(This article appeared in the Winter 2022 Heron newsletter)
This summer and fall, members of the WRN Teens continued to meet every Saturday morning at SpruceHaven Farm in St. Agatha. The land is made up of many different native environments including woodland, bog, pond, and grassland. It is exciting to observe all the changes in the environment from week to week, month to month, and season to season.
WRN Teens adult volunteers (Linda Dutka, Michelle MacMillan, Graeme Smith, Thelma Beaubien, and Marg Paré) accompanied us on these activities at SpruceHaven. We checked on salamander boards and frog tubes and in the spring and summer we monitored nest boxes. This year we found Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) under the salamander boards and Grey Treefrogs (Dryophytes versicolor) in the frog tubes. (Thanks to Levi Moore for setting up frog monitoring for us and being our consultant.) Nest box residents included Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). At the end of the summer when things quietened down a bit we helped by doing some maintenance on both the nest boxes and salamander boards.
During the summer, Graeme, Michelle, and Thelma helped out by leading some additional Saturday morning activities at SpruceHaven. In July, Graeme led a tree measurement activity and Michelle led a benthic pond study. Thelma introduced us to some of the many butterflies that call Ontario home.
