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The Egret - Volume 38 - Issue 4 - December 2022 |
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If the snow under our boots could talk, you'd hear the cheer of a winter walk |
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Field Nats & FOOP Fall BBQ
By Carl Maiolani
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On Saturday, October 1, 2022, members of the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club and The Friends of Ojibway Prairie came together for a barbecue on the grounds next to the Ojibway Nature Centre. The inspiration for this event came out of discussions held by our Membership Committee about how the club could help with the transition back to in-person events after the pandemic. Being that it would be an outdoor event, it was thought that a BBQ might attract some members who might still have concerns about being exposed to the virus and its variants. Fortunately we had really good weather for the event.
The 32 folk that did attend seemed to enjoy reconnecting with people including some that they hadn’t seen in person in many months. They also enjoyed the hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and ice cream bars. A few members had also walked through the Nature Reserve earlier in the day where the fall display of asters and goldenrods was still in bloom. Many thanks go out to Paul Petrozzi who manned the actual BBQ.
This event was another example of how the Club and the Friends can work together on different projects of mutual interest. Maybe we can build upon this experience and have an even more successful BBQ next year.
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Lil'Reg 30th Anniversary Celebration
By Ian Naisbitt |
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After a 20-month Covid delay, we managed to celebrate our 30th Anniversary on Tuesday, 25 October, 2022 at Weston Park in the Town of Tecumseh. Mother Nature served up the perfect day for planting trees. The weather included: a mix of sun and cloud with a bright blue background. There was a moderate zephyr wafting from the south at 20 km/ h and a high of 21 Celsius. The UV index was 4 or moderate.
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Ontario Nature Regional Meeting held at Ojibway Nature Centre
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The Essex County Field Naturalists' Club hosted the Ontario Nature Carolinian West Regional Meeting on October 29 at the Ojibway Nature Centre. Club members Howard Williams, Aileen Petrozzi, Dave Kraus, and Karen Alexander attended on behalf of the Club. Nature London, Friends of Ojibway Prairie, West Elgin Nature, Otter Valley Naturalists, and Lambton Wildlife were represented at the meeting.
Mike Fisher from the Friends of Ojibway Prairie was elected as the Regional Director role for Carolinian West Region.
Dr. Catherine Febria from the Healthy Headwaters Lab at the University of Windsor gave a presentation about her work on science impact, engaging society, and Indigenous partnerships.
The Essex County Field Naturalists provided a buffet lunch, and the group took a nice hike around Ojibway Park to end the day. Thank you to Lesley Rudy with Ontario Nature for making the trip this far south, and to Board member Jennifer Nantais for stepping into the Liaison role with Ontario Nature.
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Why return visits to natural areas are useful and enjoyable
By Howard Williams
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An all-too-common refrain from both children and adults is: “do we have to there again, we’ve been there twice already…” after a suggestion for where to go for a walk or nature study. When it comes to being even a dilettante naturalist, I consider it important that repeat visits to a place, like voting, should be undertaken both early and often. Why? Because nature evolves throughout the year, a snapshot in Spring is very different from one taken in Summer or Fall, or even a few days after your last visit. As a practising geologist I soon learnt that repeat visits to exposures of complex rocks, under different lighting conditions, often allowed repeated observers to spot new mineral growths, structures or fossils, and that’s for things that don’t move or hide.
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Peche Island Erosion and Habitat Protection work complete |
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Three years of work to provide long-term erosion protection for Peche Island are now complete.
In collaboration with the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA), City staff oversaw the creation of natural barriers, in the form of nine sheltering islands and a 600-metre revetment wall, installed in the water along the north and northeast sides of the island aimed at preventing erosion damage and enhancing fish habitat.
Due to strong river currents and heavy wave action from freighters, Peche Island has decreased in area by nearly 17 acres since 1931. Erosion control measures were taken where over 5,605 tonnes of stone and rock were laid along the northeast shoreline to create a 600-metre-long revetment wall, and over 11,785 tonnes of stone and rock were expertly placed on the north side of Peche Island to construct nine offshore sheltering islands, each measuring 50 metres in length. The primary purpose is for erosion control, where the sheltering islands also provide enhancement of fish habitat, particularly for the species-at-risk Northern Madtom.
The project cost approximately $4.5 million and was paid for by a partnership of City, ERCA, and various funding sources.
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2022 Pop-up events - A year in review
By Howard Williams |
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This year, Club members were treated to wenty-three individual field excursions including 21 pop-ups and two other activities, one organised by Ontario Federation of ornithologists and the other, by the Canada South Land Trust Event at the Kraus property.
The 21 pop-ups were attended by an average of 10 members, ranging from a minimum of 5, to a maximum of 25. Generally, we were blessed by good weather an incidence promoted by one of the regularly-attending members. Only one event was cancelled (La Salle Conservation Lands) and this will be held early next year.
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2022 Hawkfest summary
By Paul Pratt
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Holiday Beach Migration Observatory (HBMO) has just completed its 49th year of fall raptor counts at Holiday Beach Conservation Area. Each fall we count hawks passing by the hawk tower at Holiday Beach as well as other diurnal migrants on a daily basis from September 1 to November 30. The dedicated counter this year was Nicole Shangi under the guidance of Hugh Kent, HBMO hawk count coordinator.
This year 135,910 migrating hawks of 15 species were tallied along with impressive numbers of other migrants such as 713,537 Blue Jays. Here is a chart comparing this fall with last year. 2022 was the third highest hawk count ever recorded, largely due to the excellent count of Broad-winged Hawks.
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Field Nats and Lil'Reg receive WECF Legacy Grant |
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We are pleased to announce that the Club's Little River Enhancement Group is the recipient of a WindsorEssex Community Foundation's 40th Anniversary Legacy Grant. This $10,000 grant will be used to plant 40 large stock trees within the Little River Corridor. The "WECF 40th Anniversary Commemorative Grove of Trees" is planned for Derwent Park in May.
Many thanks to WECF for supporting our Club, and other local organizations with these Legacy Grants.
Stay tuned for more information on the planting event!
Photo - Ian Naisbitt at the future planting site |
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Phragmites Committee - Recent activities at Bryerswood
By Howard Williams
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On December 5th, two members of the Phragmites group and two volunteers from the Bryerswood Optimist Camp on Texas Road started clearing Phragmites from around the man-made pond that was being cut that morning – rather like harvesting sugarcane but in a cooler climate.
The work involved gathering the cut stands of Phragmites, some are over 2 m long, bringing them to sleds and then discharging the bundles of vegetation into a pile for later burning. |
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The Heritage Committee moves into 2023
By JoAnn Grondin
Hi everyone. The Heritage Committee needs more volunteers to bring it into 2023. The Heritage Committee is a fundraising committee and we donate to help purchase or protect special properties.
The Heritage Committee needs to be revamped due to the COVID restrictions that are being enforced regarding the selling of food. I am resigning as Coordinator of the Heritage Committee and hopefully someone will come forward to organize this Committee and bring it into 2023.
Decisions to be made are specifically related to food. If we wish to continue to have our Earth Day Bake Sale and provide baking as part of the Hawk Festival, we need members to take the free online Food Management course offered by the Windsor Essex Health Unit. One or two people need to take the test, for a cost of $10.00, in order to supervise the food prepared for these events and to attend the events. We would need an approved location for a group to gather and do all the baking, maybe the kitchen at Malden Park or one of the churches would let us use their facilities. If we decide to give up our fundraising regarding food, new ideas are needed to raise funds. These decisions can be decided by the Heritage Committee members, lead by the new Coordinator.
Cathy Lapain is no longer able to manage the Bake Sale so a new organizer is needed for this event. Aileen Petrozzi will continue to organize the Hawk Festival. I can continue for now with a revised Annual Dinner if it is safe to have one in 2023.
If you have questions regarding the Heritage Committee, please call me (JoAnn 519-734-0056).
Thank you.
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Hopefully you had a chance to head out to to Sandwich Town this fall and see the Tropical Kingbird. It was assumed that this southern flycatcher had been blown in on some strong winds. It has since left the area.
The above photo, submitted by Carl Maiolani, is from October 11, on Russell St between Brock and Mill. |
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National Urban Park update
The idea of a National Urban Park in our community is one that seems to invoke interest, excitement and hope to most local nature enthusiasts. The process of how it will happen however, is one that seemingly only brings confusion. There are currently two active approaches, and Club Execs have teamed with the Friends of Ojibway Prairie to not only stay in the loop, but also be part of the conversation during both proceedings. A brief summary will hopefully provide some clarity to our membership.
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It is with heavy hearts the Essex County Field Naturalists' Club announce the passing of Donna Sale. Donna was a leader in the Club's Natural Habitat Restoration Program which harvested seeds from Carolinian forest trees, delivering them to nurseries which grew them and put them into the market as a way of enhancing native plantings and restoration projects. Donna was funny, smart and loved the outdoors. She will be missed greatly. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS
For full details and the latest updates, visit www.essexcountynature.com/events
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Member meetings are back in person, and pop-up events are still popping up!
The ECFNC is working deligently to host safe, exciting and educational events, as well as inform our members of those events put on by like-mided organizations.
Please stay tuned for Member Updates as new events are announced. |
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ECFNC December Members' Meeting
Members' Show & Tell
Wednesday, December 14th, at 7:30 p.m.
Ojibway Nature Centre
This month's speaker is... YOU!
This is your chance to share your adventures, keepsakes, stories and general love of nature with the rest of the membership.
BRING SOMETHING NOVEL; AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS.
Members are encouraged to bring up to 10 slides to use in a presentation, and/or physical examples of their hobbies such as a spider collection, wood carvings, cooking, felting, or artwork. Slide/Photos can be sent in advance to member.sec.ecnc@gmail.com or bring them a bit earlier on a USB drive.
Please also consider bringing Home-made (preferably) finger snacks for general consumption.
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Photo of a Titmouse with a seed, taken by Clarine Maiolani |
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Christmas Bird Counts
The 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will be underway soon. Below is a map and dates/contacts of local counts in Ontario. There is also a Michigan count along the Detroit River which includes much of Windsor.
Dec 17 Cedar Creek Paul Pratt, pratt.paul@icloud.com
Dec 18 Blenheim, Keith Burk, keithburk2@xplornet.com
Dec 18 Erie Islands, Sumiko Onishi, info@pibo.ca
Dec 19 Point Pelee, Sarah Rupert, sarah.rupert@pc.gc.ca
Dec 27 Holiday Beach, Jeremy Hatt & Kory Renaud, hattjeremy@hotmail.com
kory.renaud@gmail.com
Dec 27 Wallaceburg, Steve Charbonneau, steve.charbonneau60@gmail.com
Jan 01 Detroit River MI, Paul Pratt for Ontario portion
Jan 01 St Clair NWA, Alan Woodliffe, awoodliffe@hotmail.com
Jan 03 Bothwell, Jim Burk, jimburk@icloud.com
Jan 05 North Shore (Lakeshore), Glenn Gervais, eaglecoach@cogeco.ca
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ERCA Tree Planting Workshop
Tuesday January 17th 2023, virtual, 7pm to 8:30pm.
Join ERCA’s Forester virtually for the annual Tree Planting and Care Workshop taking place Tuesday January 17th 2023 from 7pm to 8:30 pm. Attendees will learn about the many benefits of tree planting, available grants for landowners, different tree planting techniques, and much more. All attendees will be e-mailed the virtual meeting details closer to the workshop date. Registration link not yet available, check www.essexregionconservation.ca for updates.
For more information, please contact Rob Davies at treeorders@erca.org.
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ERCA Annual General Meeting and Conservation Awards
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ERCA's 2023 Spring Tree Program
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Future Pop-up Events
Stay tuned for Member Updates for upcoming pop-up events occurring across the county.
Feel free to reach out with any potential ideas and/or locations.
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Future ECFNC Monthly Members' Meetings
2nd Wednesday of the Month, 7:30pm
Ojibway Nature Centre
January 11th 2023: Grant Munroe: “Fungi”.
February 8th 2023: Laura Foy: “Habitat at Home”.
March 8th 2023: Annual general meeting
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Join or Renew your Membership for 2023!!
Another year has come and gone. For those looking to join the club, or renew memberships, just tap the button below to pay online. (You don't need a PayPal account. Just tap "enter as a guest' and then "continue to payment" if you want to use a credit card.)
Annual membership fees are $10 for students, $20 for other individuals and $25 for families. If you have questions or can't remember when you last paid for your membership, contact membership secretary Howard Williams.
We cannot accept cash payments for memberships at this time. Please send cheques* by mail to:
Cathy Lapain, treasurer
Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club
c/o Ojibway Nature Centre
5200 Matchette Rd.
Windsor, ON, N9C 4E8
(*Cheques should be made out to the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club. Please indicate on the cheque if it is a membership fee or a donation.)
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Visit www.essexcountynature.com/junior-egrets to join the excitement.
The Junior Egrets' page is being updated regularly, so check back often. |
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Request for Photos!
Have you seen anything neat in nature lately? Did you happen to catch it on camera? If so, consider submitting it to egret@essexcountynature.com and we could include it in future articles or posts. Be sure to include your name and all relevant information about the photo (who/where/what/when). |
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Stay tuned for more!
Any future events will be announced during monthly meetings and listed in our calendar.
Look out for email updates about any events within Covid19 guidelines.
Check out our Facebook page and subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun content updates!
Visit our website to view historical issues of The Egret (1984-present).
A new year is upon us, so don't forget about renewing your membership dues.
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STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE ESSEX COUNTY FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB! |
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About Us
Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club is a non-profit, open-to-the-public volunteer organization that focuses on promoting the conservation and restoration of the diverse natural heritage of Essex County and the surrounding region. We also strive to provide educational opportunities for the people of Essex County to become acquainted with and better understand the natural environment. |
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Contact Us
Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club
c/o Ojibway Nature Centre
5200 Matchette Rd.
Windsor On,
N9C 4E8
Except for our annual dinner in November, monthly meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm at Ojibway Nature Center, 5200 Matchette Road, Windsor. All are welcome! We also have monthly outings posted in the ‘Events’ section of this newsletter as well as on our website. |
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Directors:
Dave Kraus ( 519-257-8674)
Chris Hart (c.hart14@yahoo.ca)
Aileen Petrozzi (petrozzi2@gmail.com)
Xander Campbell (xandercampbell777@gmail.com)
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CHAIRPERSONS/LIAISONS
Ontario Nature Liaison: Jennifer Nantais
ERCA Liaison: Gina Pannunzio
Bluebird Committee: Don Bissonnette
Ojibway Liaison: Chris Hart
Citizens Environment Alliance Liaison: Phil Roberts
Canada South Land Trust Liaison: Dave Kraus
Detroit River Canadian Cleanup Liaison: Gina Pannunzio
Climate Change: Jennifer Nantais
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COMMITTEES
Egret Editorial: Chris Hart
Junior Naturalists: Kory Renaud, Sarah Renaud, Karen Alexander
Heritage: JoAnn Grondin (coordinator), Dave Kraus, Betty Learmouth, Gerry Waldron, Shirley Grondin, Cathy Lapain, Tim Shortridge, Aileen Petrozzi, Ellen van Wageningen
Little River Enhancement Group: Ian Naisbitt (chair)
Fish Book: Dave Kraus
Website & Social Media: Kory Renaud, Xander Campbell
Membership: Jeremy Hatt (chair), Carl Maiolani, Aileen Petrozzi, Howard Williams
Grant Committee: Karen Alexander, Chris Hart, Jennifer Nantais
Phragmites Committee: Karen Alexander, Heather Cohen, Aileen Petrozzi, Howard Williams, Rose Simard, Joan Murphy-Walker
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ECFNC MEMBERSHIP
Your annual membership fees help to support the local efforts of the club. To learn more about becoming a member, please contact our membership secretary, Howard Williams.
- Receive the quarterly newsletter The Egret via email
- Enjoy guest speakers at the monthly meetings
- Explore our natural heritage with a guide
- Help restore and protect Essex County’s natural heritage
Online Payment Option
Join or renew your membership online at www.essexcountynature.com/membership
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