paul

WRN Kids – Predator Prey Game

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Predator Prey Game at Huron Natural Area

Saturday, March 29, 2025

  1. What was the outing and where?

At Huron Natural Area in Kitchener. We went down a big path and then we came to a big circle of rocks. Then we played a Survival game.

Checking out something interesting along the trail.
Explaining the rules of the game
  1. What was the weather like?

Windy with a small drizzle of rain that went on and off.

 

  1. What did you learn, or what was new to you?

The game Survival was new to me. And I learned to not go near the water at the pond.

The chase is on
In every direction
What natural disaster or disease should we add to the game?
Rabies!!!
  1. What was your favourite part?

Being rabies during the Survival game. I liked that I was working together with Aspen, Indie, and Alana to attack other animals. 

Reported by: Gus

Snack Time

WRN Kids – Winter Birding

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Winter Birding at Riverside Park in Cambridge with David Gascoigne

Saturday, February 22, 2025

We went to Riverside Park to learn about birds, and feed them!

Riverside Park
Waiting for Chickadees

We learned that when chickadees say “chickadee” they’re happy, and when they say “chickadee-dee” they’re a bit upset, and when they say “chickadee-dee-dee-dee” they’re really mad.

We learned that female ducks are less colourful because they have to sit on the nest. If they were bright like the males all the predators would find them. The river was all frozen and the ducks were swimming through the snow on top of the ice.

Mallards on the ice (picture borrowed from the previous adult hike)
What kind of woodpecker made these holes?

We learned that woodpeckers are a keystone species because they make holes for other animals to live in. Chickadees, sparrows, bluebirds, swallows, blue jays, and squirrels all use old woodpecker nest holes.

All the food for the birds is buried under the snow and it’s really hard for them to get enough to eat. Chickadees are very small and need a lot of food to keep warm. If they don’t get enough food in a day they can die overnight when it’s very cold. Winter is very dangerous for birds. So we fed them lots and lots of birdseed! 
 
We made a cafe for the birds on our hands and called it the Bird Feeder!
Patience... Patience...
Success!

We saw chickadees, sparrows, mourning doves, crows, blue jays, cardinals and woodpeckers, and a lot of bunny poop.

Reported by: River and Isla

Northern Cardinals (and hidden House Sparrows)

A list of birds that we saw:

  • Mallard
  • Mourning Dove
  • Ring-billed Gull
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • Blue Jay
  • American Crow
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • House Sparrow
  • American Tree Sparrow
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • White-throated Sparrow
  • Northern Cardinal

Linear Trail and Riverside Park – Winter 2025

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On Saturday February 8, 2025, a large group walked the Linear Trail and then visited Riverside Park in Cambridge. Here are a few photos from that walk.

Linear Trail

For the full report on the walk, with many more photos, see David’s blog at Waterloo Region Nature Outing to Linear Trail and Riverside Park, Cambridge, ON.

WRN Kids – Winter Survival

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Winter Survival

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Nature Kids met at rare Charitable Research Reserve to learn about wildnerness survival led by Istafa from rare.

We discussed the things necessary for survival like shelter, water and fire.

Istafa showed us a snow shelter that Athabaskan people make with snow that is called a quinzee.

Previously built quinzee
Shoveling

To build our own quinzee, everyone helped to shovel the snow into a big pile.

Shoveling
Sticks were poked in to mark how thick the walls should be.

While the snow sintered (settled and refroze), we tried fire starting using a flint and steel striker to make sparks into dryer lint. Once the sparks started burning the lint, we carefully added paper and small twigs to feed the fire. It was hard to get the fire going and very satisfying when successful.

Fire starting
Successful fire

Istafa built a bigger fire, and we added our small ones to it. We cooked smores, banana boats and warmed up apple juice over the fire.

Snack Time
Cooking our snacks

When we were done eating, it was time to carve out the quinzee.

We took turns making an opening and scooping out snow to make the interior of the quinzee. It was hard work. When we were done, the inside was big enough to lay down in and noticeably warmer than outside.

It was a fun morning!

Reported by: Rachelle

Digging out
Comfy
Roomy

North Shore of Lake Ontario – December 2024

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On Saturday, December 14, 2024, David Gascoigne and Miriam Bauman led a group along the shore of Lake Ontario. They stopped off at DesJardins Canal, Urquart Butterfly Gardens, Grindstone Creek, LaSalle Park, Paletta Park, and Bronte Harbour. Here are a few photos from that outing.

Hooded Merganser

For the full report on the outing with many more photos, see David’s blog at Waterloo Region Nature Outing to the North Shore of Lake Ontario.

WRN Kids – Huron Natural Area

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Huron Natural Area

Saturday, November 30, 2024

We went to Huron Natural Area. It was snowy and cold.

 

Huron Natural Area Trail
Squirrel Tracks

We looked for footprints in the snow.

We watched ducks and geese.

Mallard
Canada Geese

We tried to feed chickadees, but there were none.

We found two cool dead trees, one was standing and the other was laying down. The one laying down was NINE people long!

Hollow Tree
Measuring the length of a tree in people

And finally we went to a cool stick fort. I had fun playing in the forest.

Reported by: River

WRN 90th Anniversary Recollections and Reflections

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Waterloo Region Nature at 90

Local radio broadcaster Martin de Groot invited Harold Russell and Mary Ann Vanden Elzen to speak about WRN’s 90th anniversary. This was after Harold had posted about it on his Facebook page and which Martin subsequently saw. The three met at Harold’s home to record the session. Harold speaks first re: the origin of the club and his memories of the founders, early and longtime members and outings. Mary Ann speaks about goals and accomplishments of the club and current activities bringing us up to the present.

The podcast (20+ minutes long) can be streamed from:
https://bit.ly/4f49Lqs.

Late Summer Birding in Waterloo

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Late Summer Birding in Waterloo

by Stewart MacDonald

On Saturday August 31, 2024, an enthusiastic group of 14 joined the Author for a Successful and Fun day of Birding in Waterloo. The outing was in 3 parts. The day started off overcast and muggy, changing to sunshine and very warm temperatures by late morning.

In total, over 40 Species of Birds were identified by the group!

The outing started at the Stork Family Y, where a late Osprey was seen on it’s nest. Possibly the same bird was spotted at Columbia Lake later. A Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk conveniently perched on a telephone pole, providing us with good views…our outing was off to a good start!

Red-tailed Hawk
Great Blue Heron

We walked west and stopped at a storm drainage pond, where Red-Eyed Vireo and a fast moving Wilson’s Warbler in Fall plumage was spotted by the author. The first of several Great Blue Herons on the day was observed.

Moving on, we walked to a local pond, where the Author had received permission from a homeowner to take the group on his property, so that a Spotting Scope could be set up. From the author’s experience, this is the only place that a clear view of the pond was possible. We were not disappointed!

Clear views of an Adult Black-Crowned Night Heron, 2 Green Herons and 2 Great Egrets resulted. These were the 3 target birds of the outing and all were within 50 yards of each other! The Night Heron was a Life bird for some of the participants.

 

Black-Crowned Night Heron
Green Heron
Caspian Tern

Moving north to the bridge at Laurel Lake, a # of Pied-Billed Grebes were spotted, as well as a flyover of a Common Merganser, and a Common Gallinule was a surprise find…another Lifer for some group members. Moving off road to the viewing platform, Cedar Waxwings and a mini flock of Warblers were spotted, including a Canada Warbler and an American Redstart!

The group then trekked back to the meeting place and drove to Columbia Lake. A # of shorebirds had been seen by the author the previous day, but alas, they had all departed, except for a group of Killdeers. However, a Bald Eagle, Caspian Terns, Blue-Winger Teal and a # of Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons were visible. A Red-Tailed Hawk, a Juvenile Broad-Winged Hawk and several Turkey Vultures were also observed by the group soaring above us in the blue sky.

We finished the day driving to the Waterloo Rec Center and walking in Waterloo Park. The highlight of our walk was a flock of Warblers that we came across, led by a # of Black-Capped Chickadees. Pine, Black-Throated Blue, and Black and White Warblers were observed.

In conclusion. an exciting and fulfilling day of birding in the City of Waterloo was enjoyed on this late summer day. Thank you to all of the group members for their participation.

Black-Throated Blue Warbler
Crescent Butterfly
Crescent Butterfly

WRN Kids – Focus on Nature

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Breithaupt Park

Saturday, October 26, 2024

We started out with a presentation by Taryn from Focus on Nature on what to look for when choosing subjects to photograph and how to compose the pictures.

We learned about the seven components of the Elements of Design – line, shape, form, space, texture, tone, and colour. We also heard about the rule of thirds and SCUFI (Shoot Close Up For Impact).

After a short tutorial on the camera controls, we headed outside with the cameras to take photos in Breithaupt Park.

Here is a gallery with a few of the many creative shots that our photographers captured.

Thanks to Taryn for an engaging presentation.

Reported by: Paul

WRN Kids – Bechtel Park

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Bechtel Park

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Our first outing this fall was to Bechtel Park in Waterloo.

We headed into the woods to look for scat and other signs of animals.

Identifying some scat
Rabbit Scat

In the forest, we saw some acorns that we think were chewed by squirrels and beside the creek we saw some small tree stumps that were chewed by a beaver.

In an open field area, there was some deer scat and a deer bed as well as rabbit scat and a rabbit form. A form is a nest-like cavity on the surface of the ground made in dense cover like tall grass. A rabbit makes a form to hide in or as protection from rain or harsh weather.

We also found a bone that we identified using a bone chart, as a rat pelvic bone.

Rat pelvic bone
Raccoon scat

There were some deer hoof prints in the mud and some raccoon scat at the base of a tree.

The most exciting parts though were seeing a screech owl and bushwacking our way through phragmites to get back to the trail

Screech Owl
Phragmite jungle
Galls (Goldenrod Gall Fly)
Beech Blight Aphids
Fried Chicken Mushroom?
Woolly Bear Caterpillar (Isabella Tiger Moth)

We saw signs of the following animals:

Owl
Deer
Rabbit
Squirrel
Rat
Raccoon
Beaver

Reported by: Rachelle

Outing to North Shore of Lake Ontario

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On Saturday, September 21, 2024, David Gascoigne and Miriam Bauman led a group along the shore of Lake Ontario. They stopped off at DesJardins Canal, Urquart Butterfly Gardens, Grindstone Creek, LaSalle Park, and Bronte Harbour. Here are a few photos from that outing.

Black-crowned Night Heron

For the full report on the outing with many more photos, see David’s blog at WRN Outing to North Shore of Lake Ontario – 21 September, 2024.

Nature Badges Available Now

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As part of our 90th anniversary celebrations, we voted at the beginning of the year for the top five natural areas in the Region. Adhesive backed embroidered badges featuring these areas are available now for $5 each. They can be purchased in our online store and at each monthly meeting.

FWR Dickson Badge
Huron Natural Area Badge
Laurel Creek Badge
rare Charitable Research Reserve Badge
Schneider's Woods Badge
WRN Logo Badge

West Perth Wetlands, Mitchell, ON

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Signboard

On Saturday, August 17, 2024, David Gascoigne and Miriam Bauman led a group to view shorebirds at West Perth Wetlands, Mitchell, ON. The morning started with a downpour, but it turned into a great day. Along with the birds there were a number of interesting insects. Here are a few photos from that outing.

Signboard

For the full report on the outing with more photos, see David’s blog at Waterloo Region Nature Outing to West Perth Wetlands, Mitchell, ON, 17 August, 2024.