Nature Club News for March 2024
by John Dickson
It’s a March Nature Bonanza! Each year, the Owen Sound Field Naturalists (OSFN) set aside one meeting to invite club members to offer their own ten minute presentations, and this usually results in 5 or 6 of these, with a variety of topics – birds, plants, geology, insects, etc. This year, however, the response has been so outstanding that Members’ Night at 7pm Thursday March 14 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, will feature 8 presenters, all with different topics to showcase!
These are: Audrey Armstrong with an update on the Monarch Butterflies population status; Robert Burcher with the ‘Royal Oaks’ of Meaford; Marsha Courtney offers ‘Shooting the Beautiful Shrooms’; Climate Change at Kemble Mountain with Bob Gray; Aurora Alert with John Hlynialuk; David Morris presents ‘Roses by Many Other Names: A Look at Diversity within the Rose Family’; Barbara Palmer will introduce ‘Rock Stars’; and Willy Waterton will report from the Public Advisory Committee on both the Bruce and the Fathom Five National Parks.
These monthly meetings are also great opportunities to check the OSFN Publications available about Orchids, other wildflowers and plants, Geology, etc. You can even share or learn about special Nature sightings observed recently in the area. The doors are open by 6:30pm, Everyone is Welcome and Admission is free or by donation. The event is also expected to be shared virtually through zoom, so if you are interested in receiving a zoom link, please send an email, in advance, to web@osfn.ca with ‘members’ on the subject line.For more information on the many activities and history of the club, as well as membership benefits, and support options, please visit www.osfn.ca
Bright and early the next morning, at 6am March 15, registration opens for the 26th Huron Fringe Birding Festival, (HFBF) to be held May 24 to 30 and May 30 – June 2, 2024. Here is the main link to access everything about the festival.https://huronfringebirdingfestival.ca/page/huron-fringe-birding-festival The HFBF offers an astounding array of topics from birds and botany to geology, plus photography and wildlife art, with superb presenters and hike leaders from near and far. You will find the timing and descriptions of their events at this helpful link: https://huronfringebirdingfestival.ca/content/2024_Program.pdf
On Saturday I visited briefly with Wildlife Artist and Master Marine Biologist Sarah McComb Turbitt along with her special exhibition, hosted until March 30 by Grey Gallery at 883 2nd Avenue East, Owen Sound. Envisioned to bring awareness to Canada’s species at risk by painting Canadian endangered species, she committed to a 31 day challenge in January to paint as many of these species as possible. This show includes all fifteen of the paintings she completed during the challenge and they will be exhibited throughout March at Grey Gallery, with 15% of sales to be donated to Wildlife Preservation Canada (WPC). You may also get to meet her as one of several amazing artists featured this year at the Huron Fringe Birding Festival.
A reminder too, that tickets ($10. each) are still available for Robert Bowles’ Keynote Address for OSFN’s Celebrate Earth Day event aboard the Chi Cheemaun, 2pm Sunday April 21, including refreshments – seating is limited. Tickets can be purchased at Thursday evening’s OSFN meeting at the Bayshore Community Centre, plus from Sheila Gunby’s Paper Cut Designs at the Owen Sound Farmers’ Market, the Owen Sound and North Grey Union Public Library and at Suntrail Source for Adventure in Hepworth.
Photos by Ingrid Remkins March 11, north of Kimberley
From Young Naturalist Coordinator Amanda Eriksen:
On February 25th the Owen Sound Young Naturalists met at the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority building where Krista McKee brought a wonderful bounty of pine cones, acorns, wood disks and all the other necessary supplies to get crafty. Krista had some sample ideas made up for us, but the kids let their imaginations and creativity shine. There was some great art created. The adults had just as much fun. Our March meeting is to be held a bit earlier so that we can check on the maple syrup production at Robert Gray’s property.
We may be joined by members of the Kemble Maple Tour Committee. This could be a good opportunity to introduce the young nats and welcome a few more members. Bob mentioned that he is trying to perfect his maple taffy, I don’t think the kids will mind sampling that! To learn about joining the Young Naturalists please visit https://owensoundfieldnaturalists.ca/category/young-naturalists/
The transition towards Springtime has been highlighted with recent sightings and sounds of the returning Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Killdeer, and even Eastern Meadowlarks. A few Sandhill Cranes are already back, and Tundra Swans have been seen in good numbers at Lake Eugenia too.
A bike ride on one of the milder days recently brought me to a nearby creek where the Rainbow Trout were really making a splash with their spawning activities. When I walked along a woodland trail last week, I checked for signs of emerging plants on the forest floor, but the only ones I saw were many green shoots of the pervasive invasive Wild Chervil.
To close, Nature quotes from Ancient Mariner – The Amazing Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Walked to the Arctic Ocean, by Ken McGoogan, who writes: Hearne was not infallible. But he did determine that the pouch of the pelican’s beak could hold three quarts of liquid, and that Canada geese would often nest in abandoned muskrat houses. He provided one of the earliest accounts of the passenger pigeon, and was the first to recognize that there are two different species of curlew, the Hudonian and the Eskimo.
Also he understood bird migration at a time when leading English scientists were wondering whether swallows spent the winter underwater; And, from our late friend Victor Searles, another esteemed Ancient Mariner, who two centuries after Samuel Hearne authored a ‘Cruising Manual’ for the Ontario Sailing Association, this excerpt: …as you graduate from day sailing,…the elements are disturbingly unsympathetic towards the condition of your craft or the duration of your voyage. Whoever is responsible for controlling the weather has a nasty habit of pouncing on the skipper who is only prepared for a short, tranquil trip and giving him a long, vigorous voyage.