chart

By Karen Alexander

Native Phragmites is an important component of a healthy wetland ecosystem.  It grows amongst other macrophytes in marshes and unlike the invasive Phragmites, does not typically develop into dense monocultures or degrade habitat quality.  

Across the Great Lakes region, native Phragmites has disappeared from wetlands because of the more competitive invasive Phragmites and there is a concern that the native population is being removed from wetlands due to well-meaning control measures targeting invasive plants.  

Fortunately, variation does exist between the native and invasive Phragmites, but even the available diagnostic keys are not leading to clear determinations of native or invasive Phragmites. When confusion remains, a DNA analysis is needed.

In Ontario, an increasing number of land managers are admitting confusion when attempting to identify native or invasive Phragmites in the field. To protect native Phragmites and ensure efficient use of resources to control invasive Phragmites, the Green Shovels Collaborative is offering free access to a DNA Screening Service for the 2022-23 fiscal year.  

The DNA Screening method being used for the program is from D. Wendell et al. (2021).  This simple screen test can differentiate between native Phragmites and invasive Phragmites. The test will also detect hybridization. 

For more information and to enroll in the program, please visit: DNA Screening Program  – Green Shovels.

By Karen Alexander

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you to all Club members who have renewed their membership for 2022! We are grateful for your continued loyalty, commitment, and support, especially while our normal club activities have been postponed or offered only virtually.  Membership renewals are due April 1, 2022.

This year we have many exciting plans for the Club:

• We intend to get back to in-person Speaker Series at the Ojibway Nature Centre as soon as we are able to. Meanwhile, our Speaker Series will continue online.
• We will keep hosting “Pop-up” events throughout the County – thank you to all who join these events, it is lovely to see members coming together again! The last event at Jack Miners on March 6 brought together 17 members for about 3 hours. Members enjoyed a lovely day with observations of 13 bird species! Hello Spring!
• Our Junior Egrets Club is getting 20 backpacks stuffed with nature guides, activities, and a schedule of events!  Thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment, we are able to offer a new program called “Connecting Youth to Local Nature”.  Stay tuned for more information or contact Kory Renaud, Chair of the Junior Egrets Committee.
• We have a number of new volunteer opportunities and we recently completed a new Organizational Chart (see photo below)  that provides a visual breakdown of all the volunteer roles and Committees we have – we really do quite a lot for a volunteer Club and I am proud of our Membership.
• We are currently seeking current or new members to fill a few roles:
  • Speaker Series Coordinator
  • Communications Coordinator
  • Volunteer Manager
  • iNaturalist Coordinator
  • Members for the Heritage Committee, the Phragmites Committee, and the Junior Egrets Committee

The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club is a volunteer-driven Club that could not run without Members stepping into roles and stepping up to help us spread excitement and gratitude for local natural heritage.  If we don’t do this important work to provide the opportunity for people to become acquainted with and to better understand the natural environment in Essex County, who will?

I very much look forward to meeting more of our Membership this year and can’t wait to get back to in-person meetings, events, and projects!

Sincerely,

Karen Alexander, President

By Jeremy Hatt

The 16th annual Holiday Beach CBC took place on Tuesday, December 28^th, 2021. The count area includes Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Big Creek, the lower Detroit River north to LaSalle (Lower Detroit IBA), Boblo Island, and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, Boblo Island was inaccessible this year due to construction on the island but the rest of the count circle received good coverage. 37 participants volunteered for the Count, tallying 78 species and 21,533 individual birds. During the count there were many new volunteers taking part, including several ECFNC members, which was great to see. Golden Eagle was the only additional species reported for Count Week. The species count of 78 is two below the record high of 80 species.

Skies were cloudy all day and heavy wet snow started in the mid-afternoon and into the evening. The temperature ranged from a low of 0C and a high of 2C w/ light southeast winds making for comfortable birding throughout the day. There was no ice cover on any bodies of water during the count.

A few highlights from this year’s count included:

Snow Goose – 4
Cackling Goose – 1
Northern Pintail – 7 (good number for the count)
Green-winged Teal – 1 (new species for the count)
Canvasback – 11,326 (record high count – mostly consisting of birds streaming from the Lower Detroit River IBA towards Lake Erie and a spectacle for Area 5 volunteers to witness!)
Ruddy Duck – 1
Ring-necked Pheasant – 1 (becoming increasingly difficult to find on CBC’s in Essex County)
Great Blue Heron – 30 (good number for the count)
Hairy Woodpecker – 19 (record high count)
Blue Jay – 227 (record high count)
Tufted Titmouse – 16 (record high count)
Marsh Wren – 2 (record high count)

Many thanks to all the Area Leaders and volunteers for their efforts and thanks to Kory Renaud for helping coordinate the Count!