St. Francis Valley Naturalists' Club
St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club, Stn Lennoxville, Box 22 J1M1Z5 Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

I just got this email from Gary re. the Christmas bird count. Hello all SFVNC Members and Friends, This year has been a challenging one for all. COVID-19 has forced us to make adjustments to our behavior and curtail many of the activities that we have always enjoyed and looked forward to....Continue reading

Hello all SFVNC members and friends, As you all probably have assumed, the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club meeting, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 28th, is CANCELLED. We will keep you informed if there will be a November meeting but don’t hold your breath. We are also in the planning stages for the upcoming Audubon Christmas Bird Count which is scheduled for Saturday, December 19th. We plan to hold the Count but the Pot Luck Supper will most probably not ...be possible. We will keep you informed on this as well. Have a good day, and stay safe,

It is global bird day on October 17th. https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2020-bigger-than-ever. To quote ebird: This year’s October Big Day 2020 is happening during the first Global Bird Weekend. The goal of Global Bird Weekend is to make October 17-18 the biggest ever birding weekend and support BirdLife International’s appeal to end illegal bird trade. One of Global Bird Weekend’s aims is to have more than 25,000 people submit eBird checklists on 17 Octoberwill you... be one of them? No need to leave your home, just note the birds that you see from your window for 24 hours. If you started bird-watching during the Covid summer you would probably like to tell others what you have seen and find out what is being observed around you. The solution is to create an account on ebird.org. It is free, non-invasive and very instructive. You become part of a world-wide community and during the long winter you can even discover what birders are getting excited about in different parts of the world. Maybe you will see this Silver-eared Mesia in South-east Asia during your international birding trip once Covid-19 is less of a threat. See more

There are several birds migrating south these days but they are often in mixed groups. If you need to distinguish one warbler from another then the Audubon Society has made available a free warbler guide at: https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net//the_warbler_guide_quic This is a very useful tool for those of us who can remember patterns of colour but not names.

Third Birding in Isolation. Please share with other birders. The summer solstice has come and gone and the birds are becoming quieter as they feed and care for their young. However, during our third birding in isolation the 8 groups totalling 10 individuals identified 78 species on the trail from Atto-Beaver to North Hatley(+Bishop’s). This brings the total number of species to about 100 on this linear hotspot over the three events. Thanks Gary for compiling the results. (excuse my red-eyed vireo mistake) Excuse the clumsy format but I don’t know how to move an Excel file to Facebook. If you can help me with this our email is [email protected])

Bald Eagle Recovery in Vermont Wednesday, May 13, 2020 7:00pm - 8:00pm Online Event The St Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club is pleased to join with Vermont Audubon to sponsor a webinar about the natural history and remarkable comeback of the Bald Eagle in Vermont. Learn more about Audubon Vermont's role in Bald Eagle recovery by clicking on https://vt.audubon.org/events/bald-eagle-recovery-vermont and register for the webinar. The webinar platform is with zoom and you will b...e prompted to download zoom if you do not already have zoom access. Margaret Fowle, Conservation Biologist for Audubon Vermont, has been working in partnership with Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and many other partners on Bald Eagle recovery in Vermont for nearly 20 years. She will tell the story of eagles in Vermont, including the history, recovery, and current status. A recording of the webinar will also be available at a later date. (Photo by Kyle Dudgeon, Audubon Soc Award winner) See more

Every day in spring is a birding day but Saturday May 9th is special. It is Global Birding Day: https://ebird.org/news/global-big-day-9-may-2020 and World Migratory Bird Day: https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/... The world migratory bird site is a little different, it describes many different events worldwide and contains links to Information on migratory birds. Good birding See more

Does this forcast of snow seem a little depressing? Are you missing your favourite birding trip to Point Pelee or do you just need a little help relearning your warbler songs? Point Pelee national park has launched a great Virtual Festival of Birds. https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/activ/festival . Their program spans talks for the new birder on May 9th to Gull identification on May 12 th. We have missed a few presentations which started on May 6th but there are plenty more. Have lunch at virtual Point Pelee and dream of warmer times.

Global Big Day9 May 2020 May 9th is birding's biggest day of the year: Global Big Day. Wherever you are in the world, you can be a part of itno need to even leave your home to participate!go to: https://ebird.org/news/global-big-day-9-may-2020?

Gary compiled the results of our earth day/week on the bike trail. I will edit the list to add corrections if there are any. It would be fun to repeat the exercise in a month or on Global Big Day (May 9th) Here are the results of our Earth Day/Week solo outings. There were ten of us involved and we covered a total of 26.09km in 10 hours. We saw 41 species and 483 individuals. A very good job done all round! Gary

From La Ville de Sherbrooke Walking paths are reopening This Saturday, April 25, the City of Sherbrooke will reopen the walking paths for the summer in the Bois-Beckett park, the Réal-D.-Carbonneau marsh and the Mont Bellevue park. The service buildings will remain closed as well as the bike paths which are currently impassable. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a physical distance of two metres must be kept between people who do not live under the same roof. The populat...ion who chooses to walk in the Réal-D.-Carbonneau marsh is asked to circulate clockwise in order to avoid meeting other walkers on the opposite direction at fewer than two metres. It should be noted that the Magog river canyon promenade will remain closed for the moment as it is being repaired due to winter events. Stay safe

Citizen Science: One of our members, Dr. Elisabeth Levac is a prof at Bishop’s University and studies citizen science and tree phenology. She has set up an observational study to follow the spring emergence of the leaves and flowers of our local trees. She needs your input to document the leafing of the forest. If you go to: http://treetraque.ca/ you can find a place to identify which trees you are observing and where they are in their development. This is significant citizen science and I think that we could each make an important contribution. (Photo from almanac.com)

The Lyrid meteor shower will be very visible this year. The peak will be on the night of April 21-22, there is an animated map at: https://www.timeanddate.com/astro/meteor-shower/lyrids.html. Unfortunately it may be cloudy in the Sherbrooke area. Stay safe

This is from Buffalo Lakes Naturalists facebook page and has been shown on many pages, I do not know the origin. Late for Easter, early for the birds, it may help recognize the broken eggs you find under nests. Please do not collect eggs or chase birds off nests just to see the eggs.