The evening will include: A couple of short informal presentations. A slide show of UFCNC member’s photographs. Displays of nature art, specimen collections, handiwork such as bird feeders. Lots of time for socializing and connecting with each other. “The success of this evening is dependant upon your participation. We really want you to come and be an active part of this. Let us know what you would like to do and/or bring.” Is there something interesting that you would like to share? How about giving a 5 – 8 minute presentation related to natural history. Do you take photographs? Send us 10–20 of your favourite nature photos of plants, animals, rocks, landscapes, whatever that you have taken in the past year and we will merge them into a slide show. Have you got something to display … a collection of bones, plants, a nature project that you’re working on such as a… Read more »
Thanks to the more than 20 people who turned out to do our annual Christmas Bird Count on Friday December 30th! Special thanks to Ron Jasiuk and Russ McGillivary for their organization and to Kevin and Carol for hosting the fine potluck dinner afterwards! Russ will compile the results from our six different teams and from the others who contributed Feeder Watch data. We’ve not got a preliminary guess as to how many species nor how many individual birds we say. What we can say is that because of our cold weeks earlier in December there was no open water other than in streams and creeks so that our large numbers of waterfowl from last year were all but absent this year. It’s not about bigger or better numbers — it’s about getting as detailed an inventory each year to build into larger patterns. Let’s see how this the numbers from this year… Read more »
Great Egrets on Island Lake, August 15, 2015 (photo by Mark Whitcombe) On an increasingly warm morning, Linda and Chris led us on an exploration of the impressive new trail & boardwalk that completes the circle around Orangeville’s Island Lake. The finished trail is a wonderful tribute to the volunteers of the Credit Valley Conservation Foundation! The many walkers, joggers, families (… and perhaps too many fast bike riders…) speak to the value of this addition to the community. We saw lots of Canada Geese and Mallards, many Cedar Waxwings, several Kingfishers, some Kingbirds, two Great Blue Herons, a still-enthusiastic Red-eyed Vireo, as well as a Caspian Tern. There were Painted Turtles galore in some spots, sunning on stumps, basking in the shallows, and ploughing lanes through the water plants. I saw at least three species of dragonfly that I couldn’t identify over the open water. I only saw 3 butterflies, all… Read more »
