Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
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Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is a protected area in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, and is part of the Fraser River estuary, designated a site of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. The area includes managed wetlands, marshes and dikes. The area has numerous walking trails, bird blinds, lookouts, and a gift shop. It has resident nesting sites for sandhill cranes, bald eagles, mallards, spotted towhees and many others. Migrants include, lesser snow geese, greater and lesser yellowlegs, long-billed dowitchers, and western sandpipers. Over 250 species have so far been recorded in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is open year-round from 9 am to 4 pm local time. History George C. Reifel bought the sanctuary land in 1927 and originally used it as a working farm and family retreat. Reifel's son, George H. Reifel first leased the land to the British Columbia Waterfowl Society for use as a sanctuary in the 1960s. In 1972, the Reifel fa ...
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Sandhill Crane
The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on the American Great Plains. Sandhill Cranes are known to hangout at the edges of bodies of water especially in the Central Florida region. This is the most important stopover area for the nominotypical subspecies, the lesser sandhill crane (''A. c. canadensis''), with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually. Taxonomy In 1750, English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the sandhill crane in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Brown and Ash-colour'd Crane". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay area of Canada by James Isham. When in 1758 the Swedish natu ...
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Spotted Towhee
The spotted towhee (''Pipilo maculatus'') is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided towhee. Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (''Pipilo maculatus oregonus''). The call may be harsher and more varied than for the eastern towhee. Individuals in the Socorro Island population are much smaller than other spotted towhees, and show distinctive gray upper-parts. That population is sometimes treated as a subspecies: the Socorro towhee (''Pipilo socorroensis''). Description The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow, roughly the same size as a robin. It has a long, dark, fan-shaped tail with white corners on the end. It has a round body (similar to New World sparrows) with bright red eyes and dull pink legs. The spotted towhee is between and long, and weighs in at between and . It has a wingspan o ...
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Migratory Bird Sanctuaries Of Canada
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum length of time Natural sciences Biology * Migration (ecology), the large-scale movement of species from one environment to another ** Animal migration ** Bird migration * Plant migration, see Seed dispersal, the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant * Gene migration, a process in evolution and population genetics * Cell migration, a process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms ** Collective cell migration, describing the movements of group of cells Physics and chemistry * Molecular diffusion, in physics * Migration (chemistry), type of reaction in organic chemistry * Seismic migration, in seismic and ground penetrating radar data processing * Microscopic motion of material caused by an external f ...
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Protected Areas Of British Columbia
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage servin ...
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Alaksen National Wildlife Area
The Alaksen National Wildlife Area is located on Westham Island in the city of Delta, British Columbia. It is an important stopover point for many species of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. Geography The Alaksen Area encompasses the northwestern half of Westham Island, which itself is located within the Fraser River Delta as it enters the Strait of Georgia. The Area comprises mostly cultivated farmland, but also includes freshwater and brackish tidal marshlands, mudflats, and some woodland. In addition to the cultivated crops, the site is vegetated by various grasses in the farmland; cattails, Lyngbye's sedge, and bulrushes in the intertidal zone; and Red alder, willows and Black cottonwood, along with snowberry, salmonberry, and blackberries in the wooded areas. The Area overlaps with the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, which has stricter protections and doesn't feature cultivated farmland. History The National Wildlife Area was officially protected under ...
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Western Sandpiper
The western sandpiper (''Calidris mauri'') is a small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''mauri'' commemorates Italian botanist Ernesto Mauri (1791–1836). This is one of the most abundant shorebird species in North America, with a population in the millions. Description Adults have dark legs and a short, thin, dark bill, thinner at the tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath. They are reddish-brown on the crown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, especially the semipalmated sandpiper. This is particularly the case in winter plumage, when both species are plain gray. The western sandpiper acquires winter plumage much earlier in the autumn than the semipalmated sandpiper. Measurements: * Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm) * Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22-35 g) * Wingspan: 13.8-14.6 in (35-37 cm) Breeding T ...
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Long-billed Dowitcher
The long-billed dowitcher (''Limnodromus scolopaceus'') is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a beautiful rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight. They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and are known to have an exciting mating display where males chase females in flight. The genus, ''Limnodromus'' is Ancient Greek from ''limne'', "marsh" and ''dromos'', "racer". The specific ''scolopaceus'' is New Latin for "snipe-like", from Latin ''scolopax, scolopacis'', a snipe or woodcock. The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841. The Long-billed dowitcher is nearly identical in appearance to the Short-billed dowitcher and was only recognized as a separate species in 1950 by Pitelka. Between the two, the best distinguishing field mar ...
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Lesser Yellowlegs
The lesser yellowlegs (''Tringa flavipes'') is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America. Taxonomy The lesser yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus '' Scolopax'' and coined the binomial name ''Scolopax flavipes''. Gmelin based his description on the "yellow shanks" seen in the province of New York in autumn that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and by the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. The lesser yellowlegs is now placed in the genus ''Tringa'' that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin word given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, ...
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Greater Yellowlegs
The greater yellowlegs (''Tringa melanoleuca'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America. Taxonomy The greater yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus '' Scolopax'' and coined the binomial name ''Scolopax melanoleuca''. Gmelin based his description on the "stone snipe" seen feeding in autumn in Chateau Bay, Labrador, that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and by the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. The greater yellowlegs is now placed in the genus ''Tringa'' that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin word given to the green sandpiper by ...
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Snow Goose
The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed in the genus ''Chen'', but is now typically included in the "gray goose" genus ''Anser''. Snow geese breed north of the timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and spend winters in warm parts of North America from southwestern British Columbia through parts of the United States to Mexico. Snow goose populations increased dramatically in the 20th century. Taxonomy In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the snow goose in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The blue-winged goose". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay a ...
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Mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have purple patches on their wings, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is and the bill is long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing . Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varyi ...
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Westham Island
Westham Island is an island located near Ladner, British Columbia, Ladner, British Columbia, Canada within the City of Delta, British Columbia, Delta, which in turn is part of Greater Vancouver, Canada. The George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary for migratory birds is located at the northern end of the island. The Alaksen National Wildlife Area is also located on the island. The island is accessible via the Westham Island Bridge. The island was named by Harry Trim who came from Westham, Sussex. References External links

* Islands of British Columbia Delta, British Columbia Islands of the Fraser River {{GVRD-geo-stub ...
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