Island Naturalist
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ISLAND NATURALIST ISSUE # 213 OCT. - DEC., 2014 NATURE PEI - NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND P.O. BOX 2346, CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. C1A 8C1 Meetings are held of the first Tuesday of the month from October to June at 7:30 p.m. at Beaconsfield’s Carriage House, corner of West and Kent Street in Charlottetown. Each meeting commences with a brief business meeting followed by a nutrition break and our guest speaker. Members and non-members are welcome. Membership is open to anyone interested in the natural history of Prince Edward Island. Membership is available at any meeting or by contacting the Treasurer at P.O. Box 2346, Charlottetown PE C1A 8C1. Annual membership is $20 and renewals are due in January. Multi-year renewals are $20 per year for which you wish to renew. Membership expiry dates are shown in the top right hand corner of the mailing label or by a notice provided to those receiving electronic newsletters. The Society is directed by a volunteer Executive elected from its members. 2014 Executive: President ........................................................Rosemary Curley, Stratford 569-1209 [email protected] Vice-President .......................................................................Vacant ........................................................... Past President ................................... ...............Ian Scott, Charlottetown 892-5796 [email protected] Secretary ........................................Bonnie McOrmond, Charlottetown 628-6994 [email protected] Treasurer ........................................................Don Jardine, Winsloe South 368-2549 [email protected] Director- Program & Publicity .........................Diane Griffin, Stratford 569-2343 [email protected] Director - Field Trips ........................Ron Arvidson, South Melville 658-2566 [email protected] Newsletter Editor........................................Dan McAskill, Donagh 569-4351 [email protected] NEWSLETTERS are normally published quarterly and are available in Acrobat Reader colour format via E-mail or in black & white hard copy delivered by mail. Hard copies are printed on recycled paper. Articles, notes, reports, drawings, bird sightings, plant records, pictures, etc. are welcomed from members and non-members. If you have seen anything unusual, please share it with us. It is important to have your nature observations recorded so that others may learn from them. All contributions should be sent by mail to Dan McAskill, Newsletter Editor, Nature PEI (NHSPEI), 368 Brazel Road, Donagh, P.E.I. C1B 0T9 or via E-mail to [email protected] The next deadline for articles, sightings, or other newsletter information is March 6, 2014. Illustrations/Pictures: The Society extends a special thanks to Greg Feetham, Don Jardine, Troy McMullin, Dale Murchison, Nature PEI, and John te Raa, and for their photographs and illustrations in this issue. Reprinting: Editors of other newsletters and teachers wishing to copy classroom materials are welcome to reprint articles from the Island Naturalist (except when copyrighted). Due acknowledgment must be provided to the Island Naturalist, the author and illustrator. Web page: www.NaturePEI.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NaturePEI Nature PEI gratefully acknowledges support from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development which enables distribution of newsletters to schools and libraries desiring it. The Society has representation on the board of the Island Nature Trust. The Society is a registered, non-profit organization (Part 2, Companies Act). Tax receipts are issued for donations to the Society and these funds are used to further the work of the Society. Cover Illustration: Many Islanders will know the Old Man’s Beard (Usnea longissima) lichen. This image captured on PEI by Troy McMullin is of an unusually long specimen found during recent surveys of rare lichens (see article on page 4). The Parula Warbler nests in thick clumps of Old Man’s Beard an unusually long specimen for eastern North America. 2 NATURE PEI NEWS: The Nature PEI Executive Council has had an active autumn and early winter season. Rosemary Curley arranged for presentations on Lyme Disease in conjunction with PEI Dept Agriculture and Forestry and Atlantic Veterinary College, both taking place on Sept 25th. The Society provided ~$100 to assist with travel costs for Dr Vett Lloyd of Mt A. (See Tick Talk article in this issue of the Island Naturalist). The Nomination Committee was established with Ian Scott, Rosemary Curley and Diane Griffin agreeing to serve on it The Society has continued discussions with Dr. David Keenlyside of the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation regarding the development of a Rare Bird Display at Eptek Centre, the development of an Island Magazine nature anthology of natural history articles from the Island Magazine, and the development of a natural history museum for PEI. The museum has advised that the anthology is a non-priority item due to lack of funding. In addition to these initiatives, the Society prepared a nomination for a worthy candidate for the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation’s Natural Heritage Award which will be presented in February, 2015. The success of the Wildlife Conservation Fund license plate series has been astounding with tens of thousands in new money being dedicated to wildlife conservation projects on PEI. While many of the licenses have been purchased by anglers, hunters, and trappers, many have been purchased by those who do not pursue or no longer pursue these activities. As there is a pressing need to address a wider scope of conservation projects, Nature PEI wrote to the Wildlife Conservation Fund Committee requesting a broader representation on the committee. As a result, a new biodiversity representative position has been established with Diane Griffin the successful candidate . The Society nominated Rosemary Curley as a non-consumptive representative for the Committee, however, Beth Hoar was selected in the position. Nature PEI wrote the Minister of Environment, Labour and Justice asking for reinstatement of the natural area designation just west of Crowbush Golf Course and a response was received saying it might be designated if Minister Janice Sherry agrees. This information was forwarded to the Forests Fish and Wildlife Division for action. On behalf of Nature PEI, Rosemary Curley met with PEI National Park staff in November to provide comments on the proposed green space development plan for Cavendish Grove. On behalf of Island naturalists, the Society sent a letter to Eleanor Fast, the new Executive Director of Nature Canada, welcoming her. Dan McAskill and Rosemary Curley met with Mark Leggott and Donald Moses to pursue a Biodiversity Web site at UPEI. As part of this project, UPEI has commenced the digitization of all 213 issues of the Society’s newsletters. Once completed, this project will allow the entire set of newsletters to be searched for species records, articles and other information that was included in the various newsletters. The Membership Committee has completed work on a new brochure and has prepared draft letters for a membership campaign. It is anticipated that the membership campaign will commence this winter. To support this initiative, the Society has established electronic banking and opened a PayPal account in November to receive credit card payments for memberships and donations. Work is underway to obtain a legal interpretation of necessary constitutional changes regarding the use of the Nature PEI and banking requirements. Troy McMullin has completed the rare lichen surveys for PEI and a copy of his preliminary survey results is included in this issue of the Island Naturalist. This project was supported with money from the Society’s funds as well as a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Fund and monies from the University of Guelph Herbarium, Province of PEI and Nature Conservancy of Canada. A new native plants group was established within Nature PEI and Julie Vasseur created a new Facebook site for the group. It can be reached via our website or by going to https://www.facebook.com/naturepeinativeplantgroup/timeline Society members coordinated and participated in four Christmas Bird Counts, East Point, PEI National Park, Hillsborough, and Montague. Recently, the UPEI Climate Research Lab initiated the development of a Climate Diary to facilitate the collection of observations on weather and natural history events e.g. flowering dates. They requested Nature PEI Executive members to review it and to provide suggestions on ways to improve it. These contributions will be recognized by the inclusion of the Nature PEI logo. Besides the work outlined above, Nature PEI is working on the need for a bird research group, the PEI Invasive Species Council, and Dutch elm disease in urban localities. 3 LICHEN-LADEN LANDS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND REVISITED: Source: Nature PEI Dec. 19 2014 Who knew lichenologists have been visiting Prince Edward Island? Late September and early October was a fruitful time for Dr. Troy McMullin, and his lichen technician, Rachel Deloughery. The team spent nearly three weeks exploring 63 wild and not so wild habitats looking for expected species still missing from the Island lichen list. With some surprising detections and some fairly ordinary finds, they were able to add 65 species to the list of 256 species published in 2012, including pollution-tolerant lichens in downtown Charlottetown and rare species