Category: Meetings

Dave Hawk chatted with some members of the audience          On Wednesday February 5, Dave Hawke, author, writer, and Stewardship Program Manager, for the Couchiching Conservatory showed us beautiful photos of some of his favourite flora which are naturally occurring in Simcoe County, a county with very diverse habitats.For those who knew…

Tanya Clark, Matt Thompson and Rob Laidlaw The Orillia Naturalists heard Rob Laidlaw make a pitch for the much- maligned bat. Rob is a veteran of animal advocacy worldwide, and author of several award- winning children’s books promoting animal advocacy (including “Bat Citizens – Defending the Ninjas of the Night”). He held the attention of…

Mark Peck, Manager of the Schad Gallery of Biodiversity at the Royal Ontario Museum, spoke to the Orillia Naturalists’ Club on November 6, at the Orillia Museum of Art and History. He started at the ROM in 1993, but has been active in many other projects, all connected to his passion for birds. His subject…

The Orillia Naturalists’ Club was treated to a summary of a book co-authored by the presenter, Mike Burrell, at the recent Club monthly meeting. Mike hails from Waterloo, Ontario and has a very busy life in the birding community with such activities as being Zoologist for the Ontario Natural Heritage Center, co-ordinator for ebird in…

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, the annual joint meeting of the Huronia Nature Clubs was held in St. James’ Anglican Church Auditorium, hosted this year by the Orillia Naturalists’ Club. We heard reports from the presidents of Nature Barrie, Midland, Carden, The Couchiching Conservancy and Orillia. All the Clubs are doing well, although there is continued…

Ten members of the Club ventured to the Bruce to explore the region and meet with Arni and Dianne Stinnissen, two past members of the Club. “The Bruce Peninsula is the largest remaining intact natural habitat in southern Ontario with more than 19% of protected land and acts as an important flyway for migrating birds.…

The food was good, and the conversation was good. At the AGM,the current slate of officers all agreed to stand for another year, and a new chair was added – Communications ,which is being filled by Tanya Clark. We then enjoyed the slide show, on the new OMAH digital camera, which produced accurately coloured photos…

If you are not a birder or were not at the Orillia Naturalists meeting on April 3, 2019 you might think a red knot is something that is used when boating. A Red Knot is actually a threatened shorebird that stops in James Bay during migration. Although James Bay is part of Ontario it is…

On Wednesday, March 6, the Orillia Naturalists’ Club held a Botany Quiz, a fun way to learn to identify the flowers that you see when you when you walk in the places you love. This has been a long winter – the snow arrived while the leaves were still falling, and has never left us.…

    Chances are if you watch television or spend any time on social media you will have heard something about DNA testing. Many people are exploring their ancestry by using this technology.  The Orillia Naturalists’ Club learned how advances in DNA sequencing expertise is currently used to explore and monitor microbial water quality. Dr.…

On January 2nd the Orillia Naturalists were squirming in their seats as Phil Careless passed a preserved bedbug around and presented his talk on “Bizarre Interactions and Partnerships of Parasitic Invertebrates of Local Parks.” Phil describes himself as a “Mechanic of the Environment.” He is endlessly curious about nature and the more he learns the…

This is the biggest Citizen Science project undertaken by many nature clubs. People drive around in cars, walk sometimes, check out feeders, ask friends to check out their feeders too, and eventually, after the potluck, at the evening Tally we come up with a list, which we submit to Bird Studies Canada.There are different challenges…