Monthly Archives: July 2014

Causeway Project update

By Rick Levick Plans to install up to nine more wildlife culverts under the Long Point Causeway are moving ahead now that the Environment Assessment has been completed without any comments or objections from the public. The project will move forward to final design, permitting and tendering over the next couple of months. Construction of up to six of the nine proposed culverts is planned for October or November this year. Stephen Burnett and Associates (SBA), the consulting engineers for the first three culverts installed in 2012, prepared the EA report for Norfolk County. The entire cost of the EA report and related studies has been paid for by the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation with funding received from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP) and Ontario’s Species at Risk Stewardship Fund (SARSF). As well, the annual monitoring of…
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Baillie Birdathon: Report #2

By Michael McMillan Ricky Dunn, David Hussel, their son Jeremy and I were at the Townsend sewage lagoons when Jeremy located a Bobolink in a bush in a nearby pasture. We had decided that we would begin our Birdathon when we saw a good bird and this was it. The time was 12.20 pm and we now had 24 hours to identify as many bird species as possible. As usual these sewage lagoons were productive for ducks and wading birds. The duck species observed were American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Pintail and Wood Duck. The Waders seen were Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin and Wilson's Phalarope. In addition, a number of Cliff Swallows feeding on insects were swooping back and forth over the water. A short drive took us to…
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Baillie Birdathon: Report #1

Dear Friends, We almost didn't go. We had been kept awake by violent thunder storms that swept through the area during the night. The weather man was calling for the same throughout the day. However, at the moment (8 am), although the skies were dark with heavy clouds, there was no rain and no wind. The Blue Elephant restaurant in Simcoe had supplied us with water, pop, veggies and tasty wraps so we decided to meet Steve Wilcox at 10 am, as planned, for our annual "Baillie Birdathon". On the way to Long Point heavy fog rolled in from Lake Erie, not quite pea soup, but very thick. We wondered just how many birds we could identify from 30 feet. Things were looking dismal, but the forecasted storms held off. We parked the van across from the banding station and…
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