The Results of the Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count are In
The 105th Ottawa-Gatineau CBC was held December 17, 2023. Temperatures ranged from minus 1.5 to plus 4.5 degrees Celsius, with cloudy skies throughout the day. Except for one cold snap, temperatures were mild leading up to the count; however, with the rivers being so open, water birds weren’t all forced into the count circle area as is the case in most years. 161 field observers plus 32 feeder watchers found 77 species and a record high 54,598 individual birds. Highlights [...]
An OFO Opportunity for Young Birders Aged 13 – 17
Ontario Field Ornithologists Dedicated to the study of birds in Ontario Registration is now open for OFO's 2024 Alan Wormington Memorial Camp, August 3rd - 11th We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2024 Alan Wormington Memorial Camp for Young Birders. This year's camp will be held from August 3rd - August 11th and will once again take place in Algonquin Park. The camp will include a short canoe and camping trip. Space is limited [...]
Editor’s Synopsis of CFN 137(1-2) plus FREE feature article
Editor’s Synopsis of CFN 137(1-2) Free Online Access to Feature Article. The latest issue of The Canadian Field-Naturalist (CFN) will soon arrive in the physical mailboxes of those with printed copy subscriptions. The Canadian Field-Naturalist is the official journal and publication of record for the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club (OFNC). It is already available online. Donald McAlpine, in Kennedy Lakes Protected Natural Area (PNA), New Brunswick, 14 August 2022. Photo: Mathieu Léger. From “Notes on the natural history of [...]
Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count
The big day is Sunday, December 17, 2023. Listen to OFNC's Bernie Ladouceur discuss the 105th Otttawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count on CBC https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2292189763694 He did a great job!!
Restoration in a changing world
The impacts of warming temperatures on the diet quality of Monarch butterflies and what we can do to help By Katherine Peel, with great thanks to Dr. Heather Kharouba, Jenna Boomhower, and Dr. Greg Mitchell for their work on the project This summer, with lots of help from lab-mate, Jenna Boomhower, I embarked on an ambitious project: quantifying the impacts that warming temperatures have on nectar quality, and the subsequent impacts that a change in nectar quality has on Monarch [...]
Tis the Season – of Christmas Bird Counts
Started in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is North America’s longest-running Citizen Science project. People in more than 2000 locations throughout the Western Hemisphere participate in the CBC each year. There are lots of opportunities to volunteer to participate in this exciting project, meet new people and even learn more about other birding areas. You are not alone. Most counts organize small groups of people to cover defined areas so you do not have to be an expert birder. [...]
Severe Defoliation of American Elm by the invasive insect Elm Zigzag Sawfly (EZS)
by Owen Clarkin, OFNC Vice-President & Chair, Conservation Committee The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club has been tracking Elm Zigzag Sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) since its recent (2020) detection in North America near Montreal. This includes making the first observations of EZS in Ontario (2020), the city of Ottawa (2021), the state of Vermont (2022), and the city of Toronto (2023).Our focus until recently has been detection: when we are at new locations, we have been searching for EZS to confirm whether it [...]
Editor’s synopsis of CFN 136(4) plus FREE feature article
The latest issue of The Canadian Field-Naturalist (CFN) will soon arrive in the physical mailboxes of those with printed copy subscriptions. The Canadian Field-Naturalist is the official journal and publication of record for the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (OFNC). The current issue is already posted online at https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn. This issue has eight manuscripts, covering freeze-dried turtles, Red-eared Sliders nesting in the Greater Toronto Area, wolf teeth from Greenland, marine invertebrates in south-coastal British Columbia, effects of burns and clear-cuts on Caribou [...]
More on Atlas III information – Zoom Meeting
With spring upon us, several local species have already started their breeding behaviour. Migrants are arriving daily and staking out territory before nesting. Observing and reporting this activity to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas provides essential information for Canadian researchers, scientists, government officials and conservation professionals that will help guide environmental policies and conservation strategies across Ontario for years to come. The Atlas is conducted every 20 years and is five years in duration. Participation in this once in a generation [...]