Club President's Message
JANUARY 18, 2014
A Happy New Year to all!!!
As we, in many cases, reluctantly say farewell to the Christmas Season, we look forward to the New Year, with longer days and slowly increasing wildlife activity.
We have a lot of interesting outings this winter, and encourage everyone to participate in as many of these as possible.
We started the year with our first Christmas Bird Count for Kids, organised by the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority. Forty hardy souls braved the brutal -25oC weather to view Nuthatches, Chickadees, Crows, and Mourning Doves. Your club was a sponsor. The hot chocolate was enjoyed by all!!!!
Later in January we have our "Basics of Survival" or "Get Prepared" day in the Copeland Forest on Jan 25. This is amply described on our website.
In February we do our annual winter Minesing tour west of Barrie looking for raptors;- notably Rough-legged Hawks, and Snowy Owls. Snowy Owls are unusually abundant this year.
Speaking of Snowy Owls public concern and vigilance does pay off. The threats to our wildlife are many;- recently at La Guardia Airport, in New York, these owls were considered to be a menace to aircraft and they were shot on site. Indeed, 3 were killed. Through public outcry these beautiful birds are now being trapped and relocated.
We laud the efforts of Ontario Nature, and others, taking our governments to task over the gutting of The Endangered Species Act.
Encouraging also is the fact that our First Nations have negotiated an agreement with MNR to re-open Springwater Park as a joint operation co-managed by the two groups.
Our Annual Joint Meeting with the Garden Club, rescheduled for February 4, at the South Shore Community Centre, promises to be a winner. Krysten Martyn from the Wild Bird General Store will be discussing Hummingbirds.
Many more interesting meetings are programmed for this year, and please do plan to attend these.
A reminder to all that your 2014 dues are now past due if you haven't yet paid!!! Take the time to honour this New Year's Resolution!!
Thanks to all who participated in our Christmas Bird Count held late last year. We managed to see 9500 birds, a commendable total, even though there was little open water. Also special thanks again to our organiser Chris Evans. The efforts of Linda Crome and everyone who assisted with the pot luck, always one of the highlights of our season, are also greatly appreciated.
Please remember to continue visiting the website regularly for up to date information on all our activities.
Webmaster's Comments
February 23, 2013
Some new members (and old) are having difficulties logging onto the web site to access member's only content. I put together this short tutorial that should help you log on and change your password.
If you have not renewed your membership, and there are a lot of you, you will find out that you will not be able to access the member's only content on the website and you will no longer get announcements via email. If it has just slipped your maind get your membership renewal and payment off in the mail and you will be reinstated.
Winter 2014 Blue Heron
The Winter 2014 Vol 57 No. 3 of The Blue Heron is now available on the web site for members to download and enjoy. To download log on at the bottom right hand corner of the main page and then click on Newsletters in the top menu bar. You will see a download link in Current Issue of The Blue Heron.
Not yet a member? You can download a sample of it to see what you are missing out on. If you like what you see, join up and you can read the complete issue.
