This post has been contributed by Don Enright, Volunteer and Past President with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”). I have been following SPES since I moved into the West End almost a decade ago and I have been a member for two years. I wanted to offer the team an opportunity to share their news, events, and work so I have created “SPES Saturday” where they contribute and share stories with my audience once a month.
Stanley Park’s Creatures of the Night
Imagine living in a world of near-total darkness, where every night your dinner lies hidden in some strange corner of your home. Imaging having to chase that dinner at high speed, in the dark, before you can sit down and eat it. Now imagine doing all of that during the rainy, cold nights of winter… and you have some idea of what life looks like for the creatures of the night in Stanley Park.
While you and I make our way out of the Park at dusk, after our jogs and bike rides and nature walks, a strange and beautiful underworld is just coming to life. We catch glimpses of it, if we’re lucky, in the early morning or evening. But you and I, by virtue of just being human, are sadly unqualified to really see everything that’s going on in the dark of night. We just don’t have the equipment.
Over on Cathedral Trail, for example, among the giant western red cedars, a pair of barred owls is just beginning their nightly calling: “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for youuuu?” They have huge eyes to help them find one another—so large that they can’t turn their eyes easily within their sockets, as we can, and so must twist their necks an amazing degree, in that wonderfully owl-like way. (They can’t turn their heads completely around, as some might have you believe. But 270 degrees isn’t bad. Try it.)
Barred owl perched in a Stanley Park tree. (Photo: Trevor Buckwell)
Barred owls also have sacrificed most of their colour vision, in order to pack their retinas with the crucial light-sensitive cells they need to make it through the night. It seems a small price to pay for night vision… and with their excellent hearing, they don’t really need to see in vivid colour as they find and dispatch the rodents and small birds they eat each night. Barred owls are so good at what they do, in fact, that they might be the reason we rarely hear western screech owls in Stanley Park anymore: they just can’t compete.
High over the owls’ head, at least during summer, little brown bats and their relatives are busy harvesting the mosquitoes and moths that fill the air. That too is hard work, and bats get the job done with sonar. As they fly, they emit a series of clicks that bounce back off their prey. While it seems hard to imagine that ricocheting clicks could mean anything at all while you’re flying at high speed, to the bats these sounds create a detailed image of where their prey is and in what direction it’s moving. All the bats need do is home in on the source of the echoes, and snap it up in the net-like membrane they have between their legs and tail.
Brown bat captured (and released) during a SPES bat survey. (Photo: Michael Schmidt)
Coyotes are also hunters in the darkness, though they might be more at home in twilight rather than the deepest hours of night. To hear their yips and howls as they keep in touch with each other through the forest shadows is sure to send a chill down your spine.
If you’ve ever walked through Vancouver’s West End in the small hours of the morning, you might have had a close call with another of our night time denizens: the striped skunk. It can be truly alarming to spot them; it seems they’re nearly invisible until you’re just a couple of steps away. Fortunately our skunks are mild-mannered creatures, calmly going about their business of digging about for worms and grubs. Leave them in peace (and definitely keep your dogs away from them) and they’ll just keep minding their own skunky business.
Raccoons are another classic creature of the night, but ours in Stanley Park can be seen in broad daylight, too – a way of taking advantage of the free handouts they get while visitors are in the Park. Leaving them to find their own food is a good way of encouraging natural, healthy behaviour—in raccoons and all our wildlife.
Raccoon foraging. (Photo: Andre Chan)
If you’d like to learn more about these amazing nocturnal goings-on, and would like to do so in a fun and family-friendly way, be sure to join us for Creatures of the Night, Thursdays to Sundays at the Halloween Ghost Train in Stanley Park, October 9th to November 1st, 2014.
The Cascadia Cup gets to stay in Vancouver as Whitecaps FC claimed the prize for the 2nd year in a row. Defeating the Seattle Sounders 1-0 in Seattle tonight, the Whitecaps stay in the Major League Soccer playoff race and become the first team to win 5 Cascadia Cups.
“The origins of the Cascadia Cup date back to when Vancouver, Portland and Seattle were members of the United Soccer Leagues (USL) First Division. The combined supporters of the three clubs created the two-foot tall silver Cup, which is awarded annually to the team with the best head-to-head record over their Pacific Northwest rivals in regular season matches.
Vancouver won the first two editions of the competition in 2004 and 2005 and added a third title in 2008. Then, last year, the ‘Caps were crowned Cascadia champions for the fourth time – making them the most successful club in competition history.” [WhitecapsFC]
![[PIC] @Southsiders looking sharp with OUR @WhitecapsFC's #CascadiaCup! #VWFC #MLS @Doolins](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/10524026713_0280f31823_z.jpg)
Fighting Portland for a playoff spot in the west, the Whitecaps have 2 more matches until the end of the regular season. They’ll play in San Jose on October 18th and then back at BC Place on October 25th to take on Colorado. Follow Whitecaps FC on Twitter for more information.
Earlier this week, one of the most photographed and visited landmarks in Vancouver was removed for repairs. The Gastown Steam Clock, piping out melodies on the corner of Cambie and Water streets since 1977, has been taken to the fabrication shop at Manitoba Yards for the next 8 weeks.
According to the City of Vancouver, “The mechanical moving parts of the Steam Clock’s device for loading the metal balls have worn over the last 37 years and can no longer be reliably maintained. Mechanical failures have been a common occurrence in the past year, and the proposed repairs to the ball loading device will restore reliability to the Steam Clock while maintaining its historical integrity.”
With cruise ship season winding down, it was a good times for crews to work on the Gastown Steam Clock. Its steam vent-powered whistle will return in time for the busy Christmas season.
Calling all animation students, artists, industry members, and enthusiasts! The Spark Computer Graphics Society presents SPARK Animation 2014, a conference and film festival celebrating creativity, inspiration and innovation in animation around the world.
What: SPARK Animation 2014 October 22 – 26 at the Vancity Theatre
Where: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour in Vancouver
When: October 22nd to October 26th, 2014
Spark Animation: Films
A showcase and celebration of the best of animation arts from around the world, from independent animation to special premieres, the SPARK Animation Festival is your chance to enjoy some of the most recently acclaimed animated films on the festival circuit.
New this year, a series of programs international shorts incorporating a wide variety of techniques and covering everything from student films and music videos to commercials and This year was the first time the festival accepted submissions, receiving 166 films from 30 countries.
The event opens on October 22nd with the BC premiere of Canadian co-pro The Prophet, by Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran. Largely produced locally by BC based Bardel Entertainment, the film is a masterpiece created in chapters by a team of world renowned animators including Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), and Bill Plympton (Cheatin’). Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet features the voice talents of Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson and Alfred Molina.
Other highlights include: Song Of The Sea (from Oscar nominated director Tomm Moore), The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (a documentary on legendary Ghibli studio), and Giovanni’s Island (Jury-distinction award at Annecy 2014).
Film festival tickets are available online now for $11.
SPARK Animation: Conference
The keynote speaker is legendary animator Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast, Pocahontas, Tarzan) who left Disney two years ago to focus on personal projects, the latest of which include: Duet. Keane will be joined by his son Max Keane, who worked as Production Designer on the project.
The conference will feature speakers from Pixar, Cartoon Saloon, and more who have worked on many blockbuster films such as: Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. The sessions will cover “The Making Of”: The Prophet, Song Of The Sea, The Boxtrolls, Lava, Big Hero 6, The Book of Life and Duet.
Conference passes are $175 early-bird (until October 17) and $225 (regular). Individual conference presentations are $25 each (after October 10).
SPARK will also host a Job Fair October 24th and October 25th. Dust off your resumes, bring in your demo reels, and prepare questions for top recruiters. The Job Fair is free but registration is required.
For more information about SPARK Animation films, conference events, and the job fair, follow along on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter with the tag #SPARK2014.
Miss604 is a proud community sponsor of SPARK Animation 2014
