Category Archives: Animals

Animals, Environment

Miranda Cross to manage Beaver Coexistence project for Cortes and Quadra Islands 

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board awarded Rewilding Water & Earth Inc. the contract to manage a Beaver Coexistence Project on Cortes and Quadra Islands. 

The first phase is purely informational. 

“Beavers are the ultimate wetland managers, and they’re on it all the time. They’re checking their dams every day. For us humans to be able to not only co exist, but partner with wildlife like beaver will be a huge benefit to us as we see the climate changing and as we’re trying to adapt to and be more resilient to climate change,” explained Miranda Cross of Rewilding Water and Earth. 

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Animals, Rivers & Oceans

No European Green Crabs in the Discovery Islands, yet

The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) have not found any European Green Crabs in Manson’s lagoon, and so far there’ve been no sightings north of Nanaimo.  

“We haven’t found any, that’s really good news, but we’ve been very pleased to partner with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).  Hopefully, if we ever find them, we’ll be able to trap them out and stop them from harming the valuable habitat here,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI.

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Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Deep-sea octopus nursery discovered in Nuu-chah-nulth waters

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Offshore of Vancouver Island, in Nuu-chah-nulth waters 65 kilometers west of Hesquiat Harbour, lives a nursery of deep-sea octopuses brooding their eggs. This is one of four known octopus nurseries in the world, said DFO researcher Cherisse Du Preez.

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Animals

Cortes Island 2023 Spring Bird Count & an app called ‘Merlin’

Local naturalist George Sirk was sick for the Cortes Island Spring Bird Count earlier this month, so bird watchers had to rely on a new app to help them identify species. This new app, called Merlin, is one of many topics that he and Nancy Kendel, from the Cortes Island Museum, discussed with Cortes Currents. 

The conversation started out with Kendel (NK) giving an overview:

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Animals, Education

The Taxidermist behind Wild Cortes

Laurel Bohart has volunteered her time to mount or prepare the study skins of 100 birds, fish and mammals for the Cortes Island Museum. She is a member of the Board and one of the co-curators of Wild Cortes in the Linnaea Farm Education Centre. Bohart is also a professional taxidermist, whose interest can be traced back to her parent’s missionary years in Nigeria during the mid 1960s.

The first words she used to describe taxidermy were, “It’s fun.”

To which she added, “It’s a form of sculpture when you mount a bird or a mammal. It’s better than a photograph, which is two dimensional. These are three dimensional.”   

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