Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

First Person - More than a hobby

Local birder Michael Thompson keeps an eye out for our feathered friends

The growing importance of bird watching is not lost on Whistler’s Michael Thompson.

Just as canaries were used to alert miners to the presence of gas, and eagle populations alerted people to the dangers of the pesticide DDT, Whistler birds have a story to tell.

To know that story, you first have to get to know the birds – what species live here, and in what numbers? Where do they live? And how do they fit into our ecology, whether they’re visitors to the valley on their seasonal migrations or residents?

Once a month Thompson co-ordinates a bird walk for the Whistler Naturalists, inviting expert birders like Karl Ricker, Nancy Ricker and Heather Baines to lead tours along Whistler’s lakes. Sometimes Thompson leads the group himself, but mostly he goes along as an extra set of eyes.

During those walks around Alta Lake and Green Lake, Thompson helps to compile a list of birds spotted. Over time those lists will be used to show what varieties of birds call Whistler home and when; where those birds live; and, given enough years, those lists will also show change, for better or for worse.

For his contributions to the Whistler Naturalists, and his dedication to the monthly bird walk, Thompson was presented with the society’s Naturalist of the Year award at the group’s general meeting on Nov. 13.

A homeowner in Whistler since 1981, Thompson was an active member of the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment in its early years, and helped to found the Whistler Naturalists almost five years ago with four others.

The goal was to create a nature group in Whistler that was not founded on advocacy and environmental politics like AWARE, but rather on education – building an awareness and appreciation of the natural world.

Pique sat down with Michael Thompson to discuss nature, birds and the future of naturalism in Whistler.

Pique

: When you were presented with the Naturalist of the Year award, (fellow Whistler Naturalist founder) Bob Brett referred to you as the reluctant bird expert…

MT:

The word expert shouldn’t enter into the discussion in any way. I’m not an expert. I don’t hold a candle to Karl Ricker or Nancy Ricker or Heather Baines or Max Götz – they’re the real experts here. I’ve learned so much from them over the years.

Pique:

What’s your background? And how did you get into birding?

MT:

I grew up in Montreal, and we had a country place in the Laurentians. In the winter we’d go up on the weekends skiing and in the summer it was the lakes, and we had a little cabin there. We were three kids in the family, and the shoes would come off in June and went on again in September.

There was lots of bush and forest, and that’s where I found my initial interest in the outdoors.

I also took up photography, although I was an amateur, and stuck with it all my life.

We did a lot of canoeing, which is just a great way to see wildlife. A canoe doesn’t spook them much, so you can just slide right in to get a good look.

I graduated university as a mechanical engineer, and most of my work was being a plant engineer, and later an owner’s engineer – things like grain elevators for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. It was project management-type stuff.

My last job was the CEO of Prince Rupert Grain, which brought me to Vancouver. I’ve worked in Thunder Bay, and in places up the West Coast, and travelled the country in between.

Now I’ve lived in Quebec, in Thunder Bay, in Winnipeg, in Regina, and in Vancouver.

Pique:

Have you always been a birder, or is it something you just dabbled in until recently?

MT:

We did dabble, my wife Shirley and myself – that’s a good word for it. The first records we kept were in Winnipeg, where we had a place on the Assiniboine River. There was also lots of wildlife in Regina.

It was a continuing interest, but it wasn’t until I came up here that I was exposed to it. Max Gotz was a big help in getting us interested, and why we started bird walks years ago.

Pique:

There’s a lot of different natural topics that naturalists can get into. What was it that appealed to you about bird-watching?

MT:

First of all, it’s in the outdoors. And it’s a challenge to go out there and find these little creatures that are, in our view, very worthwhile.

Pique:

Obviously it’s tough to spot the birds sometimes. What makes a great birder?

MT:

I don’t know – I don’t consider myself a great birder, just a person with a great passion for birding.

You’re always looking, but knowing what to look for is important. And keep your ears open. Max Gotz used to say that if I was struck blind tomorrow it wouldn’t affect my bird watching.

When I talk to people about birding… I make it clear that while it seems insuperable that you have to know 40,000 species of birds, but that’s not the case. When you first see a bird, you know right away that there are 39,000 things it can’t possibly be. When you’re looking at a warbler, you know it’s not a seagull or a hawk.

The first thing is to recognize that it’s a warbler, which is easy, and from there you can hammer it down to the exact species.

If it’s a duck, recognize that it’s a duck, and ducks fall into two categories. You do a little detective work. If it’s a dabbling duck, then its bum will stick out of the water. Diving ducks go under the water. If it has orange legs, then it’s almost certainly a mallard.

There’s not much to it in the beginning. You just need a few basics, and a good guide book to bring with you, and you’re on your way.

Pique:

Any favourite birds?

MT:

The trumpeter swans are always arresting. It’s just a spectacular bird to watch – I believe it’s the second heaviest flying bird in North America. I don’t have a bias, but I enjoy watching the big birds, like the swans or herons.

Shorebirds, rooks, and sorrels can be challenging to find, but I don’t see them that often.

Pique:

Any unusual sightings over the years?

MT:

I don’t have as much luck with that as Karl Ricker, he’s the one who finds all the rare birds. I spotted a great catbird on the railway tracks in 1997, one of the few that have been seen up here. Of course Karl saw the other sightings on Alpha Lake. It’s not a spectacular bird, but they’re exceptional in that they’re rare for these parts.

Pique:

Birds are now widely accepted as an indicator species for the health of the environment, and you’re on the front lines here. Has anything changed since you started birding in Whistler?

MT:

Sure. One thing we’ve noticed is an increase of brown-headed cowbirds in the area. They’re usually found in Saskatchewan but for some reason they’re showing up in Whistler. They’re brood parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and when they hatch they out-compete the others for food. Eventually they can push the native birds out, and that can have an effect on indigenous species.

They’re prairie birds really, but for whatever reason they came over the mountains. I don’t know if that has something to do with the weather, or farming, or something to do with predators, but it’s a problem. Some people think they follow the hydro lines and roads.

Pique:

You were active in AWARE and now you’re active with the Whistler Naturalists. Have you been following the sustainability issue?

MT:

We support the environmental community however we can. We’re in AWARE and the Naturalists, and I’m part of the Nature Conservancy and the Nature Trust of British Columbia.

We follow the issues and we do what we can. I like to quote the Union of B.C. Naturalists, because I think it really sums up what we believe and what the Naturalists believe – "To know nature and keep it worth knowing."

Pique:

What’s the next step for the Naturalists and bird watchers?

MT:

You’ve probably seen the excellent bird checklist that Max Gotz put together many years ago. It was a wonderful effort. Now we’re working to put together a supplementary list… I think there were 170 birds on the original list, and we’re thinking 40 to 50 additional birds.

With the CHiRP (Community Habitat Resources Project), I’ve been a liaison for the Naturalists in regards to the birds so I have all of our bird count numbers from the Christmas bird counts and the our monthly bird walks.

I’ve been working with a (bird watching software) system called AviSys to keep track of bird sightings by me or Shirley. It records data, the place of a sighting and other attributes, like time of day, time of year, was it on the top of a deciduous tree or a conifer, all kinds of descriptors. I’ve been using it for five years, so there’s getting to be quite a lot of data in there we can use.

The important thing is to be consistent. We walk the same transect from Alta Lake to Green Lake every month, and after a while you get a sense of what should be there and what’s unique.

The other day I saw 18 trumpeter swans (Nov. 19) but if they don’t show up on a count day it doesn’t appear on the official records. This way you get a clearer picture of what’s typical for Whistler. There are always going to be unusual sightings, but resident bird populations interest us the most. Unless they’re something like the cowbird, of course.

Pique:

It seems that Whistler has a hardcore group of birders. Is that group growing at all or is it the same people coming out? Do you need more people out there?

MT:

On our monthly bird walks we’ve had anywhere from two to 17 people in a group. One Canada Day three years ago I did the transect myself.

I’ve given a little thought to this and there are a few things I would like to see. The first is revised bird list with an additional supplement to Max’s original list.

I’d also like to increase the number of eyes out there, so that we can go beyond Alta Lake and Green Lake. We could have a bird watch on the mountains, at Lost Lake, at Alpha Lake and the dump. These areas are part of the Christmas Count, but we would get a better picture if we visited these areas year round.

That said I know people are transient here, they come and go. I don’t know what the answer is to that, but birders have a habit of turning up. We have hosted birders from North Bay (Ontario) and Michigan, and from England and all kinds of places. They ask the concierges in the hotels where to go, and they get in contact with us.

Birding was the fastest growing hobby in North America for a while.

Part of the reason is because it’s kind of fun to be in the outdoors, and all you really need is some binoculars and a good bird book. A good pair of boots comes in handy, too.

There are more of us than you would think.