The Cornell Lab of Orinthology has released the numbers from the 2023 Great Backyard Bird Count. Half a million bird enthusiasts shared sightings from almost every corner of the world.

The Great Backyard Bird Count in a Snapshot

• 7,538 species of birds identified
• 202 participating countries
• 390,652 eBird checklists
• 372,905 Merlin Bird IDs
• 151,479 photos added to Macaulay Library
• 555,291 estimated global participants

The full report can be found here.

Next year’s Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for February 16-19, 2024.

Club members and friends walked the Oxford Thames River Trail at Beachville on January 23, enjoying the views amidst light snowfalll. Not many birds to see, but the company was excellent. Of interest, an empty turtle shell! Next hike is scheduled for Feb 18 at Vansittart Woods. All welcome!

On January 18, IDNC hosted Jim Rule, local naturalist, at the Ingersoll Public Library for our first of four Nature Notes presentations in our 2023 lecture series. An appreciative full house is learning how he and his wife Margaret turned their 10-acre property into a prospering Carolinian Zone arboretum.

From Carolinian Canada Coalition:

The Southern Ontario Seed Strategy (SOSS) is full steam ahead! The SOSS collective is actively strategizing ways that we can help preserve native plants and seeds and establish a native seed supply to support restoration and retail markets in southern Ontario. Through knowledge sharing, discussion, and working groups, a draft strategy will be formed.

Read more at https://caroliniancanada.ca/seed

The Oxford County Trails Council has published the Winter 2023 issue of The Trail Times. Learn about the upcoming Winter Walk for Warmth, how our natural space is under threat, major improvements to the culvert entrance and more. Read all about it at http://www.oxfordcountytrailscouncil.ca/trailsnewsletterswinter2023.pdf.

Get ready! The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming February 17-20. Find out how you can participate at https://www.birdcount.org/participate/.

From Ontario Nature:

What’s the difference between Caribou or Reindeer? Trick question—they’re actually the same species! Rangifer tarandus, also known as “Reindeer” in Russia and Scandinavia or when domesticated, and Caribou in North America, are the same leggy herbivores we know and love (especially if we’ve made the ‘Nice List’).

Despite their wide range, these majestic mammals are a threatened species. Their populations are dropping dramatically due to climate change and development which negatively affect their habitat and food security. Of the 51 Caribou herds living in Canada, not a single one is growing and at least 20 are declining.

Read more at https://naturecanada.ca/news/blog/meet-rudolph/

This year, the Ingersoll District Nature Club celebrates 70 years of caring for nature! On November 27, 2022, our members shared in our festive social potluck. Thank you Dana L Church for joining us, and for your your excellent presentation about Bumblebees, honey bees and all the buzz about bees! We look forward to having you back!

From the Ontario Headwaters Institute (OHI):

The OHI offers our analysis of recent government action, lack of action, and aggressive rhetoric against sound planning, environmental safeguards, and democracy, per text following the signature below.

We invite you to sign the petition based on the last paragraph of the analysis, which states:

I/we support the position that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing should either withdraw Bill 23 and its aligned initiatives or ensure a lengthy period of public engagement. He should also update his perspective to recognize that the economy, the environment, and democracy are inter-dependent, and stop using the former as a cudgel against the latter two.

To access the petition, please click here.

Studies are telling us over and over: biodiversity is disappearing from our planet with alarming speed and severity. What is Canada doing in the face of the staggering habitat loss and rapidly changing climate driving unprecedented mass extinctions? Hopefully, NatureCOP.

Read the full article from Eric Fleming on Nature Canada’s blog.