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By Carl Maiolani

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs ). On or about the first weekend of May every year, Jane’s Walk festivals take place in hundreds of cities around the world. Jane’s Walks encourage people to share stories about their neighbourhoods, discover unseen aspects of their communities, and use walking as a way to connect with their neighbours. This year the Windsor-Essex Jane’s Walk Festival took place over two weekends. On the last weekend of April twelve walks took place in Essex County and on the first weekend of May sixteen walks took place in Windsor and Tecumseh. The Membership Committee of our club approached two current or former members of our club and asked them to lead walks. We sincerely thank them both for their contributions.

On Sunday April 30th, Grant Munroe led a walk in Kingsville entitled “How Mill Creek Shaped Kingsville”.  Grant was joined by over 50 people for the one hour walk through some streets of Kingsville near Mill Creek. He stopped four times along the walk route to share lots of history concerning the impact of the creek on the development of business and industry in the town. The participants learned about the manufacture of clay tiles, about who earned the nickname “one-hand Pete”, about the tannery where leather belts were made for use in machines, about the woolen mills, and about the natural gas boom in 1885 that led to the town providing free gas to existing and new businesses that came to town.

As more businesses were established, more wastewater entered the creek which led to spikes in cases of dysentery and cholera during the summertime. Some townspeople pushed back at the threat of these urban diseases by promoting nature-related responses. In 1907 Lakeside Park was established and to this day is a focal point for many outdoor gatherings and activities. At one point the town turned down a proposal from the H.J. Heinz Company which wanted to build a tomato processing plant. The plant was eventually built in Leamington. The early 1900’s continued to see an emphasis on a clean, healthy, and wholesome profile of the town as various polluting businesses closed down and the creek was cleaned up.

On Sunday May 7th, Mike Evans led over 30 people on a Windsor walk through Oakwood Park. That park is the eastern tip of what has come to be known as the Ojibway Prairie Complex. During the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020-23, Mike spent a year observing the seasonal flow of nature in the park and documented what he saw with photos and video footage. He used his work to make a nature documentary that became a fan favourite of the 2022 Windsor International Film Festival. During the walk Mike included many personal stories drawn from his childhood experiences in the park. He also shared many of his special observations during his year in the park. The people on the walk learned that his natural curiosity as a child has continued to develop into what could be called a focused appreciation of nature as an adult. I’m sure many of Mike’s childhood friends and other residents from the nearby neighbourhood have had their lives impacted in a similar way. We look forward to a screening of his film at the June 14th meeting of the Club at the Ojibway Nature Centre.

By Gina Pannunzio and Ian Naisbitt   

The first Earth Day was on 22 April, 1970. Since then it has become an annual event to celebrate Mother Earth and to support local community environmental actions. Some passionate organisations have expanded their celebrations to call it Earth Week or even April as Earth Month!

On Saturday, 21 April, 1990, the Little River Enhancement Group (Lil’ Reg) and partners organised our first Earth Day celebration by participating in a river cleanup in Little River Corridor Park (LRCPark) in East Windsor. Since then, we have celebrated 11 Earth Day cleanups in the park. Additionally, our partnership has celebrated Earth Day by planting trees and shrubs 11 times in LRCPark.

Our partnership included: Browning-Ferris Industries, Casino Windsor, City of Windsor, Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, Essex County Nature, Essex Region Conservation Authority and Unifor Local 200.

On Sunday, 23 April, 2023 from 10 a.m. to noon, the Essex Region Conservation Authority invited community volunteers and their “Green Teams” to help plant 1600 native trees in Little River Corridor Park. Specifically, it included the open, green space south of Wyandotte Street, between Florence Avenue and Martinique Avenue. This year’s site is again in the Little River Watershed, so we are delighted to add the 1600 trees planted to the total number of trees planted in LRCPark to 21774. This event was generously sponsored by Enwin Utilities Ltd..

Sunrise was at 6:38 a.m. today and the temperature was 2 Celsius. The weather forecast called for: “Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High of 11 C. Winds at 15 to 25 km/ h, which is a gentle to moderate breeze according to Mr. Beaufort. UV Index 4 out of 10.” Around 11 a.m. rain showers mixed with small ice pellets arrived!

Wildlife observed today included: Red-winged Blackbird, Canada Goose, American Robin, Mute Swan, Killdeer and a tern (black wing tips, orange bill and black cap) not sure which species. It is always gratifying to see wildlife using these natural ideas to survive and raise their young. An observation was made: a trio of a Mute Swan, Mallard Drake and Canada Goose were foraging within a metre of each other. It appears these birds are able to share the pond together peacefully.

Photo 1: White Flowering Trees. There were several of these blooming in the surrounding natural area and I was informed by two knowledgeable professionals that they were either Cherry, Pear or Apple trees. The Redbuds were just beginning to open.  

Photo 2: Family Planting Earth Day 2023. What a coincidence! Randomly, I chose this family group to follow and watch them plant a tree. I asked if I could take a photograph of them and they agreed. A few minutes later two young ladies approached me and asked, “Are you Mr. Naisbitt?” I knew right away they were former students. They introduced themselves and we had a pleasant conversation. It is always an enjoyable experience to have former students introduce themselves and have a wonderful heart-to-heart together. They remember helping to cleanup and plant trees with other Concord School students.

Reforesting the Little River Watershed has always been an essential target for our group. Along with the creation of wetlands, our members feel both of these objectives are critical for the improvement of the ecosystem health of the watershed. Our planting and cleanup events also help our community to delist the Detroit River as an Area of Concern (AOC) in the Great Lakes Basin. Specifically, these activities address two of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) of the Detroit River AOC:

• Degradation of fish and wildlife populations (BUI # 3).
• The loss of fish and wildlife habitat (BUI # 14).

We acknowledge that the Little River Watershed is in the traditional and ancestral territory of The Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa and the Potawatomi Peoples. We recognise that Indigenous Peoples had an original connection with their ancestral land. 

We are dedicated to learning about and helping First Nations to protect, preserve and restore their ancestral lands and waters. We value and respect the contributions and relationships of the Indigenous Peoples in their ancestral territory.

“We do not inherit this land from our ancestors, We borrow it from our children.” ~Haida Proverb

By Howard Williams

 Weather is always a topic of conversation and in March, we started lamb-like and then the lion roared in mid-March. Up and down – do we really want the certainty that comes with being further north, out of the various depression tracks that meander across southern Ontario? Probably not if you like spring in late March. I was made aware of an archaic term: APRICITY: the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day. Nice ring to it, eh? We should start using it again, though here in Windsor, it is March that has that pleasing combination of strong sun and cool weather.

For me, it is the arrival of Turkey vultures, gliding and tipping their wings over the city in early March, that is surely a sign of spring. I know some stay here in the winter, but not many. Similarly, Junco start trilling from the tree tops in March before they leave us to go north of the Great Lakes. By mid-April, those found in Jackson Park throughout the winter have largely gone, to be replaced by the similarly-sounding Chipping Sparrows.

One of the reasons for return visits is to spot first-flowering and other significant events. For example, in March I noticed small trumpet flowers (not the spidery ones) of Hamamelis virginiana var. virginiana, known also as Northern Witch- Hazel in Kopegaron. What I don’t know is if these are the remains of Fall flowers or whether the trees are confused.

I am constantly surprised and encouraged that SW Ontario does not have the same weed burden as Nova Scotia. For example, Coltsfoot is very common on disturbed land out east, but seems relative rare here. We saw some in early April at Holiday Beach, cheerful but invasive. By April, the city is swarming with Robins quartering the lawns, pairs of birds chasing each other, and a first for me, a Fox Sparrow in Jackson Park. The Cooper’s Hawk has been seen sporadically throughout the winter in Jackson Park, but as spring nears it has been seen more often, though, sadly it is not nesting there as it has done in previous years.

In mid-April, after the week-long summer, we held the first of the bi-weekly walks in Black Oak Heritage Park. Spring flowers are behind there relative to Maidstone and Kopegaron, with Virginia spring beauty, Wild lily-of-the-valley and Mayapple only in bud rather than actually flowering. One joy was a good look at an Eastern Towhee that co-operated for several minutes, posing for photographs. Eighteen bird species were seen by some.

Those detail-oriented members (pedants) who watch these things will have noticed that this year, the Arctic ice area maximum was slightly early this year, March 9th, and the total ice area was well down on all previous years. The weather has a real roller-coaster, what with the week-long summer in April, and the resurgence of winter in late-April – early May, plants are alternately subjected to the seasonal gas pedal and brakes. Spring is here in late-April, I have been eating local asparagus to prove it. One thing has been noticeable this Spring is the variation in the timing of blooms of wildflowers, some conservation areas are in full bloom, while others that might be expected to be in bloom, are not, and not just because of the proximity to one of the great Lakes. Holiday Beach seems to be far ahead of places in mid-Essex. Why?

I have enjoyed reading a Windsor Public Library book entitled: ‘Slow Birding – the art and science of enjoying birds in your own backyard’; written by Joan Strassmann and published by TarcherPerigree. The book is an entertaining review of scientific studies on sixteen bird species that all occur here in Canada as well as the United States. Each chapter includes aspects of variation, feeding, breeding, sexual adventures by both sexes, siblicide and brood parasitism. As an aid to increase an observer’s knowledge and consequent reward, each species chapter concludes with how to look at the species and what behaviours to note. Definitely recommended.

The Japanese have specific phrases or words that deal with their relationship with Nature. Hanami (flower viewing) for them is something that is so easy to do in Windsor that has so many flowering trees from the end of March onwards. Yes, a good many are exotic trees, but the native Serviceberry, various maples, Redbud (all in Jackson Park) and Northern Spicebush (Devonwood) come to their full glory in April. Get out there and admire them; better still, plant them in your gardens.

In mid-April, we held a pop-up at Talley’s Bush, and apart from the fact that I went to the wrong end and saw nobody, the others that bravely participated on the afternoon the short April summer ended and winter began again, were victims of the line squall – cold front that went through, delivering heavy rain, thunder and a marked drop in temperature. Just after the storm I was lucky enough to see American Toads basking in the warmth, some ‘in flagrante delicto, or are they just cuddling for warmth?

One of my favourite plants is Eastern Skunk Cabbage. It can be seen most easily at the bird-feeding bridge over the drain in Ojibway (Tom Joy Woods). In Nova Scotia it starts poking up through the snow by creating its own heat, but here in Windsor, snow in March seems to be comparatively rare, so one has to look for it through similarly-coloured leaf litter – much harder to spot.

This Spring we have been pleased to see many new wildflowers in Devonwood, such as Yellow Trout Lily and Cress.

For me, the end of April was a real downer when the bird feeder on my front lawn disappeared, probably stolen. Why would someone take a feeder, surely someone with heart enough to feed birds would have sufficient sympathy to leave those owned by others alone?

I am looking forward to our visit to Pelee Island in early May (see separate article). The trip, led by Dave Kraus, was excellent

My activity on May 13th was to lead one of the bi-weekly walks into Black Oak Heritage Woods while conducting part of my contribution to the Great Canadian (Baillie) Birdathon, amounting to a total of 4.5 hours birding, identifying 43 species in three trips within the City of Windsor limits. Not a record-breaker by any means. Chasing the warblers in Black Oak were probably the most enjoyable and frustrating part of my birdathon, the Common Grackle in Devonwood was more amenable to being photographed.

We spent a few days in the Bruce Peninsula in late May, enjoying the multitude of warblers, many for the first time. Merlin is such a help in the many cases where only a flash of the hyperactive birds is seen. Sadly, in late May, only a few orchids were seen but the Laurentian Primrose were in full bloom on the various alvars we visited.

I end this piece with the knowledge that Summer has now arrived in Windsor, Eastern Wood Pewee have been heard in Jackson Park.