Here's the count numbers for our Fall Bird Count at the last YN meeting. Good spotting, everyone! We did really well. In total, we saw 17 different species of birds, and 124 individual birds, which is excellent!
American crow - 31
American goldfinch - 1
American robin - 14
Black-capped chickadee - 16
Canada goose - 2
Downey woodpecker - 3
Eastern phoebe - 1
European starling - 3
Golden-crowned kinglet - 5
Great blue heron - 2
Great egret - 1
Gull sp. - 36
Mallard - 21
Nuthatch sp. - 2
Ring-billed gull - 1
Red-tailed hawk - 2
Song sparrow - 1
Excellent work, birders! Thanks for your help.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Bats: Not So Spooky!
In the spirit of the spooky season, I give you: bats! Traditionally associated with vampires and Halloween, sucking blood and getting tangled in human hair, I know I don't have to convince you Young Naturalists that bats are extremely awesome and not at all scary once you know a little bit about them.The Hinterland Who's Who website has a great fact sheet about bats, plus cool video clips, and even instructions on how to build a bat house. Check it out!
A couple of cool things I learned:
- Canada has 19 recorded species of bat, 17 of which are regular residents
- Bats can live to be over 30 years old! Ontario has the record for the oldest in Canada: a 35 year old little brown bat.
- Canadian bats typically eat somewhere between 50% and 100% of their body weight in insects every night.
Enjoy! And have a spooky and safe Halloween.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
flying squirrels: September 2009 program summary
For those of you who were not able to make it to the first meeting in September, Kristina has very kindly written up a summary of events!
***
Young naturalists from Laurel Creek and Guelph along with their parents and leaders gathered in the Laurel Creek Nature Centre. The air was full of excitement, and kids rushed for front row seating as soon as the lights dimmed. Steve the “Crazy Flying Squirrel Guy” as he introduced himself began his presentation for the eager audience. He told a story, explaining that he thought everything important had already been discovered, but if you just sit quietly in the forest, you can learn new things just by observing. When it came to introducing the stars of the night, his flying squirrels, he let the kids guess at where they were. He surprised the audience when he declared they were in his shirt. Shrieks and giggles of delight came from the younger part of the crowd when he pulled out a little gray creature that filled his palm. After being introduced to his two flying squirrels, Sabrina and Scooter, Steve explained more about the species and how special they are. Emphasis was placed on the fact that Sabrina and Scooter are not pets, they are wild animals. There are two species of flying squirrels in North America although many people never realize it because they only live in heavily wooded areas and come out at night. The presentation was enlightening about many aspects of the flying squirrels, and even included an interactive skit. Volunteers got costumes to show how important flying squirrels are, spreading an important species of mushrooms with their droppings. The grand finale was a gliding demonstration by both Scooter and Sabrina. They were timid at first but gladly glided to their “mom” Steve. It was a fantastic new experience to see and learn so much about a species rarely seen.
***
Thank you Kristina!
If anyone is interested in learning more about flying squirrels, check out Steve's website for videos, activity pages, nest box plans and tonnes more.
***
Young naturalists from Laurel Creek and Guelph along with their parents and leaders gathered in the Laurel Creek Nature Centre. The air was full of excitement, and kids rushed for front row seating as soon as the lights dimmed. Steve the “Crazy Flying Squirrel Guy” as he introduced himself began his presentation for the eager audience. He told a story, explaining that he thought everything important had already been discovered, but if you just sit quietly in the forest, you can learn new things just by observing. When it came to introducing the stars of the night, his flying squirrels, he let the kids guess at where they were. He surprised the audience when he declared they were in his shirt. Shrieks and giggles of delight came from the younger part of the crowd when he pulled out a little gray creature that filled his palm. After being introduced to his two flying squirrels, Sabrina and Scooter, Steve explained more about the species and how special they are. Emphasis was placed on the fact that Sabrina and Scooter are not pets, they are wild animals. There are two species of flying squirrels in North America although many people never realize it because they only live in heavily wooded areas and come out at night. The presentation was enlightening about many aspects of the flying squirrels, and even included an interactive skit. Volunteers got costumes to show how important flying squirrels are, spreading an important species of mushrooms with their droppings. The grand finale was a gliding demonstration by both Scooter and Sabrina. They were timid at first but gladly glided to their “mom” Steve. It was a fantastic new experience to see and learn so much about a species rarely seen.
***
Thank you Kristina!
If anyone is interested in learning more about flying squirrels, check out Steve's website for videos, activity pages, nest box plans and tonnes more.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
2009-2010 Schedule is Out!
I can't believe it's that time again. We're getting revved up for our first KW Field Naturalists' Young Naturalists meeting in a week and a half, and it's one I'm really excited about for more reasons than one!
Everyone on our snail mail list should have received this year's events brochure by now. If you haven't, I'll post a summary of our plans for this year here, but please get in touch with Pat (via comment here, if you don't have her email or phone number) to get your full copy.
September
Steve Patterson, aka The Flying Squirrel Guy, will let us into the wonderful world of Canada’s native flying squirrels! This is a joint meeting with the Guelph Young Naturalists. Be prepared for an evening hike.
October
This will be our Fall Bird Count meeting! Bring binoculars if you have them, and be prepared to spot and identify as many birds as you can.
November
Still to be decided... (If you have anything you really want to do, let us know!)
January
One of the January or February meeting will be a snowshoe trek, but we'll have to wait on the snow.
February
Still to be decided... (If you have anything you really want to do, let us know!)
March
Maple syrup time! We’ll be meeting at the sugar bush and sugar shack just around the corner from the Nature Centre.
April
Spring is sprung, and so are the spring wildflowers. We’ll go on a field trip to one of the many beautiful natural parks in K-W. This spot has beautiful trails, lots of wildlife (a great horned owl nesting site and a beaver dam, among others!) and amazing displays of spring wildflowers.
May
Bring your rubber boots and a sense of adventure – we’ll be testing the waters the creek to find and study the creatures that live there! We’re also going to provide a bbq lunch for an end-of-year celebration.
See everyone in a couple of weeks, ready to meet some squirrels! Bring your registration forms along, but if you don't have one, just show up and we'll make sure we have a few extras. Bring some friends, too! There's lots of room in the program for more people this year.
Everyone on our snail mail list should have received this year's events brochure by now. If you haven't, I'll post a summary of our plans for this year here, but please get in touch with Pat (via comment here, if you don't have her email or phone number) to get your full copy.
September
Steve Patterson, aka The Flying Squirrel Guy, will let us into the wonderful world of Canada’s native flying squirrels! This is a joint meeting with the Guelph Young Naturalists. Be prepared for an evening hike.
October
This will be our Fall Bird Count meeting! Bring binoculars if you have them, and be prepared to spot and identify as many birds as you can.
November
Still to be decided... (If you have anything you really want to do, let us know!)
January
One of the January or February meeting will be a snowshoe trek, but we'll have to wait on the snow.
February
Still to be decided... (If you have anything you really want to do, let us know!)
March
Maple syrup time! We’ll be meeting at the sugar bush and sugar shack just around the corner from the Nature Centre.
April
Spring is sprung, and so are the spring wildflowers. We’ll go on a field trip to one of the many beautiful natural parks in K-W. This spot has beautiful trails, lots of wildlife (a great horned owl nesting site and a beaver dam, among others!) and amazing displays of spring wildflowers.
May
Bring your rubber boots and a sense of adventure – we’ll be testing the waters the creek to find and study the creatures that live there! We’re also going to provide a bbq lunch for an end-of-year celebration.
See everyone in a couple of weeks, ready to meet some squirrels! Bring your registration forms along, but if you don't have one, just show up and we'll make sure we have a few extras. Bring some friends, too! There's lots of room in the program for more people this year.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Blog for Vultures
This isn't the post about the schedule. That's upcoming. We're going to have one, never fear! No, this is a post about International Vulture Awareness Day. Did you know there was one? Because there is! I've written a little piece about my love of turkey vultures over at my other blog, so I thought I would link to it here. Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
new primate species discovered in Germany!
Paleontology is a very interesting area of natural science. As a naturalist, I love to think about the plants and animals that were alive on the planet thousands and millions of years ago, and it's interesting to me to think about how different (or similar!) our current natural world is.
I thought I'd point to this article about a very cool new discovery in Germany: a new genus of [extinct but fossilized] primate believed to be at some point in the evolutionary scale between early primates and early humans. It's named after Darwin (her species name is Darwinius masillae) and the discovery is published in what is known as an "open access" scientific journal -- that is, it's free to anyone who wants to read it and learn about this very cool discovery. I haven't linked directly to the article, but you can find it from the page I've linked to. It's pretty long and very dense, so I kind of like the condensed version myself!
I like this story in particular because it's both about a nifty new paleontological discovery as well as being from a group of scientists who want to share their discoveries freely with the world. Awesome.
I thought I'd point to this article about a very cool new discovery in Germany: a new genus of [extinct but fossilized] primate believed to be at some point in the evolutionary scale between early primates and early humans. It's named after Darwin (her species name is Darwinius masillae) and the discovery is published in what is known as an "open access" scientific journal -- that is, it's free to anyone who wants to read it and learn about this very cool discovery. I haven't linked directly to the article, but you can find it from the page I've linked to. It's pretty long and very dense, so I kind of like the condensed version myself!
I like this story in particular because it's both about a nifty new paleontological discovery as well as being from a group of scientists who want to share their discoveries freely with the world. Awesome.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
sightings April 2009
Lots happening this month! I had a very exciting morning: I've heard my first warbler of the year! It was a black-throated green warbler. I didn't see him, but his distinctive zee zee zee zoo zee! was loud and clear.
I'm posting our sightings from the April meeting, but shortly I'll be sending directions to our May meeting to emails. If you don't get the direction in your inbox by May 10, please let me know and I'll send them again. Sometimes mass emails get caught by spam filters, and I'd like to make sure everyone knows how to get to the bird banding station.
Now on to more exciting things! During the month of April, Young Naturalists saw:
I'm posting our sightings from the April meeting, but shortly I'll be sending directions to our May meeting to emails. If you don't get the direction in your inbox by May 10, please let me know and I'll send them again. Sometimes mass emails get caught by spam filters, and I'd like to make sure everyone knows how to get to the bird banding station.
Now on to more exciting things! During the month of April, Young Naturalists saw:
- ruby crowned kinglet
- moles (hairy-tailed?)
- fox sparrow
- rabbit
- white moth
- muskrat
- deer
- cardinal
- kingfisher
- Blanding's turtle
- red-tailed hawk
- squirrel
- mourning cloak butterfly
- comma butterfly
- Milbert's tortoiseshell butterfly
- red-winged blackbird
- robin
- turkey vulture
- bloodroot
- trout lily
- wild leek
- mallard duck
- osprey
- white-throated sparrow
- field sparrow
- fairy shrimp
- wood frog
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