Other Events

OTHER EVENTS

Nature Appreciation Walks

Last winter’s Nature Appreciation Walks were a hit, so we are going to set them up again this year. If you are new to the PFN, you may be curious to know how they are different from our regular outings. Basically, we are looking to collect a list of people that are interested in getting together on more short-notice. These walks pop up based on the weather and leaders’ availability. Many times, they are great reasons to get out and enjoy nature with others without a topic or agenda. Getting out in the fresh air, exercising, and socializing are great for our physical and mental health. If you are interested in joining these nature walks, send us an e-mail. If there are topics you are very interested in, mention that in your response. If you might be interested in leading an outing, please identify that in your e-mail response as well. We will keep a list and - when the weather presents an opportunity - will send out an invitation. The time and day of the week will change as will the location and degree of difficulty. If you can’t attend, just ignore the e-mail. If you want to attend, just respond to the instructions in the e-mail. To register for being on this list, please send an e-mail to Steve at [email protected]

Dates and times to be announced

Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance​
Hello,

With the unusually warm spring weather we are bound to soon hear the familiar sound of spring peepers calling in the early evening!
This will be Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance's third year of spring frogs and toads breeding monitoring. We have a set of stations across the watershed and are looking to expand the network. In the first year we just got started, in the second year we went digital, and this year we would really like to get a full set of data across the watershed.
We monitor spring frogs and toads breeding as their calling is a key indicator of species population abundance which in turn is an indicator of the health of our local biodiversity and habitat quality. Collecting this data can be a useful mechanism to protect sensitive areas.
If you or someone you know would be interested in volunteering to collect this data please let us know. We are happy to teach you how to monitor (it's actually quite easy). If there is enough interest we are considering hosting an information night at the local library.
Volunteering requires nothing more than giving up a few hours of your evening, taking on a route, then going to the site to sit and listen and record what you hear using "calling codes". There are only a few species of frogs you will hear, and they tend to call at different times of the spring.
Some of our data collection has been published online to our watershed hub site. This is where we'll publish the rest of our data including data from this year:
Watershed Amphibian Monitoring Program Dashboard
Let us know if you are interested in helping. Or come back to our website in the summer and see how our numbers are!
Thank you,
Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance

Hello naturalist friends,

Here we go again! I’m contacting you since you expressed interest previously in helping school groups with outdoor walks, and hopefully helping them learn a bit about the natural world. We’ve had so many Covid complications with school shut-downs over the past two years, we’ve only been able to organize a very few school walks, but, never say never! We’re going to try yet again, because this is so important for our local kids. We are organizing these community walks as part of the Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship project, which aims to give kids opportunities to develop lifelong relationships with the natural world, and our local human community as well.
Now that schools are set to resume in-person learning next week, I’d like to get organized to reach out to as many school groups as possible this year, once we’re allowed to visit again. We currently have 49 requests from teachers hoping to have a local naturalist join them for an outdoor walk!
Are you willing to be on our contact list this year? Do you know of anyone else with a love of nature who might be willing to help too?
If you could give me some details about your interests and availability, I’ll update my records and hopefully we can get rolling soon. You don’t need to be an ‘expert’ to do this, although I know some of you are, but the most important thing is to be willing to share your joy and fascination with the natural world. If you’re willing to give this another try, please help update my records:
All school visitors need to provide a current police record check and proof of Covid vaccination. I can send details for police record checks, and we will reimburse costs.
Are you available year-round, or only in certain seasons?
Do you have a particular area of interest or knowledge?
Where do you live? We’ll try to match people with nearby schools as much as possible.
Is there a specific age range of students you prefer to work with?
What’s the best way to contact you? Phone? Text? Email? Please provide contact info.
Do you know of others with an interest in nature who might be willing to participate as well?
The Pathway Project is a community partnership between many local organizations including school boards, environmental groups, health professionals and many more, all sharing an interest in the well-being of our children and the environment that supports us all. You can visit our website to learn more, or contact me anytime for further information.
Thank you so much for your past interest, and we hope that can continue. I look forward to hearing from you!
Cathy
Cathy Dueck, Coordinator
Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship
pathwayproject.ca

Hello Peterborough Field Naturalists,

My name is Zach Kahn, I am an Ecologist at Blazing Star Environmental, an environmental consulting firm based in Oshawa.

 

Blazing Star Environmental has an exciting year ahead of us. For the past four years we have partnered with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Trent University to carry out a long-term, range-wide monitoring program for the western chorus frog. We are happy to announce that spring 2022 will be the third monitoring season for the program! This year will also be the last monitoring season before a 5-year hiatus.The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence-Canadian shield population of Western Chorus Frog is listed as Threatened in Canada, and declines have been anecdotally noted in recent years. Our project hopes to determine the distribution and extent of the Western Chorus Frog in its range through periodic monitoring of the species. However, the success of this program is largely dependent on a strong base of organizations and individual volunteers willing to complete short surveys during the chorus frog calling season. Currently, we are in the process of recruiting volunteers to conduct these surveys.

 

We are hoping to appeal to the network of volunteers that might be interested in conducting frog call surveys. We are wondering if it would be possible to include a short article about this monitoring program in monthly newsletters, posting on a website news bulletin, or social media? We will also be hosting a free virtual information webinar on Saturday (February 12th) at 11am. The webinar will be talking about what volunteers can expect from the program and some results from last year's monitoring efforts.

 

Please let me know if you would be interested in promoting our program and I will happily send you some promotional materials to share. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

 

I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Sincerely,

 

Zach

 

Zachary Kahn

Wildlife Monitoring Technician

Blazing Star Environmental

104 McLaughlin Blvd.,

Oshawa, ON L1G 2P3

(613) 985 8463

[email protected]

The Arboretum, University of Guelph, Workshops

The Arboretum offers workshops all year round covering a wide variety of topics from birds to mushrooms to gardening to art. Virtual programs are offered live on Zoom, and recordings are made available for registrants to access for a limited time. Details on registration policies can be found on our Registration Information page.
View a complete list of The Arboretum's programs on our Workshop Descriptions page.

We are excited to be offering some of our programs in-person, once again. Please note that COVID procedures as applicable at the time of the workshop will be followed. The university's guidelines can be found at: https://www.uoguelph.ca/covid19/

Masks are required to be worn at all programs while inside and outside of our buildings. Proof of vaccination is required to attend and University of Guelph screening must be completed the day you are attending the program.

The University of Guelph screening form to attend our workshops can be found at: https://uoguelph.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4Ntfm8k1oXAPssm. We will need to see the email you receive or a screenshot of the green checkmark.

Upcoming & Current Workshops

 

https://arboretum.uoguelph.ca/educationandevents/workshops

Interested in learning more about using species reporting platforms, such as eBird and iNaturalist? Jenn Baici, a PhD Candidate at Trent University, is offering a three-hour introductory workshop all about eBird, iNaturalist, and other commonly (and not-so commonly) used species reporting platforms. She will cover 1. How to create profiles, 2. How to add observations, and 3. Who uses these reporting platforms and why. Jenn Baici is studying wild turkey social structure and behaviour in the Peterborough area. Part of Jenn’s research also involves estimating the size and distribution of Ontario’s wild turkey population with the help of citizen scientists. For the past several winters, Jenn has requested and curated wild turkey observations submitted through eBird and iNaturalist and is using this data to model where turkeys are today and where they may go in the future. She has extensive experience navigating these platforms as a user and as a researcher and is extremely excited to share her knowledge of them with the Peterborough community to further wildlife research while fostering community engagement with nature. Contact Jenn Baici directly for more information: jenniferbaici@trentu.ca jenniferbaici[at]trentu[dot]ca
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