Activities

As the chill of winter dissipates and the days grow longer, nature awakens with a symphony of sights and sounds, heralding the arrival of spring. We had 10 people join our first Sights & Sounds Outing. Our journey began with a stroll down the Rail Trail from Line 14, Oro Medonte. We noted Coltsfoot and…

It was a blustery first Wednesday in April in Orillia, and 18 people joined in person at the Orillia Museum of Art & History and 18 joined via Zoom. Recent Sightings: White Fox with dark face Flock of Turkeys with Males Displaying Courtship Behaviour Red bellied Woodpeckers (several reports) Snowy Owl Great Blue Heron Red…

Thanks to the 34 people who attended in person and 25 people on Zoom for our February meeting with Kelly Duffin from the Mute Swan Society. Kelly’s presentation covered identification, history, population and range, life cycle, social and common behaviours and common misconceptions. The presentation focused on one pair – “Mama and Dad Swan” (being…

Five hearty adventurers did a walk of the Sweetwater Farm Nature Reserve on a rainy Sunday in October. Thanks to their collective knowledge and use of the app Seek by iNaturalist, they were able to identify a number of trees and plants. Here is our list in no particular order: Black Cherry Tree Meadowrue Biting Stonecrop…

We had 13 people in person at the Orillia Museum of Art & History and 16 people on Zoom for our first meeting back together for this program. Committee chairs shared their reports, and we got unway with our guest speaker Jean Iron, who joined via Zoom from her home. This saved a considerable amount…

  Sept 23, 2023 was a warm, sunny fall day. A small group of club members were warmly welcomed by our leader Don Currie, at the Huckleberry Rock Lookout Trail, in Milford Bay, Muskoka.   At the entrance to the trail, there is an engraved boulder that states these are some of the oldest surface…

Three members went to the George Langman Sanctuary on Saturday, June 17 to focus on learning birdsong.  We were armed with a sheet of mnemonics, but also the app Merlin, which was a great help. The area was full of birdsong.  The list of songs identified by the group is below. We also saw many wildflowers…

Thanks to the 11 people who gathered together to watch for Chimney Swifts! Together we counted 36 swifts. A bird best identified by silhouette, the smudge-gray Chimney Swift nimbly maneuvers over rooftops, fields, and rivers to catch insects. Its tiny body, curving wings, and stiff, shallow wingbeats give it a flight style as distinctive as…