Editor’s Synopsis of CFN 138(1)

Plus: FREE Online Access to Feature Article at https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v138i1.3195

The latest issue of The Canadian Field-Naturalist (CFN) should arrive soon in the physical mailboxes of those with print subscriptions. The Canadian Field-Naturalist is the official journal and publication of record for the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club (OFNC). The current issue is posted online at https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn.

The cover photograph is stunning—an image of a newly discovered, described, and named animal in Mer Bleue Bog, a popular conservation area in Ottawa’s Greenbelt thought to be around 7700 years old. Yes, the free-living amoeba may be microscopic but with a current range extending to the James Bay coast of Quebec, it shows that there are still natural history discoveries to be made. It is the Feature Article for 138(1). (Beginning with CFN 136(3), the OFNC’s Publications Committee decided to make one manuscript per issue a free-to-access Feature Article.)

The Feature Article, five other articles, and one note in issue 138(1) cover a wide diversity of topics: Red-necked Grebes and Barred Owls in Manitoba; a newly documented type of call from Ruffed Grouse in Alberta; a study on plural breeding in Gray Wolf packs which occurs out west and up north; and two articles on exotic species, most likely pet-trade releases, a small fish in Alberta and a turtle now found in Canada in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. The issue also contains a Tribute to long-standing OFNC member and Honorary Member Allan Reddoch (including a photo of Allan on the Mer Bleue Bog Conservation Area boardwalk), seven book reviews, and the list of new titles.

Our book reviews are always free to access online and offer just as much breadth in subject matter. Several reviews in this issue delve into recent books on conversation and climate change, specifically Ring of Fire, about mining on the Hudson Bay Lowlands; Peter Wohlleben’s The Power of Trees; and The Future is Now by Bob McDonald of CBC Quirks & Quarks fame. Our reviewers also tackle books about beetles, bison, and bird migration. Reviewer Jon Way looks at the fifth book in Rick McIntyre’s acclaimed Wolves of Yellowstone series, and former CFN book review editor Barry Cottam goes over Oxford’s latest entomological tome.

Importantly for the operations of the OFNC, the issue also has the newly approved Club by-laws that accompany the Annual Business Meeting minutes, committee reports, and notices of Club awards.

OFNC members can freely access the entire current and past issues online. Contact Bill Halliday at wdhalliday@gmail.com to obtain instructions on how to create an account on the CFN website.

Enjoy!

Dwayne Lepitzki, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief