Name: Bird Language Club at Swan Lake
Start: 2026-05-24T09:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-05-24T11:30:00-07:00
Location: Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary

What can birds tell us about the unfolding drama of the world? Practice the five voices of bird language through sitting and mapping.
About this Event

May Bird Language Club

Sunday May 24 2024 at Swan Lake

(lək'ʷəŋən territory)

9am–11:30am

What can birds tell us about the world around us when we listen closely? Join us for a new season of the bird language club. After a year long hiatus, the Victoria Bird Language Club will be gathering again to share teachings on the five voices of the birds and practice our attention and mapping as a group. Open to complete beginners and experts alike.

Birds are aware of everything happening around them because their survival depends on it! When we try to interpret what they are saying, we can learn so much about the world around us, and about who else is inhabiting our surroundings.

There is a wild avian conversation happening all around us that does not take place using human-made words or language. It exists in sound, gesture, feeling and silence. It communicates a constantly unfolding story of place that we are all a part of.

—Weaving Earth

This meet-up is entirely free. We will meet at main parking lot of Swan Lake.

This is not a bird identification walk!

The event will begin with an short introduction to the study of bird language using a schema we call "the five voices." This will be followed by time for sitting on our own and noticing what we can about the bird vocalizations around us. After this we will create a map together informed by our bird sits. Follwing the teachings and discussion, there will be time for Q&A, hanging out and casual birding around Swan Lake.

Please bring a pad to sit on or a small camp chair, a notebook, a pencil/pen, binoculars and a field guide to birds if you have them and think you will find them helpful.

Any questions email Julian Evans ([email protected]). Read about our first event in 2023 here.

The Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary is on the ancestral territories of the lək'ʷəŋən peoples, as represented today by the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, including the W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱SIḴEM (Tseycum) and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) Nations. Their historical relationships to these lands and waters continue to this day.

Photos by Brad Herrit (@brads.bird.photos).