by P.M. Catling and B. Kostiuk This article appeared originally in the fall 2015 issue of Trail & Landscape Figure 1. Part of the grasshopper study group with the habitat of regionally rare Boll’s grasshopper in the foreground, 27 Sept. 2014. Photo by B. Kostiuk. On Saturday, 27 September 2014, twenty OFNC members [...]
By David Seburn They say you can’t fight city hall. However, sometimes you can motivate the powers that be. Can you see the baby snapper? Can you see how high that curb must look to it? Photo by Ian Whyte For some time now, it has been known that hatchling Snapping Turtles (officially [...]
By Richard Singhroy Richard Singhroy is a 2nd-year environmental studies student at the University of Ottawa. This fall, he is volunteering with the OFNC through the Community Service Learning program. Presenter Rick Cavasin On Tuesday, October 13, at the Central Experimental Farm's K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Rick Cavasin gave an in-depth presentation [...]
by Fenja Brodo, President, OFNC Family, friends and colleagues of Laurie Consaul came out to a tree planting in her memory on September 30th. A Hickory (Carya cordiformis) sapling was lovingly planted by Mark Armstrong, Laurie’s husband and special friend. Mark Armstrong, planting a hickory tree for Laurie (this photo and the one above left [...]
by Lynn Ovenden The Ottawa-Carleton school board's MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre is a wonderful place just west of Rockland, with marshy shoreline along the Ottawa River, old meadows and ponds on the nearshore slopes, and a mature, upland mixed forest with lots of hemlock and beech. Once a year, staff invite the general public to [...]
by Fenja Brodo Imagine a park named after an ornithologist! Well that is exactly what happened the beautiful afternoon of Wednesday September 24th when a small pocket park was dedicated by Councillor David Chernushenko to the memory of Percy Taverner, ornithologist, architect and a former resident of the neighbourhood – Old Ottawa South. Taverner: [...]
by Dave Seburn Snapping Turtles will never win any prizes for parenting. Females nest by digging a hole in the ground and depositing their eggs in it. They cover the hole and return to the wetland, maternal duties finished. Many of those nests will be dug up by Raccoons or Skunks looking for an easy [...]
by Frank Pope On May 31, a new Fern Trail was dedicated at a ceremony in the Backyard Garden part of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. The whole Cody clan was in attendance. Standing (L to R) David Cody, Douglas Cody, Gordon Cody, Margaret Cody; seated Leslie Cody-Durocher Lis Allison, creator of the [...]
by Sandy Garland Yes, it's about dog-strangling vine (DSV) again, our major preoccupation at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We're making a bit of progress in some areas and noting that many native species (like walnut trees, goldenrods, and raspberries) are holding their own or even out-competing DSV. But there are places where DSV is so [...]
by Lynn Ovenden A report on an OFNC excursion led by Gillian Mastromatteo on August 2, 2015 Petrie Island has quiet marshy interior bays, sandy beaches along the Ottawa River and lots of sunny openings in the forest in between. These make it a good place to find a variety of odonates. Gillian was hoping to [...]
