RHN members and the general public are welcome to join other birders on any of the following outings:

High Park Saturday, September 11, 2010 8:00 a.m. – 12 noon

Meet at 8:00 a.m. in the parking lot inside the Bloor St. entrance to High Park at High Park Avenue. Fall migrants, raptors. Leader: Steven Favier.

Durham Waterfront, Pickering-Oshawa Second Marsh Saturday, September 18, 2010 8:00 a.m. – afternoon

Meet at 8:00 a.m. at Pickering GO Station – from 401 East exit at White’s Road and then go south to Bayly St. (first lights), then east to the Pickering GO station (just east of Liverpool Rd.) – go a little bit east of the main parking lot to the overflow lot on the left (north) on Sandy Creek Rd. – meet in SE part of the lot.

Fall migrants, shorebirds, waterfowl. Leader: Geoff Carpentier.

Meet at 8:00 a.m. at James Gardens parking lot (access from Edenbridge Drive east of Royal York Rd., north of Dundas St West).

Fall migrants. Leader: Don Burton.

Meet at 8:00 a.m. at the foot of Leslie St. (south of Lakeshore Boulevard East). Fall migrants, raptors, shorebirds. Leader: Bob Kortright.

June 12, 2009, Richmond Hill, Ontario — Just days after receiving a decision of the Conservation Review Board of Ontario, which called upon the Town of Richmond Hill to consider preserving the majority of the 189-acre David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) & Park, a local member of parliament is commending the local community’s vision to protect and preserve the entire site.

Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), said “The Dunlap Observatory and surrounding lands are priceless elements of Canadian history.  I’m working with a number of cabinet colleagues on ways we might support the efforts of a passionate group of York Region citizens to protect and preserve the Dunlap Observatory site.”

Minister Kent’s statement is the result of top-level meetings held in Ottawa in early May between concerned York Region residents and government officials. The group met to discuss the possible future of the David Dunlap Observatory and Park, including use of its substantive cultural heritage resources as an economic engine for York Region.

York Region residents knew delivery of the Conservation Review Board report – June 4, 2009 – would create an opportunity for additional provincial and new federal protections to be exercised on the site, alongside those of the Town of Richmond Hill.

“The CRB did just that,” said Marianne Yake, President of the Richmond Hill Naturalists and Ottawa meeting attendee. “It recommended “double-designation” by the Town and Province to protect the Dunlap’s built-heritage, cultural associations, its viewscapes, landscapes, and its natural environment resources. This report opened the door to federal considerations and makes possible a ‘hat-trick’ of heritage protections – local, provincial and federal.”

“As well as the several powerful heritage and environmental arguments for preservation of the Dunlap Observatory park lands, we have to recognize the significant potential groundwater damage to Richmond Hill, and for that matter, Thornhill, if development disrupts the already precarious balance of nature,” said Minister Kent.

Believing passionately the Dunlap site was of national significance, and with little local government response to their concerns, community members contacted the Federal government.   On May 7^th, 2009, the members of this York Region Delegation, drawn from a cross-section of the community, traveled to Ottawa.

Members of this delegation included:

• Ms. Karen Cilevitz – Chair, The David Dunlap Observatory Defenders,
• Ms. Marianne Yake – President, The Richmond Hill Naturalists,
• Ms. Valerie Burke – Markham Town Councillor,
• Dr. Ian K. Shelton – Astronomer, former Dunlap outreach specialist,
• Dr. C. Thomas Bolton – Professor Emeritus, former Dunlap Astronomer,
• Mr. Chungsen Leung – York Region business entrepreneur, and
• Mr. Joseph Shaykewich – Retired Environment Canada meteorologist.

Ms. Carolyn Quinn, of the Ottawa-based Heritage Canada Foundation, also attended the meeting, in support of the York Region residents plan to revitalize the Dunlap site.

The last remaining open green space in south Richmond Hill, the Dunlap site sits at the headwaters of the Don River, and is part of the Oak Ridges Moraine Aquifer Complex.  Evidence of pivotal historic events in Ontario are a part of the Dunlap lands – the 1795-6 blazing of Yonge Street from the forest, settlement by United Empire Loyalists, preparations for the War of 1812, the Rebellion of 1837, the establishment of the Presbyterian Church (1817), the country’s first astronomy campus and it’s largest telescope (1935) and the discovery and confirmation of black holes (1972).

An archaeological survey of the property also raises strong potential for aboriginal impact upon the Dunlap site, prior to its use by European settlers.

“It was an extraordinary meeting. Our presentation was very well received and we’re pleased with the immediate interest shown by our Federal representatives and officials. For the first time in over 19 months, we really feel the Dunlap site could be returned to public hands where it has always belonged,” said Karen Cilevitz, Chair of the DDO Defenders.

“The realization the Observatory site was an economic engine for York Region and Ontario was immediately apparent by all in attendance,” she said.

Astronomer Dr. Ian Shelton said, “This is where the first Canadian astronomers were trained, and many DDO staff members have played important roles in the history of modern astronomy. The discovery and confirmation of the first stellar mass black hole by Professor Tom Bolton is just one example. I had a real sense from our Ottawa meeting that the substantial list of Dunlap accomplishments won’t be just footnotes in an astronomy textbook.”

He continued, “I very much hope all of the heritage contents removed from the Observatory site are returned where they belong, and we can permanently establish the legacy of donor Jessie Donalda Dunlap and astronomer Dr. Clarence Chant. The interiors of these buildings were like walking back in time, filled with 70 years of instruments and literature that were used to keep pace with our rapidly evolving understanding about the true scale and complexity of the universe.  This was, and is, a very special place.”

Minister Kent agreed, and called for all scientific and historic artifacts to be restored to the Dunlap site. “The heritage value of the contents are significantly lessened by these removals, context is everything,” he said.

The Great Telescope, Observatory buildings and its site was donated in trust to the University of Toronto in 1935 by Jessie Donalda Dunlap, in memory of her husband David. Last July, the University sold the property to Corsica Development Inc., a corporation owned in part by Metrus Development Inc.

The University of Toronto continues to have a relationship with its former astronomical campus, as it holds a $35 million dollar mortgage on the property, which it gave interest free to Corsica, for two years. The University subsequently removed the Observatory’s contents, some of them given to a museum in Ottawa.

Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the Dunlap Observatory site was an asset to a community of 900 farmers, which catapulted the little village of Richmond Hill to the absolute centre of the British Empire. Having one of the world’s largest telescope’s has brought millions of visitors into Richmond Hill and Markham Township, and this injection of economic stability was a financial engine in the local economy during the Depression of the 1930s.

Said Ms. Cilevitz: “The local communities have always known and appreciated the cultural heritage worth of the Dunlap Observatory and Park.  We now feel more confident it will indeed receive the protection and recognition it so richly deserves – that of a National site of great scientific, ecological, and economic significance.”

For further information, contact:

Karen Cilevitz

DDO Defenders
(416) 990-6694
[email protected]

Marianne Yake
RHNaturalists
(905) 883-3047
[email protected]

Dr. Ian Shelton
Astronomer
(905) 762-0072
[email protected] (905) 886-9911

David Belous
Special Assistant (Community Affairs)
Hon. Peter Kent, MP Thornhill
[email protected]

There are a number of outings coming up which are bird-related. The first set consists of those led by the West Humber Naturalists (organized by Ron Fleming). Our members have been welcome in the past to participate in these. The dates and details can be found at this site.
The second set consists of those run by the Toronto Ornithological Club (TOC). THey run a variety of outings, the details of which can be found here.
For all of these, car-pooling is encouraged, dress appropriately for hiking outdoors, and bring binoculars.

Getting out and exploring the breathtaking beauty of the Oak Ridges Moraine’s rolling hills, kettle lakes, rivers and trails is good for the psyche and the body; now it could be good for the pocketbook. The grand prize for the Moraine in Focus photo contest is $1000 and $500 for the top youth spot.

Presented by MTM and the Caring for the Moraine (CMP) project, the oraine in Focus photo contest is all about capturing and enshrining he beauty and wonder of the moraine and then making these images vailable for everyone to see.

Photo submissions must be taken on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and fall ithin one of the four following categories:

• land and water,
• plants and animals,
• people and communities, and
• youth photographer.

Youth entrants must be under 16 years of age as of May 15th, 2007. Youth category submissions can cover any of the three categories already mentioned. All entries (which are being accepted now) must be submitted no later than October 15, 2007.

In addition to the grand prizes, a prize will also be awarded to regional winners in every category. For this contest, the moraine has been divided into three areas: West (including the Regions of Peel and York and the Counties of Dufferin and Simcoe), Central (including Durham Region and the City of Kawartha Lakes) and East (including Peterborough and Northumberland Counties).

Winning entries, as well as local submissions, will be displayed at venues across the moraine in November. Confirmed venues include Willow Springs Winery in Stouffville, Archibald’s Estate Winery in Bowmanville and the King Street Arts Centre in Millbrook. The images will also appear in educational and promotional materials produced by MTM, CMP and their partners, all of whom are dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Oak Ridges Moraine.

This contest is made possible by the generous funding from the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation and the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation.

For more information, visit the Monitoring the Moraine website , email contest@monitoringthemoraine.ca or call Kate Potter at 905-579-0411, extension 106.

Charlene and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel to South Africa for three weeks last Fall, with a small group of people interested in birds, fauna and flora there. We spent a few days in and around Kruger National Park, where we saw lots of bird and animal life. We then traveled to Lesotho (a small mountain country imbedded within South Africa) by car (an adventure in itself!), which was quite interesting in its own right. Then we made our way to Durban, from which we flew to Cape Town. There we spent some incredible hours in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which has to be one of the floral wonders of the world. In addition to wonderous vistas of flowers and mountains, it also had a lot of neat birds.

Of course, no birding trip would be complete without a visit to some sewage lagoons, and we did travel to one on the Western shore with good results. We travelled down to the Cape of Good Hope, seeing besides some nice birds a few Southern Right Whales in close to shore.

After the group finished up, we took a pelagic trip for one morning, with good luck on the weather front (no seasickness!), and incredible views of all sorts of sea birds mobbing the trawler’s catches as they were hauled in.

Of course, we can only touch on the highlights in the brief time after the potluck dinner, but we’ll try to whet people’s appetites for all of the natural beauty and variety to be found in South Afrtica.

The folks at Ontario Nature want to know what young people in Ontario think about nature. They’ve announced their second annual youth writing contest and are asking all interested Ontario grade 7 and 8 students to submit entries by April 15, 2007. This year’s topic is “What will the environment be like in 2050?” Contest details are listed below, or download the Ontario Nature Youth Writing Contest flyer and distribute it to friends and colleagues.

What You Need to Know:

• You must be an Ontario grade 7 or 8 student.
• It can be an essay, a story, or a piece of creative writing, with a
• maximum count of 700 words, typed and double-spaced.
• The top three entries will be published in ON Nature magazine, the award-winning nature and environment magazine in Ontario.
• The winners will receive cool prizes for their work, and will be
• honoured for their achievement at Ontario Nature’s Annual General
• Meeting & Conference in Peterborough (June 8-10, 2007).

Send your original entries by April 15, 2007 to:

Youth Writing Contest Ontario Nature
366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 201
Toronto, ON M5V 1R9

Make sure you have a title page that includes title of your essay, your name, address, phone number, email address, your parent’s or guardian’s name, what grade you’re in, and the name of your school.

Currently much more hopeful than the earlier news from Arkansas, a number of sightings and recordings have been obtained in the Choctawhatchee River area in Northwest Florida. One of the principal investigators is Dr. Daniel J Mennill of the University of Windsor. He will be presenting a special lecture, sponsored by the Richmond HIll Naturalists and the West Humber Naturalists, on Thursday 22 March at the Kortright Conservation Centre Auditorium, 7:30 pm. More details and a form to reserve a seat are available at Ivory-billed Woodpecker.