Coconuts in Canada Mystery

While going through observations in an area I’ll be visiting today, I stumbled across a curious thing: several coconut (Cocos nucifera) observations in the Metro Vancouver area. Note that the species of palm that is grown in Vancouver is Trachycarpus fortunei. There seems to be a handful of sightings of coconuts in the nearby area as well, mainly on Vancouver Island, with regular-ish sightings in the Delta area, per @bastefanidis:

I see these occasionally on the beach.

This raises some questions in my head and I have some theories:

  1. There are viable coconut trees nearby in Delta (which have yet to be observed) or across the border that are dropping their seeds and having them be carried to shore.
  2. Ocean currents are carrying coconuts from distant locations to be carried to the beach. This is probably the most likely, but I’m very curious about the concentration of them in BC as opposed to the surrounding regions.
  3. Discarded coconuts from the supermarket wind up in the ocean and wash up on the beach. I’m somewhat doubtful about this though, since a lot of them are too immature to be the ones sold at grocery stores.

Very curious what theories or ideas you all might have for their origin!

Some examples:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/212168786
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/187424466
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226343322
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190965543

BC seems to be roughly at the eastern end of the North Pacific Current that is flowing towards the east. so it probably gets all sorts of interesting things.

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Probably just carried by currents from further south. There are other temperate coastline elsewhere in the world where worn-out coconuts consistently wash up. In some of these places, a tree may even sprout before ultimately being killed off by a cold winter.

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Thank you for the response! That’s a very interesting thing to consider. Maybe I’m not the most familiar with the processes for ocean currents so forgive me, but why Delta (in the interior of the Salish Sea) and not nearby locales such as on the Western coast of Vancouver Island or Washington State? Seems like there’s an odd concentration on that stretch of beach particularly.

There is a project for that
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/drift-seeds-and-sea-beans
I see a handful of obs in Canada there

I have seen coconuts floating past me while birding on Lake Ontario. Maybe someone accidentally dumped a bunch from a ship or dock. There are also some religious festivals where participants put fruit in rivers, so they could have come from something like that.

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there is at least one coconut observation from the west coast of Vancouver Island: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118604898. iNat observation density is strongly tied to human populations. so maybe Delta just has a lot more people visiting it than the west coast of Vancouver Island?

here’s a visualization that might give a clearer view of the density of observations than the Explore page in iNaturalist can:

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Coconuts are used in Hindu religious practices. The Greater Vancouver area has a significant Hindu population. Local Hindus sometimes place coconuts and other votive offerings into the Fraser River and other waterways.

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On the point of geography. There are no sightings thus far from Vancouver or Richmond (more populated than Delta is). Boundary Bay is southward facing so there could be something to how the current pushes the coconuts there, not sure, I’m definitely not the best authority on this matter. I suppose there aren’t as many cities directly facing the Pacific to the north and south? One must imagine the challenging journey a coconut must endure to wind up in the Puget Sound.

I’m very curious as to why there’s a bit of a blip in BC too, the next closest observations of coconuts on the West Coast are in Alaska and California. Seems like coconuts are (somewhat) more seen in the Delta area according to local observers (per above).

Fascinating how effective the tree can manage to establish itself far beyond its native range!

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Could they have been carried there by a migrating swallow? :grin:

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Check out this Western Washington University post about the Salish Sea river and surface currents to see why coconuts are washing up in the Salish Sea and not the west coast of Vancouver Island. The coconuts come from stores in Canada, are released into the Fraser River, and then slosh around in the Salish Sea until some bored iNatter records them. They are not drifting in from overseas.

Salish Sea Rivers & Surface Currents

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