If you missed out on the Extraordinary Tree Lecture Series, or just wanted to watch one of the speakers again, not to worry! The lecture series has been recorded and is now available on the Extraordinary Tree YouTube Channel.
Something to keep you busy if you’re snowed in!
Held every year between December 14th and January 5th, the Christmas Bird Count is one of the the largest citizen science projects.
If you would like to join one of the counts in Grey or Bruce counties, the contact information and dates of the 2016 counts are listed below. If you are outside the area, or would like more general information about the project, head to the Bird Studies Canada Website.
December 14 – Tobermory, Tricia Stinnissen – tricia.stinnissen@pc.gc.ca
December 15 – Kincardine, James Turland – jaturland@gmail.com
December 17 – Owen Sound, Freeman Boyd – boydsproduce@gmail.com
December 17 – Saugeen Nature (Hanover/Walkerton), Gerard McNaughton – gmcnaughton@wightman.ca
December 18 – Wiarton, Jarmo Jalava – jjalava@yahoo.com
December 28 – Meaford, Lynne Richardson – lynnerichardson@rogers.com
December 29 – Pike Bay, Andrew Keaveney – uofgtwitcher@msn.com
January 4 – Saugeen Shores, Norah Toth – ntoth@rogers.com
Submitted by the Bruce Birding Club, a fantastic resource for birding in Bruce County.
Participants: 22
In birding, it’s the time of year when birders search for waterfowl. Thank you, Lynne for leading us on our once a year trip to Thornbury / Collingwood, an area which we enjoy visiting, in our quest for ducks. Thank you, for your planning, organization, and acquiring admission to the waterfowl-rich Thornbury Lagoons, which are generally closed to the public. Our emphasis was on waterfowl habitat, and we were certainly not disappointed seeing 18 different species. Land birds happened along the way, as we traveled through seven different water environments, giving us a total of 41 species for the day. It was a fun filled day, where we enjoyed each other’s company, as we discovered birds that happened to come our way.
The weather was a cool with a high of 13 C, moderate winds with mixed sun and cloud.
Also, a thank you goes to Judy who kept the bird list for us.
Areas Visited:
1) Behind Bridge’s Tavern
2) Thornbury Lagoons
3) Clendenam Dam
4) Collingwood Grain Elevators
5) Collingwood Marina
6) Princeton Shores
7) North Winds Beach
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Mute Swan (MUSW)
• American Black Duck (ABDU)
• Mallard (MALL)
• Redhead (REDH)
• Ring-necked Duck (RNDU)
• Greater Scaup (GRSC)
• Lesser Scaup (LESC)
• White-winged Scoter (WWSC)
• Bufflehead (BUFF)
• Common Goldeneye (COGO)
• Hooded Merganser (HOME)
• Common Merganser (COME)
• Ruddy Duck (RUDU)
• Common Loon (COLO)
• Horned Grebe (HOGR)
• Red-necked Grebe (RNGR)
• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO)
• Great Blue Heron (GBHE)
• Great Egret (GREG)
• Possible Cooper’s Hawk (COHA)
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)
• American Coot (AMCO)
• Greater Yellowlegs (GRYE)
• Bonaparte’s Gull (BOGU)
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
. Herring Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG)
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI)
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Common Raven (CORA)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• American Robin (AMRO)
• European Starling (EUST)
• Dark-eyed Junco (DEJU)
• Northern Cardinal (NOCA)
• American Goldfinch (AMGO)
• House Sparrow (HOSP)
41 Species seen.
This event has been cancelled- the hike was meant mainly to capture the spectacular features of the Palisades trail and the photographer has succumbed to the flu. Stay tuned for a possible re-scheduling.
With the Holiday Season coming up soon, you can also support the local OSFN Club and Ontario Nature by purchasing packs of 10 Greeting Cards, or Hasty Notes (blank inside) for $11, (tax included), featuring this year’s lovely image of two Snow Buntings. To view these visit Ontario Nature and contact us soon (in the next week – by November 2) to place an order so the cards can be here for you by mid November. Email John Dickson at jwdickso@gmail.com to place your order through the Owen Sound Field Naturalists.
There’s still room for approximately 10 members in the Young Naturalists’ program! Next event is Sunday, October 30th. For more information, see their Year-at-a-Glance and registration form below.
OSFN and BPB Observatory announce that Owen Sound’s Premiere Screening of “The Messenger” this Thursday at the Legion in Owen Sound, (generously sponsored by Caframo) is completely sold out!
We thank you for your support, in helping to make this fundraiser event for BPBO an outstanding success!
See you at the Movie!
“Tonight [Sept 24, 2016] at the Ontario Federation of Ornithologists Annual General Meeting in Kingston, the Plover Lovers hard work for their efforts in trying to help the rare and endangered Piping Plovers was recognized by OFO. Norah Toth received the award on their behalf. Congratulations to all of you for your efforts. We are proud to know you and happy that you, our friends, have been recognized. for your dedication in trying to assist this wonderful bird.” ~Fred Jazvac
A note from Norah:
“I should qualify this. I am only one of 5 committee members (Aubrey Fergusony and Cheryl Wile Ferguson, Lynne Richardson and Catherine Dickison) who have dedicated themselves to ensuring that the Piping Plovers at Sauble Beach have the best opportunity to contribute to the recovery success of the Piping Plover on the Great Lakes.
There were also many volunteers who spent valuable time talking to the public and making citizen science observations. Without these volunteers, all the efforts of the committee would be unsupported and unfruitful. The on the beach volunteers, some of whom were members of the OSFN, and our volunteer coordinator, Jenna Skinner, need a huge thank you from all of us.” ~Norah Toth
Congratulations from the Owen Sound Field Naturalists to the Plover Lovers Committee and entire team, for receiving this well-deserved recognition from Ontario’s Birding Community! The OSFN Club also received a similar award several years ago, and the Plover Lovers have made a concerted effort to continue in this worthwhile endeavour. If you want to learn more about the Plover Lovers, head to their website:
We had a great turnout to our first indoor meeting of the season – over 50 members saw a very enlightening presentation by Dr. Todd Morris about freshwater mussels. An organism that I (and many others!) had almost completely overlooked and ignored, I know many of us are now eager to learn more about our native mussels. Some of us may even have gone looking for mussels at the local swimming hole the day after the meeting.
Here are a few links to articles and other resources about these fascinating little treasures:
Canadian Freshwater Mussel Guide – an online key to identifying mussels.
Norfolk Field Naturalists – an article summarizing Dr. Morris’ presentation to this group on November 12, 2013.
Freshwater Mussels of the SOSMART Area – slides prepared by Todd Morris and Scott Reid.
Ontario Nature, “The Mussel Crisis” – an article on freshwater mussels from Winter 2008/09.
Recovery Strategy for Five Ontario Freshwater Mussels – part of the Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series and dated December 2006.
Have any links to add? Email web@owensoundfieldnaturalists.ca!
