Island Naturalist
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ISLAND NATURALIST ISSUE # 201 OCT. - DEC. 2011 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 (except July, August, and September) at 7:30 p.m. at the Farm Centre, 420 University Avenue, Charlottetown. Each meeting commences with a brief business meeting followed by a nutrition break and a 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 C1A 8C1 (phone 368-1224). Annual membership is $20 and renewals are due in January. 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. 2012 Executive: President ...................................................Dwaine Oakley, Stratford 569-1815 [email protected] Vice-President ............................Barbara MacDonald, Charlottetown 368-3268 [email protected] Past President ............................ ......................Ian Scott, Charlottetown 892-5796 [email protected] Secretary .................................................................. Heather Fenton, Sherwood 940-1192 [email protected] Treasurer ..........Susan Stephenson Whitaker, Springvale 368-1224 [email protected] Director- Program- Publicity............................... Christina Pater, Charlottetown 368-8193 [email protected] Director - ...........................................Ron Arvidson, South Melville 658-2566 [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, 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 observations recorded so that others may learn from them. All contributions should be sent by mail to Dan McAskill, Newsletter Editor, 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 5, 2012. Illustrations/Pictures: The Society extends a special thanks to Dwaine Oakley, Glen Kelly, Ron Arvidson, Donna Martin, George Mills, and Suzanne Getson for their photographs 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 The Natural History Society gratefully acknowledges support from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development which enables distribution of newsletters to schools and libraries desiring it. The Natural History Society is an affiliate of Nature Canada and 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: This Fork-tailed Flycatcher image captured at Marshfield was photographed by Glen Kelly on October 10th. Glen and Michelle Kelly were hearing the unusual call the evening before and searched for it the following morning finally finding it on the wires over the Jenkin’s Road. This is the Island’s first photographic record of this species although there was a previous report on PEI. This flycatcher is normally found in South America but reports of it are often found annually along the Atlantic Coast and very rarely elsewhere. 2 2011 SOCIETY’S PRESIDENTS' REPORT: by Ian Scott My special thanks to the Natural History Society’s members and Executive Committee for their participation and support of natural history on Prince Edward Island during 2011. Commencing in January, this year’s volunteer Board was led by Ian Scott (President), Diane Griffin (Past-President), Dwaine Oakley (Vice- President), Whitney Kelly-Clark (Secretary), Lois Doan (Publicity Director), Christina Pater (Programs Director) and Rosemary Curley (Treasurer). Lynne Douglas remained the Society’s representative on the General Council of the Island Nature Trust and Dan McAskill continued as the Editor of the Island Naturalist. In addition to the Society’s normal work described below, the Society partnered with eight other groups to hold a well attended All Candidate’s Environmental Forum for the Federal Election in at the Murphy Centre in April and the Provincial election on September 20 which was rescheduled to the Culinary Institute. The Society corresponded or met with representatives of the PEI Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal regarding proposed road changes which would negatively affect Strathgartney Provincial Park’s Natural Area designated hardwoods. In addition, they along with other group representatives met with Minister Richard Brown, Deputy Minister John MacQuarrie and other officials of PEI Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry’s regarding the assessment process for additional wind turbines at Black Marsh (North Cape) and East Point. After the Provincial Election, ministerial changes and subsequent deputy minister and government reorganization, the Society renewed its efforts on these files. The Society’s monthly education presentations featured: “The Society’s Annual General Meeting and Dwaine Oakley’s “Chasing Rare Birds on PEI: Five Year’s of Exciting Finds, First Records and Photographic Evidence”; Kerry-Lynn Atkinson’s “On the Brink of Extirpation: Recovery Strategies for the Gulf of St. Lawrence Aster on PEI”; Whitney Kelly-Clark’s “Feeding Wild Birds; Emergence of a Parasitic Disease in Maritime Wild Finch Populations”; Randy Dibblee’s “Decline in Great Cormorant Populations”; Cindy Crane’s “Estuaries in PEI”; Pierre-Yves Daoust’s “The Canadian Seal Hunt - Our Ever Changing Relationship with Wildlife”, Gary Schneider’s “The Beauty in Rare Island Plants . and What You Can Do to Help”; Paul Giroux’s “Ecological Integrity in PEI National Park”; and Ron Arvidson’s “The Virtual Birder”. In addition to the audio-visual presentations, the Society organized the following field trips: “Butterfly Identification and Atlasing” held at the J. Frank Gaudet Tree Nursery led by Donna Martin and Rosemary Curley; “Butterfly Identification and Atlas Volunteering” cosponsored with PEI National Park and Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre led by John Klymco and Rosemary Curley; and “Field Trip to Greenwich” led by Diane Griffin. These presentations were publicized in The Buzz, Guardian Community Notice columns, CBC radio and released on the Society’s e-news list and web site. A special thanks goes out to prize donors and to Rosemary Curley for the coordination of the periodic draw prizes which fund the PEI Science Fair natural history prizes. Thanks to the records of sighting contributors, the Island’s 2011 bird list reached 241 species. Dwaine Oakley and Rebekah Hodder judged the natural history entries for the PEI Science Fair at UPEI and there were winners at two of the three category levels. The Society held seven Executive Committee meetings during the year. Efforts to recruit new Executive Committee members were successful. The Society’s efforts to establish a provincial natural history museum component to a provincial museum through PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation continued. John Klymko of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre led the second year’s efforts for a Maritime Butterfly Atlas and Rosemary Curley expanded efforts to recruit participants for the Maritimes Butterfly Atlas through workshops in July and August. David Seeler again maintained the UPEI BirdList server for use of Island birders, issued updates to birders on the records to date and compiled both the 2011 bird list and winter bird list. The List Service (UPEI Birdlist Bronze Copper at Sherbrooke Server [email protected] ) continued to increase in popularity with NHS Photo by Donna Martin ©2011 members and it again contributed to the documentation of new sightings. Rarities identified there were included in the Island Naturalist bird column. The Society maintained its participation in various provincial and North American bird count projects. Scott Sinclair coordinated the Montague Christmas Bird Count (CBC), Dwaine Oakley coordinated the East Point CBC, and Dan McAskill coordinated the PEI National Park and Hillsborough Christmas Bird Counts as well as the 3 Bain Bird Count. Dan reviewed the Island’s Great Backyard Bird Count reports. Kara Grant, of PEI National Park, set up the Dalvay Administration Interpretive Centre for the PEI National Park Christmas Bird Count potluck while Diane and Kevin Griffin hosted the potluck for the Hillsborough CBC. During the year, the Society made a contribution of $180 to the PEI Science Fair natural history prizes. Christina Pater researched and arranged speakers for the Society’s monthly education programs. Lois Doan coordinated the E-mail distribution of Society notices about upcoming Natural History Society events. Efforts to resurrect the Society’s