Hornby Island Natural History Centre
Category: Exhibit
A Labour of Love – Natural History Collection Gets Careful Decontamination and Cleaning
After months of preparation a dedicated team met for three days to clean the Natural History collection that had sustained soot damage from the school fire.
Read MoreExhibit Restoration Fundraising Campaign
Since the recent fire at the school, many people from on and off-island have expressed their concern about the Natural History Collection. Many thanks to our community for your kind offers of support and caring. Initially, the Natural History room…
Read MoreSummer 2018 Photos
Thank you to the speakers and nature walk leaders for sharing their knowledge and supporting the Natural History Centre. Check out this cool footage from Dr. Archer’s presentation of a young glass sponge reef taken just east of Hornby Island!
Read MoreUpdate from Natural History on Recent School Fire
As many of you have heard, there was a fire at the Hornby Island Community School early Sunday morning. The fire department and janitor were called by the school’s automatic alarm system at 3 am. Firefighters from Hornby and Denman…
Read MoreNew Specimen Acceptance Policy
The Natural History Centre is now only accepting seabirds for taxidermy in the collection. Specifically, we will take any seabird specimens in suitable condition* EXCEPT the following (which we already have): Glaucous-Winged Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron and Western…
Read MoreSummer 2018 Events Calendar
We are pleased to announce that the Summer 2018 Natural History Events Calendar is now available! Join us in learning with experts passionate in the areas of marine biology, paleontology, geology, conservation, and ornithology. The Exhibit’s Summer hours of operation begin Tuesday, July…
Read MoreWelcome Back Summer Coordinator and Host – Kihan Yoon Henderson!
We are delighted to welcome Kihan Yoon-Henderson back to the Natural History Centre for her third year as the Summer Coordinator! Kihan has strong environmental, cultural, and social awareness combined with a powerful ability to communicate and inspire people. Kihan…
Read MoreHalloween Animal Art: Owls and Bats
In the spirit of Halloween, the younger students visited the Natural History Centre for a bat and owl activity. It was a great opportunity to let the kids really observe while learning interesting facts about these fascinating creatures. The students…
Read MoreSummer 2017 Events Calendar
We are pleased to announce that the Summer 2017 Natural History Events Calendar is now available! This year’s topics include Hornby Island fossils, the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse (and what to expect on Hornby), a Helliwell Park Bird Walk, and Sea Otters!…
Read MoreFall – Spring Hours
From September-June, the Natural History Centre is open on Thursdays from 12:30pm – 3:30pm, excluding most holidays. Tours are also available by appointment. To book a tour, please email hornby.naturalhistory@gmail.com or phone Tina at (250) 335-2853.
Read MoreA Day of Taxidermy for New Songbird Display with Laurel Bohart
Laurel Bohart, the Natural History Centre’s long-time taxidermist, recently spent a couple days at the Centre helping us choose and prepare birds for the new small bird display. Laurel will take several birds back to her home on Cortez Island…
Read MoreMarvelous Moon Snail Collar
Although this may look like an old-fashioned shirt collar made out of sand, it is actually an egg case of the Moon Snail and contains around 300,000 eggs. From April to September, when the female Moon Snail is ready to…
Read MoreExhibit Display Upgrade
Changes are coming to the Natural History Centre! We are very excited to have received a British Columbia | Canada 150: Celebrating B.C.’s Communities Contributions to Canada grant for upgrading and developing our displays and infrastructure in the Exhibit. Thanks…
Read MoreUpcoming Events
Natural History’s Summer 2016 Events Calendar is now available! Join us for nature walks that explore Hornby’s diverse ecology ~ and illuminating talks on bats, whales, raptors, and native plants that inhabit our island and region! Our Thursday Expert Speakers Series is held in the Community School…
Read MoreClever Corvids: The Northwestern Crow
This month’s featured treasure is our Northwestern crow, pictured above. This species lives along the BC and Alaskan coast, while a similar species, the American Crow, lives in the BC interior. Crows are generalist scavengers, eating marine invertebrates, other bird’s…
Read MoreHerring Life Cycle Display
Each year the herring spawn turns the ocean a magnificent turquoise and announces that spring is around the corner. Birds and marine mammals are seen and heard lining the shores in anticipation of the bounty. Eagles soar from trees to fish the herring,…
Read MoreStudent Activity: What makes a good display?
In our exhibit, we are often brainstorming ways to capture the imaginations of our visitors and provide valuable education through well-thought out displays. This February we got to share this process with each class at the Hornby Island Community School, where we are located. The…
Read MoreFeatured Treasure: Dance of the Grebes
Happy Valentines Day! To celebrate this day of love, our featured treasure of the month is the Western grebe – a bird whose courtship dances are elaborate and spectacular! In one display, called “rushing,” the pair race across the water side by…
Read MoreChristmas Fair 2015
We had a wonderful time tabling in the entrance of the school during this year’s Christmas Fair. Congratulations to Christine Tamburri from Hornby Island, the winner of our 2015 getaway package draw! Our birds in holiday hats taken by Barb Biagi at…
Read MoreHornby’s Giant Ammonite
Occasionally people will inquire about whether ammonite fossils have been found on Hornby Island. Indeed, they have! Our featured treasure for the month of December is this giant ammonite that was found by Stevi Kittleson on the shore past the…
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