Halifax Field Naturalists

Vernal pools are small, shallow wetlands that lack permanent inlet or outlet streams and often dry out in the summer. They provide critical breeding habitat for frogs, salamanders, insects and fairy shrimp, and feeding and drinking sites for birds, mammals, turtles and other wildlife. Are you aware of any shallow wetland pools in the forests near your home or near places you vacation, hike, hunt or bird watch? Please tell NSE about them!.

With the Nova Scotia Bird Society we’ll visit all of our favourite winter birding sites in and around Halifax Harbour looking for ducks, gulls, and alcids. Meet 9:00 a.m., McCormack’s Beach Prov. Park parking lot, just past Boondocks Restaurant in Eastern Passage. Read more

Come join us and enjoy Barbara O’Shea’s illustrated travelogue about an adventure voyage on the headwaters of the Amazon. Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History 7:30 p.m. Read more

John Klymko et al. recently reported occurrence of the rare Dorcas Copper butterfly in a rich calcareous fen at Black River, Inverness County. It’s typically associated with shrubby cinquefoil. Read more about this butterfly and its habitat at Black River in the Journal of the Acadian Entomological Society.

Landscape painter Mark Brennan makes a plea to recognize the intrinsic value of all living things in his moving film, The Acadian Forest, The Story So Far.

Join documentary photographer Dan Doucette to learn about the natural disaster that’s been centuries in the making. 7:30 p.m. NSMNH. Read more

Angevine Lake is the largest lake in Cumberland county, Nova Scotia and the closest to the Northumberland Strait. It has the highest documented biodiversity for herpetological species in the province (salamanders, frogs and snakes) and is the only crown owned site for the endangered Ram’s Head Lady Slipper. Please Read More & Sign Petition.

Dr. Martin Willison will give a talk on Protected Areas in N.S. at 7:30 pm on Monday Dec. 5 at the Museum of Natural History Auditorium (1747 Summer St., Halifax). The title is “From Picnic Parks to Systematic Protection of Biodiversity: A Review of the Development of Protected Areas in Nova Scotia”. The talk is a free public lecture in the Nova Scotia Institute of Science 150th Anniversary series. Read more

Speaker Bob Chaulk is an experienced recreational SCUBA diver, who has explored waters from Bermuda to Labrador, the Carolinas, and the Caribbean. However, his main area of concentration will be on his many dives in our Halifax harbour and the Bedford Basin. Our annual members’ Holiday Social will take place after the talk. Please bring your sweets or savouries and non-alcoholic beverages to the usual meeting area. 7:30 p.m. at NS Museum of Natural History. Read more

On Tuesday, October 25, the provincial government will announce protection of The Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area under the Wilderness Areas Protection Act. This area includes The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail as part of the 20,000 acres of protected Crown Land. The announcement will be made in Tantallon – see poster

Peter Neily and Eugene Quigley of the Nova Scotia Dept. of Natural Resources will talk to the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society about Forest Ecosystem Classification (FEC) in Nova Scotia, highlighting results of ten years of study on over 1500 FEC plots. All welcome! 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct 24th at N.S. Museum of Natural History, enter via the parking lot. Read more

The province released its Wetland Conservation Policy on Oct. 14th. The policy “identifies what legislation, regulations, and policies are currently relevant to wetland conservation; clarifies the roles and responsibilities of government and the public in relation to wetlands; and makes this information more accessible to Nova Scotians. Ultimately, the policy establishes specific objectives intended to prevent the net loss of Nova Scotia’s wetlands.” Read more