Vancouver Avian Research Centre

.....Research - Conservation - Education

Visit Us

VARC operates with a wide open door policy regarding public visitation but due to the number of individual and group visits we ask that all visits be scheduled in advance. This is also to address potential liability issues in the area in which we are banding. Large group visits are typically scheduled well in advance.

When visiting the station visitors are invited to observe the banding, ask questions and take photographs and hold and release birds under the close supervision of the Bander-in-charge.

Visitors are not permitted to walk the net lanes, unless invited and attended by the station Bander-in-charge. Visitors often are invited to walk the net lanes during net checks, but only on a case by case basis, depending on the volume of birds being processed, the number of visitors, and weather conditions. The safety and welfare of every bird is always our top priority at all times.

Please keep in mind that the station is operational Thursday through Sunday from April 1st - October 31st and at weekends only during the winter months (November - March).

Full details of site visits together with directions to the station can be found in our site visit overview brochure by clicking here.

Site Visits

For more information or to schedule a visit, please contact VARC.

  Banding Station
   
 

Colony Farm

Colony Farm

VARC’s main field station is in Colony Farm Regional Park (Park), a 404 hectare park consisting in part of old field habitat which is unique in the lower mainland of Vancouver. The park is managed by MetroVancouver (MV) who are developing and implementing a sustainability plan for the park to integrate sustainable food systems, wildlife, recreation and community. With more than 345,000 visitors a year it is one of the busiest parks in the Vancouver Regional Parks system. The banding station is located in the wildlife designated fields known as Wilson’s Farm North.

In 2011 MV implemented a Tidal Flow Restoration and Habitat Enhancement Project as part of the Port Mann/Highway 1 Improvement (PMH1) Project, under the Province’s Gateway Program, which will improve roads and bridges for people, goods and transit throughout Metro Vancouver. As part of the PMH1 Project, significant wetland and riparian habitat restoration/enhancement was implemented within the park. The habitat enhancements undertaken in the Wilson’s Farm area were designed to benefit overall ecological diversity while still protecting the old-field habitat important for breeding and migratory birds.

Wilson’s Farm is an area within the Park that was historically farmed and is important habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife. The old-fields and hedgerows provide habitat for a wide diversity of birds including locally rare and uncommon species such as Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena), Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor), Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) and Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis). The avifauna within the region is particularly rich with a total of more than 400 species of birds documented, 250 of which occur annually.

 

Home | About UsEducationResearch| Volunteer | About Birds | Gallery
 

Copyright © 2008-2012 VARC - Designed by Derek Matthews. Webmaster: Mark Habdas