Activities

NEXT MEETING     Please join us at the Moose Family Centre for our meeting on January 8, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. Our speakers for January 8 are Chris Blythe and Martin Cooper who are associated with the local activities of Pele Mountain Resources Inc.  Their joint topic will be “Site characteristic studies for a new uranium mine (the beginnings of the environmental assessment process).    2008 CALENDAR     We still have a few calendars left, please contact Gerard MacGillivray  if you would like one or more.  The calendars are selling very well and thank you to everyone who has bought a calendar and to those who have helped sell them.  Without your support this dream would not be coming true.  Because of you it looks like our lofty projections will be met. OUTINGS 2008 Tuesday, January 1st, 2008, Sherriff Creek Sanctuary New Years Day Stroll - Leader:Ray Cormier 848-7979.  Meet at the Sherriff Creek Sanctuary parking lot at  1p.m.  Duration: 1-2 hours. All outings without dates will be scheduled as Weather/Conditions permit.  Signed up members will be contacted by phone .   January , Blind River Boom Camp X Country Ski Outing (No snow, rescheduled in February) Leader:  Naomi Maggs 848-5656  Meet at Brunswick Walk parking lot at 9 a.m. to carpool to Blind River Cross Country Ski Club.  The trails are 3, 5 & 10 km in length and have interconnecting loops of easy and intermediate skill levels. The length of this outing will be determined by individuals or by car-pool groups.  Duration: 6-7 hrs. January,  Sherriff Lake Snowshoe & X Country Ski Outing  (No snow, rescheduled in February) Leader:  Naomi Maggs 848-5656  Meet at Brunswick Walk parking lot at 1 p.m. to carpool to trail.  Duration: 3-4 hrs. February,  Snowshoe Mississagi Provincial Park  Leader: David  Young  848-9590.  Meet at Brunswick Walk parking lot at 9 a.m. to carpool to the park.  Duration: 5-6 hrs. February,  Photography in our Winter Season  Leader: Dan Humeniuk 848-0940  Meet at Brunswick Walk parking lot at 1 p.m.to carpool to chosen location.   Duration: 2-3 hrs. February, Sherriff Creek Sanctuary Snowshoe/Walk  Exploring Nature  Leader: Ray Cormier 848-7979 Meet at the Sherriff Creek Sanctuary parking lot at 1 p.m. Duration: 2 hrs.

PENOKEAN  HILLS FIELD NATURALISTS 108th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (PHFN’s 12th Annual, 9th Official) Friday, December 14, 2007  Outdoor Participants: (20) Ray Cormier (Group Leader, Area I =N. to Panel Mine Rd.)  Diane Kanafa, Shirley Young, Joannie Lindamood  Joan & Gerard MacGillivray (Group Leaders, Area II = Sherriff Crk Sanctuary & Area) Lionel Frigault, Elizabeth Matheson, Bruce Colvin (guest)  Terry Carr (compiler) (Group Leader, Area III = S. to Depot Lake) Maxine Forsyth, Ilona Zarins, Harry Treijs, Dan Humeniuk, Nancy-Jo Wannan, Scott Helman  Brenda Clark (Group Leader, Area IV = Urban Elliot Lake Area) Jim Lindamood, Linda Shore, Jim Johnston Feeder Watchers:  We had 51 Individuals on 34 properties  Weather & Environmental Conditions: Sky conditions: AM: Sunny, PM Mostly Sunny  Temperature: -14 C to –12 C Wind:  Strong Snow Cover: 40 to 50 cm in sheltered areas Winds: 20 to 30 K, Gusts to 40 K, some drifting Precipitation: None  Still Water… 10 to 30 % Open Moving Water (rivers & streams) 60 to 80% Open Note: Significant snowfalls had occurred prior to Count day.   Most of our routes “passable”.  Natural Food Available:  Poor tree crop year and heavy snow cover made food scarce except at feeders.  Good Feeder Watch results at a number of homes.  A few (exposed) feeders had low or zero visitation.   2007 Christmas Bird Count~ Species & numbers: Reported during “Count Week”(cw): 3 Glaucous Gulls, 1 Black-backed Woodpecker A total of  2 cw species  Totals from Outside Teams and Feeder Watchers: 2007 2006 Mourning Dove 28 19 Gray Jay 3  5 Downy Woodpecker 20  25 Pileated Woodpecker 2  3 Blue Jay 93  72 Red-Breasted Nuthatch 6  17 Pine Grosbeak 122  0 Hoary Redpoll  3  0 Common Redpoll 149  14 American Goldfinch 46  586 American Crow  10  18 Snow Bunting 18  30 Ruffed Grouse 1  1 Herring Gull 12  308 Bald Eagle 4  1 Song Sparrow (new species) 2  0 Rock Pigeon  30  119 Hairy Woodpecker 18  21 Red-tailed Hawk  1  1 White-breasted Nuthatch 27  20 Bohemian Waxwing  56  0 Common Raven 356  516 Dark-eyed Junco 19  3 Purple Finch 2  4 European Starling  72  151 Evening Grosbeak 10  1 Belted Kingfisher (new species)  1  0 Northern Shrike (new species) 1 0 Pine Siskin   4  4 American Tree Sparrow 1  0 Rusty Blackbird 1 2 Black Capped Chickadee 171 209 2007 - 32 species on Count DayPlus 2 cw Total is 34 species (all time high!) 2006~29 plus 2 cw Total of 31 species Penokean Hills Field Naturalists’...CBC History   Yearly Totals for our Past Twelve CBC’s: 1996: 16 species, 700 individuals 1997: 28 species, 1072 individuals 1998: 26 species, 1399 individuals 1999: 25 species, 1470 individuals 2000: 25 species, 2003 individuals 2001: 30 species, 2211 individuals 2002: 29 species, 1516 individuals 2003: 27 species, 1404 individuals 2004: 31 species (inclu. 2 cw), 1,668 individuals 2005: 28 species, 1,781 individuals 2006: 31 species (inclu. 2 cw) 2,175 individuals 2007: 34 species (inclu. 2 cw) 1,289 individuals  Special Report Blind River Count Week Species My thanks to Andy and Judy Penikette for this interesting look at species sighted in their area Dec. 11 to Dec. 14, 2007. Dec. 11, 12, 13: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Cardinal, Common Grackle Dec. 14: 1 Northern Shrike, 10 Black-capped Chickadee, 3 W-b Nuthatch, 2 R-b Nuthatch, 2 Blue Jay,  2 Common Raven, 1 Amer. Crow, 4 Pine Grosbeaks. (Outside our official circle. Not on our CBC)  My sincere thanks to all who contributed their time and effort to this year’s results.  Terry Carr, compiler    List of all species recorded in 12 years of PHFN Audubon Christmas Bird Counts: (52 Species – 18,686 individual birds in total) Ring-necked Duck Common Goldeneye Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Bald Eagle Red-tailed Hawk Ruffed Grouse Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Iceland (Glaucoides) Gull Glaucous Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Great Gray Owl Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Gray Jay Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper American Robin Bohemian Waxwing European Starling Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow House Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Snow Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Pine Grosbeak Evening Grosbeak Purple Finch Pine Siskin American Goldfinch   White-winged Crossbill Common Redpoll Hoary Redpoll Northern Shrike Belted Kingfisher

CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP Be a Volunteer Citizen Scientist Would you like to help with the understanding and protection of Nature?   Be part of the solution in our community!  Getting involved at the local level will not only help the environment, but will help bring you in touch with others in the Penokean Hills Field Naturalists and other citizens of Elliot Lake.   Club Members Help Nature by Being Volunteer Scientists For any of our members interested in doing volunteer data collection (quite a few of us are already involved in this) please visit the following links, pick one you like and sign up! 1.  Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program... a spring project 2.  Nocturnal Owl Survey (just about over for 2004….but look at it as a possible personal project for next April) 3.  Canadian Breeding Bird Survey 4.  Ontario Loon Survey  If you like Loons you'll love this one! 5.   Here's a great set of "Citizen Science Projects" by Environment Canada Should you have questions about any of this please contact: Terry Carr  e-mail:  tcarr@vianet.ca

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