We had over 25 people attend the regional meeting, held at GIIWEDIN KI (Rama North Lands). They had time for a morning social where they listened and watched for birds over Lake Couchiching, then heard greetings from Barbara MacKenzie Wynia from Ontario Nature. Denis Paccagnella and Tanya Clark from our Club shared updates on club…
Activities
Annual General Meeting & Potluck
Over 20 people joined together for the Annual General Meeting and Potluck supper. The meeting was conducted by the President, Denis Paccagnella and included Committee Chair reports from Donald Macdonald, Marilyn Clark, Heather Ewing, Kevin Binstead and Tanya Clark. Matt Thomson also shared information about Mariposa Pollinators. Three people shared photos from nature near and…
Sights & Sounds of Spring #3
For the 3rd Sights and Sounds of Spring 12 members of the club walked around the George Langman Wildlife Sanctuary. There was a nip in the air but no rain and I saw a beautiful sunset on the way home. Species list: Canada Geese Mallard ducks Duck in grass nesting box Mute Swan Red…
Sights & Sounds #2 Outing
Location: Ramara Trail Date: April 19th Well I can just say that this week’s walk was a huge difference from last week’s. This week it was about 4 degrees C compared to last weeks 25 degrees. All 11 stalwart walkers were bundled up against the cold as we walked down the Ramara Trail. Despite the…
Recap: Coldwater River to Matchedash Bay Outing
Five people joined together on an absolutely beautiful Friday morning to paddle the Coldwater River and Matchedash Bay area. Species: Two racoons in the middle of the marsh Mink Midland Painted Turtle (~35) Sandhill Cranes Great Blue Heron Osprey Canada Geese Leopard Frog Northern Shoveller Muskrat Red-winged BlackBirds Blue-winged Teal Turkey Vultures Double-crested Cormorants Black-capped…
Sights and Sounds of Springs April 12 2023
Muskrat Our First Signs of Spring WalkOn Wednesday April 12, 2023, a group of eight naturalists enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather (23°C) on the rail trail near Line 15As Barb led the group, we were met with the sound of spring peepers and red wing blackbirds. Later, we heard the distinctive call of the chorus…
April Meeting with Guest Walter Muma
Many thanks to everyone who came out! We had 13 join on Zoom and 30 in person at the Orillia Museum of Art & History. Our apologies to the folks on Zoom for the technical issues. We welcomed Walter Muma, President of Wildwood Canada to the Club and his talk on Ontario Wildflowers was very…
March Meeting with Guest Speaker Lynn Holden
We had over 30 people join our March meeting (between in person and Zoom) to hear from Lynn Holden on World Heritage sites. Lynn took us on a journey across our landscapes to learn about a few of the sites. A World Heritage site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international…
Outing: Wilson's Falls
The group at Wilson’s Falls in Bracebridge, Ontario. Almost 10 people ventured north to explore the trail that leads to Wilson’s Falls in Bracebridge. The group enjoyed the trail and heard a Raven and Chickadees. A quiet day, but nice to get out none the less. The trail was hard packed, and entered through the…
Outing: Ramara Trail
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…
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…