Rand Rudland

Rand grew up in (very) rural British Columbia, starting to guide fishing trips at his grandparents summer lodge at age 12. Later he decided that a university degree was probably preferable to continued hard labour in the forest industry. Biology and Forest Ecology seemed the obvious choice, but ultimately he chose medicine. He practised family medicine for over 35 years based on the Sunshine Coast of BC, but also providing medical services to many remote fly-in communities across the Canadian Arctic. Rand has led natural history tours to Paraguay, East Africa, Panama, Costa Rica and the Canadian Arctic. As ship’s physician on small eco-tour ships he has had the opportunity to visit remote islands in Melanesia, cross the Antarctic Circle on the Antarctic Peninsula, visiting Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic, and numerous points in between. Diverse interests in insects spurred by his nature photography have resulted in the production of “Odonates of the Sunshine Coast”, and with Tony Greenfield, “Butterflies of the Sunshine Coast”. Now retired from medicine he enjoys volunteer activities and educating locals and visitors alike about the diverse natural history of BC’s sunshine coast.