Third Annual OFNC Members Photo Night

By Barry Cottam

Nine presenters turned out on a messy winter’s night, with about a dozen more folks in the audience, for our 3^rd annual members photo night event. Organizers Hume Douglas and Barry Cottam had some initial concern about the low numbers, but then were kept on their toes finding time for everyone to present as much as they wished.

The room at the Neatby Building had already been set up with tables and chairs, an arrangement we decided to run with. It worked well, giving people more opportunity to meet each other and share comments on the presentations. The evening began with new member Mary Ann Perron’s presentation on her research on dragonflies, supported by the OFNC under its new science research grant program. She produced some fascinating photos of dragonflies emerging, with various degrees of success, from their exuviae, and explained the value of dragonflies as monitors of water-way health. Owen Clarkin, OFNC’s resident expert on trees, shared his enthusiasm for the capabilities of his new point and shoot camera that enabled him to take identification-confirming photos on land that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Barry Cottam continued with the entomology theme, presenting on biodiversity in small spaces. He described a happy afternoon photographing insects on and around a single stump found behind his room at Wildsumaco Bird Lodge in Napo Province, Ecuador.

Jeewa Mendis brought us back to Canada with a series of short videos of local wildlife, including a family of four friendly skunks denning in her backyard. She ended with a video teaser, shot in Sri Lanka, for her presentation on March 19 at the FWG. Eden Bromfield took us on rambles from the Ottawa River to a Yukon national park to the Gaspe; his work emphasizes the play of light on ice and flowing waters and his keen interest in local flora.

We returned to the north, this time to James Bay with Rick Cavasin on his search for northern species of butterflies; his trip included a walk to Nunavut. (You had to be there!) Gordon Robertson gave us an entertaining overview of the fauna of the Galapagos Islands, seen on a boat tour that included all the islands. Gord Belyea had stories about bird encounters in Florida and Texas. He has a special interest in finding banded birds then reporting his findings to the sometimes elusive scientists who banded them, an important contribution to citizen science. The evening closed with several photos presented by Lorne Peterson, who introduced us to the concept of ‘equinoxing.’ Lorne explained that he saw the spring and fall equinoxes as processes by which light is shared locally and globally, from his backyard to the world itself.

And so another members photo night was filled with the varied interests and ideas of OFNC members, expressed through their combined love of nature and photography. It was after 10 by the time the organizers had finished up, worries about low numbers forgotten, happily looking forward to 2017.