Blue-footed Booby showing those namesake feet! Photo by Justin Peter by Marissa Carroll Justin Peter, director of programs and senior naturalist for Quest Nature Tours and vice-president of the Toronto Ornithological Club, brought his extensive knowledge of fascinating Galapagos birds to the Ottawa Field-Naturalist Club’s monthly meeting this past Tuesday. Host to unique [...]
By Julia Cipriani Mushrooms collected in the forest, photographed by the MacSkimming Centre team On Saturday, October 1, well over 110 people met at MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre to participate in the MacSkimming open trails event. There were members of the general public, of OFNC, and of les Mycologues amateurs de l’Outaouais (MAO). The [...]
OFNC monthly meeting, 13 September 2016 By Marissa Carroll Dr. Micheline Manseau, an associate professor at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba and an ecosystem scientist for Parks Canada, was the featured speaker at the OFNC meeting this September. She lectured on the iconic High Arctic Peary Caribou. Understanding the species’ origins [...]
Northern Flicker, photographed by Sarma Vishnubhatla. On Sunday, 11 September, Jeff Skevington led an outing to Britannia and points west along the Ottawa River. At least 28 participants spent the day visiting the best birding spots along the river, looking for migrants and, especially, shorebirds. As Jeff reports, "We had many groups of warblers [...]
by Christine Hanrahan Snags are standing dead trees. They are also known as den or cavity trees and increasingly as wildlife trees. (photo by Christine Hanrahan) Walking through our local forests and along trails at the city's edge, your eye may be caught by the stark form of a standing dead tree or by [...]
The butterfly count is an annual OFNC event organized this year by Jeff Skevington. Working in groups or alone, participants patrol the same location - a 24-km diameter circle centred on Manion Corners - each year from about 9 a.m. to about 4 or 5 p.m. Data are submitted to the North American Butterfly Association. [...]
by Roy John Report of an Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club excursion on Sunday, 22 May 2016. A dozen people went to Mud Lake to take advantage of the recent change from cold windy weather to lovely warm sunshine. This had brought in numerous, much delayed, migrants over the last few days. Wood Duck photographed by [...]
In 2015, we learned how to build simple mason bee boxes out of recycled materials. Unlike many “gadgets” purported to help wildlife, these actually work. Mason bees laid eggs in the paper tunnels we made for them, the eggs hatched and completed the life cycle, and the progeny are busily pollinating our fruit trees right [...]
by Lucy Patterson What is the most endangered bird species in the world? What is the best way to contain an oil spill? Will the emerald ash borer begin attacking lilacs once ash trees have died out? These questions and many more were tackled by students on April 8 and 9 this year at the [...]
by Danielle Chiasson For the OFNC’s March monthly meeting we were pleased to welcome Jeff Skevington and his family for a presentation on the natural history of Australia and stories from their recent trip down under. For the OFNC’s March monthly meeting we were pleased to welcome Jeff Skevington and his family for a presentation [...]
