Posted By Bob Lefebvre

The 2021-2022 Bird Study Group Speaker Series begins on Wednesday September 8th with a special presentation by Lyn Hancock, honouring Gus Yaki. This will be a virtual presentation using Zoom, and you have to be a Nature Calgary member to link to it.

(Nature Calgary memberships are available on their website here. If you already are a member, you should have received an email with the Zoom invitation.)

Almost forty years ago, Lyn Hancock took part in a 30,000-mile trip around North America led by Gus Yaki, the renowned naturalist who passed away just over a year ago. Gus lived in Calgary for the last twenty-seven years of his life, and he was an inspiration to many local birders.

The trip in 1983 followed the route taken by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher thirty years prior, in 1953. Lyn documented the trip in her book Looking For the Wild.

From Nature Calgary:

Lyn’s special interest was the exciting climax of the trip on the remote Pribilof Islands in Alaska where she had close encounters with fur seals, murres and puffins, species she had raised as orphans in British Columbia in the 1960s and led to her interest in wildlife.

Lyn is the author of 20 books about her experiences with wildlife including THERE’S A SEAL IN MY SLEEPING BAG, LOVE AFFAIR WITH A COUGAR, TABASCO THE SAUCY RACCOON and THE RING: MEMORIES OF A METIS GRANDMOTHER, the pioneer love story of Sam Livingston and Jane Howse, the first settlers in Calgary.

The meeting begins at 7:30 pm and the Zoom link will open at 7:15.

Details of future Bird Study Group meetings and other Nature Calgary events and field trips can be found here.

Note: the books below have all been spoken for. Thanks for your interest. – Bob

If you live in Calgary and would like a copy of Lyn Hancock’s book Looking For the Wild, I have four copies to give away. They are all signed by Gus, and one is also signed by Lyn. I will give them to the first four people who respond and who agree to make a donation to either The Nature Conservancy of Canada or Birds Canada in whatever amount they wish. (These were two organizations that Gus supported.) The books are used, and one is a former library copy, but they are in good shape. Just email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com and we can make arrangements to get the book to you.