RAINY RIVER VALLEY FIELD NATURALISTS
Alberton Municipal Building
Meeting #126
Monday, August 9, 2021
Present: Ilka Milne, Henry Van Ael, Bob Saunders, Henry Miller, Phyllis Callaghan, Dale Callaghan
Call to Order: Meeting called to order by club president Ilka Milne at 1807 hrs.
Agenda: Henry Miller made a motion to accept the Agenda as distributed. Henry Van Ael seconded.
Carried…
Minutes: Henry Van Ael made a motion to accept the minutes of Meeting #125 (November 9, 2020), as previously distributed via email. Seconded by Ilka. Bob agreed to take over the role of Secretary for this meeting, as Gaby was unable to attend.
Carried…
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer’s Financial Report (Henry Van Ael)
Henry reported that there had been no monies withdrawn since the last meeting. We have $3289.53 currently in our account at RBC. Dale Callaghan made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as discussed. Phyllis Callaghan seconded.
Carried…
Old Business:
a) Insurance policy through Ontario Nature
At the previous meeting it was decided to purchase a group insurance policy for General Liability only. Bob was to check with Gillon’s Insurance for a quote. He did this and the quote was considerably more than that offered through Ontario Nature. Gaby was to check with Ontario Nature to see if the outstanding balance of $410.40 owed to them could be waived; it could not. Ilka made a motion to renew the General Liability with Ontario Nature and to pay the outstanding balance. Bob seconded. Henry Van Ael will make the arrangements with Ontario Nature.
Carried
b) Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas-3 progress update
Bob reported that considerable progress was made covering squares in our region. Five minute Point Counts were made by Bob, Henry, and Ilka almost every day from June 1 to July 10, the “safe” period in Northern Ontario for breeding birds. Bob, Henry, and Ilka spent 8 days (July 3-10) in Quetico Park doing surveys at Quetico Lake, coordinating with QPP biologist Brian Jackson who has been setting up several song meters in the park to record bird songs for the atlas. A total of 21 observers, mostly from the Thunder Bay region and Southern Ontario, collected data for the Atlas this season. Bob, Henry, and Ilka were the only ones living in the Rainy River District that participated this year. It is hoped we will be able to recruit more people from the area. It was noted that there was an unusually high number of Black-billed Cuckoos this year, much higher than in any previous year. Dickcissels, Bobolinks, and Indigo Buntings also seemed to be higher than in previous years. Hardly any Eastern Bluebirds were reported this year. Bob also noted that owing to his problems obtaining internet during the summer, Ilka agreed to be added as a second Regional Coordinator for our region (Region 40).
c) Oak Grove monitoring and trail clearing status
Ilka noted that owing to COVID-19 it was not possible to do any work this year at the Oak Grove Nature Conservancy site. We are hoping to be able to work on the property next year. Ilka had contacted the Nature Conservancy and was told that they were fine with us working on the property as long as the Conservancy was absolved of any liability arising as a result of our clearing the trails.
Committee Reports:
a) Blog/Website (rrvfn.org): New material has been added to the website, but the lack of internet access has prevented Bob from adding as much as he would like. Whenever new material is added members are notified by email, along with a request for members to send any stories or articles for the newsletter but this request is normally ignored. Bob thanked Fred Pugh and Henry Miller for their contributions. Fred is an amateur astronomer and contributes articles for the Night Sky section of the website, while Henry has been writing articles for the Fort Frances Times, which we re-publish in the newsletters. Bob noted that there is an annual fee of $20.00 to maintain the website name (rrvfn.org) and that fee has been donated by Bob. We have one more year remaining on our subscription to the hosting site. There will be a substantial increase in the cost of the subscription, as the initial fee was discounted. That initial cost was also donated by Bob to the club.
b) Special Events: Ilka reported that with COVID restrictions being eased, notifications were sent out about two field trips held in July. Only Bob and Ilka attended the trips. She felt that members were still feeling insecure about attending field trips owing to the pandemic, and that people are probably busy with their own activities during summer. With the increase of the Delta variant she is not certain if people will attend two more activities that are being planned: a trip to Sable Island to look for shorebirds, plants, dragonflies, and anything else that attracts our attention; and an outdoors meet and greet for members with food provided. The Events committee (Bob and Ilka) will work out the details for these activities.
c) Publicity: Henry Miller has been writing a column for the Fort Frances Times and he never fails to mention the club. Look for “Tales From the Wildside” once a month in the Times. Other than the Christmas Bird Count there hasn’t been any publicity for the club, as COVID restrictions placed a damper on any activities.
d) Bog/Boardwalk: Ahlan was not present to give his report, but Henry Van Ael noted that the register book was missing. He also reported that Mike and Ahlan have been replacing boards as needed, and that we should be having new boards cut. Bob will call Ahlan about the missing book and to get an idea of how many boards should be ordered. Follow up conversation with Ahlan: Ahlan removed the book, as it was full and had become wet. He mentioned that 52 people had left comments. He and Mike replaced 11 boards in May and, at the same time, the signs. He noted that at least 3-4 boards should be replaced in the fall. He mentioned that the club has very few or no boards left, and should buy one or two dozen to be kept in storage.
e) Stewardship Council: Gaby was not available to give a report about the activities of the Stewardship Council, but we assume that like us, their activities have been curtailed by the pandemic.
New Business:
a) Bluebird Trail Update: Henry said that it was too early to give a report, as not all the data has been sent to him. He did note that there were new requirements by the Ontario Bluebird Society for reporting the data for bluebirds. These include the number of boxes; number of nesting birds; number fledged; nestlings lost; eggs lost; number of white eggs (if any) (note: normally bluebirds lay blue eggs, but occasionally they can be white); success percentage; other birds nesting; and how many nests were U destroyed by House Wrens. Henry reported that this year was very poor for Eastern Bluebirds in our region. There were only three Bluebird nests in all of the trails monitored by Henry, Bob, Ilka and Henry, and two of these were abandoned, leaving four eggs in each. The other nest successfully fledged. Bill Reid, the president of the OBS, suggested to Henry that a major ice storm this spring in Texas may have wiped out many of the birds.
b) Hats: Ilka reported that she had received a quote from Baker Graphics to supply the club with hats with a club logo. The cost would be $18.50 plus tax ($20.96). The club had hats made with the old logo when we hosted the Great Lakes Odontological Society in 2005. Baker Graphics recently bought the company that originally made the hats and still had the pattern. The hats will be khaki-coloured with the logo in front. Although that is no longer our current logo, it looks quite good on the hat. It was suggested that the club initially buy some hats with the idea that members would buy some right away and that there would be some available to give as gifts for people who make presentations to the club. Additional hats can be produced at any time at the same cost. Dale Callaghan moved that the club initially buy 7 hats to be sold for $20.00 with the club absorbing the extra cost. Henry Miller seconded.
Carried…
c) Nell Laur’s Books: Unfortunately Nell Laur, a founding member of the club, passed away this year, and several of her natural history books were bequeathed to the club to be used as a club library or be given away to children that show and interest in natural history. The books include:
“The Private Life of Plants” by David Attenbprough
“Plants of Quetico and the Ontario Shield” by Shan Walshe
“Plants of the Canoe Country” by W.Q. Loegering and E.P. DuCharme
“The Climates of Canada” by David Phillips
“How to Identify Birds: An Audubon Handbook” by John Farrand, Jr.
“Eastern Birds: An Audubon Handbook” by John Farrand, Jr.
“The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals” by John O. Whitaker
“The Audubon Society Filed Guide to North American Wildflowers Eastern Region” by William Niering
“National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers Eastern Region”, revised by John W. Thieret
“The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Whales and Dolphins” by Herbert T. Boschung, Jr.
“National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees, Eastern Region” by Elbert L. Little
“The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds Eastern Region|” by John Bull and John Farrand, Jr.
“A Guide to Field Identification: Wildflowers of North America” (Golden Press)) by Frank D Venning
“Forest Plants of Northeastern Ontario” by Karen Legasy, Shayna LaBelle-Beadman and Brenda Chambers
“A Field Guide to the Insects of America North of Mexico” (Peterson Field Guide) by D. Borror and R.White
“A Field Guide to the Birds, Eastern Land and Water Birds” by Roger Tory Peterson
“A Golden Guide: Fishes” by Herbert S. Zim and Hurst H. Shoemaker
“Quick Key Guide to Wild Flowers, Northeastern and Central |United States and Adjacent Canada” by David Archibald, Rosemary V. Fleming and Virginia M. Kline
d) Upcoming AGM: Ilka reminded us that our club bylaws require us to have an Annual General Meting in September.
Tales from the Wild Side:
Phyllis entertained us with an amusing story of a beaver visiting her dock, and, while she related her tale, the rest of us munched on delicious zucchini lemon cake baked by Ilka. Bob mentioned that a young black bear had absconded to parts unknown with three of his feeders. It has been a very poor year for berries owing to this year’s drought. Ilka said that she, Henry and Bob had made a trip to Gouliquer Road where a Sprague’s Pipit had been reported. This was a very rare sighting for Ontario and caused quite the sensation in the Ontario birding community. The three were able to hear the bird singing constantly for about half an hour, but, as much as they tried, they never were able to see the bird. The pipit is a sparrow-like bird that normally nests on shortgrass prairie. It is solitary, secretive and difficult to see. In breeding season, it displays by flying steeply high into the air, and then falling quickly back to the ground where it is next to impossible to see. Its song is a sweet series of thin, descending notes and is sung while making its aerial display. Ilka and Bob visited the Emo Sewage Lagoons in July, searching for new dragonflies, and noted that all of the cattails surrounding one of the lagoons had been removed by a back hoe. Whatever the reason for this, the newly-exposed shoreline has seen an influx of migrating shorebirds, Henry Miller and Bob visited the ponds on August 6, and saw several Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, and Least Sandpipers, along with Spotted, Solitary, and Pectoral Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Plovers.
Next Meeting: Monday, September 27 at 6:00 pm, Alberton Municipal Office
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 1730 hrs