Thursday May 21, 7-8:30 pm.

Dr. Elaine Humphrey, Project Manager, Advanced Microscopy Lab, University of Victoria.

Members – This presentation is Free for current members of Nature Salt Spring or Salt Spring Island Conservancy – add this ticket to your cart if you are a member of either group, or if you plan to get/renew membership at the event.

Elaine will introduce the world of small-life biodiversity that can be investigated with microscopes including the remarkable tools that allow three dimensional detail of extremely small biological features using a portable SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). Elaine will bring the SEM over from UVic so this is a unique opportunity for exploring Salt Spring natural history. Elaine’s expertise with the SEM and other microscopes will be the glue that holds this Biodiversity Extravaganza together for the following three days. Each day (Friday May 22 to Sunday, May 24) will feature two sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each session will begin with a field portion involving observation and sample collection outside in natural habitats, followed by a lab portion at the Blackburn building where Elaine and other naturalists will help us explore aspects of biodiversity using microscopes and the SEM.

Thursday May 21, 7-8:30 pm.

Dr. Elaine Humphrey, Project Manager, Advanced Microscopy Lab, University of Victoria.

Non-members – $10 – This introductory presentation and all of our half-day sessions have a $10 donation for cost recovery to cover expenses such as ferries, accommodations, guest naturalists, etc. Please add this ticket to your cart if you are not current member of NSS or SSIC.

Elaine will introduce the world of small-life biodiversity that can be investigated with microscopes including the remarkable tools that allow three dimensional detail of extremely small biological features using a portable SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). Elaine will bring the SEM over from UVIC so this is a unique opportunity for exploring Salt Spring natural history. Elaine’s expertise with the SEM and other microscopes will be the glue that holds this Biodiversity Extravaganza together for the following three days. Each day (Friday May 22 to Sunday, May 24) will feature two sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each session will begin with a field portion involving observation and sample collection outside in natural habitats, followed by a lab portion at the Blackburn building where Elaine and other naturalists will help us explore aspects of biodiversity using microscopes and the SEM.

Saturday May 23, 5-6:30 pm.

Join us for an informal social/happy hour gathering at the

SSI Conservancy Blackburn Lake facility. Please bring along a ‘finger-food’ appetizer. No-host bar available. Donations gratefully accepted.

Friday May 22, 7:30-11 am.

The field portion of this session will involve a bird-watching hike at the SSIC’s Blackburn Lake property. You will learn and practice the basic techniques of bird watching including how to get the most from binoculars or spotting scopes; the use of bird apps such as Merlin and eBird; techniques for locating birds and finding good habitat; and more. Several of Nature Salt Spring’s birding enthusiast group will be your instructors, with an informal, and thoroughly fun approach.

For those interested, there will be a special session on bird photography with Pierre Mineau. (sign up for this by emailing [email protected])

In the lab portion, we’ll be treated to some of Pierre’s incredible bird photography and we’ll have a presentation about bird feathers and flight by Salt Spring naturalist, author, and nature exhibit designer, Don Gunn. We’ll use the SEM and other microscopes to explore feather structure and find out about flight and other topics of bird natural history.

Friday May 22, 1-4:30 pm.

Field portion: Meet at The Government Dock behind the Treehouse Cafe at 1pm. (This is the only session that does not start at the SSIC Blackburn Lake facility.) We will meet at the Government Dock (top of the ramp) in Ganges Village, near the Treehouse Cafe. We will spend about an hour examining life on the docks, collecting a plankton sample, and possibly a light trap collection – before returning to our ‘lab’ at Blackburn Lake.

Lab portion: We will return to Blackburn Lake to examine our collections and to see if we can use the SEM to reveal otherwise unseen details. The discussion will include remarkable accounts of life histories of crabs, skeleton shrimp and other small marine life, and we will view many organisms that provide the food/energy foundation for the Salish Sea marine food pyramid.

Saturday May 23 8:30am - noon.

Field portion:
Part A: Plant Structures – Small but Powerful - with retired biologist, Pat Miller and teacher/naturalist, Jean Wilkinson. We’ll explore the diversity and structure of plants, finding all sorts of amazing structures that allow plants to breathe, photosynthesize, defend themselves, attract pollinators, and send their genes along to other members of the species.

Part B: In Search of the Water Bear and Other Microhabitat Explorations – with marine naturalist, David Denning. We’ll search for the very small and very elusive water bear, or tardigrade. Along the way we’ll discover some fascinating small life of forests and moss colonies.

Lab Portion: We’ll look at our collected vascular plants and mosses focusing on minute details of their structures. We hope to crack the mystery of the elusive water bear, and get up-close-and-personal with springtails and other minute beasts that make their homes on forest floor, soil, and moss colonies. We’ll look carefully at high magnification to discover remarkable structures in the plants we have collected.

Saturday May 23 1-4:30 pm.

Sponsored by Nature Kids BC!

The edge of Blackburn Lake is rife with critters of all sorts – an amazing place to encounter pond life and enthrall participants with its biodiversity. Armed with buckets, nets, turkey basters and collecting jars we will first approach the wetland cautiously, seeking to discover who will be there sunning themselves? A turtle? A garter snake? A red-winged blackbird? Then, prodding the pond bottom with sticks, looking on and under plants, rocks and logs the search will begin for the tiny creatures hiding in the shadows - those amazing invertebrates and larvae of a multitude of fabulous creatures such as dragon flies and mayflies.

Will we get wet pond dipping? You bet! Will we find eggs? Pond skaters, tadpoles? Voracious diving beetle larvae! We hope so!

As we conclude our study we will carefully select a mixture of critters to view up in the lab at the Conservancy where experts with dissecting scopes and other magnifiers will be waiting for us. Then, more fun as we see in detail appendages, mouth parts and crazy adaptations. Maybe, just maybe we’ll find something so tiny Dr. Elaine Humphrey will put the Scanning Electron microscope to use!

What to wear and bring: boots or water type shoes, a hat, sunscreen, water and a snack.

Leaders: Reed Osler and Kathleen Maser.

Saturday May 23 1-4:30 pm.

Field portion: A healthy pond is full of life. This field walk to ponds near Blackburn Lake will explore their living inhabitants, looking for ‘water fleas’, ‘ankle biters’. ‘Phantom’ midges, leeches, and other things ‘to fierce to mention’: just kidding – these are all perfectly normal [and harmless to people] residents of a healthy pond. Marine naturalist, David Denning, will lead our explorations, dip-nets in hand and waders in place. Join the expedition with appropriate rubber boots and clothes appropriate for the day.

Lab portion: We’ll use fresh-water aquaria to hold and observe our ‘catch’ with a few species planned for detailed observations on the SEM and light microscopes. After the lab session, the animals will be returned to the ponds.

Sunday May 24, 8:30am - noon.

Field portion: Retired Royal BC Museum biologists, Claudia and Darren Copley will lead us on a revealing natural history walk through meadows and forests of the SSIC Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve. As experts in (among many other things) BC’s insects and spiders, they will share a wealth of understanding about native plants, insect and spider biodiversity, and how these contribute to forest and meadow ecosystem dynamics. Darren and Claudia bring a wealth of field collecting and natural history interpretation experience to their walks that are always guaranteed to be highly engaging, insightful and a whole lot of fun.

Lab portion: The lab portion of this session will be an opportunity to explore and share some close-up views of the collections from the field. Who knows what amazing in-depth images can be conjured up by Elaine Humphrey using her traveling Scanning Electron Microscope? Darren and Claudia will join Elaine and all the participants to reveal details of our collections and other specimens we might bring to the event.

Sunday May 24, 1-4:30 pm.

Field portion: Our 2026 Biodiversity Extravaganza will start with a look at the island’s birds. It’s a special time because migrating species are returning to join the species that make our island their year-round home. Warblers, swallows, vireos, flycatchers, purple martins, thrushes, night hawks, and dozens of other species have, or soon will, join the approximately 100 permanent residents species to nest and raise their families among the natural wealth of Salt Spring Island.

On this nature walk, Darren and Claudia Copley, will address questions about who, or what, is feeding all those birds, and what we can do to support our fine-feathered friends. Join us for this final session as Darren and Claudia reveal the stories of native plant and insect stewardship that is essential to support biodiversity on our Island home.

Lab portion: A final opportunity to explore revealing images of small world and micro-life biodiversity on Salt Spring Island.

If the session you'd like to attend is full, please select this ticket and we'll get in touch if space allows.