By Jeremy Hatt
ECFNC remains committed to celebrating the contributions of the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community to nature and ensuring a safe and welcoming environment during Club activities. The Club was involved in two Pride events again this year including helping with the Birding With Pride at Point Pelee National Park and holding our third annual Ojibway Pride Nature Walk. Both events are held in coordination with the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
Birding With Pride at Point Pelee was another great success this year bringing members of the LGBTQ+ Community and allies from around Ontario and several attendees from Detroit. The event is held annually on the first weekend of May and is part of the Festival of Birds at Point Pelee. It includes opening remarks with snacks and refreshments followed by birder-led walks in the morning and afternoon through the trails around Northwest Beach. This year, the weather was chilly with light rain but it didn’t damper the spirits of those in attendance and we ended up still seeing great numbers and diversity of migrants including warblers, orioles, vireos, and flycatchers! The highlight bird of the day was a Summer Tanager.
The event also serves as a fundraiser for Trans Wellness Ontario and several members of the organization were in attendance to speak about the important work they provide to the community and spread awareness. The event raised $720.47 for Trans Wellness Ontario this year. Many new friendships and connections were made and it’s great to see more new faces at the event each year. ECFNC will continue to provide support and volunteers to this event.
On June 15, the Club co-hosted our third annual Pride Nature Walk with OFO through the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve and Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park. Led by Board members Jennifer Nantais and Jeremy Hatt, this casual walk focuses on community building and our shared love of nature, identifying everything we see from spiders and turtles to birds and wildflowers. We were happy to have a good turnout of 17 people.
iNaturalist is always encouraged on the walk to help identify and appreciate the nature around us, and a friendly, casual vibe makes for a fun outing each year. This year we also included the pond north of the Ojibway Nature Centre to add a few turtle and fish species to the mix while the prairie portion of the walk delivered on butterflies, a wide array of pollinators, and wildflowers.
One of the major nature highlights that had everyone excited was two Eastern Foxsnakes including one that was actively predating a Tree Swallow nest in one of the boxes along Titcombe Road. The other was spotted high in a tree being harassed by Northern Flickers and American Robins. Butterflies included Zabulon, Least, Hobomok, and European Skippers, Eastern Tiger-Swallowtail, Monarch, and Little Wood-Satyr to name a few. One of the large resident Snapping Turtles swam up close to the boardwalk and a few Midland Painted Turtles and invasive Red-eared Sliders were basking in the morning sun within the Ojibway pond. Of course birds are also a major focus of the event and our eBird checklist from the morning is available here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S250989093.
An arachnid of note was a gorgeous Black Purseweb Spider in Ojibway Park. This is an uncommon, rarely-encountered spider in Essex County, with just a handful of records pertaining to Ojibway, Brunet Park, and Point Pelee National Park.
It is imperative during this time of a rise in hatred and attacks on the rights of the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community that we as a Club unequivocally support, organize, and promote events like Birding With Pride and the Ojibway Pride Nature Walk within Essex County to show that we stand against any form of bigotry. In particular, standing strong with the Trans Community is especially important in a time when one of our most vulnerable groups is being targeted. We will continue to show our support towards the Community in our activities and outings.
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