Jenn Bailey is reaching out to see if Headwaters Nature members might enjoy helping her with snake monitoring at Island Lake. Ontario Nature is her partner, while the Upper Grand District School Board supports and funds the research. Jenn Bailey is a long-time friend of our youngest and was a star pupil in a Summer Outdoor Education Teacher Certification course I helped teach several years ago. She is now the outdoor education teacher at the Island Lake Centre for the Upper Grand School Board. The centre is one of a dwindling number of such experiential nature programmes in the province. She is excellent in many ways. The survey involves checking under 24 boards for snakes, though we may find nothing. Any snakes, other reptiles, or amphibians we locate must be recorded. Tasks include: * identifying any herps we find * photographing reptiles and amphibians (for snakes, top and side of… Read more »
Partial Eclipse of the Moon late this Thursday evening, 2026 August 27/28: A field trip for Headwaters Nature I’m inviting you to join me late this Thursday evening (not Friday evening as I earlier wrote in error) to see the partial eclipse of the Moon as it transits across the sky from low in the South-East and across the South, and into the South-West. My thanks to those who pointed out my silly error about Friday evening … We’ll be going out on Thursday evening.) The sky is predicted to be clear late on Thursday evening and into Friday morning. It will be about 15ºC at midnight, and dropping slowly. (I hesitate to say this, but there might also be a chance to see the Aurora Borealis that evening.) I will be dressing very warmly in several layers including a windproof outer jacket, and some light gloves and a warm wooly… Read more »
Headwaters Nature members were welcomed by our field trip co-ordinator, Josh Pickering, to a beautiful and sunny morning on Saturday June 13th, 2026, for a bird outing at Island Lake Conservation Area. The group (17 people in total) was happy to note several bird species from the parking lot before we even began our trip and a few fledglings (young birds) along the trail at Rotary Park, including Common Grackle (5) and American Robin (4). Highlights from Rotary Park were a pair of Cedar Waxwing (2), a Green Heron (1), and a Bald Eagle (1), among the 18 other species within the baseball diamonds, wetland edges, and stormwater management pond at the park. Overall, we saw 49 species of birds! Josh and others have wonderful birding hearing, as well as keen eyes for spotting birds who are hiding. As we crossed Highway 10 at 4th Avenue and travelled into Island… Read more »
