About Us
Rick Toochin has been interested in birds since he was a kid and growing up in a famous BC birding family helped fuel that interest. Since childhood he has travelled all over the province watching and documenting birds. He spent many years as a field technician working on various projects all over British Columbia. His passion for rare bird records started in 1978 when his dad John showed him the Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Iona Island and was further sparked when seeing a King Eider along the Stanley Park Seawall with his dad on the Vancouver Christmas Bird Count in 1984. Since that time he has been pooling together information and carefully categorizing rare bird records. This website is the accumulation of over forty years of data collection. He has been on rare bird committees, was a bird alert operator in Vancouver in the late 1990s into the early 2000s. Has travelled to all four corners of the province multiple times in the quest to find birds and understand their movements in the province. He has been involved in many projects with the most recent being the Fraser Valley Hawk Watch. His passion combines knowledge, inventory background and methodical approach to birding. It is hoped that everyone will enjoy this labor of love data set and use it to the fullest.
Don Cecile has had a passion for studying birds since 1986 when he began as a park naturalist at Point Pelee National Park, Ontario. Since moving to British Columbia in 1991, Don has paid particular attention to the movements of birds within his new home province. During this time Don was sub-regional editor to North American Birds for the Port Alberni region, then later regional editor for BC/Yukon region. Don has always found that access to updated information on rare birds in the province has been cumbersome if not impossible so with Rick's help, an updated comprehensive online database for rare birds of British Columbia was born.
Don Cecile has had a passion for studying birds since 1986 when he began as a park naturalist at Point Pelee National Park, Ontario. Since moving to British Columbia in 1991, Don has paid particular attention to the movements of birds within his new home province. During this time Don was sub-regional editor to North American Birds for the Port Alberni region, then later regional editor for BC/Yukon region. Don has always found that access to updated information on rare birds in the province has been cumbersome if not impossible so with Rick's help, an updated comprehensive online database for rare birds of British Columbia was born.