Another year. Another adventure awaits.

Message from the President

By Karen Alexander

 

Thank you to all Club members who have renewed their membership for 2022! We are grateful for your continued loyalty, commitment, and support, especially while our normal club activities have been postponed or offered only virtually.  Membership renewals are due April 1, 2022.

 

The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club is a volunteer-driven Club that could not run without Members stepping into roles and stepping up to help us spread excitement and gratitude for local natural heritage.  If we don’t do this important work to provide the opportunity for people to become acquainted with and to better understand the natural environment in Essex County, who will?

 

I very much look forward to meeting more of our Membership this year and can’t wait to get back to in-person meetings, events, and projects!

 

Sincerely,

Karen Alexander, President
coastalkare@gmail.com

 

Please click the link below to read more about the many exciting plans for the Club, along with an Organizational Chart showing a breakdown of the Club structure. 

By Paul Pratt

Attached are the results from the Canadian portion of the 2022 Detroit River Christmas Bird Count. About one quarter of this Michigan count  is on the Canadian side of the Detroit River between the foot of Lauzon Road to the north end of Fighting Island. Highlights of the 60 species seen this year included the first ever Common Raven for the count spotted by Ian Woodfield and Carl Maiolani, 2 Belted Kingfishers, 18 Tufted Titmice, 55 Robins, Gray Catbird, Fox Sparrow and Common Redpoll. 

Christmas Bird Count - Holiday Beach

By Jeremy Hatt

The 16th annual Holiday Beach CBC took place on Tuesday, December 28^th, 2021. The count area includes Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Big Creek, the lower Detroit River north to LaSalle (Lower Detroit IBA), Boblo Island, and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, Boblo Island was inaccessible this year due to construction on the island but the rest of the count circle received good coverage. 37 participants volunteered for the Count, tallying 78 species and 21,533 individual birds. During the count there were many new volunteers taking part, including several ECFNC members, which was great to see. Golden Eagle was the only additional species reported for Count Week. The species count of 78 is two below the record high of 80 species.

 

By Don Bissonnette

I was able to collect Statistics from 190 Birdhouses, from 27 Bluebird trails. That is a drop from 2020 Bluebird Committee Report, which had statistics from 214 houses from 32 trails.  You can see all of the Production Charts in the link below.

 

Now is a good time, to inspect all of your Birdhouses, if you havent done this already. Inspect the Pine Straw beds, & replace them if they are soiled or wet. 

ECFNC Pop Up Event - Windsor Marina

 

By Carl Maiolani

ECFNC Pop Up Event - Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary

 

By Carl Maiolani

In loving memory of Henry Driedger

 

It is with heavy hearts that we share with you the passing of our good friend Henry Driedger. He was 97 years young. This wonderfully generous, always pleasant and ever smiling man will certainly be missed. Henry was an avid supporter of restoring our landscape with native trees. For years he collected seed for and with the Natural Habitat Restoration Program. He grew a great diversity of our rare Carolinian zone trees on his farm and was ever eager to share in his knowledge and his trees for restoration initiatives. He has been a supporter of the Canada South Land Trust since its founding.   (His obituary is attached below)

May you rest in peace Henry, knowing that you made the world a better place with your presence.  

Our sincere condolences to his family and many friends,

Growth in Ontario Nature preservations   

 

Ontario Nature has recently acquired the 100 acre property adjacent to the Sydenham River Nature Reserve. This a project in which our Heritage Committee donated to last year. OnNature will work with the Sydenham FIeld Naturalists and Lambton Wildlife Inc. to map the property, conduct species inventories and create ecological restoration plans. This is just another step forward in protecting a vital piece of Carolinian habitat and the ECFNC are proud to have played a part. 

We have Volunteer Opportunities!

 

Ensures the club’s membership list is kept up to date and updates the club’s email list in Benchmark (the email service platform the club uses). Receives notice of membership purchases made online and collects membership dues at in-person meetings. Cash and cheques collected are given to the Treasurer along with a report documenting who submitted the money.

Must join the Membership Committee and attend committee meetings. Can be a member of the board. Should be familiar with using Google sheets and/or Microsoft Excel.

 

Communications Coordinator

Manages internal and external communications, and promotes club activities, volunteer opportunities and community impact. Receives content from other members and prepares monthly Member Update emails using Benchmark. Posts events on the Essex County Nature website events calendar and the club’s social media platforms. Increases the club’s online presence and public awareness of the club’s activities, and converts online followers to members, as the opportunities arise. Ensures photo and/or video recording of club events that can be shared online and/or print.

Must be a club member and can be a member of the board. Should be familiar with law related to publishing content online.

 

Speaker Series Coordinator

Responsible for organizing speakers for monthly club meetings well in advance. This includes collecting biographical information and a photo or two of the speaker or topic. Makes sure the information about speakers is available to the communications coordinator in a timely fashion.

Must be a member of the club and can be a member of the board. Some experience in volunteer management and/or organizing events would be assets.