Presenters:
Tammy Bradford – Creston, BC
Creston Museum
Tammy Bradford spends most of her time at the Creston Museum, where she’s been the manager/curator/executive director/janitor for twenty-five years. When she’s not cataloguing artifacts, creating exhibits, or tracking down some detail in the archives, she’s either driving people nuts with her endless stories of local history or taking long walks with her camera and trying to convince the birds to cooperate for a photo. She’s an avid-though-easily-distracted birdwatcher, a champion deleter of bad bird photography, a figure skater and skating coach, and the world’s greatest crazy aunt.
Elizabeth Cunningham – Nelson, BC
Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly Cities
Elodie Kuhnert – Nelson, BC
Kootenay Community Bat Project
Elodie is a biologist who started working with bats in 2009 during her studies at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She did her master thesis about roost selection in forest dwelling bats and became hooked on bats ever since. During 5 years following her studies, Elodie was an active member of the Swiss bat association (CCO) and took part in local action such as nature related events, village prospection, night captures. Since 2018 she has been co-coordinating the Kootenay Community Bat Project and supporting Kootenay Landowners with bats.
Aiva Noringseth – Victoria, BC
BC Nature’s IBA Program
A life- long Vancouver Islander and proud ‘nature nerd’, Aiva (she/they) currently resides on W̱SÁNEĆ territory in Victoria, BC and most recently completed a B.Sc. in Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. A well- rounded generalist with natural history and biodiversity, she is most passionate about vertebrates and spends most of her time birding and collaborating on bird conservation through the BC IBA Program, Rocky Point Bird Observatory and other avian orgs. Having grown up exploring the coastal waters of BC, Aiva is keen to expand into the eastern reaches of the province and will be starting bird banding with Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory in August. She is currently the Field Coordinator with BC Nature’s IBA Program. When not birding, Aiva is often uploading observations to iNaturalist, looking at maps, or playing outside.
Paul Prappas – Nelson, BC
iNaturalist Workshop
Paul’s love of birds and butterflies has taken him and his partner Carolee to many locations throughout North America, Mexico, Central and South America. In addition to tracking and photographing wildlife, Paul spends a good deal of time vetting butterfly sightings for eButterfly, BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America), as well as vetting sightings on iNaturalist. Paul also maintains a Flickr account where he posts his wildlife photos, and is always up for taking beginning birders out on field trips.
Angela Prettie – Creston, BC
Stargazer
Angela Prettie has been an astronomy enthusiast since she was a teenager. She learned the constellations and star names by looking at a map with a red- cellophane covered flashlight (Very important to keep eye pupils dilated). She can bring her binoculars along, and will teach you how to find the main circumpolar constellations (e.g. Big and Little Dipper, Cassiopeia and Cepheus) as well as the zodiac and seasonal constellations for that night.
Birding Tour Leaders:
Marc-André Beaucher – Creston, BC
Marc-André arrived in the Kootenays in 1995 from Sherbrooke, Quebec, where he grew up. He worked as a consulting biologist for a few years before taking on a biologist position at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, in 2003. He is now the Head of Conservation Programs. In his free time, Marc-André enjoys watching and photographing birds and wildlife, and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.
Marc-André is a Registered Professional Biologist (B.C. College of Applied Biologists) and holds a B.Sc.
in Applied Zoology from McGill University (1996) and a M.Sc. in Environment and Management from
Royal Roads University (2005).
Ed and Hazel Beynon – Castlegar, BC
Ed and Hazel are both avid naturalists and outdoors people. Both were born and raised in BC. They lead botany hikes, bird walks, and participate in Castlegar bird counts every year. This couple participated in data collection for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas and have surveyed breeding bird routes for Bird Studies Canada for over 20 years. They bird by sound as well as sight and have recorded around 70 species on each Creston Bird Fest tour that they have led.
Daryl Calder – Cranbrook, BC
Daryl became a naturalist at an early age around the outskirts of Victoria. Following his education at UVic, he settled in Cranbrook and became involved with a number of outdoor pursuits for work and recreation. Daryl and Marianne Nahm are involved with Rocky Mountain Naturalists in the East Kootenay. The naturalist club is very active with a wide variety of projects, many of which involve the study of birds. Daryl leads weekly birding trips for naturalists, participating in Christmas Bird Counts and occasionally providing articles to the local newspapers.
Carolee Colter and Sarah Fawcett – Nelson, BC
Carolee, a passionate lover of and advocate for the natural world, has spent the past 40 years birding at home and around the world, sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm. Sarah, an instructor at Selkirk College, is a relatively new birder who was lucky enough to meet Carolee while birding along the waterfront in Nelson. The two have been sharing adventures ever since.
Gary Davidson – Nakusp, BC
Blame the MacGillivray’s Warbler for tweaking Gary Davidson’s lifelong interest in birds. These days, Gary lives most of the time in Nakusp, but prefers to escape to someplace warmer in the winter. In recent years he has wintered in Texas, Australia, Costa Rica and Panama. When in Nakusp he monitors the birds of the West Kootenay region. He has conducted over 30 years of Breeding Bird Surveys, greatly contributed to Wayne Campbell’s B.C. Nest Record Scheme, chaired several provincial committees, taught bird I.D. classes, written numerous articles, guided with Avocet Tours and has coordinated the Nakusp Christmas bird count for 45 years. He is currently the President of the BC Field Ornithologists. When in Australia, Gary has guided bird tours and worked as a naturalist/guide at a birding lodge in North Queensland. He has combined his love of bird photography with his love of travel and has also visited Peru, Jamaica, Thailand, Taiwan, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia and South Africa. This man knows birds!!
Julia Flesaker – Nakusp, BC
Julia grew up in the West Kootenay and after getting a Bachelor degree in Natural Resource Sciences from TRU, she went on to teach secondary sciences in Nakusp. She is an avid birder, naturalist and photographer. When not working Julia is out exploring nature by bike, foot or paddle. She began birding in 2017 under the mentorship of Gary Davidson. Since then Julia now tries to bird daily and has taken this curiosity on her travels in Vietnam, Panama, Texas, and recently Costa Rica.
Jo Ellen Floer – Cranbrook BC
Jo Ellen is a retired forester and longtime naturalist. She grew up in Creston and visits often. She
has lived in Cranbrook for over 30 years, enjoying the Kootenays and the birds there. A favorite pastime is
looking for birds in foreign places, most recently Japan and Tanzania. Birding as a passion came later in
life but she is trying hard to make up for it!
Lyle Grisedale – Kimberley, BC
Lyle Grisedale lives in Kimberley, BC and is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Guide who spends his summers leading hikers in the Selkirk, Purcell, and Rocky Mountains He is an enthusiastic birder, an avid photographer, and naturalist who spends as much time as possible exploring the mountains, wetlands and grasslands of the East Kootenays area of British Columbia.
The Creston Valley Bird Fest would like to thank Lyle for samples of his photography throughout this website and in our advertising. For more information, please visit his website
Gaelen Schnare – Nelson, BC
Gaelen Schnare is a young birder and photographer from Nelson, BC. Having appreciated exploring the Creston Valley since he first took up birding, he is quite familiar with the local spots and bird life. As a younger bird enthusiast, Gaelen enjoys generating community interest in birds through presentations at local schools and other organizations as well as taking part in promoting birding in the Kootenays. Despite travelling to birding locations extensively throughout western Canada, the USA, Ireland, and Ecuador, his favorite place to spend a day of birding remains the flats of Creston.
Carter Strope – Boise State University
Carter is an early-career nature guide whose childhood in the Rockies fostered a deep respect and admiration for nature. During his time as an undergraduate student studying ecology and evolutionary science at Boise State University he worked as a field ornithologist in such positions as point count technician, songbird bander, hawkwatcher and more. Birds and general naturalizing continue to be a part of his everyday life and he strives to help others find and foster their own passions for nature.
Ulrike Sliworsky – Creston, BC
Ulrike is a birder that lives in Creston. She has a science degree from the University of Manitoba with an Ornithology major. In addition to re-introducing endangered species such as Peregrine Falcons and Burrowing Owls, she has also banded waterfowl and songbirds. She has enjoyed participating in Audubon’s Christmas bird counts for over 30 years in various communities and is now the Coordinator/Compiler for the Creston Valley as well as the Kuskanook Christmas Bird Counts. Having been a Park Naturalist, she enjoys sharing her love and knowledge of nature especially with her son and visiting birders!
