| Book Report By Blake A. Mann Photo Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Southwestern Ontario 2002. This is a photo field guide to the common dragonflies and damselflies found in Southwestern Ontario. Not many books have been published until recently about dragonflies, and none specifically for SW Ontario. Although a very simple and straightforward guide, it is easy for the amateur to use and learn the insects. Interest has been growing in the field of dragonflies, as many counts are being organized in the summer. It was the dream of St. Thomas area resident, Ian Carmichael, to produce such a guide. The Friends of Pinery decided to give the project a boost by taking on the responsibility of raising funds for producing the guide. Lambton Wildlife also kindly donated $500.00 earlier this year towards the endeavour. LWI has been given 25 free copies to sell at a nominal cost. The guide is a collection of photos taken over the years by Ian. The first few pages contain general information about the insects, followed by pictures of the life cycle. The photos of all the common dragonflies and damselflies follow. Male and female are depicted in either a specimen state, or in the wild. At the bottom of each page is information on flight season, habitat, range, and field notes. Taking into account this is a general guide, I find nothing to criticize. It is straightforward and easy to use in the field. Most of us who know nothing about dragonflies, would find this guide handy. It is small enough to take into the field, coil-bound, and has semi-waterproof pages. Ian has studied dragonflies over the years, and more recently has indulged in butterflies. Alistair MacKenzie is a dedicated naturalist at Pinery Park, and is actively involved with many things there. Brad Steinberg is a very enthusiastic naturalist currently at Algonquin, and has a passion for insects, as well as many things in nature. He worked at Pinery for a couple of years before returning to his home turf at Algonquin. This book is available at Pinery ($8.95) and Rondeau ($8.95), or at the monthly Indoor Meetings of LWI or from Diane Haselmayer 542-2826 at a cost of $9.00. |
2002 Xmas Bird Count
37th Annual Kettle Point Count
Our 37th. Kettle Point C.B.C. was held on Saturday, 14th. December, 2002. The weather was overcast all day. The temperature hovered around freezing. All still water was frozen, there were patches of open water on rivers and Lake Huron was ice fringed. Snow varied from a trace to 15 cms. The intense cold of -17C followed by a snowstorm prior to the count seemed to have driven 75% of the birds out of our circle. It was hard to find birds, so we all did well in the circumstances. In this situation, all sightings were notable! >
Some things do stand out. Two possible Red-throated Loons, a late Wood Duck and Red-shouldered Hawk were good finds. A Golden Eagle and all three Accipters, along with a big movement of Rough-legged Hawks were noteworthy. The family of four Bald Eagles on Kettle Point was supplemented by another four found elsewhere in the cirlce. Appropriately, it being Christmastime, ten Wild Turkeys and a Turkey Vulture were found!!! Eveyone who saw them enjoyed the Screech Owls seen in the pre-dawn hours, with a very high number of 31 being spotted. A newly discovered roost containing five Long-eared Owls was exciting. All of the woodpeckers were in the circle, but unfortunately the Red-headed stayed out of sight that day. In spite of everybody's best efforts, we could only find one Horned Lark. Of note, both Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows put in an appearance, but no Pine Siskins, Redpolls or Grosbeaks.
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Common Loon 7 |
Northern Goshawk 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 44 Rough-legged Hawk 24 Golden Eagle 1 American Kestrel 25 Ruffed Grouse 3 Wild Turkey 10 Ring-billed Gull 80 Herring Gull 270 Glaucous Gull 1 Great Black-backed Gull 71 Rock Dove 257 Mourning Dove 417 Eastern Screech Owl 31 Great Horned Owl 1 Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl 1 |
Belted Kingfisher 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 29 Downy Woodpecker 45 Hairy Woodpecker 16 Northern Flicker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Horned Lark 1 Blue Jay 119 American Crow 342 Black-capped Chickadee 206 Tufted Titmouse 18 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 33 Brown Creeper 3 Carolina Wren 1 Winter Wren 4 Golden-crowned Kinglet 6 Eastern Bluebird 8 |
American Robin 13 Cedar Waxwing 188 Northern Shrike 1 European Starling 3812 Northern Cardinal 84 Am. Tree Sparrow 135 Chipping Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 6 Swamp Sparrow 2 White-throated Sparrow 3 White-crowned Sparrow 1 Dark-eyed Junco 370 Snow Bunting 1700 Purple Finch 2 House Finch 256 Am. Goldfinch 216 House Sparrow 496 |
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Total Species 71 Total Individuals 10,531 |
Gord Catterson
And Still More on Bagers
Earthways does get around. I received the following e-mail from Ron Gould of the MNR office in Aylmer. Ron included several attachments which give more infomation on bagder activity, den monitoring, and badger descriptions. We are publishing this information in the hope that LWI members or friends might come up with signs of badger activity in Lambton County. More information next month. Ed.
Greetings Badger Enthusiasts
I have been given a copy of an email exchange about badgers that appears to have come out of a Lambton Wildlife Inc. publication. I am a Species at Risk Biologist with Aylmer District Ministry of Natural Resources, who has been working on badger monitoring and recovery initiatives during the past 3 years. I am writing this to further answer your badger questions and to hopefully get more local partners involved in Lambton monitoring and reporting efforts. Enthusiasts
My initial response is that yes, there are still a very small number of badgers persisting in a limited area of eastern Lambton County. Recent examples that we are aware of include 2 reliable sightings, both in the Alvinston area in 2001 and 2002. Historical records include many confirmed reports from trappers or hunters from the Watford and Alvinston area east to Glencoe, London and Strathroy in Middlesex. It appears from the records that the Lambton sightings are highly associated with the east branch of the Sydenham, and any patches of lighter, sandy soil along this corridor. I have never heard of any credible report coming from the western edge of the county, but this area may be well within the species historical range pre-European settlement, especially with the proximity of Walpole Island and the savannas of the southern L. Huron shoreline which would have represented good habitat at one time . Also, since individual badgers are so wide-ranging (adult males can have territories up to a few hundred square kilometers, juvenile males can disperse over 100 km from natal den to find new territory) it is not out of the question that some badgers can traverse large areas of seemingly unsuitable habitat in an effort to discover unoccupied areas of grassland with lighter soils. Habitat loss throughout southern Ontario has decimated badger numbers since the 1950's. Conversion of native grasslands to agriculture has had varying impacts, but the change in agricultural lands from pasture and hay complexes for livestock production to intensive row-cropping in the past several decades has resulted in a severe reduction in habitat regionally, especially in areas of sandy soils which badgers need for burrowing. Their range in Ontario is not increasing, but rather has been severely reduced due to habitat loss and road mortality. Enthusiasts
Badgers are not known to be very good climbers, but we are seeing some recent badger reports along woodlot edges. Perhaps they are using the shelter or seclusion of these woody areas for protection from human disturbances, but I have never heard of badgers being found deep within a forested area or very far up a tree, especially one that is not severely compiced at the base. Some sightings of burrow entrances under tangled stumps have been reported. Enthusiasts
I would be interested to check out the site where this possible occurrence was seen. I have attached some additional information on badgers and the monitoring projects I am involved in. Feel free to distribute these as needed, or contact me for colour copies of the factsheets. Any participation or reporting of historical sightings by LWI members would also be appreciated, the Farmers and Friends Conservation Club has been active in distributing project communications materials for us in the past, but we could use all the help we can get, especially for such a rare and elusive species. Enthusiasts
Thanks for your interest and efforts, Enthusiasts
Ron Gould, Species at Risk Biologist
Ministry of Natural Resources
Aylmer District
ph.(519)773-4745
ron.gould@mnr.gov.on.ca
P.S. I am also very interested in Barn Owl reports!
2001 to 2003 Badger Project Updates: Ron Gould, MNR
MNR has teamed up with local naturalists groups, EarthTramper consulting and Tallgrass Ontario in an effort to track badger population numbers across the province. The Ontario subspecies of badger, Taxidea taxus jacksoni, has been listed as Endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Enthusiasts
Communications products and media releases asking for the public's help in reporting badger information have been very successful throughout 2001-02. During the past year these news stories and partnerships have resulted in more credible badger sightings being reported to the MNR than in the previous decade. Enthusiasts
MNR has provided $17,000 in funding to date for this badger project in support of continued badger monitoring efforts, the formation of a provincial recovery team and the drafting of a national recovery strategy for this very rare subspecies of badger that only occurs in the Great Lakes region. EnthusiastsMNR has purchased an infra-red trip camera to be set up at suspected badger den locations in an effort to get proof of badger populations in southwestern Ontario. Enthusiasts
MNR in partnership with Trent University is conducting DNA analysis of all available badger hair samples (from live or dead animals or pelts) to find if there is a mixture of both endangered and non-endangered badger subspecies in Ontario. Enthusiasts
Any person who has recent or historical information on badger sightings in Ontario is encouraged to contact Ron Gould, MNR Species at Risk Biologist. Enthusiasts
Monitoring Badgers in Ontario:
How to tell the presence of these rare mammals. Enthusiasts
DEN SHAPE: Badger den entrances have a characteristic oval shape, always wider than they are tall. Most entrances for dens average 12 inches wide by 8 to 10 inches high. Entrance holes are usually along natural slopes such as banks or along eroded hedgerows between agricultural fields or grassland areas. Fresh badger holes will have claw marks on the sides of the entrance, not at the base as with foxes and coyotes. Enthusiasts
EXTRUDED SOIL: Both badger dens and dig-outs of prey dens exhibit a large amount of soil built up around the entrance. The soil is almost always sandy and may cover several square yards in area outside the hole. Since badgers often cache their food in burrows or dens, the mounds of soil outside the entrance often contain small bone fragments from their rodent prey. Enthusiasts
BADGER TRACKS: Badger tracks are noticeably pigeon-toed and front and rear overlap each other. Fresh prints in light or wet soil will display long pointed claw marks.
| Mystery Plant
I (Diane Haselmayer) have an interesting letter from Walter Crowe. Walter is the president of the Owen Sound Field Naturalists He and Joan (his wife) led an outing to the Bruce in the Owen Sound area for LWI in 2001. They are very knowledgeable about native plants in this area. Anyhow I quote: Re Earthways Nov 2002 Mystery photo p 5. Please congratulate Nikki May and Floyd Elliott. It is hard to be sure from the picture (tho' it is almost certainly a Ford truck) but it is likely that the plant is a "good" specimen of Polygonum cuspitatum - Japanese Knotweed. A native of east Asia, it has escaped here over a wide area. Nikki May should warn her neighbors who may wish to erect protective fencing - it is an invasive plant. Also warn her not to doze off in her native plant garden in the summer, since it grows rapidly and could twine around any static object. Walter Crowe |
Carolinian West Regional Meeting
The fall meeting of the Carolinian West FON meeting was held on Saturday, November 9th in the Mount Elgin Hall, south of Ingersoll. It was hosted by the Ingersoll Nature Club and attendee groups included Carolinian Canada, Friends of Pinery, Friends of Rondeau, Lambton Wildlife Inc, McIlraith Field Naturalists, Sarnia Urban Wildlife, St. Thomas Field Naturalists, Sydenham Field Naturalists, and the host club Ingersoll Nature Club. Attending on behalf of LWI were President Diane Haselmayer, Joe Haselmayer, Peter Banks and myself. The meeting was chaired by the regional president Tom Chatterton and FON was represented by President Dawna Monk Vanwyck and Nature Network Coordinator Jennifer Baker.
Tom started the meeting by talking about promoting inter-regional co-operation and support. The eight regional directors never really meet as a group and it is planned that they will do so in a more formal way in the future. Next the groups in attendance reported on their recent activities in a round-the-table format. Diane reported on behalf of LWI. She talked about the unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Maylard property which would connect the Karner Blue Sanctuary with the County Forest. As previously reported in Earthways LWI was unable to reach agreement with the owner. Diane also reported on the Young Naturalists group and their recent activities. It seems as if LWI is the only one of the Carolinian West clubs that has such a group. Sydenham Field Naturalists reported on their efforts to plant prairie species on Chicken Island near Wallaceburg. They also have placed bluebird, kestrel and screech owl boxes in the Darcy McKeough spillway. They said they had two nesting pairs of kestrels in the five kestrel boxes.
Friends of Rondeau passed around photographs of their new viewing platform which is now complete. It is a very impressive construction and includes a 400 ft. boardwalk. It cost $100,000 to build, including $28,000 for the footings. They also hosted a London Astronomical Society workshop, held an Historic Cottage Tour, held a butterfly count, and ran a snake day for kids. (They borrowed a Hognose snake for the day.)
The also mentioned that there are still too many deer in the park with about 200, and that a cull was being held that week.
St. Thomas, in conjunction with the West Elgin Field Naturalists, also built a more modest viewing platform at the Port Stanley lagoons for $9000. They also had a Hawk Cliff week-end and have drafted an agreement for Trillium grants for local field naturalist clubs.
Friends of the Pinery held their spring AGM at the Lambton County Library with a very poor turnout. They are also in the process of printing a river canoe guide and are planting some native species needed by the Karner Blue butterfly. They also mentioned that the nature CD-ROM intended for schools is almost ready. Brenda Lorenz of Sarnia Urban Wildlife reported on their tree planting efforts at the sewage lagoons as well as their on-going work with sand cherries.
Following lunch, Graham Bryan of the Canadian Wildlife Service gave a short overview of the Ecological Gifts Program. Recent changes in tax laws with the passing of the Conservation Land Act make it much easier than previously for land owners to obtain a tax deduction benefit. In former years the process was much more problematic and as a result not a lot of donations were made. However, since this program was implemented there have been 265 gifts with a value of $49 million and over 21,000 h.a. In Ontario alone there have been 105 gifts worth $18.3 million and about 4600 h.a. In the Oak Ridges Moraine there have been over 35 gifts and over 1400 h.a. worth about $25 million. There have been more gifts on the Moraine than any other area in Canada.
The Act allows a variety of gift mechanisms including title to the land, easements where the donor retains title but agrees to allow access for certain purposes, and covenants where the donor retains title but agrees to certain uses. These easements and covenants do not end when the land is subsequently sold or transferred as the new owner is bound by them. Tax receipts are issued based on the difference between the fair market value of the property without easements and the fair market value with the easements.
Tom then introduced Ric Wellwood who has replaced Don Gordon, who has joined Ducks Unlimited, at Carolinian Canada. Ric talked for a few minutes about Carolinian Canada and welcomed input and dialogue from FON regional members.
Jennifer then discussed some of the recent FON initiatives and activities. She mentioned attempts to establish a new provincial park to be called Kawartha Highlands. Off-roaders are objecting to restrictions on motorized vehicles. (See p.7) She also mentioned that Lands for Nature is now Nature Reserves and planning is going ahead on several properties. She also encouraged people to visit the FON web site at
Dawna Monk Vanwyck talked about the Foundation for Ontario Nature which the FON has been working on establishing for the past while. Three interim directors have been appointed as of April of 2002 one of which is the past president of the FON, Ric Symmes. The intent is to create a board of directors who will then start to raise money. Four permanent directors are now in place with an interim Executive Director.
The next regional meetings are to be hosted by the St. Thomas Field Naturalists on March 29, 2003 and the Essex Field Naturalists on November 8th 2003.
Gord Catterson
November Indoor Meeting
On Monday, November 25th about 40 LWI members and friends gathered to listen to Dr. William Fyfe talk about Biodiversity Around the World. Unfortunately the Sarnia Observer failed to print the article Floyd Elliott had delivered to them. As a result the turnout was a bit disappointing.
Dr. Fyfe was born and reared on a farm on the south island in New Zealand. He attended university at Dunedin on the southern end of the south island, has taught at Berkeley in California, was a research scientist in Britain for several years and is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, and is a former Dean of Science. He is also Chair of the Geology Department at that institution. He has seven honourary degrees from various universities, many medals and honours, is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and is a leading earth scientist and a widely recognized advocate for biodiversity.
Professor Fyfe's presentation style is unusual in that he employs a kind of shotgun approach to the subject, peppering the audience with facts, figures, photographs and anecdotes in a seemingly random way without much elaboration, but leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions.
He started by stating that the west is increasingly an aging population, are becoming largely urban dwellers, live in a T.V. culture and that the world is in the midst of a population explosion. He said from the time of Christ the population took about 1700 years to double, from about 200 million to 400 million. Since then the world population had doubled several times to the current 8 billion. 50% of Cairo's population is under five. The lowest birth rates on the planet are in Spain and Italy. (Closer to home Quebec is also one of the lowest, a huge change from when I grew up in Quebec when it had one of the highest.) He commented favourably on China's struggle to restrain population growth, and said if China and India were to begin consuming at the same levels as North Americans and Europeans, the earth would not survive. For example Canada is the largest user of energy per capita in the world. The United States is highest in carbon dioxide per capita emissions while Canada is third. He emphasized that everyone needs good food which depends on good water and soil. He stated that 40,000 people per day die of malnutrition, all of which could be prevented with proper management which includes freedom from religious and political strife as well as environmental biodiversity. He mentioned India where in many cases the soil situation is hopeless. Much of North Africa is reverting to desert while central Australia is becoming wetter, and losses due to wind, flood and drought are taking off.
He also said we need to start putting carbon dioxide into the ground and not the atmosphere. He talked briefly about successful experimental fertilization he had overseen by using coal ash as fertilizer. As an example of how living organisms are connected he mentioned sea otters being killed off in California. It was then discovered that this led to an increase in erosion as the sea otters had eaten organisms that prevented still another organism from destroying seaweed, which acts as a buffer against coastal erosion.
In response to a question Dr. Fyfe said he was not a pessimist but sees many examples of things improving. For example he said the city of Hamburg has effectively stopped garbage collection, saying if you can't recycle it or reuse it, you can't have it. In Sweden a town is heated by pumping water into the earth to extract heat and returning it to the surface. There is abundant energy in the wind, waves tides and rivers if we have the determination to make it happen. We as individuals need to stop pointing fingers at others and accept that it is our responsibility, not government or big industry. (As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and they is us".)
In conclusion he said there are three key issues. First, we must reduce population growth; second, we must educate everyone; and third we must have faith in good science and technology including new economic models.
Our thanks to Professor Fyfe for a provocative and informative evening.
Gord Catterson
| New Tree in Bickford Woods
In November, John and I attended a Moss workshop at the University of Guelph, given by Steve Newmaster, the lead author of the Ontario Plant List. I was lucky enough to sit beside John Ambrose, the well-known tree expert. Dr. Ambrose has been working on an inventory of the Bickford Woods for the Ministry of Natural Resources of Ontario. He told me that he had found Populus heterophylla L., Swamp Cottonwood, in Bickford Woods. This is a new record for Ontario, and, I believe, for Canada. Dorothy Tiedje |