EVENTS IN THE AREA & REQUESTS FOR HELP
Wildlife Tracking Outings
PFN member, Don McLeod, will once again lead members on one or
more outings during the months of December to March focusing on
tracks and other wildlife sign. These outings will be scheduled when
weather conditions permit. The place and time will be announced by e-mail shortly before each outing. Anyone interested in attending should send an e-mail to Don McLeod at [email protected] so he can add you to an e-mail distribution list. If you signed up for previous outings, you would automatically receive an e-mail to confirm.
Accessibility: Moderate to somewhat challenging. These outings will all involve walking in snowy conditions.
Dates and times to be announced
Nature Appreciation Walks
One of the main reasons for attending outings is spending time with like-minded individuals. Getting out in the fresh air, exercising, and socializing while appreciating nature never gets old. With winter coming, it is more difficult to find “topics” to offer for outings. That doesn’t mean we can’t get together. For many of us who have been PFN members for a long time, we have found friends to go for walks with regularly. If you are interested in joining others for nature walks, send me an e-mail. If there are topics you are very interested in, mention that in your response. I will keep a list and - when the weather is kind - will send out an invitation. The time and day of the week will change as will the location and degree of difficulty. Sometimes there will be a theme depending on the leader I am able to recruit. Sometimes it will just be a nature appreciation walk. When you can attend, just respond to the e-mail I send out. To register, e-mail [email protected]
Dates and times to be announced
Kawartha Land Trust Tallgrass Prairie Seed Collection
Join KLT at Ballyduff Trails for a fun fall day of collecting seeds from one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada: the tallgrass prairie. Open to any age, you and your family can explore the trails and take an active role in restoring these critical habitats with KLT.
Register in advance through the KLT website (red typeface at bottom of event page): https://kawarthalandtrust.org/?post_type=event&p=5887
Sunday, Oct. 16
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
851 Ballyduff Rd. Pontypool
Upcoming Ontario Nature Lake Ontario North Regional Meeting
On Saturday, October 22, Ontario Nature will be holding its fall Lake Ontario North regional meeting, in-person for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. The meeting will be hosted by the Willow Beach Field Naturalists (WBFN) at the Alderville Black Oak Savanna Ecology Centre in Roseneath. http://www.aldervillesavanna.ca .
The Black Oak Savanna (OBOS) site supports two types of endangered grasslands: tallgrass prairie and oak savanna. Less than 3% of grassland habitats survive today in Ontario and throughout North America. The Ecology Centre educates the public on the importance of grasslands and their use as carbon sinks. Carbon sinks are natural areas that absorb large amounts of carbon (in the form of CO2) from the atmosphere and store it through a process known as carbon sequestration. The Ecology Centre states that, “tall grass ecosystems sequester on average 1.7 metric tons of CO2 per acre, per year. Based on this equation, the Alderville Black Oak Savanna site alone has an approximate carbon sequestering power of 91.8 metric tons of CO2 per year. OBOS reports that, “grassland ecosystems store carbon in their extensive root systems. When grasslands inevitably burn, the carbon remains safely stored below ground. Comparatively, forests store carbon above ground where it can be readily burned, releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.”
As part of the Lake Ontario North region, PFN members are invited to attend this event. Following the formal part of the meeting, staff from OBOS will be leading attendees on a walk through the grasslands. If you are interested in attending and touring this interesting and rare ecosystem, please RSVP by contacting Barbara MacKenzie-Wynia at [email protected] . More information will follow including COVID-19 protocols and a map to the site.
KLT’s Immersive Nature Workshop
Interested in learning more about the natural world and having fun at the same time? Deepen your connection with nature by attending Kawartha Land Trust’s Immersive Nature Workshop at Dance Nature Sanctuary in Lakefield.
Yoga, accessible for all bodies and levels, will be followed by a series of nature- focused attention training methods. Register for this event online through KLT’s website: https://kawarthalandtrust.org/
Sunday, Sept. 25 Lakefield 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Plugs for the Prairie
Historically, the Rice Lake Plains were covered with tallgrass prairies and oak savanna, which were dominated by massive black and white oak, grasses like big bluestem and switchgrass thrived and a diverse range of wildflowers blossomed. Help give this globally rare habitat a comeback by planting native prairie species plugs on Nature Conservancy Canada’s Hazel Bird Nature Reserve.
To allow NCC to plan for a safe, successful, and enjoyable day in the field together, all participants must register in advance of the event. Space is limited and spots fill up fast, so register today to confirm your attendance. Please email [email protected]
Saturday, Sept. 24
Hazel Bird Nature Reserve
Baltimore 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Hello naturalist friends,
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
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
![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](https://peterboroughnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ebirdiNaturalist.png "ebirdiNaturalist")
