist, author, filmmaker and artist, will be leading the upcoming online presentation, Birds of the Fraser Basin. Joining him on the panel is Alyx Coulter of the Stanley Park Ecology Society.

“We are so grateful to have Dr. Butler back again, as he has been our most popular speaker at the FRDC over the years,” said Stephen Bruyneel, the centre’s director of external relations and development. “We will be leaving lots of time for questions, including from people who want to send a picture of an interesting bird that they have seen so Dr. Butler can identify and talk about it.”

Bruyneel noted that everyone who registers and then attends the event will have a chance to win a free copy of Butler’s new book.

The next virtual Fraser River Dialogue is on Tuesday, May 11 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. It’s part of this year’s Vancouver Bird Celebration (the new name of Vancouver Bird Week). 

“The Fraser River is the largest estuary on the Pacific coast of North America and also hosts the largest wintering concentration of waterfowl and raptors in Canada,” Bruyneel said. “When you add in the thousands more birds that stop here as they fly north at this time of year, it is a great time to get together and talk about our feathered friends.” 

Butler’s past visits to Fraser River Discovery Centre have included his Walk With the Crows presentation and his documentary Returning. For his upcoming visit, Butler will be sharing photos and information from his new book Pacific Flyway – Waterbird Migration from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, as well as taking any and all questions about birds in local neighbourhoods.

Coulter will be talking about this year’s Vancouver Bird Celebration, including how to identify “celebirdies” that might be coming to your backyard. 

Because of COVID-19 restrictions – and to keep everyone safe – this month’s Fraser River Dialogue will be done online via Zoom. It’s free, but donations to the Fraser River Discovery Centre are encouraged as it supports the centre’s work.

Located at 788 Quayside Dr., Fraser River Discovery Centre provides a variety of exhibits, programs and activities related to the Fraser River.

For more information and to pre-register, go to www.fraserriverdiscovery.org.

Follow Theresa McManus on Twitter @TheresaMcManus
Email tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca