April 17, 2008

" All About Bluebirds - and More "

Speaker: John Rogers

John Rogers has maintained a trail of hundreds of bluebird nest boxes in central NY for over 35 years, and has fledged over 11,000 Eastern Bluebirds. He is a recognized authority on bluebird conservation, and has done slide programs, field trips, and workshops for hundreds of groups. John was a cofounder of the New York State Bluebird Society in 1982. He is a recipient of the John and Nora Bluebird Conservation Award from the North American Bluebird Society, and a past board member of that organization. John holds a BA in Biology from SUNY Oswego.

This presentation encompasses the life history of the Eastern Bluebird, nest box management, other birds that nest in bluebird boxes and more. The theme throughout is nature appreciation. The focus is on bluebirds, but John also shares his passion for the natural world in hopes the audience will absorb some broader and deeper messages. With visually beautiful photographs, creative graphics, and a sincere, enthusiastic presentation style, this program is of interest to anyone who appreciates nature.

The presentation includes the following:

Factors for why bluebirds declined, with a focus on starlings/house sparrows/habitat loss.

Natural nesting sites of bluebirds in abandoned woodpecker holes and natural cavities, photos of the woodpeckers present in this area, and a brief discussion of cavity nesters.

Optimal habitat for bluebirds, and proper placement and management of nest boxes etc.

The nesting cycle – establishing territories, courtship, courtship song, nest building, egg laying and incubation, raising young, fledging.

Feeding – the four primary feeding methods and primary food sources

A few common wildflowers, butterflies, and dragonflies of this area.

A “quick quiz” on Ontario’s official plants and animals. Thought provoking “nature quotes” by a few great naturalists of the past.

Other birds that nest in bluebird nest boxes (swallows, wrens, house sparrows, black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice).

Predators and parasites –raccoons, cats, squirrels, blowflies, jewel wasps.

March 20, 2008

" The Essential Truth – An Exploration of three Eastern Ontario Provincial Parks "

Speaker: David Bree

David grew up in Almonte, Ontario in the Ottawa Valley and developed an interest in the natural world at an early age, remembering the birds at the winter feeder and the spring wildflowers in the bushlot behind his home. After high school he pursued a formal education in the field of Geology, receiving a B.Sc. from Waterloo in 1983, and a M.Sc. from Queen's in 1990. David joined the KFN in 1985 and served one term on the executive when he lived in Kingston.

Since 1988 he has worked as a seasonal naturalist in the Provincial Park system, including 4 years at Charleston Lake, 8 years at Bon Echo, 1 year at Sandbanks, 4 years at Petroglyphs Provincial Park and one year at Algonquin. Since 2006 he has been the full-time Naturalist at Presqu’ile Provincial Park. For the last 21 years he has lived in Prince Edward County, though seasonal work has allowed time for international travel. Along with his wife Yvette he has managed to enjoy the natural world in six continents over the last 20 years, with most recently a trip to Peru.

While all aspects of nature are of interest to David his early interests focused on the study of birds, vascular plants, and geology. In the last nine years insects have become his passion and has pursued these throughout east-central Ontario. Dragonflies in particular have been a favourite study area, along with butterflies and moths.

An exploration of Charleston Lake Provincial Park, Bon Echo Provincial Park and Sandbanks Provincial Park to find the essential element (at least in the eyes of the speaker) of each park. The underlying geology and geomorphology and how it controls what we see on the surface features prominently.

February 21, 2008

" Hope for the Wood God: On the Trail of the Ivory billed Woodpecker in the Florida Panhandle "

Speaker: Dr. Wallace Rendell

Wallace Rendell received his PhD from Queen's University studying the breeding and behavioural ecology of Tree Swallows with his long-time mentor and friend, Raleigh Robertson. During his biology research career he's been involved with projects studying a wide variety of topics, including acid rain effects on north temperate lakes, and the effects of physical and chemical factors influencing recruitment of marine fish fry. Mostly, however, his interests lay in bird breeding ecology. He spent over a year of his life in Galapagos working on Darwin's Finches and Masked Boobies, and most recently he conducted investigations into egg-laying sequence and the influence of food quality on breeding success in Eastern and Western Bluebirds in Ontario and California. Currently, he is a Professor of Biosciences at Loyalist College in Belleville, and the Recording Secretary and an Officer of the Board for the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory.

Dr. Rendell reviews the natural history of the ivory-billed woodpecker, it's many extinctions and rediscoveries, the evidence for its continued presence in the Florida panhandle, and the part he played in helping a joint Auburn-Windsor university team gather this evidence.

January 17, 2008

" The Importance of Montane Environments in the Origins of Neotropical Biodiversity. "

Speaker: Dr. Steven Lougheed

Stephen Lougheed is an Associate Professor in Biology, cross-appointed to Environmental Studies, at Queen’s University. His research primarily centres on understanding the origins of vertebrate species diversity in the Americas, with projects spanning phylogenetics and biogeography to population and conservation genetics of mostly amphibians, squamate reptiles and birds. He has taught field and wildlife courses in South, Middle and North America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

The Neotropics, and especially lowland Amazonia, are widely celebrated as housing the greatest array of terrestrial diversity on the planet. Yet for some groups it is not the lowlands but montane environments where we find the highest concentration of species. Indeed some biologists have posited that montane regions act as “species pumps” that might provide at least some of the complement of diversity at lower altitudes. For this talk, I will speak broadly to the theme of montane diversity with reference to western Mexico where I recently taught a field course, and western South America where my students and I have been conducting some phylogeographic work on birds and frogs.

December 13, 2007

" Members Night: Various members will be showing their slides. "

Speaker:

November 15, 2007

" Turtle Conservation "

Speaker: Matt Ellerbeck

Matt Ellerbeck is someone who has always loved turtles. In his childhood he spent every summer in marshes and ponds just so he could spend sometime with these creatures. In 2007 he decided to start a turtle conservation project due to his growing concern over declining turtle populations. In January 2007 Matt gave his debut turtle presentation for the Friends of Big Sandy Bay group on Wolfe Island. Throughout the year Matt traveled in and around the Kingston area to give numerous presentations on turtles and turtle conservation. In April he went to the Cat Creek Conservation Area where he gave two consecutive turtle presentations for a very packed house! The shows drew the largest audience in attendance at Cat Creek for Winter/Spring 2007. Other highlights included two days at the Kingston Baby and Kid Show, the Second Annual GreenUP! Environmental Festival, and presentations at all the Kingston Libraries as part of the 'Friends of The Library' series. In fact, tickets for his presentation at the Isabel Turner Library were gone within 10 minutes of becoming available! The presentation at the Central branch also saw every ticket being swapped up for the presentation. Aside from presentations Matt has appeared in local media to help further get his message out to the public. He appeared on CFRC Radio, Fly FM Radio, CKWS Newswatch, and has been featured three times in the Kingston This Week Newspaper. To further get the message out, articles on turtles were written. His article 'Turtles in Torment' was published in the Kingston Field Naturalist's publication, The Blue Bill. His article 'Helping To Reduce Turtle Road Mortality, One Sign At A Time' was released in the Amphibian Voice. The Amphibian Voice is the official newsletter of the Adopt-A-Pond programme of the Toronto Zoo. To further help turtles a great deal of the summer months is spent out in the field trying to gather observations of turtles. In May Matt records over 80 sightings of Northern Map Turtles along the Cataraqui River. This is very important as this turtle is federally listed as a Species At Risk by the Committee On The Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The information is sent into various local authorities as well as Turtle Watch and the Ontario Turtle Tally. In June, Matt records numerous sightings of the threatened Blanding's Turtle on Wolfe Island. Matt is later informed by Turtle Watch that this is the first record of these turtles on the island. Matt is more than elated to find out that he has recorded a previously undocumented population of a threatened species! In July, he returned to the island to release three baby Blanding's turtles back into the wild. The turtles had been under the care of Turtle SHELL Tortue. To help combat turtle road mortality, Matt has been instrumental in getting five turtle crossing signs erected in and around the Kingston area. Matt has numerous more plans to help turtles for 2008, including more turtle presentations and stewardship projects.

During his presentation to the KFN Matt will share his passion for turtles and describe how all of us can participate in preserving this ancient creature.

October 18, 2007

" Conservation Status of North American White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) "

Speaker: Todd French

Todd French is an aquatic ecologist with interests in contaminant cycling in freshwater ecosystems, rooted macrophyte ecology, and phytoplankton dynamics. He did his B.Sc. in biology at the University of Victoria and his M.Sc. in macrophyte ecology at the University of Alberta. After completing his M.Sc. in 1994, Todd worked for about 10 years as a consultant to not-for-profit conservation organisations and the BC Ministry of Environment, directly for the BC Ministry of Environment and Upper Fraser-Nechako Fisheries Council and as a part-time laboratory instructor at the College of New Caledonia. He then returned to school to undertake Ph.D. research at Queen's University where he is now in his third year of study. The presentation Todd is giving today is not related to his Ph.D. research, but to conservation work he was involved with back in BC before returning to school.

With some individuals growing to 6 m in length and 600 kg, the white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, or "sturgeon across the mountains") is the largest freshwater fish in North America. The species first appeared in the fossil record 175 million years ago — during the days of the dinosaur — and has remained almost unchanged to the present. Like sharks, white sturgeon have a heterocercal tail (upper lobe larger than lower lobe) that increases manoeuvrability in flowing water. Other characteristics of the species include long external barbels, rows of external bony scutes, and a mostly cartilaginous skeleton. In North America, white sturgeon are found in three Pacific drainages: the Sacramento (California), the Columbia-Kootenai (British Columbia, Idaho, Washington, and Montana), and the Fraser (British Columbia). Small populations also inhabit some Gulf of Alaska drainages and lower reaches of the Cowichan and Somass rivers on Vancouver Island. White sturgeon inhabiting the lower reaches of large rivers that enter the ocean directly are often anadromous; that is, they live part of their life cycle in fresh water and part in salt water. However, populations living far inland, such as those in the Nechako River (major tributary of the upper Fraser River), typically become landlocked living their entire life in fresh water. Females reach sexual maturity when they are 20+ years old, with males reaching maturity earlier at 14+ years. They can spawn several times throughout their lifespan, which can exceed 100 years. Surveys have shown that Fraser River white sturgeon populations are largely composed of individuals younger than 20 years old, with relatively few individuals representing older classes — a distribution expected from a sustainable population — but, that the Nechako River population has a large proportion of individuals between 30 and 50 years old with few individuals representing younger age classes. The scarcity of young white sturgeon in the Nechako River will result in fewer and fewer fish reaching reproductive maturity, with this ultimately setting the stage for future population extinction. In 1990, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) classified the white sturgeon as a Species of Special Concern (species particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events). In November 2003, COSEWIC downgraded the species to Endangered (species facing imminent extirpation or extinction) and in August 2006 the Nechako, upper Fraser, Kootenai and Columbia populations were officially designated as Endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA, Bill C-5). This designation is more in-line with those of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service who list the Kootenai population as Endangered and the British Columbia Conservation Centre who designate the upper Columbia and Nechako populations as Critically Imperilled. In my presentation I will discuss the conservation status of Nechako white sturgeon, causes for the population decline, and the direction of ongoing recovery initiatives. Specifically, I will speak on the physical and chemical effects of two types of water regulations schemes and their limnological and ecological consequences.

September 20, 2007

" Insect Photography: Exploring Nature With A Macro Lens "

Speaker: Kenneth Edwards

How macro photography allows the amateur naturalist to explore the world of invertebrates.

May 24, 2007

" Monteverde Then & Now: The role of land purchase in conserving biodiversity in the Neotropics "

Speaker: Dr. Adrian Forsyth

Dr. Forsyth received his PhD in tropical ecology from Harvard University under E.O. Wilson in 1978. He is the author of nine books, including Tropical Nature, Mammals of the Canadian Wild, The Natural History of Sex, The Nature of Birds, Exploring the World of Insects, and Portraits of the Rainforest.

Our May 24th *****Note the date change, 4th not 3rd Thursday***** dinner meeting speaker will be Dr. Adrian Forsyth, who last spoke to the KFN in September 1987 about the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica. At that time the reserve was still being established and needed funds to purchase land. At the end of the talk, the KFN donated $10, 600 to the cause. At this presentation, Adrian will tell us how tropical conservation has proceeded over the past 20 years.

This is our annual dinner meeting and silent book auction held at the Italo-Canadian Club, 1174 Italia Lane (Highway 401 and Montreal Street). Cash Bar 6:00 p.m., dinner 6:30 p.m. Tickets will be available at the March and April General Meetings or from John Critchley (634-5475), Jackie Bartnik (531-3736), Norma Graham (546-9381) or Alexandra Simmons (542-2048) for $27 each. Please purchase tickets before Saturday, May 19.

Silent Auction

A silent auction will be held at this Dinner Meeting and will include nature books, and other items such as binoculars, telescopes, tripods, etc. To donate items to the auction contact Peter McIntyre at 548-4738.

Rare Book

This year's auction will feature an original 3 volumes of Wilson & Bonaparte, American Ornithology or The Natural History of Birds of the United States with Illustrative Notes and Life of Wilson by Sir William Jardine. This 1832 set is complete with 97 full-page plates of birds engraved by Lizars and coloured by hand. Minimum bid is set at $1000.00 with $50 increments accepted for subsequent bids.

April 19, 2007

" Polar Bear Mating Systems "

Speaker: Peter de Groot

Peter J. van Coeverden De Groot completed his Ph D. at Queen's University in 2001. For his thesis, he examined genetic variation in muskoxen throughout their Canadian and Greenland range. More recently he has been working on Polar Bear mating systems using genetics and is working on methods that can include local Inuit in data collection. He also uses genetics to answer rhino and elephant conservation questions in Africa and Asia. He and his family live on farm near Kingston.

As a backdrop, the recent United States proposal to investigate the listing of the Polar bear as endangered will be discussed, as will be current Canadian management practices of 60% of the world's polar bears. Contrasting studies of the impacts of the reduction of ice cover on the fate of the polar bear will be highlighted. This will be followed with a description of recent research at Queen's University, investigating mating systems and dispersal of polar bears and efforts to design an inexpensive bear survey that includes Inuit participants. Findings from the most recent fieldwork in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut will be presented.

March 15, 2007

" Save the Boreal Forest: Ontario’s Songbird Nursery "