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By Paul Pratt

The third Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas starts January 2021 and continues to the end of 2025. Earlier atlas projects ran from 1981 to 1985 and 2001 to 2005. During the second atlas participants logged 150,000 hours of field time and submitted 1.2 million individual breeding bird records, an amazing achievement.

An atlas square is 10 km X 10 km in size. In Essex County there are 36 full or partial atlas squares. During the last atlas 151 species were recorded with breeding evidence. Volunteers are needed to document breeding behaviour in each atlas square over the next five years.

Now is a great time to start investigating which breeding birds are in your neighbourhood and local birding patch. If you want to see what was found in the Essex Region or a particular square during the last atlas visit:

https://www.birdsontario.org/atlas/datasummaries.jsp?lang=en

If you are interested in volunteering to atlas breeding birds please contact Paul Pratt or Karen Cedar, the regional atlas coordinators.

Karen Cedar
Ojibway Nature Centre

Paul Pratt

By Gina Pannunzio

It’s that time of year where many people and their pets are out and about exploring all the trails and green spaces across Windsor Essex. We hope that if you go, you enjoy the experience and practice some tick safety while out exploring. Being tick smart is all about being prepared. Here are several things you can do to be tick smart and keep your loved ones, including pets safe.

• Wear light coloured clothing
• Consider wearing long sleeves
• Tuck your pants into your socks
• Use bug spray, and spray head to shoes
• Stay on the trail or paths. Avoid walking through areas that have tall brush or grass, or that are undesignated trails.
• Bring a lint roller with you for post walk removal of ticks
• When you get home, do a thorough tick check. You should check your neck, hair line, behind your ears, between your toes, and in your armpits.
• If there are ticks in the area you were walking, consider putting the clothes you wore in the dryer for ten minutes.

Some Tick Facts

Ticks are small arachnids, a relative to the spider and are a crawling, non-flying insect. They are external parasites that live by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. They vary in size and colour. Ticks are very small (1 to 5 mm) when unfed and female ticks get larger and change colour when feeding. Ticks pass through three life stages including larva, nymph and adult. Nymph ticks are most likely to spread Lyme disease because this stage is common during summer months. Their small body size makes it difficult to feel or detect until engorged, meaning the body expands due to blood meal. Ticks in Windsor-Essex are most active between April and November. Nymphs are active in the late spring and early summer while the adults are active in the fall.

Other Helpful Resources

• Ontario’s Public Health Lyme Disease Protocol / Management
• Provincial Case Definition – Lyme
• Health Quality Ontario – Clinical Guidance Document
• Lyme Disease: Frequently Asked Questions
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA): Lyme Disease
• Healthy Canadians: Lyme Disease

By Gina Pannunzio

Here’s an update on visiting green spaces if you’re curious. Before you visit any of these places, check what facilities/activities are available and pack what you need (e.g. water, snacks hand sanitizer). When you visit practice social distancing, avoid gathering in large groups and help keep these places pristine by using garbage bins or taking trash home.

Program Update from Essex Region Conservation

• Holiday Beach and Hillman Marsh Conservation Area are open for walk though access. ERCA is waiving entry fees for the month of June. Proper physical distancing protocols of remaining at least 2 metres from any other visitor who is not part of your household.
• Washroom facilities will remain closed at all Conservation Areas.
• The John R. Park Homestead museum, visitor centre and gift shop will remain closed. The grounds are open for walk-through access.
• Kopegaron Woods Conservation Area remains closed as we await contractor services to conduct the parking lot repairs, which are tentatively scheduled for June 11, 2020.
• Outdoor conservation areas and greenway trails will continue to be open from dawn to dusk for passive use. Visitors must adhere to physical distancing protocols as explained above. Conservation area usage is monitored to ensure these guidelines are being followed so that we can safely continue to offer these important natural areas for physical and mental health.
• ERCA will be extending the expiry date for Seasonal Passes for existing passholders. More information to follow.

More details and info: https://essexregionconservation.ca/resources/news/erca-programs-and-facilities-update-4/

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ojibway Nature Centre, Detroit Riverfront is open for day/walk through access only.

Point Pelee National Park

Starting June 13, 2020, Point Pelee National Park will open on weekends only, offering limited visitor access and basic services on Saturdays and Sundays 10 am to sunset. Only places and activities where health and safety risks can be managed will be available for visitation. We are asking visitors to be cautious and conservative in their use of these places, to observe travel restrictions, respect closures, follow the guidance of public health experts, and to make every effort to keep one another safe.

More info: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/visit/covid-19-info

Early Bird pass sale has returned! 

Now until June 19, 2020. You can get your annual Point Pelee pass at a discounted rate in one of two ways:
1 – by calling 519-322-2365 ext 0, between the hours of 9am and 4pm, 7 days a week. If you don’t reach us, please leave a message and we will get back to you OR
2 – By stopping by the front park entrance June 13 and 14 between 10am and 9pm.

For current pass holders, to compensate for the time the park suspended services and was closed due to Parks Canada’s efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, your pass will be extended for 4 months beyond the expiry date.
What do you need to do? During your next visit to the park, stop at the front kiosk to have your expiry date sticker updated. If you have a family/group annual pass, your pass will have been automatically updated, and will continue to give you access to the park through the automated gate for 4 months past the date of your current expiry date.

**Starting June 13, 2020, Point Pelee National Park will open on weekends, offering limited visitor access and basic services on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to sunset. Visitors will be able to access the following services and facilities:

·         Day-use trails, including cycling access on designated trails and pathways;
·         Day-use areas, including green spaces, picnic areas, and beaches;
·         Some public washrooms located at Sanctuary, Northwest Beach and the Blue Heron picnic area;
·         Parking areas at Orientation, Sanctuary, Northwest Beach, and Marsh Boardwalk day-use areas.

Visitors should be advised that construction and paving of the main road in the north end of the park is underway until June 12, 2020, inclusively. During this phase of the road renewal project, as a way to prevent public safety concerns, Point Pelee National Park will remain closed to all visitor access. Starting June 13, 2020, the road will be open to vehicles from the park entrance to the Marsh Boardwalk on weekends only, with parking available in designated areas north of the boardwalk. Access to the multi-use trails throughout the park will be open to pedestrians and cyclists starting June 13, 2020, on weekends only. Further communication will be issued at a later date on when the park will resume daily access.

Visiting Point Pelee National Park will be different than it has been in the past. Visitors are asked to plan ahead by checking the Point Pelee National Park website at www.pc.gc.ca/pelee before they travel to find out:

• What is open and what is closed
• Safety information

Detailed information on Parks Canada places and the measures the Agency is taking to limit the spread of COVID-19 can be found on the Parks Canada website: pc.gc.ca. Please check regularly for updates.