BLUE HERON FALL 2024
The Fall 2024 issue of The Blue Heron can be reached by clicking on the following image.
CBC4Kids January 2, 2025
Christmas Bird Count for Kids is a fun, family friendly bird watching event that
contributes to scientific bird count data.
Come prepared for the weather, bring binoculars and a field guide if you have them.
Additional binoculars and guides will be available for use at the event.
Learn how to watch birds from our local nature enthusiasts, Nature Barrie. After their presentation inside,
we will take to the trails on a guided hike to find and practice identifying the birds at Tiffin!
- Date & Time: January 2, 2025 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- Jose Building - Great Room
- Cost: $6 fee/person. Includes parking and hot chocolate.
- Please bring your own cups. Children ages 3 and under are free
- Registration is required.
- All ages welcome. Adult supervision is required.
This event is hosted by the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and is led by volunteers from Nature Barrie.
Register at the following link
:https://www.nvca.on.ca/events-and-education/christmas-bird-count-for-kids/
2024 BARRIE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Saturday December 21, 2024
Every year NB club members and other birders from beginners to experts join together to count the birds in a clearly defined area in and around Barrie. This is the 125th year for the count started by the Audubon Society in 1900.
The Barrie count circle is divided into 9 areas and each area is looked after by a leader who assigns the counters to teams and each team is given a specific area within the section. Then the fun begins. Starting around 8:00 a.m., the count generally lasts until about 2 to 3: p.m. with a break for lunch. Team leaders determine meeting places and start times and team composition placing beginners with experts.
Afterwards counters meet to tally results and compare notes at the pot luck supper. (Please see Meetings schedule for further information)
Participants must register no later than Dec. 9, with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will distribute people (both beginners and experts) among 9 groups, each with a leader. Please indicate if you are a novice, intermediate or expert level of birder and if you would be willing to lead a team if necessary.
Upcoming Meetings Fall 2024/WINTER 2025
Northwest Barrie United Church, 464 Ferndale Drive North, Barrie and start at 7:30pm. Meetings are held in Westennial Hall at the back of the church. Park in the big lot off of Horsfield Drive
Remember to "LUG-A-MUG" for your beverages.
STARTING IN JANUARY 2025 WE WILL BE STARTING THE BUSINESS PORTION OF THE MEETINGS AT 7:00 PM WITH THE SPEAKER TO FOLLOW. DOORS WILL BE OPEN AT 6:45 PM.
Horse High, PigTight and Bull Strong:The Overlooked History of Fences in Ontario
David Hawke
Friday January 17, 2025
You have seen them everywhere but do you know the interesting role that fences have played over the years? The oldest law in Ontario is the Line Fences Act and it’s still in play today. Learn of fence types and how the natural landscape has had to adapt to these intrusions. This topic is more fun than your first impression, guaranteed.
Upcoming Field Trips Fall 2024
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7, 2024
0800 to 1130
The Barrie waterfront in late November and early December has regularly surprised birders with its very large numbers of migrating waterfowl found along its shores. One can often see rare or uncommon birds floating just offshore. These could include Little Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Glaucous Gulls.
Grebes and Long-tailed Ducks, Red-throated and Pacific Loons can be found amongst the thousands of Common Loons. Perhaps a Barrow's Goldeneye or a Harlequin Duck can be seen among the many rafts of ducks and Mergansers.
The skies overtop often reveal surprising birds such as Bald Eagles or Peregrine Falcons. Anything can turn up and often does.
A birding scope is handy to have but binoculars will usually suffice. Dress for the weather, easy walking. We will be driving to 2 other locations.
Location Meet in Minet’s Point parking lot on the south shore.. Note pay parking is in effect.
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Ontario's Third Breeding Bird Atlas
Calling all Simcoe County and area Birders!
Ontario’s third Breeding Bird Atlas is set to kick off in the spring of 2021, and we’re looking for birders to make this the most successful effort yet.
The atlas is a five year project intended to document the presence and distribution of all the birds that breed in the province, and to provide data on their relative abundance. Previous atlases were undertaken from 1981 to 85, and 2001 to 2005. Ontario is one of the first jurisdictions anywhere to begin its third atlas, providing valuable information on population and distribution trends over time.
Data is collected by citizen scientists (volunteers like you and me) in the field. The entire province is divided into 10km x 10km squares. The goal is to achieve a MINIMUM of 20 hours of birding effort in every square, recording the birds observed during the breeding season, and documenting evidence of breeding (nest-building, courtship display, feeding young, etc). In addition, volunteers are asked to complete 25 point counts where all the birds seen and heard at specified points in the square are recorded.
I’m the Regional Coordinator for the Simcoe County atlas region. To assure coverage, I am assigning a birder to each square in the region. This person will ensure that the minimum effort is met in that square. It doesn’t mean others can’t submit records for the square, and it doesn’t mean that the person assigned a square can’t do atlassing elsewhere. 20 hours spread over 5 years is not a huge effort. It could be completed with one visit every year, although the more time spent in the square the better. Personally I find it’s a great way to give you incentive to get out there, sharpen your birding skills, and discover lovely new birdy spots in your square.
Ideally I’d like the birders I recruit to “adopt” a square to be experienced. By that I mean be familiar with most of the birds likely to breed in the region, and be proficient with at least the more common bird songs likely to be encountered. If you are a more novice birder, or unsure of your skills, there will still be lots of opportunity to participate and to sharpen your skills.
More information including detailed protocols and data collection software is available at the atlas’ website at https://www.birdscanada.org/birdmon/onatlas/main.jsp
Most importantly, register at https://www.birdscanada.org/birdmon/onatlas/register.jsp
If you think this is for you, contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. If you have a square you would particularly like to adopt or a general region of interest let me know; I will try to accommodate. Remember though, if your favourite birding spot is in a square assigned to someone else, you are still more than welcome to provide data. This really is a fun project for those of you who, like me, love to get out in nature and have an interest in birds. Good birding! Ian Cook
Lyme Disease in Ontario
Brochure author John Scott and his wife Catherine (Kit), have been researching Lyme and ticks since 1990. For more information on Lyme Disease in Ontario, click this link.
Bird Friendly Barrie
A link to the City of Barrie's Bird Friendly City web site
Barrie was certified as a Bird Friendly City on June 16, 2022. A Bird Friendly City is a community where key threats to birds are effectively mitigated, nature is restored so native bird populations can thrive, residents are actively engaged in admiring and monitoring local bird populations, and organizations are creating events to protect birds..
