Our first bird was the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus Virgianus), a bird of  Eastern North American which uses a variety of habitats in different parts of its range.  It is also extremely variable in plumage, both within and between the 20+ subspecies (see below).  It is a bird which is also raised in significant numbers for hunting, even as its overall numbers decrease in parts of its previous range, due to such things as land-use changes, pesticides, and (in Mexico) overgrazing.  Some 20 million birds are shot annually.

In Ontario it used to be fairly widespread, but at present the only native breeding birds seem to be found on Walpole Island, although escaped and released birds can be occasionally found in SW Ontario.

The diet is also quite flexible, depending on the habitat — in farmlands it will go for the dominant seed crop, in Mexico both the seeds of various native plants, and those of cultivated crops.  Insects and small invertebrates are important in Summer (especially for new young).  Commercial growers have made use of a variety of feeds as well.

Breeding is from early to late Spring, depending on location.  Hens usually lay from 12-20 (10-30) eggs in a shallow depression in the ground which is lined with dead vegetation (usually hidden from above). The male may begin calling with its loud and unmistakable “bob-bob-white” call in March, but nesting is later. The adults and young from several nests will gather after breeding into coveys of 20-30 birds, which generally remain hidden unless flushed.

This bird ranges from 130-170 g in weight, 20-25 cm in length, increasing in size from the southern portions of its range to the North.

Here are some typical images (M and F):

Northern Bobwhite

Our second bird was the Gray Partridge.  This is another bird which can be found in Ontario, although only in a couple of areas for the most part.  It is a widespread native in much of central Europe, but has also been introduced in many spots around the world, including Canada and the USA. In Canada it was mainly introduced in the early 1900’s, and is now widespread where suitable habitat is found. It used to be quite widespread in Ontario, but in the last atlas its area had declined markedly, especially in SW Ontario, and it is principally found in the NE part of the Province. Causes of decline here (and worldwide) are probably related to changes in agricultural practices, especially reduction of edge habitat and increases in pesticide use in Spring.

The bird is very variable in plumage, and is generally 29-31 cm in length, 310-455 g in weight.  The males tend to bland gray with a rufous neck, and a dark belly patch.  They have a distinctive habit of flicking the tail open to show orange-rufous outer feathers.  The female is plain gray-brown overall, with cinnamon bars and pale streaks on the flanks running toward the belly.  Some typical birds are shown below.

It tends to prefer open grasslands or farm fields, and to make its nest in edge spaces.  It is very hard to see in the grass, and tends to walk rather than fly (they do not migrate). The males call with a metallic “kee-uck” in early Spring.  They are easier to find in Winter, when their covey’s may show up in snow-covered fields.

Their diet is mostly seeds (many varieties), also leaves (green leaves of grasses in Fall), and insects.  Young are dependent on insects for the first couple of weeks.

They tend to pair up in early Spring, nesting late Spring (earlier in South, later in North).  Normally monogamous, but occasionally male with two females for up to two weeks. They will renest later.  After chicks are grown, pairs break up and join coveys. Nest is typically a shallow depressionleined with leaves and grass, at base of hedge or some similar heavy vegetation. First cluteh typically 15-17 (4-24) eggs, fewer in second nesting; incubation 23-25 days, usually by female alone.  Downy chicks have rufous, chestnut and black markings on buff upper parts, creamy6  yellow underparts.  They are capable of precocial flight after roughly 2 weeks. They achieve full weight at roughly 100 days. Chick survival to 6 weeks is very variable, as they are vulnerable to many ground predators. The are capable of precocial flight after roughly 2 weeks, and achieve sexual maturity in first year.

Here are some typical birds:

Typical birds

The birdgroup met on February 11 2016, at the home of Athena Antiochos. There were eight members present to hear a discussion of the two species of the Cuculidae family which breed in Canada, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (YBCU) and the Black-billed Cuckoo (BBCU).

Martin Chen started the discussion with the names of the YBCU. Its scientific name is Coccyzus americanus. In the past its English name was California Cuckoo, in Canadian folklore it was called the Rain-crow from the fact that it is most clamorous before a rain storm. Apart from this there is  historically little known about this species. Athena followed with an outline of the bird’s range and migration. Its breeding range is mostly the Eastern USA with a small incursion into southern Ontario,  the only range in Canada. It has disappeared from Western USA.  It winters in Panama and parts of South America as far south a northern Argentina. Charlene talked about mating, behaviour and enemies. The male calls and lands perched on the female, then climbs on her shoulders, feeds her and then mates. The YBCU isdifficult to watch. It moves quietly  through tangles of vegetation and often sits motionless on a branch, looking for food. The birds are monogamous. They will respond well to taping. Their chief enemy is the loss of their riparian habitat, habitat which tends to be choked with vegetation or cut down. Barbara mentioned that the YBCU is difficult to see, but is easily drawn out by its ‘knocking’ call, a rapid staccato ‘kuk-kuk-kuk’ which slows down and descends to a wooden hollow-sounding  KAKAKOWLPKOWLP. The food of this cuckoo are large hairy caterpillars (gypsy moths, tent caterpillars) and insect like cicadas, as well as lizards, berries and eggs of other birds. Their liking of caterpillars is beneficial when there is an outbreak of these insects. Carolyn told the group about the nesting, eggs and habitat of the YBCU. They nest in a tree or shrub, 2 – 12′ above ground, making a nest which is a flimsy platform of short twigs on a horizontal branch.  Three to four eggs are incubated for up to 14 days. The chicks are altricial, almost naked with black skin and some sparse down feathers. The chicks fledge 17 days after hatching. YBCU occasionally lay eggs in nests of other bird species. They are not obligate brood parasites, unlike  the Eurasian Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). The breeding habitat of the species is deciduous woods, generally moist thickets and overgrown pastures.

The names, history and status of the second species, the BBCU, were discussed by Martin. Its scientific name is Coccyzus erythrophthalamus,  the name comes from greek: kokkyzein means ‘calling cuckoo’, erythros means red and ophthalmos means the eye.  Like the YBCU this species is not globally threatened. Athena folllowed  Martin. She talked about the breeding range of this species. In Canada this extends across the southern parts from Alberta all the way to western Nova Scotia. In the USA it covers the north-eastern parts south to North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee and west to the Rockies. It  migrates  through the southern USA and in Central America to north-western South America for wintering. Charlene told us about the courtship which is very simple: the male calls, the female comes, the male offers food and starts mating. While mating food is still given. The birds are monogamous.  They are stalkers in their behaviour: they move through thick vegetation in shrubs and trees. They will also sit quietly on a branch scanning or food. They respond well to taping and can then readily be seen. Their chief enemy is man who destroys some of their habitat by cutting down forests and even secondary woods. According to Barbara this species is also more often heard than seen. It tends to call when breeding sometimes at night as well as during the day. Voice and Song: The chicks produce first a buzzing insect-like sound, then after a few days a barking sound. The adult call is a series of soft, mellow cu-cu-cu-cu notes in groups of 2 – 5, all on the same pitch. The notes are highly pitched, rapid and repetitive. The food of the BBCU consists of caterpillars, insects, beetles, grasshoppers etc. which it obtains by moving through dense bushes and trees. It eats also snail, fish, eggs of other birds, berries and fruit. Carolyn talked about nesting, eggs and habitat. Nests are flimsy, shallow made of twigs and lined with grass. They are placed a few feet off the ground in dense thickets. The BBCU is known for its parasitism, laying eggs in the nest of its own as well as other species of birds. However, unlike the Eurasian Cuckoo (the common cuckoo) they are not obligate parasites. This species lays 2 – 3 blue-green eggs which take on a marbled appearance after a few days. The chicks hatch after 10 – 13 days. The adults leave the nest some 7 – 9 days later. The chicks are altricial, covered after hatching with sparse white down on black skin. They leave the nest before they can fly by hopping from branch to branch. They fly after 21 – 24 days. The habitat of this species is most commonly around the edge of mature deciduous or mixed forest with a lot of shrubs and moist thickets. However they are also known to inhabit more open areas such as abandoned farmland, golf courses and even residential parks, but they are usually well hidden. Their habitat is always near flowing or still water. On their wntering grounds they inhabit tropical rainforests, open woodlands, as well as scrub forests.

Gene  summarised the discussion by comparing the two species, the YBCU and the BBCU. Both are secretive skulkers and they are usuallly detected by their calls and response to taping. BBCU also responds to Screech-Owl calls.   When they respond they stay in the shrubs and just show their heads. Differences between the two, useful for identification, are in their tails. The YBCU shows distinctive white base with black bars on the bottom of the tail, whereas the BBCU shows a black tail with small white spots. The BBCU has a red orbital ring, on the YBCU the lower mandible is yellow. Both species are roughly the size of a Mourning Dove, with the YBCU being plumper, more robust than the BBCU. Theo added a personal comment. He said that growing up in a European countryside he was used to hearing the European Cuckoo, from which many of the cuckoos got their name,  calling very loudlly and consistently day and night as a sign of spring and beginning of the breeding season. He still finds it difficult to dissociate the name cuckoo from the “real” cuckoo. The song is well reproduced in the cuckoo clocks from the German Black Forest.

The meeting finished with a quiz that had been sent by Mike via email. It provided an interesting challenge on the group’s knowledge of the behaviour of some birds.

Here’s a link to a Black-billed Cuckoo pic.  Black-billed Cuckoo

And here is one to a Yellow-billed cuckoo pic:ybcu

Wilsonâ€s Snipe(Galinago delicato), standing 27-29 cm., is easily recognizeable by its brightly striped upper parts, bars on its sides, orange-tipped tail and very long bill. However, it is often not seen until it is disturbed and flushed from its cattail and bulrush marsh habitat, performing a series of aerial zigzags, designed to confuse predators.

The most familiar sound produced by the Wilsonâ€s Snipe is NOT a call but a hollow, winnowing sound similar to that of a Boreal Owl. This sound is heard during courtship displays of the males as their outer tail feathers vibrate rapidly in the air.

The Wilsonâ€s Snipe usually nests in dry grass, often under vegetation. The female incubates 4 olive-buff eggs, marked with dark brown, for about 20 days. Both parents raise the young, but often split the brood.

Of interest, the Snipe hunts by FEEL, using its long bill to probe deeply into the soil for earthworms and other vertebrates. The young are unable to do this until their bills are fully grown, so the adults must feed the chicks until that time.

Wilson’s Snipe

The Wilsonâ€s Snipe breeds across most of Alaska and Canada, and south into the western USA.  During the winter, it can be found throughout the rest of the US, through Central America into South America.

The American Woodcock(Scolopax minor), also standing 27-29 cm. tall, is less colourful than the Snipe , mostly brown and black above, with a cross-barred pattern on its crown and entirely reddish-brown below. It prefers a mixed habitat of moist woodlands and brushy thickets, adjacent to grassy clearings and open fields, spending the days in the forest and the nights in the open fields.

Usually quiet and reclusive, the dusk and dawn mating display of the male American Woodcock is spectacular. He flies up in the air to a height of 300 feet, and then begins a spiralling glide down to land almost where he started. The three outer primaries are modified to produce a whistling sound during the spiral. The male will continue this aerobatic display until he is accepted by a female.

The Woodcock nests on the ground in woods or overgrown fields, with the female building a scrape lined with dead leaves and other debris. She incubates 4 pinkish- buff eggs, marked with brown/gray blotches for 20-22 days, then raises the brood on her own.

American Woodcock

The American Woodcock is found across south-eastern North America, from mid Ontario through Quebec to the Maritimes, south into the United States to Florida and the Gulf Coast States.

Both the Wilsonâ€s Snipe and the American Woodcock are considered “game birds”, and are hunted extensively with approximately 500,000 Snipe and over 2 million Woodcock being shot annually. Despite this, the status of both is considered relatively stable, although the American Woodcock is declining in some of the more easterly parts of its range, probably due to forest loss and pesticide use.

The evening concluded with a multiple-choice quiz, courtesy of Tony, which provided an interesting review of many common North American birds, living and extinct!

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 10 and will be hosted by Athena.

The Red-breasted Merganser(Mergus serrator) is a common northern, primarily arctic breeder around the globe (but also including the Great Lakes). It spends the winters primarily along the sea coasts (favouring harbours, rocky coastlines, etc.), but also on the Great Lakes and other large inland lakes. It nests along fish-bearing waters. Nests near water on the ground, sheltering under dense growth or debris. Frequently nests on islands with gulls and terns.There are usually 7-10 eggs of olive buff colour. Females may lay eggs in each others nests, sometimes in other ducks†nests. Incubation period 29-35 days, by female only. Female will lead brood to water within a couple of days of hatching. The young will learn to fly in about 2 months. Birds forage for fish by diving, although in shallow water they may dip their heads like Shovelers. They will forage in small groups, but usually not in large flocks. In the Winter we may seem them locally in association with Common Mergansers.
Males are unmistakable with dark breast, bright red eyes, and “dread-locks” which show up except sometimes when just surfacing. The Mergansers all share the distinctive long thin bill, for this bird orange combined with a high forehead. Females are less distinctive, but are somewhat paler than the Common female, and particularly have no distinctive demarcation between the reddish-brown head and the greyish neck.

The Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) (the second of our three Mergansers in North America), has a more widespread distribution, breeding in the North and the West, but generally not as far North as for the Red-breasted M. It is also found around the northern portion of the globe. It winters generally in large homogeneous flocks on larger ice-free fresh-water bodies, or in low-salinity tidal creeks and basins. They will move from a freeze-up, but then return as the ice melts. Basically, if you see a Merganser on salt water, it is most likely a Red-breasted.They are generally scarce in the northern prairies. Females nest near water, usually in large tree cavities, or in holes under tree roots. they will use nest boxes. Generally she lays 8-11 pale buff eggs, incubating them for 30-35 days. They will fly in 60-70 days.
The male is large, wide-bodied, heavyset, with a bright orange saw-bill, wide at the base and sharply tapered from a sloping forehead. Their bright green heads, bright black and white bodies, are unmistakable. The eyes are not really visible. They are larger than any other duck except for the Common Eider, and are sometimes confused with the Common Loon (in spite of the orange bill). The female is similar in overall appearance to the Common Merganser (recall the neck differences).
Both of these species are generally silent, aside from some flight calls by females.

The group got together at Dana Jonakâ€s home on Wednesday, the 11th, to discuss a couple of ‘Little Brown Jobsâ€, the Grasshopper Sparrow and Henslowâ€s Sparrow, both members of the Ammodramus family. These are both birds which are difficult to spot in the wild, except in mating season when they may sing from perches on tall grass or shrubs.

The Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) is a common and widespread glassland species. Its total numbers have declined radically over the past 50 years (along with habitat), but it is still a species of least concern. In Ontario it can mostly be found in isolated pockets S of the shield. (The Carden Alvar in Spring is a good spot.) There are large number of localized subspecies. The Northern residents migrate to the Southern US in the Winter.
It eats variety of insects in the Summer, mostly seeds in Winter. It does like grasshoppers, and is known for shaking a grasshopper until the legs fly off, before eating it.
It has a buffy face and breast, with a large conical bill and flat head. It is a short, plum; bird with a sparsely feathered short, natter tail. Except for the dark eyes, the face pattern appears to blend into cryptic uniformity; its fray back with red collar is usually evident. The juveniles are striped on the lower parts, and are easily confused with Henslowâ€s Sparrow adults. Generally detected by song in Spring, which song is a flat ‘chip-buzzzzzzzâ€.

Henslowâ€s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) was named by Audobon in honour of his friend John Stevens Henslow (who was a teacher of Charles Darwin). Its total numbers have declined markedly, and it is now found in isolated pockets of suitable habitat (esp. tall grass prairie) in a narrow band running from the mid-West across below the Great Lakes to New England. In Winter it migrates to a similar band acoss the SE US. In Ontario no breeding pairs were found in the second Atlas, and only about 50 pairs in the first Atlas. It can be found in areas with Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows. In breeding season it can best be found when perched on a grassy stem or shrub to sing. Itâ€s song is a cryptic two-syllable ‘ts-ippâ€.
In appearance it is similarly shaped to Grasshopperâ€s, but with a streaky chest and flanks, a variably greenish/olive head, and a reddish neck and body. an even heavier, bulbous bill, and a tail which appears shorter than Grasshopperâ€s in flight. Usually it just skulks along the ground rather than taking flight when disturbed. The facial pattern and pinkish bill do show up.

 

There are 83-90 swallows species worldwide excluding Antarctic (depending on authority); live near houses and farms; forage in large groups and nest in colonies; avoid perching in foliage, therefore easily seen in open; most catch bugs in flight.
NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW	CAVE SWALLOW
Names, History, Status:  (Mike) Petrochelidon fulva; Stelgidopterix ruficolis; gr. Stelgidos = scraper; ptteryx = wing, plus curved hooks on outer primaries; Pot rufus = reddish; aka Bridge Swallow, Gully Martin or Rough-wing.	Names, History, Status:  (Mike) petrochedon fulva: Petro = gr. stone or rock referring to places where nests are built; chelidon = swallow; Lat. Feebera = reddish yellow; aka Buff-throated swallow, Cohulia Cliff Swallow, Cuban Cliff Swallow; population is increasing and expanding to Southwest; late-fall wanderers to Northeast increasing dramatically in frequency and abundance.  Expansion of breeding range is aided by willingness to nest in bridges and culverts.
Migration & Range:SE Alaska, most of NOrth America	Migration & Range:Local north of U.S.; few nest in U.S.; Mexican and West Indies species; rarely seen on east coast; winters in tropics, Texas, New Mexico, Carlsbad Caves Ntl Park; range increasing in recent years.
Enemies, Courtship & Behaviour:Gregarious; do not gather in large flocks unlike Cave Swallow; slow and deliberate movement; Bird banding (7,851) only recovered .19% recovered; monogamous.	Enemies, Courtship & Behaviour:  (Dana)Gregarious; population increase 10.8% annually; social; may share nest sites with other species; possible interbreeding?
Voice, Song & Food:Flight call a rough fzzzap or fzzzup; song slow series of notes similar to flight call; quiet overall compared to other swallows; forages silently.	Voice, Song & Food:  (Athena)Eat “on the fly”; flight call higher-pitched, more clipped than Cliff Swallow, cha or chacha; song a sputtering series of short ch and cha notes interspersed with weak trills.
Nesting, Eggs & Habitat:Breeding habitat is near streams, lakes and river banks; nest in cavities near water; does not breed colonially; usually burrow in dirt or artificial sites (masonry holes); prefers kingfisher or other species holes; return to nest burrow if displaced; declining population due to weasels, pesticides, although successful in raising young; 4-8 eggs incubated by female for 13 days & another 20 days until fledging.	Nesting, Eggs & Habitat:North American subspecies nest in caves, sinkholes and commonly man-made structures i.e. highway culverts; South American species prefer open areas such as cliffs and the side of buildings; Cup-shaped nest open at the top; 3-5 eggs; both sexes incubate eggs; blind at birth & canâ€t retain body heat; remain in nest 20-22 days; both parents feed nestlings insects throughout the day; only female develops brood patch; will use barn swallow nests; 2 species coexist at some nesting sites.
Comparison, Field Marks & Identifiers:Barbs pronounced on males, may be for attracting females; small, overall drab & stubby, somewhat roundly proportioned, “mouse” of a swallow – distinguished by its lack of distinction; when perched it is slightly larger and pudgier than the Bank Swallow, slightly smaller than Tree Swallow; plumage seems disheveled or shabby “rough”; most of bird is dull brown; belly is dirty, not bright white; immature bird has darker tail and rufous wing bars “just a stubby bran coloured swallow with a dirty chest and dingy white underparts”; in flight overall fairly compact and roundly contoured; wings are proportionately blunter than other swallows; tail is broad and blunt when closed but short and rounded when fanned or spread; plain dingy brown above, whitish below with a dirty chest showing no iridescence or paleness on the rump; flight a little slower and more casual than other swallows “a swallow that takes care of business without panache” – wing beats are slower, shallow and fluttery.	Comparison, Field Marks & Identifiers:Small bird slightly smaller than a Cliff Swallow; somewhat short-headed & roundly contoured; buffy throat patch and dark forehead; rump patch not commonly seen when perched and is [reddish] or cinnamon tinged; in some light wing has a brownish cast; Florida Cave Swallows have richer darker colours below but no whit forehead; in flight the Cave Swallow shares the rounded contours, flight is more delicate; wing beats like the Rough-wing are fluttery; square or slightly notched tail.

Published by the McGill-Queenâ€s University press, 2013.

In 2014, John Riley brought his new book to the monthly meeting of the Richmond Hill Naturalists, an organization he once was part of and from whose members he learned about much about nature.

At another Richmond Hill Naturalists monthly speakers meeting more than ten years ago, John came and told us of doing botanical searches on the south facing  slopes of hills in the far north Tundra, documenting the northern movement of plants and trees.

His mother, Margaret was a more familiar member of the Naturalists at that time and of the University of Toronto Womenâ€s club. She was also a supporter in the Friends of the Don in York Region. The Friends was my own first venture into environmental activism in the headwaters areas of Vaughan and Richmond Hill after leaving the University of Guelph in 1990 that brought me into the Naturalists..

For the activist naturalists of the Richmond Hill Club, Margaret Cranmer Byng, Mike Turk, Theo Hoffman, Natalie Helferty, and myself, John has become an honorary RH Naturalist. He has moved on to be a more remote but powerful actor with other players, in environmental and development planning and action in York Region, Ontario, Canada and beyond. From his book we get perspectives in our own and our Provinceâ€s battles with “paving the moraine”, the rampant suburban greenfields development in the 80â€s, 90â€s and 2000â€s.

John came back to us this September 2014 with his book “Once and Future Great Lakes Country; An Ecological History”. With this talk and the amazing book, we now learned just how engaged and activist for nature John Riley was and is, and a lot more.

We knew that John was a botanist and ecologist. He was a long time staff member of Ontario Nature and is now senior science advisor to the effective Nature Conservancy of Canada. But in our activities in the ‘90â€s, some of us didnâ€t know of his behind the scenes work to save the unique Bakerâ€s Sugar Maple Bush north of Highway 407 and Bathurst. At that time we were not being very successful in trying to hire an environmental lawyer when the news that the Woods had been saved by the Provincial government hit the papers. John knew more than we did. Itâ€s in his book.

But our challenges in Richmond Hill; the Moraine, the 407 and Bayview highway bridges, Jefferson Salamander preservation, and the Dunlop Observatory Lands still in heavy dispute, these are just our own recent small home town connections in tens of thousands of years of history and ecological history in Johnâ€s “Great lakes Country”, He covers these times in an area from the Atlantic in the east, Thunder Bay in the west, the Appalachians south of the Great lakes to the true north above Lakes Superior and Nipigon.

Johnâ€s book begins and is grounded in his little farm in Mono Mills south and west of Orangeville, not far south of the Niagara Escarpment,. His experiences on this farm are his navel of the Great lakes Country, in time and events, spacially and ecologically. But his Great Lakes country story soon becomes a huge, bitter and sad ecological saga with a hint of a modern silver lining.

You can dream and imagine but it is hard to understand Johnâ€s “earthly paradise” as the way to describe the Mono Mills surroundings, the farmlands south from there to the flood of suburbs north of the 401, Highway 7 in the times before the 1500â€s. The inhabitants who created and managed these exemplary precolonial lands were some of the forefathers of our rebuilding first nations.

The many first nations tribes had their verbal story telling, their wampums that wove time and events from century to century as long as they could. But it was the first wave of explorers from Europe, French, English, Dutch and German, Europeans all, whose accounts relate wonderful semi civilized agricultural landscapes without fences, with ancient oaks that survived the agricultural practices of many thousands of years. This is what also had created a way to retain the wealth of forest harvest, of rich, oh so rich wildlife, pure fresh waters teeming with fish, skies and woods filled and seasonally overwhelmed with birds and a careful civilizing village and town agriculture..

Paradise indeed. It was so much so, that the Europeans were almost lost for words in comparing this new world with their own. Unfortunately their inscape of this wonderful rich thriving world was colored by the lustful greedy cupidity of already ecologically abused Europeans who, with a few exceptions, could only see seeking to exploit this gift of ancient north American civilization, and of time. If not for fabled gold, then from gold acquired by exploiting all these other riches of the Americas and the Great Lakes country.

The first peoples of the Great lakes country were the first to suffer. These were stone age hunter gatherers who had arrived with great paleolithic animals during and after the ice ages that filled these long eras that few of us moderns can even imagine. Quebec ecologist Pierre Dansereau in his 1972 CBC Massey Lectures, “Inscape and Landscape”  likened the arrival of these first peoples, the first peoples of America and of the far north, to the possible voyages of man from planet to planet. This was the land described extensively but quite differently by paleontologist and ecologist Tim Flannery in his The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples; this is north America post the asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico and the end of the age of dinosaurs, 60 million years ago. The complete ecological change in the animal populations of north America and Canada by the first waves of human colonization 15 more or less thousand years ago, parallels the evolution of the Australian fauna that Flannery describes in his 1994, book about the arrival of man in Australia, 40,000 years ago, The Future Eaters: an Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People.

But John begins by focussing on the age of first nations in the Great lakes Country: Chapter 1, The Land Beyond memory: Before 1500, before the European invasions. In the next three Chapters of Part One, The Land and what Happened to it, he relates how paradise was turned into a new Europe, with the first nations almost extirpated by the Europeans†guns, smallpox, measles and rivalries for animals, wood and finally the land itself. It is a sad story that ties together the literature of those who write about this age of the end of the first nations in the Great Lakes Country, from our high school history books, to the novels of Joseph Boyden.

In the next 400 years, the Europeans first describe the wonders of North American wildlife, then under the great changes, the wilding of the post aboriginal land ecology. They were almost blindly involved in depleting the abundances of wood, animals and fish, completely or almost completely unaware of what was happening. This story is much the same as the ecological changes, the climate changes that began as man assumed dominance of lands, and is happening worldwide today. But John documents those centuries in this special area with the help of the few articulate observers, some of whom realized what they were witnessing and sometimes tried to do something about it. Johnâ€s approach to what is happening is almost encyclopaedic. In the same way that the age of Reason put together the whole list of knowledge of the world, Riley and sometimes the writers he cites, create a catalogue of the physical, political and natural phenomena that make up full ecological history of a world, in this case the Great Lakes world – from the smallest detail of the demise of the once universal eel species (Iâ€ve never seen one in nearly 70 years in the Great Lakes Country) to the ignorant, wasteful ways of using land brought over from Europe that replaced the perhaps equally ignorant but much more ecologically successful use of land, wildlife and plant life by the pre colonial invasion First Nations.

Like so many of us involved in the environment or ecology, in his third Unit, “Natureâ€s Prospect”, John gets to his assessment of the factors for the future. There are the impacts of the invasives, pathological in his own botanical arena as they arrived in the Great Lakes Country, insects and funguses that so sharply cut into our native trees and continue to do so. They are seen as part of the impacts of globalization, of the rest of the world. This is added to the scale of human proliferation with the industrial revolution, citification of the enlarging population. And as the book ends, John moves back towards the Mono farm, through the realization of projects of land protection, projects and experiments in land management, at times led by the inscape of the ‘earthly paradise” of the precolonial eras. He even hints at “curbing our excesses”to restore the ecological richness of the Great lakes Country, much as Bruce Chatwin and his Russian colleague in the conclusion to the Australian Aboriginal story of “Songlines” saw salvation in the rich simplicity of aboriginal life, philosophy and deep ecological  poetry, the songlines of the 40,000 year old native civilization of Australia.

And in an “afterword” to his ecological history of the Great lakes Country which is the setting of his own life and modest Mono Mills farmstead, John Riley sees or forsees the forces of nature. He does this as an ecologist, botanist and activist like himself. He knows that there are worldâ€s visionaries like James Lovelock who in “Gaia” proposed that the world is alive, managing its climate to maintain life. But we all must live with what nature will do with what man tries. Life for us is a balancing act between reality and manâ€s ingenuity. The history of life is what has given us the Great lakes Country of this book, and in which we live. We who are mainly unaware in our personal, economic and familial concentrations and preoccupations, or like John himself, apprehensive in what he has seen in his deep investigation that he has researched, written and  published for us.

Please feel free to distribute this Christmas Bird Count poster to all family and friends.

The Christmas Bird Count began over a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history. On Christmas Day in 1900, the small group suggested an alternative to the “side hunt,” in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most game, including birds. Instead, Chapman proposed that they identify, count, and record all the birds they saw. Now Binocular Brigades often brave winterâ€s chill, ice, and snow to record changes in resident populations before spring migrants return.

Counts are often family or community traditions that make for fascinating stories. Accuracy is assured by having new participants join an established group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher. Count volunteers follow specified routes through a designated 24-km diameter circle, or can arrange in advance to count the birds at home feeders inside the circle and submit the results to a designated compiler. All individual Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between December 14 and January 5 (inclusive) each season, with each individual count occupying a single calendar day.

From feeder-watchers and field observers to count compilers and regional editors, everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Count does it for love of birds and the excitement of friendly competition – and with the knowledge that their efforts are making a difference for science and bird conservation.

In the Richmond Hill area, the count is coordinated by the Richmond Hill Naturalists, and anyone interested in participating (either in touring a route on the 20th, or reporting on observations at backyard feeders on that date) can contact Gene Denzel at 905-889-7888 or by email at [email protected].  Our ‘count circle†is shown on the accompanying poster, but includes much of the area between  roughly John St in the South and Aurora Road in the North, and between Kennedy Rd in the East and Weston Rd in the West.