Outing Report – The Bruce Trail through Malcolm Bluff Shores
By Clarke Birchard (click here to go to gallery photos of event)
On the morning of September 26 a dozen SFN members set out in a light drizzle to explore the section of the Bruce Trail that passes through the upper portion of the proposed Malcolm Bluff Shores Nature Reserve north of Wiarton in the Bruce Peninsula.
The rain did not last long. The wet forest smelled like fall, colours were muted and beautiful. We stopped numerous times at the lookouts along the escarpment to enjoy views over the forest below and the water and islands of Colpoys Bay, sometimes through mist and fog, and once in filtered sunlight.
Eleven-year-old Luke in his bright red ball cap was the trailbreaker and leader most of the way. Kim and Walter were the plant consultants. Some botanical highlights were the abundance and variety of mushrooms including one log covered in oyster mushrooms, a choice edible. We encountered several stands of beech drops, a natural rock garden of northern holly ferns and many colonies of maidenhair spleenwort on rocks and in cracks and crevices and numerous others.
Dave, Jerry and Joan kept watch for birds which were rather scarce but they pointed out small groups of chickadees and kinglets gleaning insects from the shrubs and trees along the cliff edge. The distant croaks of ravens were heard from time to time and a pileated woodpecker called loudly as it flew by.
Clarke drew attention to some of the geological features, including terraces of the Amabel, Fossil Hill and Manitoulin formations, the beginnings of crevice caves and a dramatic unspoiled alvar area.
Photographers John, Gerard and Doug were busy documenting the outing in the soft autumn light. We may see some of the results of their efforts on members’ night in January.
All of us, including Janice and Herb, enjoyed the exercise, fresh moist air, scenic views and natural richness of the property. Some who walk 3 or 4 km for exercise a few times a week were amazed that it took us over 4 hours to hike the 5.3 km.
We may plan a spring birding and wildflower outing along the logging road on the lower level of the nature reserve.
Those wishing to learn more about this future nature reserve may see the current issue of “ON nature” magazine, click on Natural Wonders at http://onnaturemagazine.com or go to the website http://www.ontarionature.org/protectmalcolmbluffshores/.
Kinghurst Cabin
Since Kinghurst became a nature reserve and SFN became the stewards Ontario Nature and the SFN have faced a dilemma regarding what to about the cabin on the Harrison tract. Should it be demolished and removed, repaired and restored or just allowed to disintegrate on its own?
Various groups doing inventories, research or stewardship projects have used it as a as a shelter, “research station” and storage area. SFN members have used it as a shelter on winter outings.
Porcupines chewed through the fascia, soffit and a portion of the roof during the years of indecision. A contractor advised that it would cost more for demolition and removal than to fix it up. So it was decided to start with the roof including soffits and fascias.
The first step was to replace the deteriorating asphalt shingles with excellent quality metal roofing. A quote was received from a roofer and they were advised to proceed with the work. When the old shingles were removed it was discovered that almost all of the sheeting on the west side was rotted and needed replacement. More material and labour were needed than were included in the original quote.
The roof cost $3,509.00. There is $1,600.00 in the Kinghurst Special Fund and SFN will cover the difference. If you can assist with a donation toward this project it will be much appreciated.
Any surplus funds will be used for the next stage in the restoration of the cabin. In the future it will be necessary to reduce the number of windows and replace those remaining and add new siding to the building.
Outing Report from the June 27, 2010 Damsels and Dragons hike at Kinghurst
By John Reaume
We had a beautiful day at Kinghurst Forest Reserve for "odeing" (which means hunting for the odonates -ie- dragonflies and damselflies. We had a dozen people turn up for the event and were fortunate to find 13 species in the few hours of trying. They include:
Spotted Spreadwing
Elegant Spreadwing
Marsh Bluet
Hagen's Bluet
Fragile Forktail
Eastern Forktail
Sedge Sprite
Calico Pennant
Dot-tailed Whiteface
Widow Skimmer
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Elfin Skimmer
Meadowhawk ? species
Be sure to check out our website to see photos by Gerard McNaughton of the event.
Bluebird Report
By Joan and Jerry Asling
On March 27 we began our first bluebird box check of the 2010 season. Farmers were working their fields, and all the ditches were dry, which we often don't get until late summer, and the temperature was 28C. Jerry cleaned out lots of mouse nests with his trusty tool - an egg lifter. Mouse nests are the main reason we try to get around very early in the spring. We took along small strips of wood to secure over the dropped-down ventilated sides of our old boxes. Other bluebirders have decided that more hatchlings die from cold and wet than from heat, so we tried to weather-proof our original upright boxes. We made several trips to an Amish sawmill east of Scone for 1" thick cedar boards. We had started making a new-shaped box designed by the late George Coker of Winona and dubbed the Coker box. It is a long box with a half wall between the front and the back. The idea is that the bird on entering the box shakes off any water if it is raining in the 'mudroom' section and then it builds its nest and raises its young behind the half wall.
Bluebirds seemed to get the concept, but tree swallows nested in the front and were easy prey for predators. Since we had made the operating door at the back, we had to remove all the screws to take the front off, move the nest back and put blocks in the front section to discourage nesting there. This was a lot of work and time wasted in the field. We have three cordless drills, but always ran out of charge every time we went out. To rectify this problem we began building the boxes with doors both front and back.
When Jean Iron came up to speak to SFN in June she mentioned a new Coker design and sent us an e-mail of the plan. We have adapted the design to our wood supply, and the box we are now making is 6" wide, 6" high, 14" long and has an 8" wide roof that is 24" long, and opens at the end and has no half wall. There is lots of roof overhang on the sides to keep the rain out of the seams and lots of length to thwart predators and keep precipitation out of the entrance hole. We have over 100 of these new air-tight condos ready to hang next spring. We have to replace 300 + old boxes that have been up 13-15 years and are at the end of their life. They make great campfire wood as they were made with free hardwood from the old Scone Pallet Factory.
We decided we would put 4 new boxes on metal posts at Kinghurst. We loaded our tools, stepstool, sledgehammer, 4 boxes, 4 posts onto a child's wagon and pulled it through the trail to the fields. Hammering the posts in that rocky soil was a try and try again experience. One post was nice and solid and then we realized we'd (well, Jerry) had hammered it in upside down. Dragging that wagon in fully loaded was such a challenge and hanging the boxes was so time consuming that we were literally hauling the wagon out in the dark.
We had snow on the Mother's Day weekend and all our nestlings except for one box died. In 2008 and 2009 we lost all our babies on the May 24th weekends. We are hoping the new box design and the thickness of the unplaned lumber will help early nestlings survive in the future. This year we also had several boxes with eggs abandoned. This probably means the female died and even if the male survived he cannot incubate the eggs. From our 460 boxes we had 58 successful bluebird nests and 143 birds fledged. Tree swallows took 168 of our boxes and fledged 681 young. House wrens nabbed 10 boxes and reared 41 young, and 3 chickadee nests produced 11 young.
Jerry and I attended the North American Bluebird Convention at the Burlington Botanical Gardens Sept 8-11th There were 105 people registered from all areas of the U.S. and Canada. Some only had 6 or 10 boxes. Only one had more than us with 700 +. There were guests speaking on Prothonotary Warblers, Cavity Nesters in B.C., Trumpeter Swans, Chimney Swifts, Wood Thrushes, Peregrine Falcons and of course the Eastern Bluebird. The survival of all of these species has been threatened and people are working on recovery programs for all of them.
Jerry and I are happy to be part of the Eastern Bluebird recovery. For 4 1/2 months from April to August we spend most of our time repairing, re-hanging, constructing and checking our trail boxes. We are constantly losing boxes and habitat because of fence post removal and less and less pastureland. If you or anyone you know has suitable habitat - large lawn, pasture, orchard etc. and would be interested in having a couple of boxes please let us know
Clarke Birchard wins the SFN Conservation Award 2010
Longtime member Clarke Birchard was the recipient of the SFN Conservation Award for 2010. Clarke was presented with a beautiful Scarlet Tanager image created by John Reaume in recognition of his many years of dedicated conservation efforts.
Janet and Ron’s Big Year
Click here to read more about Janet Grand and Ron Reid’s big birding year and plans to fund raise for the Wolf Run Alvar
Outing Report to Grand Bend on March 20, 2010
Trip Leader: Dave Schaus
Participants: Jean Schaus, Gerard McNaughton, Lynn Stoltzfus
Locations visited: Greenway Rd and River Road south of Grand Bend, The Pinery Provincial Park, Grand Bend Sewage Lagoons
Weather: Cloudy, windy, 0 degrees
Highlights: 200+ swans, Glaucous Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse
Species seen:
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•
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• Tundra Swan
• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• Northern Pintail
• American Green-winged Teal
• Bufflehead
• Common Merganser
• Turkey Vulture
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Wild Turkey
• Killdeer
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Mourning Dove
• Rock Pigeon
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Horned Lark
• Black-capped Chickadee
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• Tufted Titmouse
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• American Robin
• European Starling
• Northern Cardinal
• American Tree Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Snow Bunting
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Purple Finch
• House Finch
• House Sparrow
Total species: 38
Outing Report for the May 5th Wild Flower Walk
Event Report by Kim Sayer
On May 5th the Saugeen Field Naturalists had an evening wild flower walk through the southeast side of Kinghurst. There were 10 people out to enjoy the evening. Everyone arrived right after a rain shower so everything smelled clean and sharper than normal.
We have had a very early spring this year so the flowers we saw were different than you would normally see on an early May walk at Kinghurst.
Here is our species list: Wild leek leaves were up and the Trout lily flowers were fading, Common blue violet, Wild strawberry, Marsh Marigolds, common blue eyed grass, Hairy Solomon Seal, white Trilliums False Solomon Seal, Canada Mayflower, Downy yellow violet, Bloodroot, Toothwort, Maidenhair Fern, Ginger, Long spurred Violet, Ostrich fern, Royal Fern, Sensitive Fern, Jack in the Pulpit, Large Flowered Bellwort, Harts tongue Fern, hooked Crowfoot, Showy Orchids in bud, Meadow Rue, Foam flower, Canada violet, Gooseberry, Squirrel corn, Glaucous Honeysuckle, Dwarf Canada Primrose, and White Baneberry.
Outing: Orchid tour of Grey & Bruce Counties
with Joan Crowe
On June 12, 2010 Joan and Walter Crowe led our group of 9 eager participants on a wildflower tour of Grey and Bruce Counties. The weather looked far from promising with heavy showers in south Grey County when we left for our rendezvous at Inglis Falls for 9:30 a.m. On this occasion however the weather cooperated for the full day – the cloudy skies held off rain for our entire trip!
We headed for the Sauble Beach area just in time to meet up with one of our sister clubs (Stratford Field Naturalists) who led us to our first orchid of the day – Hooker’s Orchid (a “life” orchid for many in the group). Further hiking in the area revealed a number of interesting plants and flowers including: Blue Bead Lily in fruit (aka Clintonia), Rattlesnake Fern, King Devil (aka Yellow Hawkweed), Mouse Ear Hawkweed, Goat’s Beard (aka “Jack Go To Bed By Noon” for the tendency of the flower to close by noon), Bush Honeysuckle, Bladder Campion, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Common Blackberry, False Solomon’s Seal and our second orchid of the day – Long Bracted Green Orchid (aka Frog Orchid) – another “life” orchid for many in the group.
Our group then headed north to explore some of the side roads. We found along the roadside ditches many beautiful species (that would rival many gardens) including: Kalm’s Lobelia (aka Brook Lobelia), Pink Pyrola, Indian Paintbrush (aka Painted Cup), Wood Lily, Showy or Queen Lady’s Slipper, Royal Fern, Marsh Fern, Philadelphia Fleabane and Golden Ragwort. Closer to Red Bay we stopped once more and sharp-eyed Luke Reaume was the first to spot the European Common Twayblade – another life orchid for many of us again!
A well earned lunch at Red Bay was followed by a visit to Petrel Point. Here we were happy to see many Indian Plantain, a threatened species, doing quite well this year. The fen had many other wonderful species including: Water Cress, Round Leaved Sundew, Linear Leaved Sundew, Horned Bladderwort, Common Buttercup, many Pitcher Plants, one sedge that was easy to identify – the Bog Cotton was plentiful as was the Cow Vetch along the roadside. The treasures of the fen were the orchids of course. We saw Grass Pink, Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Bog Candles (aka Tall White Bog Orchid), Rose Pogonia (aka Snake Mouth) and another orchid new to the group – Loesel’s or Bog Twayblade!
We finished off our hike with a trip to the Oliphant Fen. Here we saw Yarrow, Wormwood, Ox Eye Daisy, Yellow Sweet Clover, Heal All (aka Selfheal), Wild Columbine, Early Meadow Rue, Shrubby Cinquefoil (not yet in bloom), Bluets, Blue Flag, Common Blue Eyed Grass and the Slender Blue Eyed Grass.
All in all we came up with (at least the ones I could remember to record) 48 species of flower of which 9 were orchids. Joan and Walter were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and made wonderful leaders for this enjoyable outing.
John Reaume
