JOURNAL OF THE HAMILTON NATURALISTS’ CLUB Protecting Nature Since 1919 Volume 69 Number 6 February, 2016 Western half of the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System Vision Map showing the two newly acquired properties in red (see press release article inside on page 139). The western property (left) is adjacent to our Cartwright Nature Sanctuary, thus providing a linkage to other protected areas such as the Berry Tract, Borers Creek C.A, and the York Road acreage. Great news to bring in the New Year! In This Issue: Harlequin Duck - Great Lakes Population Volunteer of the Year Award Recipients Two New Properties in the Cootes to Escarpment Area Member Profile — Kevin McLaughlin Pollinators Paradise Project Update Table of Contents Astronomy Corner - Leaping into 2016 with 29 Days in February Mario Carr 122 Member Profile - Kevin McLaughlin Bill Lamond 124 Winter Bird feeding with David Wood Michael Rowlands 126 Press Release - Save the Woodlot - 18 November 2015 Bruce Mackenzie 127 Christmas Comes Early for Grimsby Teen James Berry 127 Harlequin Duck - Great Lakes Population Brandon Holden 128 Cape May Peter Thoem 130 Dates to Remember Robert Porter/Liz Rabishaw 132 Kyle Horner’s Through the Lens Bronwen Tregunno 134 To the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club David VanderVelde 136 Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch Offers $500 Scholarship Bruce Mackenzie 137 Western Lake Ontario is Home to Significant Duck Numbers for Winter Bruce Mackenzie 138 Land Acquisition Creates Wildlife Corridor from Cootes Paradise to Nick Kondrat 139 the Niagara Escarpment Senior Volunteer of the Year Award Goes to John Fischer Jim Stollard 140 Junior Volunteer of the Year Award Goes to Peter Scholtens Jim Stollard 140 Seeding Partnerships with the Pollinators Paradise Project Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko 141 In Search of Winter Life Herman Van Barneveld 142 Astronomy Corner Leaping into 2016 with 29 Days in February by Mario Carr stronomy affects us all – even the economy. If you’re an Planet Watching A hourly employee, you’ll see an extra day’s pay this year. Mercury, Venus and Saturn can be seen in the eastern morning That’s because 2016 is a Leap Year with 366 days so February will sky all month. Mars rises in the east late evening. Jupiter rises in have 29 days with an additional working day. Since 2016 is a Leap the east early evening. Uranus is low in the western evening sky. Year, equinoxes and solstices will come a little earlier so Spring Neptune vanishes into the evening twilight sky early in the month. will arrive March 19. February 1 – The crescent Moon will be close to Mars in the Why do we have Leap Years? The problem is the Earth takes dawn sky. 365.242 days to orbit the Sun, not the 365 days listed for a usual February 3 – The crescent Moon will be close to Saturn in the calendar year. That’s almost but not quite, an extra quarter of a dawn sky. day. Over the centuries this error will be significant. February 6 – The crescent Moon will be above and close to To solve this problem, when the Gregorian calendar was created Mercury and Venus in the eastern dawn sky. in 1582, astronomers decided to make every year divisible by four, a Leap Year, thus adding in an extra day every four years. February 12 – Hamilton Amateur Astronomers meeting 7:30- However, this is a bit too much when only 0.968 days need to 9:30 p.m. (see Dates to Remember). be added every four years – over time seasons would get out of February 23 – The Moon is close and below Jupiter in the late whack. Thus, Leap Years have to be omitted on “century years” evening sky. (i.e. 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, etc), but only three out of four “century years”. This is done by only allowing Leap Years on February 29 – The Moon is close and above Mars in the dawn “century years” that are also divisible by 400. For example, 2000 sky. was a Leap Year but the years 1900, 2100 and 2200 were/are not. For more information, see the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers website at www.amateurastronomy.org or call 905-627-4323. The HAA offers a Here are February’s stargazing events. Most are listed in the basic astronomy course for members. Hamilton Amateur Astronomers calendar. Page 122 The Wood Duck - February, 2016 Volume 69 Number 6 February, 2016 CN ISSN 0049-7886 - Publications Mail Contract No. 40048074 http://www.hamiltonnature.org [email protected] Publications Committee: Christine Bishop, Rob Dobos, Maggie Sims, Kevin McLaughlin, Don McLean, Herman van Barneveld, Glenda Slessor, Jean Stollard, Jim Stollard and John Struger. The Wood Duck is the official publication of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club and produced by members of the Club. It is published nine times a year from September to May, inclusive. Deadline for receipt of material is the 5th of the month preceding publication date. As long as credit lines are included, articles may be reprinted without permission, unless otherwise specified. Opinions expressed in the Wood Duck are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. The Hamilton Naturalists’ Club promotes public interest in the study, conservation and appreciation of our natural heritage. Meetings are held monthly September to May inclusive and field events are scheduled throughout the year. Visitors are welcome. The HNC is a registered charity and all donations as well as membership fees are tax deductible. HNC BOARD 2015 - 2016 Executive Past President: Michael Fischer 905 526 0325 [email protected] President: Maggie Sims 905 331 1498 [email protected] Vice-President: vacant Secretary: Bronwen Tregunno 905 637 7136 [email protected] Treasurer: Jim Stollard 905 634 3538 [email protected] Directors Bird Study Group: Bruce Mackenzie 905 643 4526 [email protected] Conservation & Education: Paul D. Smith 905 659 1482 [email protected] Field Events: Rob Porter 905 920 3148 [email protected] Director-at-Large: Gord McNulty 905 525 9927 [email protected] Membership: Jill Baldwin 905 679 6447 [email protected] Programs: vacant Publicity: Pritom Dey 647 607 8786 [email protected] Sanctuary: Brian Wylie 905 627 4601 [email protected] Volunteer: Kim Fowler 647 886 3049 [email protected] Wood Duck Editor: Bill Lamond 519 756 9546 [email protected] Coordinators Website Coordinator: Pritom Dey 647 607 8786 [email protected] Social Coordinator: Catharine Flatt 905 628 2030 [email protected] Junior Naturalists: Brian Wylie 905 627 4601 [email protected] Mailing: Jean Stollard 905 634 3538 [email protected] Land Trust Program: Jen Baker 905 524 3339 [email protected] Report rare bird sightings to: Cheryl Edgecombe 905-637-5923 Send Noteworthy Bird Records to: Leonard Manning, 9-494 Barton Street, Stoney Creek, L8E 2L6 email: [email protected] MEMBERSHIP FEES – Please remit to The Membership Director, HNC PUBLICATIONS - To order, contact Elaine Serena Hamilton Naturalists’ Club P.O.Box 89052, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4R5 905-639-2702 or [email protected] Life Membership $750.00 Hamilton Nature Counts 2003 $75.00 Single Membership $45.00 Hamilton Area Bird Checklist 2007 $2.00 Senior Single Membership $40.00 Head of the Lake Nature Guide $8.00 Student Single Membership (on-line-only What’s Alive in Hamilton - from HCA website. free access to Wood Duck; for those 25 or under) free Checklist of Ontario Butterflies $1.50 Senior Joint Membership $45.00 Birds of Hamilton and Surrounding Areas $45.00 Family Membership $50.00 (order from Glenn Barrett at [email protected]) Junior Naturalists - 1st child $80.00 Hamilton Mammal Atlas $15.00 Junior Naturalists - additional children $70.00 A Monthly Guide to Nature and Conservation. $5.00 Honorary Life Member n/a Reptiles and Amphibians of Ham. Area (check local library) The Wood Duck - February, 2016 Page 123 Editor’s notes…… A lot of good articles in this issue that demonstrate how active our Club is. There are reprints of press releases that some of you may not have seen. I have published them to become part of our permanent records. Two of the press releases highlight the excellent work of Colton Tew who has helped (along with Club member Bruce Mackenzie) to highlight the threatened status of the Irish Grove Woodlot in Grimsby. Another press release highlights the incredible number of wintering ducks on the Stoney Creek lakeshore, an Important Bird Area (IBA).There is also a letter of thanks from David VanderVelde who we sponsored to attend Ontario Nature’s Youth Summit this past September. He gave a summary of this weekend which you can read within. It is very worthwhile for the HNC to engage in these sponsorships as you just never know when one of these students might turn out to be another “David Suzuki” or “Rachel Carson”. In a similar vein, a notice from the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch (an off-shoot of the HNC), details a new scholarship program for students. Again, who knows if this scholarship might produce another “George North” or “Bob Curry”? This is a very worthwhile endeavour by the NPH. And “last but not least”, there is our “cover story” about the recent acquisition of two more properties in the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System in which your HNC is a very active player. This is wonderful news. Kevin McLaughlin is featured in a Member Profile in this issue. We are blessed to have someone as knowledgeable and capable as Kevin as part of our local birding community. He is certainly one of the premier birders in Ontario if not the continent.