MVFN Spring Banquet Celebrates the ‘World of Woodpeckers’

By Cathy Keddy, MVFN Program Chair

NOTE: Tickets for ‘World of Woodpeckers’ at MVFN’s Spring Gathering 2012 banquet evening must be purchased in advance by Friday, May 11. Tickets are $30 and will be available at the following locations:

Almonte: Gilligallou Bird (Heritage Court, Mill St.) 
Carleton Place: Read’s Book Shop (Lansdowne Ave.)
Lanark: Lanark Living Realty (George St.)
Pakenham: Don’s Meat Market (Main St.)
Perth: The Office (Wilson St. E.)

Tickets may also be reserved through MVFN’s Brenda Boyd (613) 256-2706,  and  picked up and paid for at the door. We ask that all those reserving tickets please commit to picking them up as MVFN must pay banquet costs for all reserved tickets!

The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MVFN) will hold their third annual Spring Gathering banquet May 17. The evening will feature a keynote presentation—World of Woodpeckers—by Dan Schneider, biologist, writer and senior interpreter with the Grand River Conservation Authority.

The world of woodpeckers is indeed large. But, as Woody Woodpecker would say, “ah-ha-ha—ha—ha!” MVFN’s Spring Gathering presentation will be limited to avian creatures with bills for tree drilling and drumming, and long sticky tongues for extracting food, but will not cover the British rugby team, or Woodpeckers from Space!

There are over 200 species in the woodpecker family, the Picidae. Spread around the globe, they include four main groups: piculets, wrynecks, sapsuckers, and true woodpeckers. Interestingly, though, none is found in Australia, New Zealand, or Madagascar. Why? Woodpeckers are uniquely specialized for their wood hammering habits. They hammer on trees at a rate of 15 to 20 times per second—a rate of fire nearly twice as fast as a sub-machine gun. Not only that, their brains are subjected to deceleration impact forces of up to 1500 g (g = force of gravity) with each blow. Consider that a football player would receive concussion injuries from a force only 1/100 as strong, survivable car crashes rarely exceed 100 g, and airplane black boxes are designed to survive only about 1,000 g! The design of woodpecker’s heads is inspiring the development of new shock-absorbing systems for electronics and humans.

There are many things about woodpeckers that bear further investigation beyond why they don’t end up with extreme headaches from hitting their heads against trees or blindness from the flying wood chips. For example, since woodpeckers’ bills are not very long, how do they fit their much longer tongues inside them? And what about their their zygodactyl feet?

MVFN invites you to Spring Gathering 2012 to expand your appreciation for this novel ornithological assembly beyond downy, hairy and pileated and to celebrate spring with a delicious banquet at a gathering with others who care about nature. Dan will share his love for these magnificent avian creatures and tell us more about their distinctive features, ecology, and conservation. He will give us a global tour, a continental perspectve, and tell us about species that live around us.

MVFN’s Spring Gathering 2012 will take place Thursday May 17, 2012 at Almonte Civitan Community Hall, 500 Almonte St. (just west of Highway 29), Almonte. The reception will begin at 6:00 pm, and at 6:45 the banquet followed by the presentation will take place. Tickets ($30), which must be purchased in advance by Friday, May 11, will be available in Almonte at Gilligallou Bird (Heritage Court, Mill St.), in Carleton Place at Read’s Book Shop (Lansdowne Ave.), in Lanark at Lanark Living Realty (George St.), in Pakenham at Don’s Meat Market (Main St.) and in Perth at The Office (Wilson St. E.). Please contact MVFN’s Brenda Boyd at (613) 256- 2706 for further information.

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Filed under: Home, Lectures, Upcoming Events by Pauline Donaldson April 23rd, 2012
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Press Release, April 5, 2012

A Bird in Hand

 by Cathy Keddy, MVFN Program Chair

The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ (MVFN) public lecture series, Trends in Fauna and Flora, continues April 19 with the final presentation, ‘A Bird in the Hand.’ You do not need to be an expert to enjoy the presentations—just possess a curiosity or appreciation for wild nature. Cottagers, hunters, fishermen, canoeists, hikers, campers, artists and seasoned field naturalists alike will find something to interest them as we explore what lives in Lanark County and how best to protect it for future generations.

Above left: an identification band being attached to the leg of a Yellow Warbler;  Right: a  Scarlet Tanager is examined during the banding process (photos by Lesley Howes).

For Canadian Wildlife Service biologist, Lesley Howes—speaker at MVFN’s April lecture, a bird in the hand is worth many in the bush for when the bird is in your hand, you can band it. Banding involves affixing a plastic or metal identification tag to either the wing or leg of the bird. Appropriate, standard banding techniques have been established to protect the health of both birds and the banders. Leslie will share her knowledge of this art based on more than 20 years of experience banding humming birds to seabirds to raptors.

Banding birds is one of the most useful techniques in the research and monitoring of migratory bird populations. Bird banding and subsequent re-finding of banded individuals enables ornithologists to study many aspects of a bird’s life including migration, longevity, mortality, territoriality, and feeding behaviour. Information from banding studies also contributes to population studies, the establishment of waterfowl hunting regulations, protection of endangered species, and assessment of the effects of environmental contaminants.

In North America tagging birds for scientific study began in 1803 when John James Audubon tied silver threads onto the legs of young Eastern Phoebes. In Canada, Ernest Thompson Seton studied Snow Buntings in Manitoba in 1882 by marking them with ink. Today, bird banding programs have been established around the world and co-operation among sponsoring agencies provides a wealth of information about global geographic bird patterns and population trends. More than 66 million birds have been banded in North America since 1908. Approximately 900 banders place bands and markers on over 300,000 migratory birds each year in Canada. Mallards are the most commonly marked bird with over 7 million marked in North America since 1908.

Can you believe it? Banding studies of Arctic Terns and Manx Shearwater (a medium-sized seabird) have shown incredible migration feats. A three-month-old Arctic Tern chick banded in Britain in the summer of 1982, reached Australia that October— a sea journey of over 22,000 km in just a few months. Through banding, it has been found that Manx Shearwaters migrate between the nothern Europe and South America, a distance of over 10,000km. Given that they can live to be at least 50 yrs, this means they travel more than one million km during migration over their lifetime in addition to their day-to-day flights. One banded bird, in particular, was calculated to have flown over 8 million during its life time, outliving its ornithological tracker. Without banding, we would not have known.

Founded in 1982 by the Ottawa Banding Group, our nearest bird banding station is the Innis Point Bird Observatory located on Department of National Defense property along the Ottawa River, near Shirley’s Bay. Migration monitoring and other research projects here include Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS), Breeding Bird Census, Tree Swallow, Eastern Bluebird and Purple Martin research, and Snow Bunting banding in winter. There are on-site facilities for long-term volunteers. Interested? Ask Lesley about opportunities.

Refresh your identification skills and try your hand at aging and sexing birds with the study skins that Lesley brings to her MVFN presentation, ‘A Bird in the Hand,’ at 7:30 pm on Thursday April 19 at Almonte United Church, 106 Elgin St., Almonte. All are welcome. Non-members $5. Refreshments provided. For more information, contact MVFN Program Chair, Cathy Keddy (613-257-3089).

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Filed under: Home, Lectures by Pauline Donaldson April 12th, 2012
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MVFN Young Naturalists Program Gets Go Ahead after Successful Pilot project

 NOTE: For more information and to register your youngster in the MVFN Young Naturalists program, please contact Brenda Boyd at 613-256-2706 or email bjboyd@sympatico.ca. There are still several spaces available for the monthly Saturday morning sessions which run for an hour and a half April 21, May 12, and June 9. Two different time slots are offered, so students can choose the 9 or 11 am start time. Each month is a “stand-alone” unit, so children may join at any time. A fee of  $10 per session applies for each participant which covers a portion of the cost to run the program. The balance of the funding for the program is provided by the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists.

With the success of a pilot project held last fall, the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists club (MVFN) is delighted to announce the formation of the “MVFN Young Naturalists” program as a regular monthly activity. The goal of the Young Naturalists Program is to offer young local children an opportunity to develop and expand their knowledge and love of the natural world.

Geared towards children aged 7 to 12, the full program was launched in February, 2012, with sessions now being held each month at the Mill of Kintail. The sessions are organized and run by Patty Summers of the Wild Bird Care Centre, with assistance from two volunteer teachers. Patty’s great enthusiasm, natural rapport with children and her expertise were vital to the pilot project’s success and will carry the program forward.

During the pilot program the children learned about: ”Creepy Crawlies”, “Changing Seasons”, “Owls” and “Animal Survival in Winter”. According to a post-evaluation of the program, the children all had a lot of fun, learned many fascinating new things about nature, and especially enjoyed dissecting owl pellets, looking for insect larvae in the Indian River, making simple bird feeders and playing a scent scavenger hunt game. Many of these children and their friends have now signed up again to participate in the MVFN Young Naturalists program which was launched following the pilot. 

The MVFN Young Naturalists Program takes place one Saturday morning per month (with two per morning, so students can choose the 9-10:30 am or the 11 am -12:30 pm time slot) in March, April, May and June 2012. The program begins again in the Fall one Saturday a month from September to December. Each Saturday morning program includes some more formal instruction as well as outdoor exploration and hands-on activities.  Topics planned for the Winter/Spring program include: searching for animal tracks, snowshoeing, learning about weather, searching for and learning about frogs and toads, how to make a toad abode in the garden, seeds, soil composition, birds and birds’ eggs and nests.

The lead program instructor, Patty Summers (B.Sc. Zoology and M.Sc. from Carleton University) first volunteered at the Wild Bird Care Centre in Nepean as a high school student and  presently works full-time at the Wild Bird Care Centre, caring for sick and injured birds. She has recently created and implemented an educational outreach program to offer to local schools. MVFN has funded several of Patty’s presentations at elementary schools in Pakenham, Almonte and Carleton Place, which have been a great hit.

Joyce Clinton, MVFN President, spoke in glowing terms of the Club’s success in the development and delivery of the new MVFN Young Naturalists program. “In a very short period of time,” remarked Clinton, “a community of 7 to 12 year-olds has joined together to learn about and engage with the wonderful natural world we cherish in Eastern Ontario. Future environmental leadership may well be found from any of these youngsters. We look forward to a display of their journals and projects at MVFN’s annual “Spring Gathering” in May.”

The MVFN Young Naturalists is a function of the MVFN Environmental Education Program, which is chaired by Brenda Boyd. Lead member for the development of the project was EEP committee member Katie Cotnam, along with Brenda, Cliff Bennett, Neil Carleton and Ron Williamson.

NOTE: For more information and to register your youngster in the MVFN Young Naturalists program, please contact Brenda Boyd at 613-256-2706 or email bjboyd@sympatico.ca. There are still several spaces available for the monthly Saturday morning sessions which run for an hour and a half April 21, May 12, and June 9. Two different time slots are offered, so students can choose the 9 or 11 am start time. Each month is a “stand-alone” unit, so children may join at any time. A fee of  $10 per session applies for each participant which covers a portion of the cost to run the program. The balance of the funding for the program is provided by the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists.

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Filed under: Education, Home, Opportunities, Upcoming Events by Pauline Donaldson March 28th, 2012
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Early Morning Bird Walks for Spring 2012

Migrant birds are back really early this year but still the best time to encounter them is early morning. We plan to finish the walks in time for you to be at work on time.

This year, we’d like to try a very early morning owl prowl. Everyone welcome! Here are the details.

Wed. April 4: Owl Prowl

Meet at Union Hall for 4:00 a.m. for car pooling. (If you dare)

Wed. April 11: Early Bird Walk

Meet at Al Potvin’s trailhead for 6:00 a.m.Al’s trail starts on Carss St., Almonte, near the river, just over the RR tracks.

Wed. April 18: Early Bird Walk

Meet at Union Hall for 6:00 a.m. for walk to Taylor Walk.

Wed. April 25: Early Bird Walk

Meet at Union Hall at 6:00 a.m. for car pooling and drive to Howard Robinson’s property on Clayton Lake.

For more information, contact Cliff Bennett 613-256-5013 or bennett@magma.ca

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Filed under: Birding, Home, Outings, Upcoming Events by Pauline Donaldson March 22nd, 2012
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 Press Release

Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists

March 1, 2012

The Great River Project

[top photo: an extensive marsh along the shoreline of the Ottawa River near Ottawa (photo courtesy B. Shipley); and bottom photo: Mississippi River shoreline wet meadows and swamps below Carleton Place (photo courtesy C. Keddy)]

The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ (MVFN) public lecture series, Trends in Fauna and Flora, continues March 15 with the sixth presentation, “The Great River Project.” You do not need to be an expert to enjoy the presentations—just possess a curiosity or appreciation for wild nature. Cottagers, hunters, fishermen, canoeists, hikers, campers, artists and seasoned field naturalists alike will find something to interest them as we explore what lives in Lanark County and how best to protect it for future generations. Refreshments are offered at each lecture.

This month’s lecture will be presented by Meredith Brown who is the Riverkeeper for the Ottawa River. She—along with an expert team of photographers, historians, naturalists and scientists—canoed 900 km of the Ottawa River, departing from historic Fort Témiscamingue on Lake Timiskaming. Meredith will retrace their exciting voyage to document the state of this beautiful river and share their findings on its natural and cultural heritage.

The Ottawa River, or Kichisìpi (Great River in the Algonquin language), begins in Lake Capimitchigama in central Quebec and flows for 1,271 km along the provincial border with Ontario to the St. Lawrence River. First travelled by Samuel de Champlain in 1615, the river became a part of a major fur trading route for the next two centuries. It then served as a conduit for large rafts of white pine floated down to ports for the European market, the last raft leaving the river soon after 1900. Today the Ottawa River provides drinking water for two million people, and numerous major dams in its watershed generate over 4,000 megawatts of hydropower and control flooding. It supports local economies, is a world-class recreation destination, and is an important part of our culture and heritage. There is no single government agency that is accountable for protecting the river for future generations. There is no management plan or conservation plan for the river.

The Ottawa is, indeed, a great river. It has been nominated as a Canadian Heritage River in Parks Canada’s national river system. It was selected by World Wildlife Fund as one of Canada’s 10 rivers to profile in their report Canada’s Rivers at Risk: Environmental Flows and Canada’s Freshwater Future. Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing and quality of water flows required to define how much water a river needs to remain healthy and productive. The Ottawa River is home to 85 fish species, including species-at-risk—river redhorse (special concern) and lake sturgeon (threatened). The river shorelines provide habitat for wood turtles (provincially endangered, nationally threatened) and musk turtles (provincially & nationally threatened), and its wetlands and floodplains support more than 300 bird species, as well as rare vegetation types adapted to its cycles. The report concluded that the river was severely fragmented by hydropower dams in both the Quebec and Ontario portions of its watershed; the Ottawa River is one of the most regulated river systems in Canada with more than 50 major dams. Natural flow patterns of the river and its tributaries have been dramatically altered, compromising habitat and the diversity and distribution of fish communities and shoreline vegetation. Overall, the environmental flow of the river was rated “Fair,” with the forecast “Declining.” What can we do? WWF says, “Change the flow! Design and operate dams and other instream infrastructure to better balance nature’s needs (the flow regimes required to sustain healthy rivers) with human needs for hydropower, navigation, flood control, and water storage.”

As Riverkeeper, it is Meredith’s job (with the support of her staff) to keep the Ottawa great—to speak for the river. Part scientist, teacher, and law officer, she is one of a worldwide network of about 200 Waterkeepers—on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect over 150,000 kilometers of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Canada has nine waterkeepers, four of which are in Ontario: Ottawa Riverkeeper, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Georgian Baykeeper, Moose Riverkeeper. The first Riverkeeper organization was founded in 1986 to protect water quality of the Hudson River in New York and to challenge corporations and governments who traditionally were not held accountable for destroying river systems.

Naturally, we have a connection to the vision and ambitions of the Ottawa Riverkeeper—the Mississippi River tributary contributes 3% of the Ottawa River’s watershed and 2% of its flow. As stewards of the Mississippi watershed, we have a role to play in maintaining the natural greatness of the Ottawa River. Ms. Brown will highlight the vital link between our rivers and our lives and provide some practical suggestions for how we might enhance the health of our river.

Learn from someone who has traveled the Ottawa why the river is great and how we can contribute to keeping it great by attending Meredith Brown’s presentation “The Great River Project,” at 7:30p.m on Thurs. March. 15, 2012, Almonte United Church, 106 Elgin St., Almonte. All are welcome ($5 fee for non-members). For further information please contact MVFN’s Program Chair Cathy Keddy at 613-257-3089.

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Filed under: Home, Lectures by Pauline Donaldson February 20th, 2012
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