The Local Club

It has been a quiet week, as the daylight gets shorter and shorter.  Looking forward to this weekend when we all check out the Niagara River!

An article was published in the most recent OFO News about our local naturalist club.  It was written by Larry Cornelis.  I became a member of the Sydenham Field Naturalists (SFN) early on and that got me more interested in birds and nature.  I was interested in birds before that of course, and when I saw an interesting bird in the yard, I had to look it up!

(group photo was actually taken by Herman H. Giethoorn)

Outings of the SFN often focused on birds, and the first spring I was a member, we went to Rondeau Provincial Park (an annual event).  Luckily it was a big fallout day and I was instantly hooked on birds!  I recall Kentucky Warbler as one of the good birds found, among a whole list of warblers and vireos and others.

We always had an annual winter outing which started by looking at waterfowl on the St. Clair River, then moving inland for other birds.  Owls always seemed to be a focus and finding Long-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owls at the old Scout Camp were highlights.
One of the earlier counts we found Short-eared Owls.  One was found injured hunkered down in a ditch so we rescued it.  It was taken to a rehab facility later.


In December 1987 I took part in my first Christmas Bird Count and it was fun.  I was assigned a certain area, which I am still doing to this day!  I did not know what the heck I was doing, but amazingly I found some really good birds.
I have been doing counts ever since.  This year we are trying December 29.  (hope the weather is decent for a change!).
Some good birds have been recorded over the years, such as the Black-necked Stilt (27 December 2001-2 Jan 2002) that Larry Cornelis spotted.  I am not sure how I missed that bird before that, as I travel by that spot twice a day to and from work! It stayed a few days to be recorded on our count.  I think it was Ontario's first winter record at the time.

Other good birds were hopefuls for the CBC, but missed.  The Ivory Gull that I found on the St. Clair River on December 23, 1995 was my most exciting find ever.  It was an icy winter with a bit of snow on the ground.  I had just pulled into Seager Park and there it was!  I knew what it was instantly, but what to do?  It  was before the time cell phones were popular, so I slip-slided my way down to Sombra to make a phone call.  (Steve will recall the call as I had to phone collect!!).  Word got out and first on the scene was Rob Tymstra from Sarnia.  I think he had "pay" someone to slip away from work!
Word spread and hundreds came to see it. It left a few days before our CBC.
It even made the Discovery Channel as Tom Hince filmed a segment for it.  I recall meeting Tom out there along with Steve Pike on that day.  I still have the video recording of that segment.

(photo by Steve T. Pike)

These days, the SFN has expanded nicely and has many accomplishments under its belt. Instrumental in acquiring three important pieces of land around Wallaceburg, the SFN has played a significant role in promoting nature.

Checking out the Swamp Cottonwood in Bickford Oak Woods

(Canada's only known example!)