Program for Feb 26th

Hi everyone!

The program for this Saturday will include a winter tree lesson and game!
We will be learning how to identify trees from their buds, branches and bark and then going on a 'Tree-sure" hunt to test our skills.

A reminder about the KWFN club meeting Monday, February 28th:
Wild Ontario will be presenting their Live Animal Presentation. We are hoping to have a significant number of young people in attendance for the presentation which has a special appeal for kids.
The following is a description of the meeting from the KWFN website:
Wild Ontario will be bringing their new, live-animal, environmental education program to the KWFN. The live-animal programs are specifically designed for naturalist groups and clubs by professional, experienced educators. They will have birds of prey on hand to help illustrate their talk on raptor identification and adaptations and human impact. This presentation should be educational for adults and fascinating for kids, so we will run it earlier in the program at 7:35 pm. and encourage members to bring out their kids and grandkids. Operating out of the University of Guelph, this program has its roots in the former Wild Bird Clinic at the Ontario Veterinary College.




See you all on Saturday!

Young Naturalists on Nov. 27, 2011

The last Young Naturalist program of the year is this Saturday. We will be looking for signs of fall so dress for the weather.

A brochure for next year's programs will be given out Saturday. Mark these dates on your calendar.

January 29, 2011
February 26, 2011
March 26, 2011
April 30, 2011
May 28, 2011

Young Naturalists Program for Fall 2010

The brochure for the KWFN Young Naturalists went in the mail last Tuesday. Everyone who was registered with the program last year should have received one by now.

Pat

chickadee feeding photos

Kristina took these wonderful photos at our last meeting of the chickadee feeding. Thanks so much Kristina!

Just a reminder to others with cameras: If you have photos you would like me to put up on the blog to share with the rest of the group, please send them to me. If you send them as a JPG that is easiest. I know I never managed to get the photos from our digital photo day up. I'm still working on that, believe it or not, now that I've managed to figure out a way to protect them.

The images on this site are protected under a Creative Commons license, which you can read more about if you scroll down and click on the link at the bottom of the blog. This means that others are free to use them, but they must attribute the photo correctly, and the images can't be sold or changed. It is an honour system, but the CC licenses tend to be as well-respected as we can get on the Internet without putting writing right on the photos.

Finally, if you have a photo that includes someone else's children, and if they are identifiable in the photo, I'd like you to make sure that the other parent/guardian is aware and amenable to the photo being posted online before sending the photo to me. Thanks!

January 2010 sightings

Just a quick reminder: our special full-day extra event is this weekend! So hope to see everyone there. Please remember to bring lunches, warm clothes, and a mug for hot chocolate.

And without further ado, our sightings from last month's meeting (a fabulous winter list):

• snowy owls
• crows
• red-tailed hawk
• American bald eagle
• winter crane flies
• spiders
• coyote
• hawk
• deer
• screech owl
• great horned owl
• cooper's hawk
• sharp-shinned hawk
• long-eared owl (roadkill)
• red-bellied woodpecker
• pileated woodpecker
• downy woodpecker
• hairy woodpecker
• midges
• wild turkeys

Awesome work, Young Naturalists! Keep your eyes open as spring starts creeping up on us!

big plans for January and February!

Happy new year, everyone! Today is a beautiful sunny, wintery day and I hope everyone's getting a chance to spend at least a little of it outside. Even if it is just for shoveling.

A couple of important notes:

1. Our next meeting is coming up on January 30 at 10am. Hope to see everyone there, especially since Gabe Camozzi from Ontario Nature is going to be joining us. He'll be telling us about the planned Youth Summit on Biodiversity, the Youth Writing and Art Contest (check out the link! it's very cool for Grade 7 and 8 students) and other opportunities for young naturalists to get involved. Because Gabe will also be talking about opportunities for kids who are 12 and older, please invite and bring along any nature-loving teens you know who would be interested. We'll all be going outside for some wintery fun, so dress warmly!
2. Again, courtesy of Ontario Nature, there's a big activity day planned for Saturday, February 20, hopefully located at the Valens Conservation Area. Guelph Junior Naturalists and Hamilton Junior Naturalists will also be there, and some of the proposed activities include: snowshoeing, animal tracking, shelter building, and maybe even ice fishing. This is a fabulous opportunity to visit a new natural area, meet some great young naturalists, and to get to do some activities we might not be able to do at Laurel Creek. Please RSVP via comments or email to Kiirstin. If you have any questions, let me know or ask Gabe at the meeting on the 30th!
   

Looking forward to seeing everyone, with your December and January sightings, on Saturday, January 30!

KWFN YN Fall Bird Count 2009

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.