A national symbol honoured by a local naturalist
By Natalie Sopinka At the September monthly meeting OFNC members were treated to an enlightening and entertaining presentation on Canada's national animal, the beaver. Showcased on The Hudson’s Bay Company's coat of arms and Parks Canada's logo, and the first animal to be featured on a postage stamp, the beaver is a well-recognized emblem of Canadian culture and history. The beaver is also the topic covered in a new book by naturalist, OFNC member of 40+ years, and Carleton University Instructor Michael Runtz - Dam Builders: The Natural History [...]
Mud Lake turtle rescue
by Ian Whyte On 10 September, I attended an OFNC birding outing at Mud Lake. Because I’ve found Snapping Turtle hatchlings trapped on the road by the filtration plant in previous years, I checked that location on my way home. The road in front of the filtration plant can be a death trap for hatchlings because of the curb. Hatchlings that try to cross the road cannot climb over the curb to get to the lake. I found six hatchlings [...]
Member profile – Rob Alvo
Members of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club are as diverse as the taxa they study; from birders to botanists, highschool students to university professors, backyard garden admirers to conservation officers. The OFNC blog will be featuring profiles of members to showcase the incredible array of natural history enthusiasts. Whether you've just joined or are a lifetime member, please contact ottawaofnc@gmail.com if you'd like to share your natural history story! From Toys to Cartoons: Once a Kid, Always a Kid By Natalie Sopinka [...]
Flora and fauna of the Marlborough Forest
By Jakob Mueller On Saturday July 19, eight OFNC members joined me for a hike in Marlborough Forest. Marlborough Forest is the name ascribed to a large natural area owned by the City of Ottawa, in the southwestern corner of the municipal boundary. The largest forested area in the City of Ottawa boundaries, it contains a diversity of habitats, including various wetlands and alvar openings. Square-stemmed Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens): Although square stems usually mean mint family, this plant is a [...]
On raising monarchs
text and photos by Julia Cipriani Monarch egg. I have been a number one admirer of the Monarch butterfly for a very, very long time. I find their mid-June arrival in Canada and their September journey to return to their over-wintering grounds in the mountains where the Oyamel fir trees grow in Mexico awesome in the truest sense of that overused and misused word. Many people are infatuated with the monarch. Organizations use the symbol of the monarch [...]
Local fisheries scientists working together to rehabilitate Brewer Pond
By Maja Cvetkovic, Carleton University's Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory (FECPL) Reprinted with permission from www.fecpl.ca Last week post-doctoral researcher Dr. Jon Midwood led a group of volunteers from the FECPL lab and Ottawa community on a hunt for juvenile Muskellunge and Northern Pike in the Rideau River. Ottawa can boast about its urban muskie population in the Rideau river, which winds through the city and provides unique habitat where both muskie and pike populations exist. Volunteers seining the [...]
Let’s talk about Lepidoptera – National Moth Week
By Natalie Sopinka Catoptilia stigmatella. Photo: Suzanne Deschenes The OFNC and its members are quite fond of moths - leading excursions to locate moths in Larose Forest, keeping track of moths in the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, showcasing the diversity and beauty of this butterfly relative via numerous photographs, and simply observing nightly visitors to porch lights. Last week (July 19-27) was National Moth Week, a global, citizen science initiative to promote nighttime exploration of this creature that plays an important role in [...]
Carbon and caribou in Canada’s Low Arctic
By Claire Elliott, member of the OFNC Claire Elliott In the spring of 2013 I joined the research lab of Dr. Elyn Humphreys at Carleton University. Dr. Humphreys may be known to some OFNC members for her guided walks of Mer Bleue Bog. I was enticed to join the lab because of a unique opportunity to do field research in the Northwest Territories. Our research program is focused on soil-plant-atmosphere interactions. Specifically, I use remote sensing technologies to [...]
14th annual OFNC butterfly count
By Jeff Skevington Hans Blokpoel with one of the easier to find Appalachian Browns from the count. Photo Alexander Skevington. Single-day insect surveys are nerve-wracking as they are controlled to a great extent by the weather. It was thus a pleasure to awake on July 5 to spectacular weather for the 14th annual OFNC butterfly count. Butterflies like the sun, but shut down if it gets too hot. The day was perfect with a high of 27 degrees and [...]