The Pakenham Hills were perfect for a field trip today — fresh, fluffy snow six inches deep that we could walk through easily, unusual rocks and logs to play on, and abundant dry firewood for a lunch fire. The forest was criss-crossed with tracks we identified as Coyote, Snowshoe Hare, White-tailed Deer, Fisher, and various [...]
FWG volunteers - Elizabeth Powles, Melanie Lyons, Catherine Shearer, plus 3 others - recognized for their exceptional work at the garden by Ted Farnworth At this year’s end-of-season brunch for volunteers, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden Management Committee presented volunteer recognition certificates to Christine Hanrahan, Sara Jinha, Melanie Lyons, Elizabeth Powles, Catherine Shearer, and Michelle St-Germaine. [...]
OFNC's historian, Dan Brunton (left), was on hand to provide background when Catherine McKenna, Minister of the Environment, unveiled a plaque recognizing James Fletcher By Ted Farnworth On February 15, 2016, James Fletcher was designated a national historic person of Canada by Parks Canada. A plaque to honour him was dedicated on November 9, 2017 by Catherine McKenna, [...]
Howard Simkover, middle, in discussion with a guest after his presentation while other OFNC members examine samples of his "rocks from the sky." by Michael Swinton [Editor's note: Mike Swinton is a new member of the OFNC and the November 14 monthly meeting was his first. He took photos and notes and very kindly shared [...]
Our morning started at Petrie Island, with a calm breeze, blue skies, and soothing sunshine. by Nina Stavlund and Tony Beck On 4 October, 34 excited birders met at Petrie Island where we started our "Wild Goose Chase" with the OFNC. After Petrie Island and a quick comfort stop at Tim Hortons, we went to [...]
This year's OIPC conference included many field trips that allowed participants to try out tools, such as the green Weeder and orange Extractigator to remove dog-strangling vine and small shrubs. by Lynn Ovenden The Ontario Invasive Plants Council hosted their 10th annual meeting and conference in Ottawa this year. The event began on October 10, 2017 with [...]
Volunteers from the TD Bank dug up an aggressively spreading patch of Comfrey near Prince of Wales Drive. by Ted Farnworth Mountain of Dog-strangling Vine removed by Royal Ottawa volunteers. Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Royal Ottawa, TD Bank, Ernst & Young, and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. What do they have in common? Well, each [...]
Holly Jasmine Long, Brittany Quesnel, and David Seburn collect data on a turtle found during 1 of 57 road surveys across eastern Ontario this summer. Photo by Brandon Holden. by David Seburn [Note: This is the third in a series of blog posts on a project of the OFNC and the Canadian Wildlife Federation. See also: [...]
We lazily walked in to a place we know as "Rock-wall Pond" at Pakenham, finding a Spring Peeper, Wood Frog, and Leopard Frog, and many American Toads beside the trail, and passing pale asters as we went. We ate lunch on flowing steps of thick moss on a rocky hilltop, and resumed our ambling. When [...]
We began, as we do every meeting, with "Observations." What have we seen in the natural world since we last met? In this case it had been more than two months. Gabriel had been out whale-watching on the east coast, and Jan in B.C.. It's pretty hard to beat Humpback Whales and Orcas. But Julia [...]
