A CBC Celebrity Coming to Clearwater
Wells Gray World Heritage Year Presents:
Dick Cannings – An Ear for Birds!
June 29th and 30th – Upper Clearwater Community Hall, Clearwater, BC
All You Want to Know About Celebrity Dick Cannings
Dick Cannings was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley, in a family keenly interested in natural history. This early involvement in birds, bugs and plants led me to a university education in zoology, including a BSc degree from the University of British Columbia and a MSc from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Six summers as a Park Naturalist gave Dick a broad knowledge of the ecology of British Columbia. This knowledge was deepened through 15 years as Curator of the Cowan Vertebrate Museum at the University of British Columbia. In addition, he still teaches a field ecology course for UBC which takes him to many diverse such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Arizona and the Yukon.
Currently, Dick works half-time for Bird Studies Canada, coordinating Canadian Christmas Bird Counts, the eBird program and the British Columbia Owl Survey. Being passionate about the ecology, he is also called on quite often as a consultant, primarily on impacts to species at risk in the Okanagan Valley.
His experience is wide and vast having served on various boards and committees, including 8 years as co-chair for birds on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, 11 years on the British Columbia Environmental Appeal Board and 5 years on the British Columbia Forest Appeals Commission. Mr. Cannings was the founding director of the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance and am also a member of the national and regional boards of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
He is a highly acclaimed author, notable titles include; The Birds of the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (co-written with brothers Sydney and Robert Cannings); British Columbia: A Natural History with Sydney Cannings, The BC Roadside Naturalist, The Rockies: a Natural History, Birds of Southwestern British Columbia, and An Enchantment of Birds. British Columbia: A Natural History won several awards, including the Bill Duthie Booksellers Choice Award for best book published in British Columbia, the Canadian Science Writers’ Book Award and the Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal for best book on the history of British Columbia.
As a regular producer for CBC, his natural history themes have caught the attention of people from all over British Columbia. He has led over 50 natural history tours around the world. Dick Cannings will be in Clearwater this week-end teaching people what it is to have an EAR FOR BIRDS. This is part of the WELLS GRAY WORLD HERITAGE PROGRAM and consists on an hour lecture on Saturday June 29th starting at 7pm. On Sunday June 30th, early birders will hit the trails at 6am and return for 9am for the mid morning bird lovers. Saturday will be a full day. AN EAR FOR BIRDS is by donation and participants just need to dress for the weather, wear good walking shoes and bring a lunch and water. Binoculars, a bird book and a journal would also be helpful.
Both Saturday and Sunday events start at the Upper Clearwater Community Hall which is located 25 km up the Wells Gray Park Road. For more information or to register, please contact Shelley Sim at 250 674 3286 or email [email protected]