Halifax Field Naturalists

AGM & Members Slide Night

Date: Wednesday, Mar, 1
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History

Note this meeting  is on Wed, not our usual Thursday evening

The Annual General Meeting takes place first, where reports on HFN’s activities over the past 12 months are presented followed by the election of the next Board of Directors, including that of a new President. Then we view and hear about a variety of members’ photos. If you are an HFN member and would like to share some of your favourite nature-oriented and/or vacation digital images, but are reluctant to give an extensive talk, this is a chance to give an eight-to-ten-minute mini-presentation. Six presenters can be accommodated on a first-come-first-served basis, with up to three first-time presenters having priority. If interested, please contact Clarence Stevens by February 23rd!!

The date of the meeting had to be changed as the Museum auditorium was not available on our regular meeting night.

NS Power and Ospreys

NS Power’s Environmental scientist Peter Morrison will guide us through its Osprey Management Programme covering all aspects and objectives, such as the recent successful relocation of Russell Lake’s Osprey nest, and how nests on high voltage are safely handled. With Peter’s background and experience within this environment he’ll be able to cover many aspects of this wonderful programme and its accompanying rewards. 7:30 P.M. at the NSMNH

by Keith Vaughan

SYNOPSIS
This presentation aims to show the audience that organic chemistry is pervasive in
almost all of our lives and daily activities.  Read more

UPDATE: VIEW CBC: Concerns raised over plans to build warship testing facility at Hartlen Point (NOV 23, 2022)

Hartlen Point in Eastern Passage “is regarded as one of the best mainland migrant traps in Nova Scotia comprised of open areas, fairways of the golf course, mud flats, spruce thickets, cobble and kelp-covered beaches, cattail marshes, ponds, bogs and alders that are used as breeding areas for some and a magnet for migrant songbirds to rest and forage. Over 250 species of birds have been documented here.” (NS Bird Society).

The ecological integrity of the site is seriously threatened by  a plan to locate a naval training complex on it.

Protect Hartlen Point – A community-organized movement to protect the thriving ecosystem of Hartlen Point and the surroundings – asks people concerned about the site to join a peaceful rally on Saturday Nov 26, 2022 at the office of Darren Fisher, MP for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour,  located at 82 Tacoma Drive, Dartmouth.   Read more »

December is a traditional time for various media outlets to do a review of that year’s highlights.  It’s fun to see the occasional nature item included, but such stories certainly don’t make up the bulk of these summaries.  So this year for the first time ever HFN has decided to create its own year end synopsis.  This one will focus on the top nature news from around the world with the greatest emphasis on items that impacted Nova Scotia the most.  In this modern day world where our eyes and ears are bombarded with so much information it’s easy to miss news about the nature we love.  However, this presentation is about more than just catching up on nature highlights – it’s also a chance, through vivid imagery, to relive some of our favourite nature moments of the year.

Holiday Social  

Our annual Members’ Holiday Social will take place after the above talk.  Please bring your sweets or savouries and non-alcoholic beverages to the usual meeting area.  A subscription to the Halifax Field Naturalist would also make a good holiday gift!  Bring your money or a cheque.  Please note – there are no facilities for heating food.

At our monthly meeting, Dr. Norm Pinsky will talk about a a medical mission he made with his 15 year old son to an isolated village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Read more

It’s pretty simple and would likely mesh readily with the nature exploration & enjoyment activities of Halifax Field Naturalists and many more nature-oriented folks in NS: “basically, the challenge is to observe the natural world around you as you hike. To earn the badge, you have to do 10 hikes and submit 10 observations from each hike via iNaturalist”

Read more about it in an article by Jonathan Riley, Hike NS Board President.
Read more »

Bob Bancroft, president of Nature Nova Scotia, has written a letter to The Premier, and Minsters of Environment…, Communities.., Natural Resources noting that “Minister Rushton has expressed a determination to remove the gates from the Mersey River to allow motorized access to ATVs” and urging well-informed, and careful management of these lands, through inclusive dialogue with the Mi’kmaq and Nature Nova Scotia.

View Letter.

Nature NS is a federation of 24 natural history societies and other nature groups in Nova Scotia.

Read about Lake Rossgnol on South Shore Connect.

Monthly Meeting – Mushrooms– Thursday, October 6 at 7:30 at the Museum of Natural History

The meeting will be at 7:30 PM in the auditorium of the Museum of Natural History. It will be an in-person meeting only. Attendees will not be required to wear a mask, but are welcome to do so if they wish.

John Crabtree, founding member and Regional Director for HRM of the Nova Scotia Mycological Society, and local mushroom expert will share some of his vast knowledge of mushrooms. As the local mushroom “expert”, he is often called on by organizations such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Ecology Action Centre and Nova Scotia Nature Trust for guided walks, presentations and bioblitzes.

John’s presentation will be followed by a guided mushroom walk on Wednesday, October 12th at Shubie Park in Dartmouth. Meeting place will be in the main parking lot. Please note that registration is required for this walk. Please contact Patti L (pattileclerATgmaxxl.cxm) for registration and further details. There is no rain date.

Please note: John’s mushroom talk has proven to be a very popular event. Thus, paid up members will be given seating priority until 7:20. After 7:20, seating will be open to all on a first come, first served basis until maximum capacity is reached.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Burkhard Plache, a long time member, board member and since 2017, President of the Halifax Field Naturalists.

He was a pillar of the Halifax naturalist community and will be sorely missed by his wife Ingrid and all of us who knew him.

There will be a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving on Sep 28, 2022.

Please see his obituary for details: https://www.dartmouthfuneralhome.ca/obituary/burkhard-plache

Monthly Meeting – From Coast to Coast to Coast – Thursday, September 1, 2022
Building climate resiliency through marine protected areas. In this talk, Dalhousie University/Ocean Frontier Institute’s marine biologist Boris Worm explains the scientific rationale for using marine protected areas to foster resilient ocean ecosystems; these areas can withstand the impacts of climate change and therefore better help to secure fragile biodiversity and a reliable seafood supply at the same time. He will discuss case studies from Canada’s three coasts as well as international ones, and present new results of a 5-year research project on climate-smart protected area planning

The meeting will be at 7:30 PM in the auditorium of the Museum of Natural History.

Southdale site on Aug 15, 2022. Trees had been cleareddown to the wetland.  From p 6 of Letter
Click on image for larger version

An invitation from Shape Our City Halifax has just been issued to “to share your feedback on the draft policies, development agreement and submitted plans” related to the Southdale Future Growth Node  which includes the  ‘Eisner Cove Wetland’.

Feedback is to be submitted via simple one-box form by Monday September 19, 2022.

The  “draft policies, development agreement and submitted plans” can be accessed via  this webpage: Case 23820: Southdale Future Growth Node Planning Process

Tree-clearing at the Southdale site began in early August, so it’s not  clear what decisions about the development  yet to be taken might be modified by public input.

As readers are probably aware, there have been some hitches along the way in the form of growing protests, appeals, and an industrial site incident.
Read more »