Number 550 October 2007

Monarchs on Goldenrod, Drawing by Eva Davis

REGULARS FEATURES Coming Events 19 For Reading 14 Website Update 9 From the Archives 17 Keeping in Touch 13 Red -eared Slider in 10

Monthly Meetings Notice 3 Ecology Tidbits 11 Monthly Meeting Report 7 Outings Report Extracts 8 For the Birds 15 President’s Report 6 TFN Outings 4 Weather 18 TFN 550-2 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

Toronto Field Naturalist is published by the Toronto Field BOARD OF DIRECTORS Naturalists, a charitable, non-profit organization, the aims of President Pinky Franklin which are to stimulate public interest in natural history and Vice President Wendy Rothwell to encourage the preservation of our natural heritage. Issued Sec.-Treasurer Corley Phillips monthly September to December and February to May. Nature Reserves George Bryant Views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily those Communications Alexander Cappell of the editor or Toronto Field Naturalists. Monthly lectures Nick Eyles Outings ) Gail Gregory ISSN 0820-636X ) Ruth Munson Web-master Margaret McRae Barry Mitchell IT’S YOUR NEWSLETTER! Peter Money We welcome contributions of original writing, up to 500 Robert Kortright words, of observations on nature in and around Toronto, reviews, poems, sketches, paintings, and photographs of MEMBERSHIP FEES TFN outings (digital or print, include date and place). $30 STUDENT, SENIOR SINGLE (65+) Include your name, address and phone number so $40 SINGLE, SENIOR FAMILY (2 adults, 65+) $50 FAMILY (2 adults – same address, children included) submissions can be acknowledged. Send by mail or email. Deadline for submissions for November issue: Oct. 5, 2007. No GST. Tax receipts issued for donations. Send membership fees and address changes to the TFN office. Please note: TFN does not give out its membership list. NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE Jenny Bull (co-editor), Eva Davis, Karin Fawthrop, Nancy Fredenburg, Elisabeth Gladstone, Mary Lieberman, Joanne Toronto Field Naturalists Lynes, Ruth Munson, Marilynn Murphy, Toshi Oikawa, 2 Carlton St., # 1519, Toronto M5B 1J3

Wendy Rothwell (co-editor), Jan Sugerman. Tel: 416-593-2656 Printing and mailing: Perkins Mailing Services Web: www.torontofieldnaturalists.org

Email: [email protected]

TFN PUBLICATIONS

TORONTO F ELD NATURAL STS CLUB NDEX OF S NGLE YEARS FROM 1979 ea $1 00 TS H STORY AND CONST TUT ON 1965 $2 00 TORONTO REG ON B RD CHART 1983 $5 00 CHECKL ST OF PLANTS N FOUR TORONTO PARKS W LKET CREEK H GH PARK HUMBER VALLEY A GRAPH C GU DE TO ONTAR O MOSSES 1985 $5 00 LAMBTON WOODS 1972 $2 00 GU DE TO TORONTO F ELD NATURAL STS’ TORONTO THE GREEN 1976 NATURE RESERVES 2001 $5 00 Metropolitan Toronto's important natural areas are described and recommendations given for their TORONTO SLANDS PLANT COMMUN T ES AND conservation and management NOTEWORTHY SPEC ES 1987 $5 00 includes maps bibliography and index $10 00 TODMORDEN M LLS 1987 $5 00 TORONTO F ELD NATURAL STS RAV NE SURVEYS ea $5 00 Survey No 1 -- Chatsworth Ravine 1973 VASCULAR PLANTS OF METROPOL TAN Survey No 2 -- Brookbanks Ravine 1974 TORONTO 1994 $10 00 Survey No 3 -- Chapman Valley Ravine 1975 Survey No 4 -- Wigmore Ravine 1975 TORONTO CHECKL STS (birds other vertebrates Survey No 5 -- Park Drive Ravine 1976 butterflies other invertebrates mosses other plants) ea 50¢ Survey No 6 -- Burke Ravine 1976 Survey No 7 -- Taylor Creek - Woodbine Bridge Ravines 1977 HUMBER FORKS AT TH STLETOWN 2000 $5 00 Survey No 8 -- West Don Valley 1978

NDEX OF TFN NEWSLETTERS (1938 to 1978) $10 00 Add $2.00 per item for postage and hand ng; no GST. Order from TFN off ce, see address above.

October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-3

TFN MEETING

Sunday, October 14 at 2:30 pm

Protecting the Canadian Boreal Forest – one of the largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon on the planet

Anna Baggio, Director, Conservation Land Use Planning, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS)

VISITORS WELCOME!

SOCIAL: 2:00 - 2:30 pm

Room 001, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, 75 Queen’s Park Cres. East

Emmanuel College is just south of the Museum subway station exit (east side of Queen’s Park). Enter at south end of building, down a few steps on outside stairwell. Wheelchair entrance: Second door south on Queen’s Park (no automatic opener). Elevator inside to the right. Room 001 is one floor below street level.

For information: call 416-593-2656 up to noon on the Friday preceding the lecture.

Upcoming TFN Monthly Meetings Fall Lecture Schedule

Nov. 4 Migratory songbirds – canaries in the coalmine? Bridget Stutchbury, Professor of Biology, York University

Dec. 2 Toronto Waterfront Projects and Natural Habitats Brenda Webster, Project Manager – Planning and Design, Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation

Drawing by Robert Muma from TFN’s publication A Graphic Guide to Mosses TFN 550-4 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

TFN OUTINGS

• TFN events are conducted by unpaid volunteers. • The club assumes no responsibility for injuries sustained by anyone participating in our activities. • Children and visitors are welcome at all TFN events. Children must be accompanied by an adult. • If you plan to bring children in a stroller, be aware that there may be steps or other unsuitable terrain. • Please do not bring pets. • To get to outings on time, check TTC routes and schedules by calling 416-393-4636. • Outings go rain or shine: check the weather by calling 416-661-0123 so you will know what to wear. • Wear appropriate footwear for walking on trails which may be muddy, steep or uneven.

Tuesday, HUMBER RIVER– Nature and Heritage Oct. 2 Leader: Madeleine McDowell 10:00 a.m. Meet at the Old Mill subway station. Lunch optional. Bring binoculars.

Wednesday, SUNNYBROOK PARK – Nature Walk Oct. 3 Leader: Roger Powley 11:00 a.m. Meet at the CNIB bus shelter on east side of Bayview Ave., north of Eglinton Ave. E. Bring binoculars. Lunch optional.

Tuesday, EAST DON – Nature Walk Oct. 9 Leader: Barbara Kalthoff 10:00 a.m. Meet at the northwest corner of Sheppard Ave. E. and Leslie St. Bring binoculars. Lunch optional.

Saturday, EAST POINT – Nature Walk Oct. 13 Leader: D. Andrew White 10:30 a.m. Meet at the southeast corner of Morningside Ave. and Greyabbey Trail. Bring lunch and binoculars.

Tuesday, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK – Birds Oct. 16 Leader: Doug Paton 10:30 a.m. Meet at the southwest corner of Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. W. Bring lunch and binoculars.

Saturday, LESLIE STREET SPIT – Birding Oct. 20, Leader: Carol Sellers 10:30 a.m. Meet at the park entrance at Leslie St. and Unwin Ave. Bring binoculars.

Sunday, CELEBRATE U.N. DAY AT DOWNSVIEW – Lost Rivers Walk Oct. 21 Leaders: Helen Mills and Richard Anderson 2:00 p.m. Meet at the southeast corner of Keele St. and Sheppard Ave. W. Developments at Parc Downsview Park, which is sited on the divide between the Don and Humber watersheds and is the historic headwaters for a number of tributaries flowing into the Don and Black Creek. History of the area. Easy walking. This is a joint outing with Toronto Green Community.

Tuesday, SHERWOOD PARK – Urban Issues Oct. 23 Leader: Janice Palmer 10:00 a.m. Meet at the park gate, east end of Sherwood Ave., 200 meters from bus stop at Mount Pleasant Rd. and Sherwood Ave. Parking is limited. This will be a 2 hour circular hike. We will be looking at some of the problems in a heavily-used park and some of the remediation methods used to reduce human impact. Parts of the walk are quite steep. October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-5

Saturday, LESLIE STREET SPIT – Birds Oct. 27 Leader: Kevin Seymour 10:00 a.m. Meet at the park entrance at Leslie St. and Unwin Ave. Bring lunch and binoculars. Dress warmly.

Sunday, ONE WALK – THREE WATERSHEDS - Urban Geology Oct. 28 Leader: Ken Cook 1:00 p.m. Meet outside the Eglinton West subway station. End at Dufferin St. and Rogers Rd. See what the last glacier did to this area. Duration about 2 hours.

Wednesday, HIGH PARK MINERAL BATHS – Historic Walk Oct. 31 Leader: Roger Powley 11:00 a.m. Meet at the High Park subway station exit on Quebec Ave. Lunch optional.

HIGH PARK AWARDED GRANT

High Park has been named as one of the organizations to receive funding under the new Ontario Species at Risk Stewardship Fund.

High Park Initiatives and the High Park Community Advisory Council applied for funding for habitat restoration, publication of educational booklets (reprinting A Jewel of Toronto’s Park System and a new guidebook focusing on plant species found in the park), and research projects to support the restoration effort.

Restoration work fosters the expansion of wild lupine habitat in the Oak Savannah. This is the food plant of the extirpated Karner Blue butterfly, a species on the province's Protection to Support Recovery list. High Park's stands of Wild Lupine are expected to play a key role in a reintroduction program being planned by Toronto Zoo, by providing food for larvae.

HIGH PARK NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Volunteers are an essential part of the High Park Species at Risk project. You could help with planting events (see Coming Events on page 19) or publishing projects. To find out more, please contact [email protected].

Grenadier Pond, High Park. Photo by Robin Powell TFN 550-6 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

In my role as president I was privileged to preside over 1. Protection of the Boreal Forest in Northern Ontario the 84th Annual General Meeting on September 9. This as the last vast wilderness that still remains as a haven means the TFN is beginning its 85th year (see “From for wildlife and as a carbon storehouse. the Archives, The Early Years”, p. 17). Any 2. Expansion of the Greenbelt and natural heritage anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the connectivity across Southern Ontario, including a Lake past and look to the future. An 85th anniversary calls Simcoe Protection Act. for celebration! We invite your ideas on how to 3. Reinstate funding to the Ministry of Natural commemorate this significant milestone. One of the Resources back up to the 1993 levels as recommended initiatives the board is undertaking is to develop a new by the Environment Commissioner. logo. If you are interested in being involved with this 4. Reintegrate Environmental Education and especially process, please let me know. Outdoor Education into the school curriculum, with funding for children’s nature outings.

In most ways the TFN is continuing the activities that Ask your candidates and their parties where they stand originated in 1923, such as field trips, meetings and on these issues. lectures, and the newsletter, which was first published in 1938. However our modus operandi has been One of our primary objectives is “To stimulate public revolutionized by the computer and its attendant email interest in and understanding of nature...” A recent call and internet access. Elaine Farragher created our first to the office assured me that we are having some website which connected us, literally, to the World success. Not a member (yet), a young teacher had seen Wide Web. Margaret McRae has recently executed a an advertisement for a TFN outing in NOW magazine. major overhaul of the website and we are grateful that She went on it with a friend and had such a wonderful she is keeping us up-to-date in cyberspace. experience that she called the office to see if it would be possible to arrange an outing this fall with her grade The Provincial election in October presents an 7 class. The answer of course is yes, we would be opportunity to influence the future. Ontario Nature has delighted to share our knowledge and enthusiasm for identified four priorities that will support nature in nature. We’ve been doing it for 84 years. Ontario over the long term. Pinky Franklin

October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-7

MONTHLY MEETING REPORT

Adventures in a Palaeontological hinterland: Tropical reefs, giant trilobites and big white bears of the southern Hudson Bay basin.

Sunday, September 9.

David Rudkin, Assistant Curator (Palaeobiology), Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum and Lecturer, Department of Geology, University of Toronto

“It’s easier to work in the Amazon.” With these margins of enormous tropical reefs more than 450 startling words David Rudkin (aka ‘Mr. Trilobite’) million years ago during a time called the Late started TFN’s 2007-8 lecture series with a fascinating Ordovician when Ontario straddled the equator and tale of geological research in the Hudson Bay Low- giant seas flooded the interior of North America. lands. Yes, part of the Province of Ontario but even more remote than the Amazon Basin; no roads, one The warm water limestones have yielded the world’s vast wetland (as a whole, the lowlands are the third largest known trilobite (almost 1 metre in length and largest in the world), ice encrusted coasts even in now in the Guinness Book of Records) and, amazingly, summer and almost no access other than expensively the world’s first trilobite crèche where tiny baby by air. trilobites survived in deep protective crevices in the reef. The oldest known horseshoe crab fossil, giant Most Ontarians are blissfully unaware that in our own brachiopods shells, trilobites with huge distended tails, far north there are white bears, ground that remains and thousands upon thousands of beautifully preserved frozen more or less year round and a crust that is still corals suggest even more amazing discoveries remain rapidly rebounding from the weight of the last ice to be made in the hinterland of our own province in the sheet, creating new land as it rises from the sea. land of the white bear and giant trilobite. Ancient beach ridges only a few thousands of years old are now stranded high and dry many kilometers inland. We thank David for his enthusiastic and enlightening Even the rocks that peer out from below the huge presentation, and for generously allowing us to print spreads of water and peat possess an ethereal ‘out of some of his excellent photographs. this world’ quality. These formed on the coastal Nick Eyles

World's largest known complete trilobite Isotelus rex prior to excavation, Upper Ordovician Churchill River Group (~445 million years old), near Churchill, MB

Impression of coiled nautiloid cephalopod, Upper Ordovician Churchill River Group (~445 million years old), near Churchill, MB

Nested trilobite tails (Ekwanoscutellum ekwanensis), Lower Silurian Attawapiskat Formation (~428 million years old), Attawapiskat River, ON

Young male polar bear, NW coast of Akimiski Island, NU Photos: D. Rudkin, Royal Ontario Museum TFN 550-8 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

MORE SUMMER WALKS Extracts from Outings Leaders’ Reports, July to August 2007

Nature Arts – Invaders! at (July • Several photography sessions for members 31). Leader: Catherine Ukas. Some of the invasives with new cameras to photograph both birds and seen were dog-strangling vine, common reed butterflies. (Phragmites), and Japanese knotweed. We stayed on • Studied common flowers when birds were mown path and couldn’t even see the little pond the scarce. The naturalized area south of the filtration plant area was so overgrown. We stopped to chat with a is an excellent location to look at grasses and volunteer who was working near the trail, pulling out differentiate between purple loosestrife (Lythrum dog-strangling vine. He told us that they had planted salicaria) and blazing star (Liatris), and green-headed trees and laid down black plastic to keep other plants and gray-headed coneflowers. from coming up. • Roger Powley added greatly to the walk by discussing the characteristics of some key trees. Birds and Butterflies on Toronto Island (August 9). • The purple coneflowers (Echinacea) on Centre Leaders: Ann and Brian Gray. Route: Hanlan’s Point Island had red-spotted purple, monarch and red admiral along airport fencing where the meadow is, to the butterflies nectaring together – a wonderful photo-op former “Trout Pond”, out to the lake near Gibraltar end to the outing. Point Centre for the Arts; followed inland waterway to Centre Island. Very few butterflies could cope with [Would participants who took pictures like to share them in the wind and even the Green Darner dragonflies stayed the newsletter? Ed.] down in the grasses most of the time. We saw a Chimney Swift going into a chimney; an American Great Rivers of North York Series at Vyner Ravine Crow being mobbed by a flock of European Starlings; (August 15) and Wilket Creek (August 29). Leader: several fall webworms and webs, and male gypsy Alexander Cappell. The last TFN outing to Vyner moths and egg masses on tree branches. Other Ravine appears to have been in 1989. The ravine is highlights included: chopped into sections by the streets. North of the 401, Vyner Creek (an East Don tributary) is buried. • Excellent studies of adults feeding young: Immediately south of the 401 there are many newly Cedar Waxwings, Chipping Sparrows and American planted trees, but so close together they can’t all Robins, mainly through the telescope. Differentiating survive. Down to Vyner is pretty wild and appears not between males, females, nestlings and fledglings of our much visited. There’s a trail wide enough only for common bird species. One female Mallard on the progress single file. Lots of rose thorns grabbing at pond was escorting and protecting four small chicks. your clothes. South of Vyner is impassable for a large Studies of Belted Kingfishers in two locations • group in summer. The stream bank has collapsed and and Great Blue Herons along the shoreline of the pond the path is blocked with plastic snow fence. South of and inland waterways. Swansdown you find back yard lawns mown right to

the streambank vegetation; you feel like an intruder on private property, so we didn’t go through.

Wilket Creek is underground from Sheppard to York Mills, its presence marked by sewer grates. Just south of the 401 it’s under a mown lawn between high-rises. We had to detour around a gated community. The last section through St Andrews Park is a mown lawn bordered by trees, probably much like the linear golf course it once was. It was a hot, sunny, humid and smoggy day, so we walked in the shade and enjoyed the air-conditioning at the Drawing by Diana Banville. coffee house where we ended up.

October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-9

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TFN WEBSITE

The TFN website has been completely revised since I something missing which you think should be became webmaster in February. This is an introduction included, please let us know. to it for those who are not familiar with it. We also have a list of TFN publications we have The Home Page has a nice photo collage which was on available for sale, a list of recommended field guides, the previous website and contains membership benefits and a page about the Nature Reserves with a link to the and a navigation bar with links to the other pages on photo gallery where pictures of the reserves may be the website. viewed.

There is a new page for Special Events and Announce- We are working on a bird checklist to be published ments with links to more details. Pages for Walks and online. Hopefully it will be there by the time you Lectures are updated regularly and there are pages with receive this newsletter. guidelines on how to dress and behave on walks. Suggestions for improvement may be sent to There is a membership form which may be filled out [email protected]. If you online and printed for mailing so you don’t have to wish to contribute to the photo gallery, please send mutilate your newsletter to renew. digital photos (preferably 800 x 600 pixels) to [email protected]., giving date and We have a page with Guidelines for Walk Leaders and location of photo, name of photographer, and name of a form which allows leaders to submit their outing the subject (including Latin name if you know it). report online. This saves postage and beats having to Credit will be given to the photographer, but we can't decipher handwriting. control how viewers will use the photos on our

We have a Photo Gallery featuring nature photos website. contributed by members. You really have to view it to Access the website at www.torontofieldnaturalists.org appreciate it. and follow the links on the side navigation bar or

We also have a page with Links to Other within the pages. We hope you enjoy it and find it Organizations. It includes Environmental Groups, useful.

Walking Groups, Bird and Insect websites. If there is Margaret McRae, Webmaster

These photos by Margaret McRae are from the Photo Gallery on the TFN website.

Green Frog, Wilket Creek Black-crowned Night-heron, Lower

TFN 550-10 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

RED-EARED SLIDER IN TORONTO

The re-publication of a 1982 booklet on the reptiles Red-eared Sliders are found in many marshes and and amphibians of the Toronto region in the April 2007 ponds in southern Ontario. They are abundant in TFN Newsletter highlights one of the dramatic changes Cootes Paradise, Hamilton. I have seen them in three to our fauna. The most frequent turtle now encountered locations in Toronto: Toronto Island, Grenadier Pond in central Toronto was not even recorded here 25 years and the pond at the bottom of Riverdale Farm, but I’m ago! sure they occur elsewhere.

Red-eared Sliders are native to the U.S. (from Virginia I have noted two unusual features about our sliders. to Florida) but were very popular in the Ontario pet The first is that they emerge very early from trade for decades. Baby turtles were very popular but a hibernation. I have seen them basking several times in lot of people did not realize the cute tiny turtles might late March or early April when temperatures were only carry salmonella or that they could grow almost to one slightly above freezing—much cooler that our native foot. In Ontario, pet turtles were estimated to cause Painted Turtles would accept. 14% of reported cases of salmonella in humans. Because of this, in the 1970s the U.S. banned the sale The second is that most of the sliders we see are large. of Red-eared Sliders less than 4 inches in length. To my knowledge there have been no observations of egg-laying or successful hatching by Ontario’s Red- Most people could not face killing their pet Red-eared eared Sliders. Have they not adapted sufficiently to our Slider so they simply tossed them into the drink—and weather? We see so many and with climate warming the turtles survived. Over time, the intentional transfer perhaps they will soon succeed in reproducing here. As from fishbowl to Toronto waterways has led to a semi- they live in warm polluted waters, I do not fear they permanent population of the species. pose any threat to our native species.

A small to medium Red-eared Slider has yellow stripes Adult turtles have few predators and can live forty or on the head and neck and a bright red ear patch. It fifty years. So regardless of whether the Red-eared looks quite a bit like our native Painted Turtle except Slider can reproduce in our environment, we will see for the diagnostic red patch. This should make sliders them in the Toronto area for many years to come. easy to identify. But not so fast! As sliders get older, their pigment darkens such that big old individuals are George Bryant completely black.

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN TORONTO

In March and April, the newsletter included mini- field guides to help identify amphibians and reptiles in Toronto so that members could record their sightings of these animals in order to update distribution information about them.

Please remember to send your 2007 sightings of amphibians and reptiles to Bob Johnson, Toronto Zoo, 361A Old Finch Ave., Scarborough, ON M1B 5K7, or email to [email protected]

Please include observer’s name, date, exact location Young snapping turtle on Toronto Island, and habitat. September 2, 2007. Photo by Jenny Bull

Visit www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond for species identification guides. October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-11

ECOLOGY TIDBITS

Effects of rising CO2 on vegetation. Human Researchers are trying to find out how accurate these activities, particularly burning fossil fuels and conjectures are. Natural systems are complex so this destroying forests, have caused carbon dioxide levels task is not easy. Physiologists conduct laboratory in the atmosphere to rise over the past century, and experiments on tree seedlings to determine how they they will most likely continue to rise well into the next. respond to varying levels of CO2 and other nutrients, The best known effects of this rise in CO2 are global but these studies tell us little about how whole warming and associated climate changes. Climate ecosystems work. In order to address broader change obviously affects vegetation, but changes in questions, ecologists have developed experimental atmospheric CO2 concentrations can also affect vege- methods for manipulating CO2 levels in patches of tation directly. In the process of photosynthesis, plants natural habitat, such as the “free air CO2 enrichment” use energy from the sun to take the carbon from CO2 (FACE) projects in southeastern US forests. molecules and the hydrogen from water molecules, and to recombine the carbon and hydrogen to build sugar Most studies have found that elevated CO2 does molecules which are then assembled into starches and indeed increase the growth of vegetation, and that over cellulose. Carbon dioxide is thus a plant nutrient. the duration of the experiments to date (less than 10 years) this increase has not been limited by PNL. Some people have argued that because plants use CO2 Increased carbon dioxide seems to stimulate nitrogen we shouldn’t worry about pumping more CO2 into the cycling and microbial nitrogen fixation, thus slowing atmosphere. Plants will simply take up the excess CO2, PNL or even increasing nitrogen accumulation, but it is preventing runaway climate change while giving us hard to say how long this effect can continue (Johnson lusher vegetation and bigger crop yields to boot. This 2006; Luo et al. 2006; Norby and Iverson 2006). In any happy scenario is promoted by the Greening Earth case, the plant productivity gains for most species are Society, an organization which (you will not be relatively modest and the resulting increase in carbon surprised to learn) is largely funded by the coal uptake by vegetation may be small compared to the industry. There is a wrinkle, though. Plant growth is increase in atmospheric carbon that causes the limited by whatever nutrient is in shortest supply. If accelerated growth (Mohan et al. 2007). your lawn is yellow because it is not getting enough nitrogen, spreading potassium fertilizer on it will not It turns out that one way plants react to elevated CO2 help much. Similarly, increasing CO2 might only in the face of limited nitrogen resources is, as I increase plant growth where other nutrients are in suggested, to grow faster but produce tissue with a abundance. In natural ecosystems, nitrogen is lower nitrogen content. Lakehead University commonly a limiting nutrient because it is available to researchers Zhang and Dang (2006) found this to occur plants only from organic matter or from bacteria that for birch seedlings in the lab. “FACE” experiments can fix it from the air. Some scientists therefore expect have produced similar results. Nitrogen limitations do that rising CO2 will give plant growth only a short- not prevent forests from growing faster when exposed term boost. Once plants have “mined” the reserves of to elevated carbon dioxide, but nitrogen concentrations fixed nitrogen in the soil, the rate of plant growth will in foliage do drop by about 12% (Norby and Iverson be limited by nitrogen availability. This process is 2006:11), and the ratio of nitrogen to carbon in the called “progressive nitrogen (or nutrient) limitation” total forest biomass also declines (Finzi et al. 2006). (“PNL”) (Johnson 2006). We might also expect rising This phenomenon helps to account for the failure of CO2 to give a competitive advantage to species that researchers to find the expected PNL effect, but also require less nitrogen or other limiting nutrients, and to indicates that the nutritional value of plants may be produce the greatest growth in plant tissues highest in impaired by rising CO2 levels. Mohan et al. (2007) carbon relative to other elements. Since carbon is used found that while seedlings of most kinds of trees to make carbohydrates and nitrogen is used to make exposed to elevated CO2 grew only a bit faster than amino acids, rising CO2 might result in vegetation that those that were not, black locust seedlings grew more is higher in carbs and lower in protein, with than three times as fast as normal when exposed to implications for herbivore nutrition that would high CO2. Locust trees, like other members of the pea reverberate up the food chain. family, host symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their

TFN 550-12 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

ECOLOGY TIDBITS continued root system. This observation is consistent with the enriched atmosphere than trees growing in more idea that scarce nitrogen limits most plants’ response to moderate shade” (Sefcik et al. 2006). Perhaps, surpris- elevated CO2, and with the idea that rising CO2 in the ingly, this effect seems to be strongest in species that atmosphere may affect the composition of plant require relatively little light to begin with. Mohan et al. communities by benefiting some plants (such as those (2007) found that although elevated CO2 slightly not subject to nitrogen limitation) more than others. improved the survival and growth of shade-intolerant seedlings planted in the shade of a North Carolina There is one more ecologically relevant aspect of plant loblolly pine woods, it had the greatest effect on the physiology to discuss. The more carbon dioxide there growth of shade-tolerant understory species, particular- is in the air, the less light a plant needs in order to carry ly winged elm and southern sugar maple. The ecologi- out photosynthesis. This means that understory plants cal implications of these observations are unclear, but will tend to benefit from rising CO2 more than open they seem to suggest that rising carbon dioxide country plants and canopy trees will. Results of one concentrations in the atmosphere will tend to make for study involving beech, sugar maple, black cherry and denser underbrush and accelerated forest succession. white birch “suggest that in N-limited northern temperate forests, trees grown in deep shade may Allan Greenbaum display greater photosynthetic gains from a CO2-

References: Finzi, Adrien et al. 2006. Progressive Nitrogen Limitation of Ecosystem Processes under Elevated CO2 in a Warm-Temperate Forest. Ecology 87(1): 15-25. Johnson, Dale. 2006. Progressive N Limitation in Forests: Review and Implications for Long-term Responses to Elevated CO2. Ecology 87(1): 64-75. Luo, Yiqi, Dafeng Hui and Deqiang Zhang. 2006. Elevated CO2 Stimulates Net Accumulations of Carbon and Nitrogen in Land Ecosystems: A Meta-Analysis. Ecology 87(1): 53-63. Mohan, Jacqueline, James Clark and William Schlesinger. 2007. Long-term CO2 Enrichment of a Forest Ecosystem: Implications for Forest Regeneration and Succession. Ecological Applications 17(4): 1198-1212. Norby, Richard and Colleen Iverson. 2006. Nitrogen Uptake, Distribution, Turnover and Efficiency of Use in a CO2-Enriched Sweetgum Forest. Ecology 87(1): 5-14. Sefcik. L. T., D. R. Zak and D.S. Ellsworth. 2006. Photosynthetic Responses to Understory Shade and Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentration in Four Northern Hardwood Species. Tree Physiology 26(12):1589-99. Zhang, S. and Q.L. Dang. 2006. Effects of Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Nutrition on Photosynthetic Functions of White Birch Seedlings. Tree Physiology 26(11): 1457-67.

EASTERN LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE RECOVERY PROGRAM

Jessica Steiner, Species Recovery Biologist, Wildlife Preservation Canada, reports over 100 juvenile shrikes were released in Ontario this summer, and productivity was also relatively high in the wild population.

As the young birds begin their southward migration, Jessica asks that we report any shrike sightings to Wildlife Preservation Canada, paying particular attention to leg band combinations. They are especially interested in birds wearing a green band, as these were released from their captive-breeding program.

Contact Information: Tel: 519-836-9314 Fax: 519-836-8840 [email protected] www.wildlifepreservation.ca RR#5 5420 Highway 6 North, Guelph ON N1H 6J2

October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-13

KEEPING IN TOUCH

THE ARBORETUM THAT PLANTED ITSELF – Linda Stemmler wrote asking for volunteers to assist UPDATE with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority In the October 2005 newsletter, I described an area on (TRCA)’s Terrestrial Heritage surveys. Biologists my apartment house lawn where self-seeded plants cover the entire natural system in the TRCA grew wild because a chain-link fence kept the lawn jurisdiction in 10 to 15 years. Volunteers are assigned mowers out. Some of these plants were trees, 10-hectare plots to survey 10 times a year for various including an apple, a buckthorn, a chokecherry and a species which are indicators of the sites' health. They peach. survey for many interesting species, everything from certain lichens (indicators of air quality) to frogs, In 2006, the apple had about twenty flowers and no songbirds, wildflowers, trees, mammals and the fruit. The “peach” was covered with pink flowers and Screech Owl. There is an interesting training session then with, oops, not peaches, but nectarines, about half each season and fieldtrips to see/hear/learn the the size of store-bought ones, which ripened to reddish- indicator species. Linda has been monitoring her site black. What the squirrels didn’t eat fell on the ground in parkland north of Old Mill subway station for over 2 or shrivelled on the tree; a year later, there are still bare years, usually at dusk or dawn. Please contact her at nectarine pits attached to the branches. or if you are interested

in joining her for one or more surveys. Neither the apple nor the nectarine flowered in 2007, but they grew much taller, the apple from 8 feet in 2005 to 15 feet in 2007. The buckthorn and the chokecherry both flowered and fruited.

Alexander Cappell

Sandy Cappell also reported that he and ex-TFN President Alex Wellington had found pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) growing by Duncan Woods Creek near Leslie St. and Steeles Ave E. Though this plant is known in Simcoe County and southwestern Ontario, it is virtually unknown in the GTA. Sandy's excitement over this discovery was dampened, however, when he heard from Ken Cook that pokeweed has been available as a garden plant so it is quite likely that this specimen is a garden escape and not from a wild population.

Susan Weiss was on the Butterfly Outing on Toronto Island on August 9 (see More Summer Outings, page 8). She recorded in her TFN Journal that "During ferry boat voyage we I.D.'d the blimp in gusty winds over the harbour and as we walked the fenced perimeter of the airport we were lucky to the see the blimp brought to the ground by a large land crew manually grappling with dangling ropes." These photos were taken by Yoshie Nagata at Rouge Correction: We regret an error in the credit for the Valley on August 12, 2007. The Garter Snake was seen illustration in Remembering Jean Macdonald (TFN at "Snake Path", while the Barn Swallow babies were 549-14). This was a drawing of Jean by Diana seen on the front porch of Pearse House. Banville. Ed. KEEPING IN TOUCH continued on next page

TFN 550-14 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

FOR READING

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd, 2007, 209 pages, $14.95

This is a very funny book! From the title I was expect- The format of the book is simple: someone asks a ing a rather dry recital of facts about birds; instead I question and he answers it. Chapters are organized found myself laughing out loud. There are lots of facts around a theme, e.g. attracting birds, feeding and but the presentation of them is wonderfully different. bathing, mystery birds, etc. The questions are good: does feeding birds keep them from migrating? should Mike O'Connor founded the Bird Watcher's General baby birds be handled? is throwing rice at weddings Store in Cape Cod in the early 1980s. He took up bad for birds? are Blue Jays bullies? The answers are birdwatching in his twenties and gradually developed a really solid and done in such an amusing way you're real fondness for birds and knowledge of their habits. likely to remember them. As a store owner he was being asked questions, often the same questions many times. So he started writing a This book would make a nice inexpensive gift to column called "Ask the Bird Folks" for the local Cape yourself or to anyone you know who is interested in Cod weekly paper. As a column writer he was being birds. I picked up some new information and had a asked for photocopies of his columns by people who great time reading it. had missed or misplaced them. So he gathered almost a Carol Sellers hundred of his columns into this book.

KEEPING IN TOUCH continued

Here's a photo of a female Canvasback with chicks seen over the concrete break-wall along the boardwalk on Toronto Island on June 7th. The June TOC newsletter, reporting on the Leslie St. Spit states: "Canvasback ducks were spotted and are hopefully nesting nearby." Was this young family on a trip to the Island from the Spit or had it managed to launch at a beach further down and made its way along the concrete shoreline? We had seen a male at the "Trout Pond" a few days before. Jenny Bull

Eva Davis sent in a page from Take Algonquin Park is being logged. Surprisingly only 14% of Ontarians Action with an article from The New are aware of this. There are over 8000 kms of logging roads in the Park York Times (June 19 2007) by Verlyn compared to 5300 kms of roads in Toronto! Klinkenborg about a report from the Audubon Society that describes “sharp 79% of Ontarians are opposed to logging in parks and 90% agree that and startling population declines” of Ontario should protect more forests as a shield against global warming. some North American birds. Eva The new Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act makes it particularly noted the concluding illegal to log in all of Ontario’s protected areas except one – paragraph which states: “The trouble Algonquin. Furthermore, a recent Ontario Parks Board report clearly with humans is that even the smallest states that we can increase protection in Algonquin from 22% to 54% changes in our behavior require an (an increase of 2,500 sq km) - without affecting any of the logging epiphany. We look around us, expecting industry jobs. To contact the Premier of Ontario to let him know that the rest of the world’s occupants to adapt Algonquin Park is important to you, you can send a letter through the to the changes that we have caused, website www.savealgonquin.ca or write to: Premier Dalton McGuinty, when, in fact, we have the right to expect Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON M7A 1A1 adaptation only from ourselves.” Eva also sent in the summer issue of Wild From Wild Notes, summer 2007 Notes from Wildlands League on Wildlands League / Canadian Park and Wilderness Society Algonquin Park (see extract at right). October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-15

FOR THE BIRDS

The TFN receives newsletters and reports from many other organizations. In recent months, they have included the following news about birds.

The Spring 2007 issue of Touching Down, newsletter contributions to …. bird conservation.” Sample ideas of FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) contained include architectural innovation, city-wide bird protect- an article profiling TFN that included thanks to our tion policies, Lights Out! and Cats Indoors! campaigns organization for support of FLAP’s efforts to reduce and pesticide policies. Help in preparing guidelines bird collisions with buildings. The article featured a that will improve the bird-friendliness of public and bird rescue story from TFN member, Eva Davis. Eva private buildings is offered to municipalities by CWS. wrote: Years past, I was ambling along the Danforth in * * * * stifling midday heat when a bird literally dropped at Friends of the Spit reported in their June 2007 my feet. It had rebounded from a store window. It newsletter that a Third Edition Bird Checklist, appeared dead, but I took it to the nearest animal Tommy Thompson Park/Leslie St. Spit has been sanctuary (I couldn’t, after all, leave it put together by volunteers, including Friends of to be trampled upon). While the Spit. The checklist includes over 300 waiting my turn, my “dead” bird species seen at the Spit, an perked up and expressed extreme internationally recognized IBA displeasure at being hand-held by (Important Bird Area). No sooner giving me several good jabs. Next had the new checklist gone to press day I called to pay for any than three new species showed up required treatment and was told, on the Spit: Western Grebe, glowingly, “No fee. Our Oven- Ruffed Grouse and Yellow- bird not only revived but took throated Warbler. The list is off for her northern forests.” available from the Toronto * * * * Region Conservation Authority Western Grebe. (TRCA) or by downloading it from In collaboration with FLAP, the City has Drawing by Geraldine Goodwin. included Bird-Friendly Development the Friends new website: Guidelines in its Green Development Standard. The www.friendsofthespit.ca (plant and butterfly Guidelines are part of the Migratory Bird Policies checklists also available). adopted by City Council in January 2006 and are in * * * * addition to the Lights Out Toronto! campaign that The May 2007 issue of the Toronto Ornithological takes place every spring and fall when birds are Club (TOC)’s Newsletter reported on subsequent migrating though the City. The city considers the sightings of the Western Grebe that Bob Kortright guidelines to be in keeping with the policy objective and TFN members on a TFN outing at the Leslie St. set out in City of Toronto Official Plan that Spit first saw on March 10. First reported as a Clark’s ‘environmental concerns must … be part of our Grebe, it was seen and identified as a Western Grebe everyday decision-making…’ Presented in a glossy over the next couple of weeks. On March 25, still at booklet with many beautiful photographs of birds the Spit, it was heard to give a double-note call. The (many by Mark Peck who spoke to the TFN in April newsletter goes on to report that, “based on initial 2006), the booklet provides practical ideas for building photos, a couple of experts suggested it could be an and lighting design that help to lower the probability of ‘intermediate type’ or hybrid, but others favoured bird collisions. The booklet can be viewed at Western. Over the following weeks it appeared to get a www.toronto.ca/lightsout/pdf/development_ little darker around the lores and eyes and the general guidelines.pdf opinion shifted to Western…”

* * * * * * * * A glossy pamphlet, Bird-Friendly Cities: saving The June issue of the TOC’s Newsletter reports on a money, energy and lives, put out by Environment field trip made by members to look at recently Canada and Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), FLAP, completed shorebird habitat [created by TRCA] on and the City of Toronto, promotes the idea “that the Leslie St. Spit. “Water levels are controllable in municipal governments can make significant TFN 550-16 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007 the two shallow ponds and benthic material will be 90 percent have been seen. added over the next few weeks in hopes of creating the (www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom) feeding material for the birds in fall migration.” * * * * * * * * In the Autumn 2007 issue of ON Nature, Peter Christie The City’s Fun Guide 2006-2007 provides information reviews the results presented in the new edition of The on participating in the Toronto Bird Flyways Project. Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario. Did you The Project aims to further the improvement of sites in know that the Nashville Warbler is Ontario's most three of Toronto’s river valleys: Humberwood in the abundant bird? Estimates put its Ontario summer West Humber, Park in the Don and population at 15 million! While a surprising number of Woodlands Park in the Rouge. As well as enhancing species are increasing, others have declined since the bird flyway corridors that connect to larger continental first Atlas was published in 1987. These include ecosystems, the project provides great opportunities for Spotted Sandpiper, Ovenbird and Common Moorhen, bird watchers. You can volunteer at planting events or down 18%, 22% and 38% respectively. by participating in the Community Stewardship Some birds such as the Northern Mockingbird Program. Plant native trees, shrubs and wildflowers, weed appear to have moved north (see article in TFN 546, invasive non-native plants, water, mulch, build bird March 2007). Opinions vary as to whether or not this boxes and brush bundles for bird habitat and monitor is caused by climate change. Peter Blancher of the ecological conditions at selected restoration project sites. Canadian Wildlife Service says there is evidence that For more information on the Toronto Bird Flyways more species are moving south, due to reforestation in Project or how to get involved call 416-392-LEAF southern Ontario.

(5323). * * * * The Toronto Star travel section (August 4, 2007) reported that Pearson Airport has two Gyr-Saker hybrid falcons to scare away other birds. According to The Birder’s Handbook*, a Saker is an Asian falcon that is “rather like a slightly smaller version of the Gyrfalcon.” *The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds by Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin and Darryl Wheye.

* * * * Bird Studies Canada reported in the Spring 2007 issue of BirdWatch the publication of The Marsh Moni- Chimney Swift. Drawing by toring Program 1995 –2004: A Decade of Monitoring Diana Banville from a Maslowski photo. in the Great Lakes Region. This successful program, involving hundreds of volunteers, “has found that Habitat loss has led to rapid decline of Chimney Swifts populations of many species of frogs, toads and birds and Common Nighthawks, both recently added to the that rely heavily on healthy marsh habitats have been threatened species list by the Committee on the Status declining since surveys began.” In their Marsh Havens of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. "Ironically both report, the information gathered on habitat preferences species have adapted well to urban environments and and needs for a number of species is used to guide were considered common in towns and cities. As marsh management and restoration efforts. The reports forest habitat disappeared Chimney Swifts switched are available at www.bsc-eoc.org/library. from using hollow snags for nesting and roosting to using chimneys. With the loss of grassland habitat, the * * * * Common Nighthawk switched to nesting on gravel A media release from WWF (Nov. 2006) reports that a rooftops. Unfortunately, suitable breeding habitat is review of 200 scientific articles on birds around the now becoming scarce . . . as chimneys are modified or world shows that climate change is affecting birds’ disappear altogether, and as tar replaces gravel behaviour. Some migratory birds are no longer roofing." migrating, and many birds are “out of synchrony with key elements of their ecosystems.” Birds with Another good reason for green roofs in the city? Ed. specialist habitats are most vulnerable. Declines up to October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-17

FROM THE ARCHIVES

TORONTO FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB, THE By 1926 the Toronto Field Naturalists' Club (TFN) was EARLY YEARS, extracted from TFN Newsletter no. a well-established and going organization. A pattern of 100, April 1951 and presumably written by Richard M. activities, centering upon a series of lectures during the Saunders, Newsletter editor 1938 to 1965. fall and winter, and upon field trips in the spring, had been created. The outstanding event of the (1927-28) About the first of June, 1923, two friends met at the period was the visit of Ernest Thompson Seton, the corner of Church and Colborne Streets in Toronto. famous naturalist, an uncle of Stuart Thompson (TFN They were Mr. Will F. Gregory, a business man (later a president 1927-1929), to Toronto, the site of so many teacher), and Dr. Lyman B. Jackes, then Director of of his early experiences with nature, at the joint Visual Aid, Department of Education. As they were invitation of the TFN and the Y.M.C.A. He gave two both keen naturalists, their conversation soon turned to lectures "Voices of the Night" and "Wild Animals I recent observations and experiences in the realm of Have Known". nature. From this they progressed to a discussion of the need for an organization in Toronto which would Another very important step, taken in 1929-30, to provide opportunities for people like themselves who arouse the greater interest in nature among young and were interested in nature to meet together, make field old was the founding of a nature trail in Sunnybrook trips, to exchange observations, hear lectures, and Park. A special field day was held there on June 7, increase their knowledge of natural history. Mr. 1930, for the purpose of opening the new trail, believed Gregory suggested that he would interview several to be the first city nature trail opened in Canada. The men who would be most likely to co-operate in the establishment of the Nature Trail and the appointment forming of such a society. With that the two friends of (TFN member) Mr. L.T. Owens as Nature Guide parted. were parts of a program of co-operation between the TFN and the Parks Department of the City of Toronto. Mr. Gregory first went to see Prof. R.B. Thomson of the Department of Botany at the University of Toronto. A steady increase in the number of local hikes The plan of organizing a society for naturalists, young sponsored by the club also took place during the and old, experienced and inexperienced, received his 1930's. By 1938 the customary four field trips a year warm approval. He suggested a list of men with whom of the earlier period had become 37. Attendance at the subject should be discussed. Mr. Gregory then hikes had varied considerably. Nonetheless during the called on Prof. E.M. Walker of the Department of first ten years a successful general hike saw around a Biology and received his hearty endorsement of the hundred people in the field. In the second decade there plan. was a sharp increase. Two hundred, three hundred and on one memorable occasion, an unmanageable four The date of June 12, 1923, was set for the organization hundred people for a popular general field trip. meeting. After careful preparation the Toronto Field Naturalists' Club was launched upon a public career on Always connected with going afield has been the October 29, 1923. Two meetings were held that day, Newsletter which came into the Club's life in 1938. one in the afternoon, for "school teachers and senior The original suggestion that there should be a pupils", one in the evening "with the addition of newsletter was made by Mrs. Harvey Agnew. The first music" for the general public. The first year's program number of the Newsletter, two pages in length, was brought to a close by two field trips, the first of appeared in September, 1938. which was held on April 26, 1924. The route followed was from the end of the College Street carline in High When the war broke out in 1939, the Club, like other Park to the lakeshore, thence up the Humber. The societies, began to feel the impact at once. Several other field trip of this season was held at Armour members had been intercepted by the police while Heights on May 31. At the end of the first year the observing birds. Some of the activities of the Club had club had prospered so well that there were 162 to be cut out temporarily. Men leaving for service members. reduced the number of leaders available for field trips.

FROM THE ARCHIVES continued on page 18

TFN 550-18 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

WEATHER (THIS TIME LAST YEAR)

October, 2006

October began with a warm interlude after a fairly cool the rest of the month. Temperatures from the 20th to (by recent standards) September. Summer-like frontal 29th remained below 10°. Rain was frequent. October thunderstorms on the 3rd to 4th were followed by a ended up being the coldest October since 1993. It sunny warm Thanksgiving. Temperatures peaked averaged 9.7° downtown (0.9° below normal) and 8.7° before Thanksgiving with 24° on the 4th. However, at Pearson Airport (just 0.2° below the long-term 30- readings in the twenties prevailed until the end of that year average but 1.3° below the 10-year 1997-2006 weekend, when a strong trough that prevailed off and average). The relatively small departures were due to on for the rest of the month swept in. the early-month warmth and increasing urban heat island effects along with the broader warming trend. A cold outbreak on the 12th to 13th brought the first While locally cool, October was unusually warm in frost and flurries to the Toronto area with only Europe and the Canadian arctic. thoroughly downtown areas escaping. At the same time, an incredibly early heavy lake-effect snow event Rainfall was heavy, with 120.6 mm at Pearson Airport, hit the Buffalo / Niagara area downwind of Lake Erie. the highest since 1995. Downtown had 138.4 mm, Some areas had up to 60 cm of wet snow. It was one of making it the wettest October since the Hurricane the earliest major snowfalls on record in the lower Hazel year of 1954. In spite of this, sunshine was only Great Lakes. slightly below average with 140.8 hours. The first ten days of October were mostly sunny, and the sun Although the snow of course did not persist (and only reappeared also during the final week. affected a few local areas mostly in upstate New Gavin Miller York), it remained cold, windy and unsettled most of

FROM THE ARCHIVES, continued from page 17

At one time the Wartime Prices and Trade Board active service. Letters relating nature observations enquired seriously into the right of the Club to continue made near military camps and at the front also found publication of the Newsletter. After proper investi- their way into the pages of the Newsletter. For those at gation, though, permission to continue issue was home, the Club provided a welcome and necessary granted "provided the amount of paper for any one relaxation from wartime anxieties. The membership of issue does not exceed four tons." The club was able to the Club steadily increased in the war years. use the Newsletter to help its members who were abroad to keep in touch with home, by sending copies From its origin in a conversation on a street corner, the to them and other interested naturalists who were on Toronto Field Naturalists’ Club has grown to a large, highly-organized and influential society. It is indeed a major factor in the cultural life of the City of Toronto.

An autumn pattern, Bright leaf on grey river pebble So pleases the eye. haiku by Arthur Wade

Flash fire amidst the evergreen… merely sumac out of control. Nature’s sleight-of hand. haiku by Eva Davis

October 2007 Toronto Field Naturalist TFN 550-19

COMING EVENTS

Jim Baillie Memorial Bird Walks – Toronto Ornithological Club Sat. Oct. 6, 8:00 am (all day). Late Migration, Toronto Island. Leader Herb Elliott. Meet at the Toronto Island Ferry Dock at the foot of Bay St. to catch the 8:15 am ferry to Hanlan’s Point. Free. Bring lunch.

Toronto Entomologists’ Association (TEA) Sat. Oct. 27, 1:15 pm Butterflies of Costa Rica by Jessica Grealey. Northrop Frye Hall, Room 006, Victoria College. Information: www.ontarioinsects.org

High Park Native Plant Sale and Harvest Festival Sun. Sept. 30, 12 noon to 3 pm. At Colborne Lodge

High Park Volunteer Stewardship Program Sundays, 10:30 am to 1:00 pm. Meet in front of Grenadier Cafe. • Oct. 14 Tree Planting near Allotment Gardens • Oct. 28 Buckthorn cutting/trail work and/or seed collecting

High Park Walking Tours Sundays at 1:15 pm. Meet at benches across the road south of Grenadier Café. Donation: $2. Information: 416-392-1748 ext. 5 or www.highpark.org • Oct. 7 Fall Wildflowers and Seeds • Oct. 21 Wendigo Creek

Rouge Valley Hikes 1:30 pm (approx. 1.5 to 2 hrs). Meet at Rouge Valley Conservation Centre (RVCC – Pearse House), 1749 Meadowvale Rd., Scarborough (bus 85B from subway station; 86A from Kennedy subway station; 85A from Rouge Hills GO station). • Tue. Oct. 9 Fall colours and salmon • Sun. Oct. 28 Fall nature walk

Science on Sundays Sundays at 3 pm. Royal Canadian Institute, J.J.R. Macleod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Bldg., University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle. Free. Information: 416-977-2983 • Oct. 21 Beyond the Visible Universe: Dark Clouds, Galaxy Collisions and the Origin of Stars. Speaker Christine Wilson. • Oct. 28 The Science in Computer Science: a Journey Through Abstractions. Speaker Hamzeh Roumani.

Ian Wheal Walks • Sat. Oct. 6, 2 pm. Irish Toronto Heritage Walk: Corktown to Don Pinnacle. Meet at southeast corner of Queen St. E. and Power St. • Sat. Oct. 27, 2 pm. Ontario Stockyards Legacy: a walk of remnants of an era. Meet at southwest corner of Dundas St. W. and Keele St.

Botanical Artists of Canada – Native Plants at Toronto’s Todmorden Mills Oct. 4–28, Wed. to Sun. 12 noon to 4 pm. Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Art Centre, 67 Pottery Rd. Information: www.botanicalartistsofcanada.org

Friends of the Don East Information: www.fode.ca or telephone 416-657-2800 • Sat. Oct. 13, 10 am. Taylor Creek Park Planting. Meet at parking lot below Stan Wadlow Park, at end of Haldon Ave. Transit access via Cosburn 87 bus from Broadview or Main subway stations. • Sat. Oct. 20, 10 am. St. Clair Ravine Planting. Meet at Anaconda Ave. entrance to St. Clair Ravine (within walking distance of Warden subway station).

Climate Change and the Future of Ontario's Forests: Can We Help Our Urban and Rural Forests Adapt? Thur. Oct. 18. Black Creek Pioneer Village. Full-day seminar. Ontario Urban Forest Council. Information: www.oufc.org.

The Nature of Climate Change: Forum 2007 Oct. 26. Carolinian Canada Coalition, London, Ont. Visit www.carolinian.org for a draft program and registration details.

TFN 550-20 Toronto Field Naturalist October 2007

Toronto Field Naturalists Publications Mail Registration No. 40049590 2 Carlton St., #1519 Toronto, Ontario M5B 1J3

TFN outing at Humber Pay Park East, September 4, 2007. Photo by Norah Jancik