Interesting Video on Re-introduction of Wolves to Yellowstone Park

Here is a link to a very interesting video about what happened after wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone Park:


How Wolves Change Rivers

New 2014/15 Season for Young Naturalists

Young Naturalists will be starting up again on Saturday, September 27, 2014 at 7pm for a program on Bats. Note that this first program is an evening program instead of the usual morning programs.

With the aid of our amazing vision and a handy-dandy bat detector, we will explore the trails at Laurel and try to find some bats flying around for some insect feasts. Learn how they catch their prey, what species we have in Ontario and other cool facts about bats!

We're back!

We've had our planning meeting for next year and have some exciting programs planned!

We'll post details about the dates and programs as soon as they are finalized.



Imagine looking out your 2nd storey window and seeing this!

 

Have a great summer!

Last outing of the year!

It's hard to believe another Young Nats year is over! It was a great year and I hope everyone enjoyed our outings!
Hope to see you next year!
Here are a few of the photos from our last session.

Rocks and Minerals at the University of Waterloo

In March we met at the Earth Sciences Museum at the University of Waterloo.

We enjoyed panning for gold, making a rock card and going into the mining tunnel.

 

And what a neat water feature!

See you all next month.
Kelly

Reminder - March meeting

Just a reminder that our March meeting will be on March 30/13
Rocks and Minerals.   visit to the Rocks and Minerals Museum at UW to view their collection of dinosaur bones and other cool stuff!

Here is information from the website about the location of the museum.
http://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/about-earth-sciences-museum.

Kelly

Items of interest

Hello,
My apologies, it's been awhile since I've posted on here.
Earth Day is approaching, here are some events that may be of interest to you or people you may know.

KNAP Earth Day - Saturday April 20th - see poster below. Let me know if you require more information.

 

 A couple items of interest for other Youth:

1. Youth Summit 2013 -  Apply NowThe KWFN will sponsor a grade 9-12 student (13 to 17 years of age), to attend Ontario Nature’s Youth Summit to be held September 20-22, 2013 at YMCA Geneva Park in Orillia, Ontario.  If you know someone in this age category who has an interest in nature, biodiversity and environmental involvement, please encourage them to contact the KWFN Vice-President regarding the selection criteria and application process.  (Refer to the Contacts Page for contact information.)
   
   In general, a brief proposal, outlining any previous involvement with nature related initiatives and including reasons for attending will be accepted as the application.  Youth who have received previous sponsorship from KWFN may apply, however, preference will be given to applicants who have not previously been sponsored by KWFN.  Sponsorship money may be split between two individuals if the situation warrants.
   
   Applications must be received by the KWFN Vice-President by email, no later than April 30, 2013. 


2. 2013 Earth Month Youth Forum - for ages 15-24. If you know anyone in this age group, feel free to pass along this program information: http://www.ecomentors.ca/events-2013-earth-month-youth-forum.php

Upcoming program information - November 24th

Flying Squirrels and Forest Ecology
Join naturalist and flying squirrel expert Steve Patterson as he sheds light upon these fascinating nocturnal forest-dwellers.  Marvel at his furry ambassador of forest health, flying squirrel Scooter!

October program summary

It was a cool and rainy day, but that didn't stop us from exploring!

 

And what fun they had with these:

 

Look at all the different things we collected:

 

Upcoming program - Oct 27

Hello,

See you on Saturday when we learn about seeds, spores and go on a fall mushroom hike!

Program information:This is the time of year when plants are closing down, dying back, and sending out seeds for next year. We will take a hike to explore these interesting processes, collect some seeds and hopefully enjoy some good fall weather! Discover what sort of seed packages plants produce and how they disperse them.

Kelly

September meeting

We had a beautiful day for our first meeting of the year. It was great to have everyone join us for our insect hunt!
We caught the following:
Pink-edged sulphur butterfly
Cabbage white butterfly
Viceroy butterfly
Buckeye butterfly
Meadowhawk butterfly
Spreadwing (damselfly)
Praying mantis
Tussock moth caterpillar
Wolleybear caterpillar (Isabella moth)
milkweed bug
cranefly
slug
frog
grasshopper
wasp
bee
centipede

 

 



See you all next month when we hunt for seeds and go on a fall mushroom hike.

Kelly

Young Nats 2012-2013

Hello,

Registration is open!
The program information has been updated on the KWFN website. The membership form is also available on the website.

http://www.kwfn.ca/young_nats.html

Have a great day!
Kelly

May 26th - Program information

Birding, bees and bugs! Springtime is a very active time of the year for these animals! Come and explore their habitats and watch them in action as they call, buzz, patrol, preen, and pair off! We will use binoculars, nets and other equipment to study whoever decides to put on a show for us!

See you there!
Kelly

April 28th - recap

Wow, I was sending out the reminder for the next meeting and realised I didn't recap the previous one!
Time sure does fly!

Today we sampled some of the edible outdoors.
We started with some violets and wild rice that Karen had brought in for us. After doing an exercise with some field guides, we went out to see what we could find.

Here are some photos from our walk:
Note: They are not plants we ate :)

Next meeting - Saturday April 28th

Learn about all the edible (and not so edible) plants that grow in our forests and wetlands. Sample some cedar tea or wild leeks, or whatever we find at hand!

March meeting recap

There wasn't any sap running, so we didn't get to watch maple syrup being made. We did get to learn all about the history of making maple syrup. We also did some activities like tapping a 'tree' and got to sample some different types of syrup.

March meeting information

Please note the change in meeting location!!

Hello Young Naturalists! This month's meeting will take place at the sugar shack just off of Laurelwood Drive before you get to the Nature Centre. It is located about 200m in from the intersection of Fischer Hallman and Laurelwood Dr (near the new YMCA/library) and before you get to the roundabout to turn onto Beaver Creek Rd. Look for the maintenance yard (lots of RV storage) on the right hand side and drive in and park. The sugar shack is located at the back of all the RV's.

We will learn how maple syrup is produced, see some displays, play a game or two and do some taste testing of sweet things.... Unfortunately, because of the warm weather, the sap has stopped flowing so we won't be able to collect any or see the evaporator steam away! On the plus side, it should be warmer than in past years.... :-)

I will bring along the journals and photos so we can update them at the end of the program.

See you then!

Karen
_______

Have a great week~
Kelly

February meeting highlights!

We got lucky again in February - it snowed the night before our meeting!! With a bit of snow on the ground, we seized the opportunity to put on the snow shoes for our walk to the forest.
We used tarps and sticks to build some temporary winter shelters.

Upcoming meeting information

February 25, 2012
Learn some outdoor survival skills and build a temporary shelter in the forest! Learn about winter ecology and how animals and plants survive the winter months.

January 28, 2012

What a beautiful snowy, winter day we had for our meeting today. We haven't had much snow this winter, so it was nice to finally see some of the white fluffy flakes!Today we made some fire starters. We each made one for the LCNC and one to take home. We'll get to use one of these next month when we learn about winter survival!

After reviewing how to identify winter tracks, we headed outside to see if we could identify any animal tracks in the snow. We saw dog tracks, squirrel tracks and bird tracks.

On our hike we saw a muskrat feeding at the creek! Not the best photo, but you can see a furry animal! After our hike we stopped at the feeders to feed the chickadees.

And as usual, we took our monthly pond photo, which can be viewed here.