Great egrets evoke notions of southern swamps – of alligators, bald cypress trees and Spanish moss. And yet, they are now common inhabitants of Ontario wetlands. At this time of year, post- nesting egrets are assembling at foraging sites, prior to their southward migration. Sandy Gillians and I counted about 50 egrets along the Beaver River near Kimberly recently. Other late summer roosts include Luther Marsh and Cootes Paradise.
Great egrets are a balm to disillusioned naturalists all too familiar with the loss and retreat of wildlife. They represent the promise of recovery. Once teetering on the brink of extinction, they were rescued by a remarkable conservation effort initiated by a small group of women in Boston.
Egrets were being slaughtered by the thousands in the 19th century America. Fashion mavens of the day advertised their status by adorning their heads with wildly extravagant hats, sprouting flowers and fruit. But more exotic accoutrements were desired.
Milliners obliged by affixing feathers, heads or the bodies of colourful birds to the hats they sold. Feathers of bluebirds, blue-jays, orioles and, of course, egrets were all commonly used. Stuffed warblers and hummingbirds peeked out blindly between the plumes. Even small stuffed mammals and reptiles clung to the hats of Patrician ladies as they sipped their afternoon tea.
Like today, most 19th century consumers thought little about the provenance of the products they bought. As now, purchases of clothing and accessories were motivated primarily by style and price. Sometimes though, uncomfortable truths rattle the public conscience: Think the Bangladeshi garment industry or the blood diamond trade.
The uncomfortable truth of bird slaughter for the millinery trade dawned on a group of well-connected Bostonian women in 1896 and the Audubon Society was born. They launched the first modern-style conservation campaign, successfully pressuring politicians to end to the killing.
The success of those early conservation pioneers is evident in the magnificent egrets that grace Southern Ontario in the 21st century.
During the summer of 2014 (May 26 to August 25), a total of 14 evening walks were organized for various areas of Halton and Peel Regions. The site locations are listed in the following table along with the names of the leaders and the numbers of participants on each walk. An attempt was made to alternate sites in the south and the north part of the area. Overall, there were five different leaders (Ray Blower, Kirsten Burling, W. McIlveen, Dawn Renfrew, and Leanne Wallis).
One of the walks was cancelled due to heavy rain which reduced the potential attendance and to eliminate any safety concerns that wet trails might cause. Excluding the cancelled walks, the numbers of participants (excluding the leaders) ranged from two to 9 with an average of six participants per walk. This is very close to the attendance in 2013. There was a small core group of participants that came out for most walks but there were also many walks where the participants were infrequent attendants. Two were not typical walks. The trip that took place on the weekend of August 9 and 10 went to two oak savannah sites in Windsor and to two sites at Point Pelee. At those locations, the participants were treated to fine weather and saw many rare species of plants and butterflies. The trip on August 18 met in Limehouse but the event actually happened in Glen Williams where we participated in the ‘Shadfly Festival’ and we got to see huge numbers of mayflies emerging from the river.
Overall, comments from people that did come out for the walks indicated that they found the trips to be interesting and enjoyable.
26-May-2014
Conely Tract
Bill McIlveen
6 people
2-Jun-2014
Indian Ridge Trail
Bill McIlveen
6 people
9-Jun-2014
Jacquith property
Dawn Renfrew
9 people
16-Jun-2014
Arbourview Woods
Bill McIlveen
5 people
23-Jun-2014
Silver Creek at 8th Line
Leanne Wallis
rained out
30-Jun-2014
Iroquois Shoreline Park
Bill McIlveen
5 people
7-Jul-2014
Limehouse Area
Dawn Renfrew
4 people
14-Jul-2014
LaSalle Park
Bill McIlveen
3 people
21-Jul-2014
Limehouse Area Springle
Dawn Renfrew
6 people
28-Jul-2014
Beachway Park
Bill McIlveen
10 people
4-Aug-2014
Limehouse Area
Ray Blower
6 people
9/10-Aug-2014
Windsor Weekend
Bill McIlveen
6 people
18-Aug-2014
Limehouse Area
Ray Blower
6 people
25-Aug-2014
Rattray Marsh
Kirsten Burling
8 people
It is anticipated that evening walks will be continued in 2015. If possible, we will try to time one of the evenings in August to take place at the time of the Shadfly Festival. Consideration will also be given to having one evening walk coincide with a Chimney Swift count (e.g. Oakville).
Hello all, spring is finally here! What a welcome sight it is too. What a joy to see the subtle shades of green unfurling leaves taking over from endless grays of winter. It will be interesting to watch the forest slowly recover from the ice storm. Some trees won’t make it, but the extra light will bring on fast growth from others.
Migrant birds are now here and it is a wonderful time to get out and see them. City parks are especially rich in birds looking to refuel as they pass through an expanse of concrete. I saw this for myself yesterday in Centennial Park, when I had an hour to kill on Toronto and tallied 10 species of warbler in full spring regalia! Ray’s trip to Whitby next weekend will hit some birding hotspots and see many more species of songbird and water birds.
I hope you can all get out and enjoy the good weather – we deserve it!
The chimney swift is a pretty remarkable species of bird when you consider its rapid adaptation over the last century. Historically, these birds inhabited old growth forests, using cavity trees or snags (standing dead trees) with large hollows for roosting and nesting. However, the European settlement and logging practises occurring into the 1900s saw the destruction of forests across North America, and with it, the loss of vital habitat for many animals including chimney swifts.
Figure 1. Chimney Swift range map, with wintering habitat in South America, and summer habitat in eastern North America. Source: “Chimney Swift range” by America_Federal_Provincial_y_Departamental is licensed under CC BY 3.0
As forests were rapidly disappearing, they were being replaced by farmland, barns, churches and houses heated using woodstoves. Conveniently, the swifts would migrate back from the Amazon basin in South America to eastern North America in late April through mid-May (Figure 1). By this time, the chimneys in these structures were no longer being used, providing artificial habitat for the aptly named birds to settle at night- time and to nest in.
The reason the chimney has served as a good alternate habitat for swifts is because of both its size and texture. The size of the chimney must be large enough for many birds, as they roost in groups that may be as large as thousands of individuals (Figure 2). This group strategy is beneficial as it provides protection (i.e. from predators) and allows the birds to maintain their body temperature during cool nights. Chimneys with brick interiors create rough vertical surfaces that allows these birds to rest against with a “fork” on their tail. Additionally, nesting birds will use chimneys for breeding, using their glue- like saliva to create half-cup nests within the chimney, with one pair of birds per structure (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Chimney swifts circling a chimney before funneling in and roosting for the night. Source: “Chimney Swift From The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds” by America_Federal_Provincial_y_Departamental is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Despite their rapid adaptation to man-made structures, the Canadian population of chimney swifts has drastically declined by 95% since 1968 (COSEWIC 2007). There are several explanations that may, together, contribute to these significant declines.
For starters, over the last 50 years, North Americans have further developed their heating systems, and instead of using woodstoves with chimneys, gas fireplaces or central heat are instead the norm. New buildings are no longer being built with chimneys, and buildings that have unused chimneys are being capped, lined or removed, to dissuade other creatures, like raccoons from wreaking havoc and making noise. Combined with deforestation, habitat is becoming more limited.
Figure 3. Chimney swift nest. Source: “ChimneySwift23” by United States National Park Service, Isle Royale National Park
Mortality along their migration route may also be a factor. Significant declines are caused when hurricanes occur during migration, forcing them to re-route, or reducing food sources essential to their survival. If climate change increases the frequency of storm events, declines may continue, further reducing population sizes.
Changes in food supply may be impacting survivorship of chimney swifts. These birds are aerial insectivores, meaning they catch their prey while flying. They are in flight almost continuously throughout the day, causing them to expend a large amount of energy. Therefore, if food availability is low it can greatly impact their survival.
So what are we doing to help? Well for starters, the chimney swift is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Species with a threatened status receive habitat protection, and for the chimney swift, this means any repairs, modifications, maintenance, replacement or demolitions to chimneys that are suitable for habitat require certain conditions, including the following:
The work must be registered with the Ministry of Natural Resources prior to commencement.
Disturbance to the species must be minimized.
Often, new habitat must be created and maintained for chimney swifts.
Records of ongoing monitoring of the created habitat must be kept and reported.
Bird Studies Canada is conducting a long-term monitoring program, called SwiftWatch, with the goal of continuing to monitor known roosts, to find new roosts, and to raise awareness about this species at risk. The 2014 National Roost Monitoring Program is a continent-wide effort to study this species, and will be taking place May 21, 25, 29 and June 2. If you are interested in volunteering with the Halton SwiftWatch Program, or would like to know more, please use the contact form with the subject line, “Emily Dobson – SwiftWatch”.
References
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). 2007. Chimney Swift.
Behold the wood frog, an evolutionary masterwork. A soft bodied amphibian that survives the fury of Canadian winters as far north as Old Crow in the Yukon. In that cruelest of seasons, wood frogs lie quiescent in beds of leaves, biding time until snowmelt softens their stiff bodies. They protect their delicate cellular machinery by shunting water out of their cells to freeze benignly in the spaces surrounding those cells. And as if that metabolic alchemy isn’t remarkable enough, wood frog cells become infused with glucose – enough, milligram for milligram, to kill a human many times over. For the wood frog though, this sweet syrup becomes a life-saving antifreeze.
Wood frogs are aptly named for they are utterly dependent on woodlands for survival. Essential, too, are ponds for breeding. Usually wood frogs choose ponds that hold water only temporarily – a roll of the dice that can lead to the death or salvation of their progeny. The absence of tadpole-chomping fish in a temporary pond explains the gamble. But, if the pond dries early, mass tadpole-cide will result. The prospect of drying ponds and limited life spans, force a particular urgency on wood frog sex. Of 52 weeks in the year they have but two or three available for reproduction in earliest spring. Moreover, wood frogs may have only one or two of these brief sexual opportunities before they end up in the gullet of a frog-hungry predator.
No wonder then, that a wood frog pond in April is a frenzy of activity. Males beckon females with quacking voices. They battle rivals – scrambling atop them and pushing them under water. Multiple males pursue lone females, in desperate attempts to couple. The mated females lay hundreds of black eggs that soon yield wriggling tadpoles.
The frenzied mating of the marvellously adapted wood frog has persisted for tens of thousands of years. Given woods and water, it should continue for thousands more.
In spite of fluctuating temperatures, salamanders are on the move! Club members had to watch their step when they visited a vernal pond at Silver Creek Conservation Area last weekend. Salamanders were active and thick on the ground, ignoring low temperatures to conduct their annual nocturnal “spring thing”. Jefferson Salamanders (a threatened species) and Spotted Salamanders were numerous on the forest floor, and a single red-backed salamander was observed out for a nocturnal stroll; a bizarre leucistic (partially pigmented) spotted salamander was also sighted.
Hello members new and old (and young!) It seems like this winter will never end, but spring will surely start to unfurl as the month marches on.
In the meantime, please spend a few minutes looking at some wonderful images by our club member and HNPNC secretary, Anne McDermaid, on this website. Not only will you see a gallery of her inspiring landscapes, but also some beautiful shots of waterfowl in winter. Thanks Anne! We encourage other members to share their work on our website or Facebook pages. See contact info below.
We are also getting thoroughly modernized and now have a Twitter account: @hnpnc launched January 31st with 211 followers.
On February 27, 2014, the International Joint Commission [I.J.C., 2014] released a report on the most recent algae bloom problem in Lake Erie. That report had much in common with a similar problem that existed in the Great Lakes about 50 years before. That problem was the association between phosphorus loading in the water column and the subsequent growth of algae, most conspicuously Cladophora glomerata, though blue green bacteria and other species constitute additional problems.
Figure 1. Cladophora on shore of Lake Ontario at Lorne Park, Mississauga, 1969. Photo from Mississauga Public Library collection.
Algae, like all aquatic organisms, are dependent upon the chemical constituent chemicals in the surrounding water. Generally, chemical concentrations in the water are quite dilute. As it turns out, the essential chemical that is most limiting for algal growth is phosphorus. As a result, small increments in the level of soluble phosphorus cause large responses in growth of the algae. When phosphorus levels in lake water increased up into the 1960s, excessive growth of algae occurred in the Great Lakes. The algae washed up on the shores of the lake (Figs. 1 and 2) where it began to decay and caused very unpleasant odors. Decaying algae consumes oxygen and when this happens in the aquatic environment, the eutrophic conditions with insufficient oxygen become limiting to many organisms including fish.
Figure 2. Cladophora on shore of western Lake Ontario 1969. Photo by W.D. McIlveen
There were many sources of the phosphorus, however, the prime source was attributed to detergents used by human residents around the lakes [Schindler, 2008]. Despite fierce resistance from the soap and detergent industry, they were forced to remove the phosphate-based chemicals from their product by 1972. Following this, phosphorus levels in the water gradually declined and the algae problem generally improved. The removal of phosphorus from detergents did not permanently solve the problem. There was year to year variation in algae growth and the problem appeared in years of heavy growth (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Cladophora on shore of Lake Ontario at Jack Darling Park, Mississauga, Sept. 11, 2011. Photo by W.D. McIlveen
Over time, the human population around the lakes increased further. Other sources of phosphorus grew including releases from sewage treatment plants. As well, new complicating factors appeared. Global warming caused earlier warming of the near-shore waters with the result that alga populations could become established earlier in the Spring. The appearance of the Zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and then Quagga (Dreissena bugensis) Mussels made major changes in water quality. These species filter huge quantities of water with the result that water is made clear. With clearer water, light could penetrate to greater depths and this effectively extended the area over which the algae could attach and grow. More growth means more problems. Other introduced species such as the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) and large populations of waterfowl that now feed on the mussels further complicate the picture.
In Lake Ontario, the water current in the western portion of the lake is generally counter clockwise when seen from above. This means that the currents along the shoreline off Peel and Halton are from east to west. The Halton shoreline is therefore downstream from any sources of phosphorus in Peel and the City of Toronto. In addition, the nature of the shoreline with piers and other structures influence the movement of the water and can cause floating algae to become trapped. Winds and storms can deposit, and remove, algae on the shore where it is an unwelcome caller in the minds of local residents.
The recent report by the IJC [IJC, 2014] has concluded that the most recent problem of algae in Lake Erie was mainly due to agriculture. This includes large animal production facilities and heavy use of fertilizers for crop production around the Lake. As well, residential use of fertilizers for lawns and gardens contribute a significant amount of phosphorus. The latter source was also confirmed in studies completed in Halton [Aquafor Beech, 2006]. These sources need to be addressed or the eutrophication problem will persist and grow. It is still too early to know what measures will be undertaken in coming years. Phosphate-free lawn fertilizer may be mandated for home-use for example. Conditions around Lake Erie must be altered or the algae issue will continue and grow. The so-called ‘dead lake’ state could return even though eutrophication actually represents a hyper-lively water body.
References Cited:
Aquafor Beech Limited. 2005. Final report prepared for Conservation Halton LOSAAC Water Quality Study. 127 pp.
International Joint Commission. 2014. A Balanced Diet for Lake Erie: Reducing Phosphorus Loadings and Harmful Algal Blooms. Report of the Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority. 100 pp.
Schindler, D.W. and J.J. Vallentyne. 2008. The Algal Bowl – Overfertilization of the World’s Freshwaters and Estuaries. University of Alberta Press, Edmonton. 323 pp.
And how incredibly welcome the New Year was, arriving shortly after power was at last restored. For me it was a 7-day blackout, and I know for others it was longer still. Being in a cold house in midwinter just makes me admire all the more the small birds and animals that brave the outdoors year-round. The chickadees at the feeder, puffed up in the cold, have to find food and shelter every day, and throughout such inhospitable weather. Don’t forget to help them out!
Our trees have taken a tremendous beating, their tops lopped off as it by a drunken giant wielding a very dull machete! It will be interesting to see how the new growth appears and it there is any benefit to this strange kind of pruning. In town, many trees were split in half. If you have lost a Weeping Willow or Norway Maple, now is a good time to consider replacing those non-natives with a native species. Native trees are adapted to local weather and they also provide food and homes for our native wildlife.
We have a great line-up of talks and several outdoor walks of interest coming up, so I hope to see everyone at these events.
by W.D. McIlveen – Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
The 23nd annual Christmas Bird Count that took place on December 27, 2013 will be a most memorable one. The outstanding feature of the Count will be remembered not so much for the count results as for the weather that occurred a few days earlier. That weather included freezing rain that amounted to at least three cm of ice over all exposed surfaces. The consequence of the ice was extensive breakage of tree branches and electrical power outages that were still happening in parts of the survey area. Overall, there were 23 participants that took part in the field observations or checked their feeders.
Generally, the Count produced close to average results based on comparisons with previous counts in the case of numbers of species reported – 49 species on count day vs. 50 species for the long-term average. By contrast, the total numbers of birds seen was 5239 – slightly over half of the average of 9760. The results for the individual species are presented in the attached table. A new species for the Count was a Turkey Vulture that was reported to the OntBirds website. Only one species, the Red-bellied Woodpecker was present in record high numbers with 15 birds seen. Many species were reported at low numbers, both below average and at new lows. The new low numbers were noted with Mallards (26), Black-capped Chickadees (243), American Tree Sparrow (55), and Northern Cardinal (22). No Black Ducks were observed. Wild Turkey (50), Hairy Woodpecker (26), Blue Jay (171) and American Robin (95) were noted in above average numbers but not in record high numbers. The species that made it onto the Count Week list were Snowy Owl and Snow Bunting.
The impact of the ice storm that appeared to generally lower the observed bird populations cannot be assessed with any certainty. In part, the lower numbers of ducks and geese might also be correlated with early freeze-up of local water bodies. This would not explain the lower numbers of the more-terrestrial species. Only time will tell whether the decreased numbers are merely a blip or part of a long-term trend.
serving Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Acton & surrounding areas
Meetings are held at St Alban the Martyr Anglican Church
537 Main St,.
Glen Williams
On L7G 3T1
Egrets were being slaughtered by the thousands in the 19th century America. Fashion mavens of the day advertised their status by adorning their heads with wildly extravagant hats, sprouting flowers and fruit. But more exotic accoutrements were desired.
And how incredibly welcome the New Year was, arriving shortly after power was at last restored. For me it was a 7-day blackout, and I know for others it was longer still. Being in a cold house in midwinter just makes me admire all the more the small birds and animals that brave the outdoors year-round. The chickadees at the feeder, puffed up in the cold, have to find food and shelter every day, and throughout such inhospitable weather. Don’t forget to help them out!
