Category: bird

Bird

Migration Strategies of Shorebirds (with Allie Anderson)

Alexandra (Allie) Anderson is a wildlife biologist and quantitative ecologist with the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective. Through the Shorebird Collective, Anderson is aggregating and integrating shorebird tracking datasets from multiple governments, universities and nonprofits to provide quantitative and analytical support that informs on-the-ground shorebird conservation initiatives. On March 25th, at 7 P.M. , come to the Orangeville Seniors Centre and hear Allie unravel some of the mysteries of shorebird migration — how do flocks of thousands find their way to nesting grounds each spring? Bring your curiosity and a coffee mug. Snacks will be available. NOTE: If you cannot make this March meeting in person, we are looking into providing a ZOOM for you to link to the meeting presentation. More info coming later.  

Capturing Compelling Wildlife Images!

Our speaker for 2025 January 28th is an excellent wildlife photographer! “The more time I spend in nature, the more wondrous it becomes to me. Yet, so many people – busy with complexity of their lives — struggle to experience it. I hope, through photography, to capture and share unique perspectives of our world that may help others feel the wonder I feel when out in the wild.”  (Matt Huras)

Christmas Bird Count 2024

Headwaters Nature has been participating in Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count since the club’s inception.  It is exactly what it sounds like: participants travel around their specifically assigned area observing, counting and recording numbers and species of birds on one designated day.  This year, that CBC will be on Saturday, December 28. Our “circle” has always been located around Orangeville and environs, and including Caledon East, Erin, Hillsburgh, and Alton as well as fields and forests within the boundary.

As our membership has grown, more members (and others) have become interested in participating, and we have divided and sub-divided the 6 areas within our circle to incorporate everyone.  The result is that this year, we are doing a trial run on a second circle, on a different day.  There are fairly specific requirements that have to be met in order to officially register a “circle” for the CBC, and they suggest a pilot the first year (without registering) to test whether we have enough personnel, whether the location of the circle works, and various other bits and pieces, so this will be our test run—hopefully resulting in registering a new “circle” with Audubon after minor tweaking.

Our new “circle” is located to the west of our Area #1 and incorporates Luther Marsh and environs, an area which surprisingly has not already been claimed by any other local club for the CBC.  We are very excited about this and look forward to testing it out on Thursday, January 2, 2025.  

Following each day, we will have a pot-luck gathering to compare notes, tell stories about our best finds, and just generally socialize.  It is a lot of fun, and a fitting end to what is always an interesting day!

One of the great things about the Christmas Bird Count is that there is a place for anyone who is at all interested.  If you are not a birder per se, you could offer to drive (and count).  If you no longer drive, you could observe and count.  If your eyesight is not so great for observing distances, you could offer to be the recorder.  Although there may be walking involved in some areas, there are certainly some which are mostly observed while driving, and stopping by the side of the road.

The maps for both of our circles—Orangeville and Luther Marsh—are included with this note.  If you are interested in joining us, contact Ron Jasiuk at rjasiuk6@gmail.com for all the details to join the CBC on either Saturday, December 28 or on Thursday, January 2..

Also included is a link to a terrific article by Don Scallen in In the Hills about the Christmas Bird Count.  https://www.inthehills.ca/2024/11/two-in-the-bush/   Do look it up if you are at all reticent about joining us for this year’s annual Christmas Bird Count . . . err CountS.

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