Despite damp cold and flat light, five of us had an enjoyable walk today out the Ramara Trail. We had permission to go into Hammock Harbour, and today we counted about 14 Swans – the near ones we could see were Trumpeters (see picture). We also saw about 20 Scaup (don’t know for sure which…
Activities
Christmas Bird Count 2022
Another Christmas Bird Count is in the books, with a number of new records! From the data file, we have records back to 2007. The most impressive of the records was the number of inidividual birds counted – over 11,000 (previous high of 9711). Plus 62 species counted this year, another record! (previous high of…
Copeland Forest Fall Outing
A small, congenial group of naturalists met in P2 of Copeland Forest at 10 am for a Fall walk. Included in the group were 5 members of the Orillia Naturalists and 2 guests. As with most of our outings, we proceeded at a slow pace, casting our eyes around looking for what we could identify…
2022 Eastern Bluebird Update
Leanore Wiancko provides this update for the 2022 season on the 29 Bluebird boxes that she maintains and monitors along the 12th Concession in Oro Medonte and Bass Lake Sideroad. Without doubt, this was the worst year for bluebirds at 16 fledged. The cold nights prior to May 24 left four dead and very little…
May Meeting
May 3, 2022 we met in person for our first in person meeting in 2 years. It was a blended meeting with 13 people in person and 17 people attending via Zoom, including our speaker, Megan Bonenfant of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Megan gave an enthusiastic talk about the Nature Conservancy and about her…
April Meeting
Jennifer Doubt from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa joined us via Zoom on April 6 at 7:00 pm. Her subject was: Some ecological roles of mosses, and some wonders of peatBeing very small, to the human eye, bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) sometimes don’t get the credit they deserve for the many essential…
NATURE BOOK OF THE MONTH
The March Nature book of the Month is Nature’s Best Hope, a new approach to conservation that begins in your yard, by Douglas W Tallamy. It is reviewed by Sharon Hancock, long time member of the ONC, and famous for her dinners, (with the help of Ron). The April Nature Book of the Month is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom and Knowledge…
Christmas Bird Count Recap
Nine teams had a tough job with the weather this year, with cool temperatures and snow almost the entire day. Even in those conditions, there were some new records of note. It was apparent how important bird feeders are to count numbers! 6905 TOTAL BIRDS 264 (Total individuals) Species in Count Week or Unidentified 63 …
2021 Bluebird Update
Leanore Wianko provided an update on the 29 Bluebird boxes that she maintains and monitors along the 12th Concession in Oro Medonte and Bass Lake Sideroad. Number of Fledglings this year: 20 Eastern Bluebirds (worst count ever and not sure why)13 American Robins35 Tree Swallows (a record number)22 House Wrens Leanore noted challenging conditions this…
THE NATURE BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER IS JUNGLE PEACE BY WILLIAM BEEBE
Nancy Ironside, ONC member, has reviewed Jungle Peace by William Beebe.When Jungle Peace was published in 1918, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt wrote a Book Review, published in the New York Times.He advised all who love good books, very good books to get this book of Mr. Beebe. And so do I.Mr. Beebe, he says, was a…
THE NATURE BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR JULY IS UNDERLAND BY ROBERT MACFARLAND
Underland: A deep time journey, by Robert Macfarlane, is one of those rare books that defies categorization. Naturalists will love it, as will history buffs, as will those of a more philosophical bent. It is about our relationship with that which lies beneath, the underland.Macfarlane ranges around the world and through time, pulling together the…
THE NATURE BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE IS UNDER A WHITE SKY:THE NATURE OF THE FUTURE BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT
The Army Corps of Engineers once boasted of the Mississippi River, “We harnessed it, straightened it, regularized it, shackled it.” This is the reason that southern Louisiana is disintegrating. If control is the problem, then by people’s reasoning, more control must be the solution.Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction,…