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…
Activities
Muriel's Walk, April 23, 2019: Sights and Sounds of Spring
Muriel reports: We’ve watched the ice on the lakes getting blacker each day. Tonight I expect the ice will be on the move because of the wind and rain. Shorts weather turned to winter clothes over night. This is April after all. The rain stopped as we headed out. The lovely pond near the Narrows…
Muriel's Walk: April 16 - Sight and Sounds of Spring
Muriel Reports: The walk turned into a car cruise under the Osprey nests and beside the flooded fields. The Ospreys have arrived and taken over nearly all the nests from Last year. If not on a nest we could find them sitting nearby keeping watch.( or perhaps giving us a photo Opp.) The lakes and…
Muriel's Walk April 9/19
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF SPRING It was a joyous evening for 12 members of ONC as we walked along Woodland Drive. Led by Denis, Carolyn and Heather (3 people were needed to take over for Muriel!!), we first went to see the wildlife at the bridges and then along the rail trail. It was exciting…
Stayner Eco Park and Minesing Flats
The fog lifted and the winds were calm allowing 11 enthusiastic birders to spot 35 species at the Clearview Eco Park and the Minesing wetlands area. Included in this list were… sandhill cranes (hundreds) tundra swans great blue heron wood ducks american wigeons mallards northern shovellers northern pintails green-winged teal redheads ring-necked duck lesser scaup…
Sights and Sounds of Spring with Muriel April 4/19
A cold but lovely evening took us along the historical Ben’s Ditch , north of James St.. The marsh to the east was echoing the songs of Red-wing Blackbirds , Starlings and Grackles. The area was much cleaner than it had been before some eager folk spent many hours cleaning out the debris that had…
James Bay Shorebirds with Jean Iron April 3, 2019
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…
Botany Quiz
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.…
Snowshoe Outing to East Coulson Swamp Nature reserve Sat Feb 23/19
The snowshoe adventure at East Coulson Swamp was well attended by members of the Orillia Naturalists’ Club. The morning weather was perfect for our hike. The group seemed to be happy to be outside enjoying nature’s bounty once again. Denis and Carolyn Paccagnella and Heather Ewing were responsible for the group. We first went to…
Wednesday, February 6, 2019 ADVANCES IN DNA SEQUENCING: How we will assess WaterQuality in the future. Speaker: Dr Tom Edge, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, McMaster University
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.…
Parasitic Invertebrates of Local Parks, Wednesday Jan 2, 2019 by Phil Careless
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…
Christmas Bird Count Dec 15, 2018
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…