News

2020 Christmas Bird Count – Fisherville

2020 Christmas Bird Count – Fisherville
(Feature photo, above: Tundra Swans, photo by Diane Salter) Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler As a compiler I was lucky enough to have a Christmas Bird Count this year. A lot of people had to do double duty and cover more than one square to say this count was covered. So, with a lot of co-operation from the birders and the weather the Fisherville CBC was held on December 28th, 2020. It had snowed for Christmas which a lot of parents and Santa were glad to see. The luck continued with enough warmer temperatures and rain to take away all of that snow by the 28th. But luck can only go so far and once again the winds picked up just enough to send all of the smaller species of birds and even some of the larger ones into hiding.…
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Levick honored for wildlife mortality reduction efforts

Levick honored for wildlife mortality reduction efforts
Norfolk Field Naturalists’ member and Long Point Biosphere Reserve President Rick Levick was recently honored by Ontario Nature with the Ian Shenstone Fraser Memorial Award.  Levick’s contributions to reducing wildlife road mortality and his work on the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project earned him the nod for this year’s award. Ontario Nature’s Conservation Awards recognize excellence by honouring the work of individuals, groups, government agencies and corporations to protect wild species and wild spaces in Ontario. More information can be found at the links below: https://ontarionature.org/news-release/2020-conservation-awards/ https://longpointbiosphere.com/news/ Congratulations to Rick on receiving this honour!    
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2019 Long Point Butterfly Count Results

2019 Long Point Butterfly Count Results
By Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Event Organizer (feature photo, above: Painted Lady, photo by Len Grincevicius) The 28th annual Long Point butterfly count took place this year on Saturday July 6th, 2019, with 36 observers in various groups surveying different areas in an attempt to identify and count each butterfly encountered. The forecast the night before was calling for a lot of rain, but I was hoping there would be breaks in the weather. My optimism was short lived when most of Saturday was dominated by rain. Some groups packed it in early, while others were able to fit in a few hours in the late afternoon. This was by far the wettest count in our 28-year history, and we could have cancelled the event all together. However, despite the fact most groups could only count for a couple hours,…
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Herbicide Treatment of Norfolk’s Phragmites: An Update

Herbicide Treatment of Norfolk’s Phragmites: An Update
A Report on a Public Information Session — August 20, 2018 Written by Inga Hinnerichsen What's been done: After three years of treating phragmites in Rondeau Provincial Park, Long Point Bay nearshore, Crown Marsh, Turkey Point Marsh plus adjacent areas, the results are very encouraging. Only small pockets of phragmites remain, as well as some re-growth where it was missed. Any areas treated will require "mop-up" work. Norfolk County is on board and is eradicating phragmites in the ditches along public roads. In a Simcoe Reformer article of July 28, 2018, Toby Barrett, MPP, indicated that “One only need stop at the Joe Csubak lookout on the Front Road in Norfolk to see the effectiveness of spraying. Where there used to be a sea of phragmites, there is now open water, native marsh vegetation and broad areas of the dead invasive.” Mr.…
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Norfolk county municipal candidates weigh in on environment issues

Norfolk county municipal candidates weigh in on environment issues
For those citizens of Norfolk County who place value in our biodiversity, and the intrinsic and aesthetic beauty of our natural spaces we provide for you here the comments from those candidates that took the time to respond to our e-mail. Note – some candidates provided us with background information and credentials (i.e. university degree) on themselves. We did not include those below. If you have any questions please feel free to contact: Bernie Solymár, Director of Environment, Norfolk Field Naturalists at 519-427-9969 or solymar@nornet.on.ca. Download municipal candiates responses to NFN questions on the environment
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Restoration Work at St. Williams Conservation Reserve

Restoration Work at St. Williams Conservation Reserve
By Inga Hinnerichsen In the past year I have helped out with ongoing work at the St. Williams Conservation Reserve. The forest reserve consists of mainly two tracts: the Turkey Point Tract and the Nursery Tract stretching north from Hwy. 24 between Forestry Farm Road and East Quarter Line Road. As the glaciers were melting after the last ice age and water levels began to drop, the receding shoreline left behind a series of sand dunes. Eventually, these dunes were overgrown with local vegetation. The area was cleared by early settlers and heavily eroded by the late 1800s. In the early 20th century it was planted largely with pine varieties to prevent further erosion and as lumber crop trees. Small pockets of Black Oak savannah remained on higher, dry ground. Part of the ongoing work in the Conservation Reserve are…
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December 2016 Lotus

December 2016 Lotus
Here is the December 2016 Lotus newsletter. It has the annual Long Point Butterfly Count results and a story by Inga Hinnerichsen about Tiritiri Matangi, an island nature reserve in New Zealand.
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The Bruce Beckoned

The Bruce Beckoned
Ontario Nature's 85th annual gathering Story by Inga Hinnerichsen Ontario Nature celebrated its 85th anniversary combined with its Annual Gathering on the weekend of June 3, 4 and 5, 2016. The organisation was founded in 1931, then called the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. Today Ontario Nature has over 150 member groups, such as Norfolk Field Naturalists, all throughout this province. Together we share the love of nature and continue to work towards preserving natural areas, flora and fauna for future generations. The NFN participated with a small delegation: Bernie Solymár, Len Grincevicius, Diane Salter, Karin Jonasson, David Curry and Inga Hinnerichsen. On the way we stopped at Sauble Beach to observe a few rare Piping Plovers that were nesting on the beach. Sadly, later news told us that none of the nests this year were successful. Some were destroyed by…
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Coyote Watch

Coyote Watch
The NFN Information Session on Coyotes was a Big Success! Late last year a couple of individuals made a deputation to council about the "disturbing" increase of coyotes in Norfolk County over the last year or two. They claimed that coyotes are a threat to pets and humans. Their angst was due to a small dog being attacked on a home owner's driveway at night about 2 years ago and residents in Port Dover and Port Rowan (primarily) seeing coyotes in broad daylight. As a result, over the last few months of 2015 coyotes received a lot of local press and social media coverage. After some FaceBook exchanges with a number of persons, and a whiff in the air that Council was bowing to pressure from a few individuals, our Board of Directors decided to hold a special public information…
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Feral cats in Norfolk and elsewhere

Feral cats in Norfolk and elsewhere
Report compiled by Inga Hinnerichsen The feral cat issue is a major one in Norfolk (as it is elsewhere). Research backs that up. Feral cats are a serious threat, not just to birds, but small mammals, reptiles and amphibians as well as the health and well-being of livestock and humans. "As a recent study by Scott Loss at the Migratory Bird Center of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. has shown, cats kill more than an estimated 3.5 billion birds and many more mammals, reptiles and amphibians every year. That means predation of cats on native birds far exceeds all other mortality factors - including habitat destruction, collisions with structures such as buildings, wind turbines, and pesticide poisoning. In Norfolk County, with county-based estimates of as high as 30,000 cats, that would eclipse…
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