Vancouver’s Official City Bird is Anna’s Hummingbird. With 3,450 out of 8,259 votes (42%), Anna’s Hummingbird flew past the Northern Flicker, Varied Thrush and Spotted Towhee.
Although this seems lighthearted (and it is) birds are an indicator species for the health of the city, and play many roles: pollinators, seed distributors and insect eaters.
Vancouver is among birders’ favourite destinations, bringing tourism business. Around 370 species having been recorded in Greater Vancouver. Notable, too, is the upcoming 27th International Ornithological Congress August 19-28 2018. Vancouver will host around 2,000 bird scientists.
The announcement event at the VPL was fun and fittingly lighthearted, featuring giant “birds”, mercifully short speeches and newly-commissioned music for brass quintet.
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- Councilor Andrea Reimer, Park Board Chair Michael Wiebe
Hooray for the Anna’s hummingbird! They are needed now more than ever. This spring has seen a disturbing absence of bees in my garden, despite the proliferation of blue-bells. Might this have something to do with my neighbour’s use of Merit to slay the chafer beetles?
Last summer a hummingbird visited our backyard every day – attracted by the red blossoms of pole beans growing up the camelia. It was always exciting; sometimes startling when that weird buglike drone would buzz past. It was a treat to see it perched on the clothesline, resting. One of our neighbours has a hummingbird feeder, but none have ever shown up – maybe it’s the artificiality of sugar water in a plastic container.
The first Anna we ever saw was in Richmond Nature Park. It’s mind-bending to see these creatures dematerialize. Tecumseh Park also gets regular visitors.
Love the push of this city to embrace our co-habitants; and the daylighting of streams – need more of that. Now if we could just add neighbourhood chicken coops and piggeries. That we have people lining up at foodbanks for crap in cans is shameful. There is an abundance – proven by genius lunatic farmer Joel Salatin – the antithesis of the industrial food model; a way of doing that increases fertility and improves health of the Earth – its plants, soil, and animals. Having your cake and eating it too – negentropy.