SHIRLEY’S BAY SANCTUARY TURNS 80
 

The following is an edited version of an article by Churchy that was published in Trail & Landscape, the official publication of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club. A few copies are available for ODC members to read.

The Shirley’s Bay Crown Game Preserve recently turned 80 years old. Our sanctuary was created on May 21, 1929 through a Letter of Agreement between Ontario’s Department of Game and Fisheries and the federal Department of National Defence. Today it is one of the very few crown game preserves left in the province.

The rifle range itself had been created in 1921 for the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association. In addition to housing the range, Shirley’s Bay at that time was also the home of DND’s only airbase used by both wheeled aircraft and flying boats, then in general use due to the scarcity of airfields.

In those days much of the area around Shirley’s Bay was farmland, including some of the land set aside for the sanctuary. The rest of the preserve consisted of areas that were too swampy to cultivate.

Shirley’s Bay itself has long been known as a prime staging area for waterfowl and as concerns about declining populations of various species began to grow, the founders of the Ottawa Duck Club worked out a deal, in July 1967, to manage about 120 hectares of the sanctuary on behalf of the military. Over the years, subsequent agreements expanded the club’s operations to cover the wetlands and creeks within the sanctuary.

During the 1960s and 70s Duck Club members and military personnel together created a series of ponds to improve habitat for waterfowl. By the mid-70s the club’s man-made ponds covered about 15 hectares. With later construction, that figure would now probably be closer to 24 hectares. Besides ducks, these ponds support a wide variety of wildlife species, including fish, frogs, turtles and aquatic mammals.

How big is our sanctuary? Back when the Duck Club was younger we used to say that the sanctuary covered 2,600 acres. This translates as 1,058 hectares. Somewhere along the way the 2,600 acres became 2,600 hectares or 7,000 acres. Sounds impressive, but unfortunately, it’s wrong. We’ve also used 4,000 acres, but that’s wrong too. Actually, that 2,600-acre figure was right all along.

PRESIDENT FOR LIFE

We celebrated another anniversary at our Annual General Meeting back in March. The AGM marked 20 years since Bill Bower became our president. We decided he should not get time off for good behaviour, he’s stuck with the job for life. By pure coincidence, it was also Grant Hopkins’ 20th anniversary as past president. Members who missed the AGM also missed a great cake courtesy of Mary Lou Porter.

Grant and Bill can’t wait to get at the cake. Photo by Mary Lou

www.ottawaduckclub.com

Hands up all those who visited our Website recently? I’m not seeing many hands. Hands up all those who’ve posted something on our Website? Even fewer. Our Webmaster, Ron St. Louis, has designed the site so that all of us can use it. Every issue of The Nest Box is posted there, and the grainy little black and white pictures in the newsletter look a whole lot better there in full colour.

You can also leave comments about the newsletter—what you liked, what you didn’t like and what you’d like to see in the next one. Maybe you have a message you’d like to pass on to other members—a rare bird sighting or a good source of suet or birdseed. You can leave it there too. Try it out.

There’s also a link to Flickr where members are posting great pictures taken (mostly) at the sanctuary.

RECENT OUTINGS/NEWS

(Recent is a relative term. This newsletter was started when there was still snow on the ground.)

Our great blue herons returned to the heronry in March. ODC members out on March 27 saw five or six pairs on or near their nests, some doing what herons do to create more herons.

In early April, some eastern bluebirds were seen near Innes Point. We have still been unable to entice them to our side of the sanctuary. On the 13th, Bill declared that

“Mary Lou is a good turtle spotter. We found a Blanding’s turtle in a pond not far from the big marsh and saw a second one but couldn’t capture it. That was in the same area where Ben, Tom and I found two on Saturday.

“We also saw a ruffed grouse, pied-billed grebe, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture and a pair of kestrels near McCabe Bridge. Watched the kestrels hovering and flying to the ground to catch insects. No bluebirds seen but lots of tree swallows.”

On the 24th, Tom Irwin and Austin Taverner found that the culvert between Willow Pond and Dividend Pond was blocked so Dividend Pond was quite low. They managed to clear it enough to get water flowing but said more work would be required.

They heard a sora (or maybe it was a Virginia rail) very close but never did see it. Austin says “there are several in Dike pond, or one that travels a lot. Tom sighted the great egret flying near Willow Pond and we had a good view.

“Bill should be happy that the duck box we put on a tree near Dividend Pond had two hooded merganser eggs—Bill selected the new tree during the winter as the old tree holding the box had fallen.”

Speaking of Bill, he reported seeing lots of wood ducks at Petrie Island so we should have a good year there.

A bear was seen somewhere at the sanctuary in mid May. At the time this is being written, it has not disturbed the nest boxes around our ponds, nor has it been seen by club members. Let’s hope that continues.

Other sightings include green herons, bitterns, spotted sandpipers, common terns, common gallinules, blue-winged teal, a great egret, yellow warblers, tree swallows and even purple martins and eastern bluebirds. The latter two species haven’t yet decided to nest on our site, but we’re still hopeful.

Earlier this spring, there was a phoebe’s nest with eggs on the tray behind the old outhouse, but it was destroyed by forces unknown. Happily, the phoebe built a new nest and fledged four chicks, inside our dilapidated metal shed.

And Austin sent this update on wood duck and hooded merganser stats to May 15th, 2009, along with a few observations:

1. To date we have 316 WD and 240 HM eggs laid. These totals are lower than the actual numbers as in many cases females in the nests have prevented an accurate count.
2. 44 out of 62 boxes have been used by WD or HM females—well I suppose the males did contribute!
3. The 240 HM egg count is the highest we’ve recorded in the summer count boxes—2008 had 181 and 2007 had 168.
4. Our WD total should increase as we are early in the season (450 – 480 is typical).
5. We’ve already had one nest (box 177) abandoned due to two females laying eggs in the same box. It appears that a disturbance occurred in the box—probably a fight—and the nest was abandoned. I suspect that we will have more abandoned nests as we’ve recorded several boxes that are shared by wood ducks and hooded mergansers—HM in nest one week and WD the next.
6. So far our WD / HM box observation crews have been diligent, and we’ve been lucky enough to get in most weeks, so I’ve got lots of stats.

One of Jim Sauer’s friends took two of our old, run-down purple martin houses and refurbished them. He kept one and gave us the other so next year we will essentially have a brand new one to put up. Let’s hope the martins come back and make use of it. Ben Mancini did some research and found that martins often will not return to a spot where they’ve experienced predation, so maybe we will need to find a new location for the apartments.

Box 150

While doing his weekly box checks on July 10, Ben found four wood duck chicks in box 150 and decided to return later with his camera. When he (and his posse) got back, there were five little ducklings in the box. We figured that if we went back after supper, we might be able to watch them leave the nest, but when Ben opened the box, they had all gone, but there was a sixth in the process of pecking its way out of the egg. Bill could hear the mother calling from behind us and Churchy spotted the five ducklings in the reeds across Narraway Pond.

A final check on July 17 revealed that eight eggs had hatched, two did not and two chicks had died.

ODC BLUEBIRD BOXES

(Anthony and Gretchen Denton have been looking after the club’s bluebird boxes for the last several years. Anthony wrote this article for us.)

It has been a few years now since my wife and I took on the responsibility of maintaining the bluebird boxes at Shirley’s Bay. The total number of eastern bluebirds nesting in the boxes has been exactly zero, in spite of the effort which has gone into preparing boxes to meet the specifications and recommendations of successful bluebird societies, however we are encouraged by the fact that these birds do nest nearby, so we are still looking for the factor which is critical in making bluebirds decide where to nest.

The most important requirement is the habitat, the bluebird needing short grass in which to feed on insects. Next requirement is a cavity in which to nest, and this is commonly provided by a nesting box, the dimensions of which are fairly standard.

At ODC the efforts to encourage bluebirds to nest have been rewarded by having large numbers of tree swallows fighting for the boxes, a situation which existed when the author started maintaining the boxes. It seems that tree swallows do not like to nest close to each other, so recommended practice now is to place two boxes close together so that the swallow will take one, leaving the other free for a bluebird. (There has also been one wren nest).

There are now 14 pairs of bluebird boxes which are made to follow a particular specification, while all other boxes have been classed as swallow boxes and are accorded second-class status. Distant boxes were removed, as being too difficult to check, and when boxes decayed or needed repair they were also removed. The bluebird boxes are checked during the nesting season, ideally every week but in practice every second week, and their status recorded. The swallow boxes are cleaned at the end of the season, that’s all.

Times are changing, with the reports of diminishing numbers of swallows everywhere, except ODC. Now we have plans to check the swallow boxes in the nesting season and are repairing and reinstalling old boxes. During the summer bluebird boxes may be put up along the Perimeter Road, where the grass verges are mown regularly.

What is a bluebird box? It is one of a pair of boxes made of one-inch thick unfinished white cedar. One side is hinged at the bottom, with a handle to pull it open and a Robertson screw to secure it. This screw is marked with red paint. (NB. Because of the declining swallow numbers, we are planning to build and install more boxes.)

Update: Tony and Gretchen have been helping Barc Dowden with his bluebird trail on Timm Drive. On June 19nd, they found four small blue/green eggs, in a cup-shaped nest lined with pine needles in one of the boxes. “There were some aspects of the egg colour and the nesting material which made us doubt that this was a bluebird nest, and Gretchen spent a lot of time researching what other bird lays similar eggs. Today we went for a second look, and a female bluebird flew out of the box! She perched on a branch watching us, so we left her alone but will keep an eye on that box.”

When they returned next, there were four newborn chicks in the box.

Updater: Following that good news, Tony, Ben and Tom got together at Tony’s house to build a new supply of 50 bluebird boxes. That should keep us going for some time.

TOM’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES: GALAPAGOS

(When Tom is not at the sanctuary, he’s usually off on some nature adventure. Here’s his account of a trip to the Galapagos last year.)

In February 2008, my wife & I spent eight days on a boat touring the Galapagos Islands. We wanted to see the fabled giant tortoises, the renowned Darwin’s finches and of course the land and conditions which led Darwin to propose his theory of Evolution through Natural Selection. A break from snow and sunshine was a distant thought.

Known originally as the Enchanted Isles, they form an archipelago of about 60 islands and islets all in an area about 100 km by 100 km, located approximately about 1,000 kms west of the Ecuadorian coast. Created through tectonic plate movements, the youngest islands (about 750,000 years old) still have active volcanoes, while the oldest islands (about 10 million years old) have extinct volcanoes and are slowly sinking below the sea. In fact, the entire area is moving at a rate of 10 cms per year towards the Ecuadorian coast (mark your calendars for the collision 100 million years from now, ed.) all islands sit in the crystal clear, blue Pacific Ocean, bathed by at least three separate ocean currents. The islands vary in size, shape, elevation and weather conditions but all are usually hot and dry and composed of volcanic rock and ash––harsh but beautiful. It is not hard to image primitive life crawling from these seas to the still warm lava and struggling to survive millions of years ago.

We flew from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito in the Andes, at 3,300 metres and 18◦C, to the island of Baltra, at sea level and 30◦C, where we were met by Mauricio, our guide, naturalist and representative of GAP Adventures of Toronto. Quite a change but we adjusted quickly with no ill effects.

We were whisked away by bus to our boat, the Pelicano, on which we would travel, eat, sleep, see wildlife, enjoy adventures and make new friends for the next eight days. It was gleaming, white, floating on a blue sea under a sunny, cloudless sky. The warm climate was a welcome change from snow bound Ottawa. We were quickly introduced to the crew of six and 12 other passengers, our cabins and our first cocktail. A great start.

The short trip from the airport to the boat had given us our first inkling of what the Galapagos would be like––sparkling clear blue warm waters surrounding hard, harsh, dry, hot, volcanic islands with little soil and sparse vegetation. We later walked upon these islands and marvelled that creatures from afar had not only managed to survive but evolve and prosper under such difficult conditions––a tribute to the toughness and adaptability of life forms.

The Galapagos were discovered by a storm driven ship in the mid-1500s and have since seen pirates, whalers, settlers, foreign animals and now tourists and a National Park. In general, these events have not been beneficial to the islands nor the creatures living there. Currently, about 25,000 people live on the islands. The Ecuadorian Government is moving to reduce that number to protect the environment and the fauna.

The Islands and villages form a National Park administered by a Parks Board and aided by the Charles Darwin Research Centre in Ayora. Tourism is the main business and non-residents can enter the islands only with registered guides. The cost was $110 US and these fees represented virtually the total revenue of the Park system. Ayora is the main town, a tourist centre on the island of Santa Cruz. It has the normal tourist facilities, but on a small scale, as large scale resorts have not been permitted. The residents have fought successfully so far to keep the tourist developments small.

Our tour focused on the geology of the islands, the marine creatures and plant life, and the efforts of researchers to study the creatures themselves and to protect the environment for their benefit. A typical day started at 06:30 and consisted of three meals on board interspersed by short Zodiac trips to nearby islands for wildlife viewing through hiking or snorkelling.

The boat usually traveled at night, frequently for six or seven hours, so it was a pleasure in the morning to wake and see a new beautiful spot. The exception was one half day in Ayora, visiting the Charles Darwin research centre and buying souvenirs. I estimated we sailed at least 400 kms island hopping, at a speed of 10kms per hour. A few times, conditions were quite rough by this land-lubber’s standard. I have now added seasickness pills to the list of medications essential to maintain life.

We saw or were introduced to the five things for which, in my mind, these inlands are famous, (1) giant tortoises, (2) Darwin’s ground finches, (3) marine iguanas and (4) Charles Darwin and (5) volcanoes. The tortoises, finches and iguanas were fascinating in that they are living proof of evolution which led Darwin to propose his famous theory in the mid-1800s. In Darwin’s time, it was a radical theory, but since then, the advance of science and intense long-term studies of the conditions affecting and changing these creatures has shown that his theory was correct. Today, through DNA analysis, it is known where these creatures originated and hence how they have changed. The 10 different species of giant tortoise evolved from a single, small ancestor in the Andes highlands. The 13 species of finches evolved from a single ancestor from the Ecuadorian mainland. We saw several kinds of volcanoes, with different sizes, shapes, colours, lavas and crater lakes, all harsh and starkly beautiful.

We saw many creatures during our Galapagos voyage. There were hundreds of sea lions and blue-footed boobies, many great and magnificent frigatebirds and their breeding colony, swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropicbirds, hundreds of marine and land iguanas, ground finches, sharks, thousand of colourful fish, manta rays, hundreds of golden rays, fur seals, Galapagos hawks, Galapagos penguins, flamingos, pelicans, snakes, lizards, tarantulas, about 10 giant tortoises of the species endemic to the Highlands of Santa Cruz, and last but not least, Lonesome George, the last Galápagos pinta tortoise on the Island of Santiago. (George is said to be over 90 years old and at his sexual peak! He has shown an interest in two females Espanola tortoises and may have fertilized their eggs. Ed.) The most recent addition to the bird life occurred about 10 years ago with the arrival of cattle egrets so the process still continues.

Penguins, pelican and blue-footed booby.

The tour was immensely interesting and well conducted by the Naturalist Leader and the boat’s crew. I bought a DVD which shows the volcanoes and wildlife of the Galapagos as well as a book called “A Natural History of the Galapagos by Michael Jackson, professor at the University of Calgary. Both were interesting and I would be happy to lend them should someone want to enjoy them.

Memberships and donations

At press time, we have 41 members paid up for 2009, including new members—Kim Laroque and Dan Dufour. Welcome to the club Kim and Dan. Hope we can see you at the sanctuary one day soon. By my count that leaves 14 members still outstanding. If you’re in this group, you’ll find a renewal form with this newsletter. Please come back to the fold.

This issue is a little bit late, but it’s not too late to thank Barc Dowden, Dave Martin, Joe Bevk, Bill Bower, Dr. Ron Tasker, Ab McLaren, Pat Crook and Gary Booth for their generous donations last year.

As noted above, Tony and Gretchen have been helping Barc with his bluebird trail on Timm Drive. That’s because Barc has run into some health problems recently. Word is that he is getting better, and that’s great news. We all wish Barc a speedy recovery.

CHURCHY’S COLUMN
Birds vs Windows

Everyone, at some point in life, dreams about how wonderful it would be to fly like a bird. But it’s not all sweetness. There are hazards that await the unsuspecting birds and one of the biggest is windows. The problem is pretty straightforward: birds can’t see windows so they often fly into them and the result is usually fatal. The toll may be as high as 900 million birds a year in the U.S. alone. Surprisingly, head injuries and not broken necks are the most common cause of death.

In the December 2008 edition of Birder’s World, David Allen Sibley looked into the issue and reviewed a number of ideas to reduce the toll windows are taking on birds. He found that most of the suggestions had serious drawbacks: putting decals in the shape of falcons on the windows is ineffective; hanging CDs on a string is ugly; putting up screens outside the windows is labour-intensive and installing windows angled toward the ground is expensive.

So, what can we do? Sibley’s first suggestion is to move bird feeders—they should be either within two feet of windows or more than 30 feet away. If there are more collisions with some particular windows, move feeders away from them. Don’t wash the windows, or soap them to reduce reflections. One experiment he found partially effective was simply drawing grid lines with a yellow highlighter on the inside of the window. Ultraviolet light makes the ink glow, making it more noticeable to the birds. He reports a 75% reduction in collisions, but the lines don’t work on cloudy days and they fade quickly on sunny days. When he tied strands of monofilament fishing line across the outside of the windows, about three inches apart, collisions were eliminated completely, but a reader who tried the same trick said it didn’t work for her.

He believes the best solution is to install exterior screens or netting. You can make your own, or buy from the Bird Screen Company (www.birdscreen.com). For more information on his experiments, check out his blog at http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com.

One idea he doesn’t mention is using ultraviolet coatings on windows. In January the Ottawa Citizen reported on a science project by 13-year-old Charlie Sobcov who applied a UV coating to electrostatic vinyl that sticks to windows. The coating is clear for humans, but looks coloured to birds. There is also a company in the U.S. called Duncraft (www.duncraft.com) that makes decals based on the same principle. If any ODC members try any of these ideas out, we’d like to hear the results.

A new year, of course, means it’s time to renew your membership in the club and maybe make a donation if you are able to. You can specify that your donation be designated for purchase of bird feed, nest box supplies or anything else that advances our conservation work. Tax receipts, as usual, will be issued for membership fees and donations.

There is one point to note about the membership renewals—for the first time in about 20 years, we have raised our membership fees. We’ve also dropped the distinction between members who do some work and those who just support the club. For 2009. there are only two categories of membership: $20 for individual and $25 for family memberships. 

Bird feeders—One of our big projects every winter is keeping our bird feeders along March Valley Road well stocked. For the last few years Anthony and Gretchen Denton had been taking care of one while Tom Irwin has taken over the one George Martin used to handle. This year Tom has agreed to be responsible for both. Thanks Tom for agreeing to do this and thanks to the Dentons for their dedicated efforts over the last few winters. We started up the feeder near Riddell Road early in December and put a new "clothes" line up for the smaller hanging feeders. It is higher and that may prevent destruction by animals.

We have a reasonable supply of seed to get started, but the club would welcome any donations of sunflower seed, peanuts, suet, etc. Nothing lasts very long in our feeders.

Jan 1 - The year got off to a smashing success for the bunch of us that got out on a cold clear New Year’s Day. According to Churchy it was windy too.

The first big surprise when we got there was that our road had been ploughed by the military and there wasn’t nearly as much snow as we had expected. We got the ski-doos up and running, one of the large toboggans repaired, took a load of materials (shavings, ladder, pipe pounder, new nesting boxes, toboggan, etc.) out to our field office for use on days when we want to go out but can’t get in because of shooting, put up the second bird feeder by March Valley Road and filled all the feeders with sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet, and did some other repairs. A number of members figured (wrongly) they could keep warm if they went out and checked wood duck boxes so they walked over and checked a few boxes on the Lilac Pond and Trail Ditch.

At high noon the first annual ODC New Year’s Day Lunch and Bird Watching event took place. It was an unplanned, unexpected and uncommon event. Instead of bringing her vacuum cleaner over to clean up in our sheds, Mary Lou Porter opted to vacuum over at the Skeet Range and invited us to come in out of the cold and get warmed up with some hot coffee. All accepted the offer without hesitation. Nine members ate their lunch and a good portion (all in fact) of the desserts that seemed to appear out of nowhere as the festivities got underway. There was everything from cookies to fruitcake on the menu. After going back outside, those who had been devouring the rum balls noted how quickly the temperature had moderated. 

We then made the usual trip to check out the Innis Point bird feeders. I think everyone recorded at least 15 winter birds to start their 2009 birding list with. Best sightings were wild turkey, rough-legged hawk, ruffed grouse, snow buntings, juncos and common redpoll.  

Jan 3 - Those who stayed home missed a good (cold) day. Seven of us were out, although Mary Lou just dropped by to make sure we had some food to eat for lunch.

Looking back on 2008, the economy may have been in a meltdown. The Senators were racing the Leafs to the bottom (Go Habs Go), but it was a pretty good year for the Ottawa Duck Club. Except for the annual DCRA competition in August, we had access to the sanctuary pretty well every Friday through the summer. And surprisingly, considering how much it rained last summer, we had good weather for most of our outings. That allowed us to make a lot of progress on restoring our sheds.

1. We have been getting in almost every Friday and the weather has been cooperating.
2. The Range Control people have, as usual, been good to us in oh so many ways
3. We have made a lot of progress on major repairs to our sheds (siding, floors, etc.). You will remember that new roofs were put on last summer. The main shed got new siding all around and some repairs to the floor, then a fresh coat of green paint.

The work crew, mainly Ed Lang, Mary Lou, Bill, Austin, Ben, Tony and Gretchen) removed all the old, badly deteriorating chipboard siding and replaced it with new plywood.

5. We received approval from Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources for one grant in 2008 for the construction of new wood duck nesting boxes—enough funds to build 20 or so new boxes to replace old ones. We had enough left over for pipes and predator guards.

6. We were approached by MNR’s Ottawa Stewardship Council in Manotick to build eight wood duck boxes for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. We were able to provide these by the end of September using some of our own plywood that we had on hand without touching any of the materials obtained through grants. The club received $320 for these boxes.

7. Most members of the ODC know how much George Martin meant to our club and how much the club meant to him. George did a lot of things for us, especially if it involved painting, and he took care of one of our big bird feeders for many years. When George passed away last year, his family wanted to do something for the club in his memory. Bill thought that what we needed most was a trailer to haul our mowers out for service, to haul supplies in for duck boxes and shed repairs, and for a variety of other tasks. Dave Martin and the rest of his family were pleased to oblige.

After looking at various types and manufacturers, we decided on a 5 ft. X 9 ft. steel box, steel frame trailer. The supplier was LeBlanc Welding in Orleans. This trailer became the first vehicle ever registered in the name of the Ottawa Duck Club. It will help us tremendously and we are extremely grateful to the Martin Family.

8. Needless to say, many other projects have been undertaken and completed and those members coming out have all put in a good days work each and every Friday. Besides the shed repairs (which will continue next summer), we had to do a lot of mowing to keep the grass down, complete weekly nest box checks, repair dikes, put out and bring in the floats and many other smaller projects. Thanks to everyone who came out.

9. Our hatch results based on our spring checks were encouraging. Maybe all our hard work on nesting box relocations, clearing brush, installing predator guards, and ridding the boxes of starlings is paying off. No black bears have been around either. 

June 29: The purple martins showed up in the late afternoon. There were five one week ago but we only saw three on Friday. It was nice to have just those three around while we were eating our lunch. There were none at Innis Point and I (Bill) haven’t seen any over in the main military compound where they have about a dozen houses up.

We took a drive to Innis Point and noted quite a few eastern bluebirds in the vicinity of the houses put up by the Bird Banders group. Mary-Lou and I saw quite a few anyway and when a pair nearly hit our vehicle Churchy had a chance to see them. Prior to that he thought that the other bird watchers on board were just seeing sparrows.

When I drove back in to Range Control to return the key before leaving I came across a pair of bluebirds right in front of the main HQ building where we hold our meetings in the fall. I stopped and watched them. They were quite active, flying over to the fence and then going to the ground after insects. There is one of those martin houses installed by Public Works a couple of years ago in that immediate area but the bluebirds didn’t go there and I’m not sure they would nest in a multi-unit house anyway. I didn’t see where they were nesting, if in fact they were. I have never seen bluebirds in this fairly high-traffic area before.

The final step for this year was getting rid of the old eyesore of a trailer piled high with old shingles from last year’s project. That was taken care of on October 3. Maybe the grass will grow back there next year. Mary Lou and Ben also started scraping and repainting the observation deck, unfortunately there are only so many hours in an ODC summer, so they were not able to finish the job. Another one for next year.

On September 13 the club was invited to put up a display at a Ducks Unlimited Canada event at the skeet range. Ben and Mary Lou staffed the display. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to invite DUC members to our side of the butts.

On October 8 eight members got together at the skeet range—many thanks to Mary Lou and Claude Mondor—to cut out parts for 23 new wood duck boxes. Builders were Austin “tool man” Taverner, Bill, Ed, Ron St.Louis, Tom, Ben , Mary Lou and yours truly, Churchy. Several of the builders took the kits home for assembly and painting. Oh yes, Mary Lou also provided coffee and goodies—it pays to participate.

In addition to the Martin family’s donation of a trailer we would also like to acknowledge a donation from Gary Booth and other members of the skeet club in memory of Bob Wood who passed away in August.

It wasn’t all good news in 2008, besides Bob Wood, we also lost two very dedicated members—Rene Gachnang (Rene’s passing was acknowledged in the last issue) and Klaus Gottlob. Klaus had been an active member for a number of years, attended many of our meetings and frequently came out to help on our work days. This past summer he had not been able to come out due to declining health. Klaus really enjoyed the bird life around the sanctuary and taking walks around our trail system. The clean outdoor air sharpened his wit and on many occasions and members struggled to keep up with his repartee. He will be remembered by all those who had the opportunity to meet and work with him. Our condolences have been passed on to Gudrun and the rest of the Gottlob family. And the club has just learned of the passing of Dave Vaughn who’s been a member since 2003.

I thought Duck Club members might be interested in this study by the University of Exeter and Queen’s University Belfast, published last February in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The study shows for the first time that the extra food we provide garden birds in winter makes for a more successful breeding season in the spring. By providing some birds with extra food, such as peanuts, and leaving others to fend for themselves, the team was able to compare productivity between the two groups. Those that were given extra food laid eggs earlier and, although they produced the same number of chicks, an average of one more per clutch successfully fledged. Although it was well known that garden feeding helps many birds survive the winter, this is the first time that the benefits to spring breeding and productivity have been shown.

Dr. Stuart Bearhop of the University of Exeter, corresponding author on the paper, said: “Our study shows that birds that receive extra food over winter lay their eggs earlier and produce more fledglings. While this research shows how the extra food we provide in winter helps the birds that take it, it is still unclear whether this has a knock-on effect on other species. This is something we are keen to investigate, but in the meantime I will certainly be putting out food for garden birds for the rest of the winter.”

Households in the United States and the Ubnited Kingdom provide over 500,000 tonnes of food for garden birds each year. Despite this, there is a debate on whether we should continue feeding birds in the spring, when natural food sources become more readily available. This research shows, for the first time, that birds will continue to benefit from winter feeding well into the breeding season.

Dr. Dan Chamberlain of the British Trust for Ornithology, a collaborator on the project, adds “These results demonstrate that feeding birds in gardens over winter can be vital to their breeding success. It is highly likely that the benefits of extra food continue year-round, so don’t just stock your bird feeders in winter if you want to do the best for the birds in your garden”.

Now that the research team has shown the long-lasting benefits of supplementary food for garden birds, they are keen to investigate exactly what is happening in terms of nutrition. Dr. Bearhop continued: “The extra food we put out for birds contains fat, protein and carbohydrates, which may make the female bird stronger and more able to produce eggs. Foods like peanuts and bird seed also include vitamins and minerals, which can also produce healthier eggs and chicks, and we currently have a research project looking at the role of energy versus vitamins in explaining these effects.” 

George Martin: While writing about the Martin family donation, I got to thinking about an amusing incident from a few years back that makes it seem particularly appropriate that we have a trailer to remember him by. It seems that George had brought his friend John Thomas out to the sanctuary one winter day to show him around. George got on the snowmobile and John sat on a bag of shavings on the "trailer" as they headed off. Back at the sheds at the end of the tour, George called to Don Davies, who had just arrived, and said, "Don, I’d like you to meet my friend John…”, but when he turned around to introduce John, there was no one there. George retraced his route and found John walking through the snow over near the Dike Pond, none the worse for having been dumped and Don finally got to meet John. Not holding a grudge, John actually joined the club and has been a member for many years.

I am sure many of you have already added an ICE (in case of emergency) number in your cell phone. In case you have not, see the info below. Paramedics are trained to look at the ICE number in your cell phone in case of an emergency where you have lost the ability to communicate. It’s worth doing and getting your loved ones to do it. You can assist emergency services enormously by taking part in the ICE program. The program involves adding an entry to the contact list of your cellphone under the label “ICE”, with the names and phone numbers of those who should be reached in an emergency. If you want to input more than one contact name, simply enter ICE1, ICE2, or add a name to the entry, such as “ICE – Dad” or “ICE – Sarah.”

Speaking of insurance, Ontario Nature has found us a new broker. Our coverage began the first of April with the general liability limit at $5 million.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE

Congratulations are in order to our Webmaster, Ron St. Louis, for all the work he did to create a new Website for the club. The new site, at ottawaduckclub.com went live at the beginning of January.

Ron’s idea was to make the site more user-friendly so that all members can contribute. If you want to post material to the site, first contact Ron to get the password. Then, if you want to add to the news section you can go to the "Write" tab.

If you want to edit pages or news entries you can either navigate the site and click the edit link at the bottom of the page or article (this only works if you’re logged in) or you can go to the "Manage" tab. Choose the article you  want to edit or choose the "pages" sub-tab to edit the pages. Most of it is pretty intuitive. If you run into any difficulties, feel free to contact ron{at}firstgatedreamer[dot]com.

And bear in mind that Ron, Bill and Churchy have the right to review material and edit it. They may also delete it if they feel it is inappropriate. If that happens, you will be contacted with an explanation and possibly given an opportunity to resubmit it. The idea is to make sure we don’t run afowl, sorry, afoul of the law or any of our benefactors.

MEMBERSHIP

Special thanks to all who made generous donations to the club in addition to their membership fees—Joe Bevk & Lori Taverner, Bill Bower, Pat Crook, Pat Davies, Barc Dowden, Richard & Nora Hamilton, David Martin, Dr. Ronald Tasker, and Ron Tomosk.

Sadly, we lost another long-time member when Réné Gachnang passed away peacefully on March 15. Réné was born in Aigle, Switzerland in January 1928 and came to Canada with his wife Esther in the early 1950s. Besides our club, Réné belonged to the Outaouais Wood Carvers and produced some wonderful carvings. The Duck Club treasures a beautiful sign he carved for us that is a key part of our exhibit. The club extends its sympathies to Esther and her family.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

At our AGM on March 18, the club decided it was time, after many years, to change—alright, to increase—membership fees and reduce the number of categories. Starting in 2009, there will only be two categories—individual membership will be $20 and family membership will cost $25. We won’t have the supporting membership category and we won’t be insisting on members doing some work.

GRANTS

There was a slight glitch in the processing of our refunds, but that has been straightened out and the money ($3,750) is now in our bank account. Thanks again to Scott Smithers and company at the Ministry of Natural Resources in Kemptville.

BLUEBIRD SOCIETY CONSERVATION AWARD

This may be the age of instant communications, as we keep hearing, but some news still takes its time to filter out. We first heard rumours last spring that the Duck Club had won an award from the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society, but it wasn’t until we received their fall newsletter that the news was confirmed. This is what they said:

An award is given out each year to an individual or group that has made an outstanding contribution to Eastern Bluebird conservation during the preceding year. The 2006 award was given to the Ottawa Duck Club of Kanata, Ontario. This club has been a long time member of the OEBS and has had a very successful bluebird trail in that area with Jim Sauer, Barc Dowden and Tony and Gretchen Denton doing most of the monitoring.

WINTER BOX CHECKS/SIGHTINGS

Well, the winter of 2007-08 is one we won’t forget any time soon, what with a serious run at the all-time snowfall record. Despite the best efforts of our military hosts to keep our road ploughed, most Sundays it was drifted over and we had to hike into the sheds on snowshoes or skis. And there was so much snow that for most of the winter it was too deep even for the snowmobiles. Those of us who invested in snowshoes got our money’s worth this winter.

On January 13, Tom Irwin reported seeing what he thought was a wolf at the sanctuary. Bill said there are both coyotes and wolves on and around the property. The DND guys have seen as many as four wolves this winter. They (the wolves) sometimes come across on the ice from the Quebec side. They might get a deer or two (older, weak or injured ones) and then return to Quebec before the ice goes.

January 13—We had a couple of interesting sightings on Sunday. The first was the wood duck box on Pond 1that had honey bees in it last spring. We had planned to take it down at that time, but decided to leave it because of the bees. Again, this year we were going to take it down but it still had a bee colony in it. There was lots of bee activity inside and around the entrance hole. We had been told that the bees can’t survive our long winters and so they die off. It appears this colony did survive last winter and are doing well again this year. It shows that our wood duck boxes serve the needs of many species of wildlife.

 

While checking duck boxes on Pond #6 along Riddell Road we found two that had been used by great crested flycatchers. Their nests are always interesting. One nest was unusually large and contained moss, lots of pine needles, deer hair, duck feathers, a couple of feathers from a wild turkey, and lots of snakeskins. The snakeskins are always important evidence of a great crested flycatcher nest but there were also some eggshells from the flycatcher mixed in with everything else.

February 11, Ed, Austin Taverner, Joe Bevk and I headed down to the Inner Creek/South Arm area while Tony and Jim went to the feeders and filled them, including the suet feeders.

There was a lot of water on the ice under the snow and I got the ski-doo stuck at least three times. The water was up to the top of my boots and I got one foot wet. Ed and I finally gave up and snowshoed in taking the shavings, ladder, tools etc. Austin and Joe went along the east side and Ed and I took the west side of the creek.

The fun began when we went to leave. Austin had driven in to the end of the Kindack Pond—that was as far as he could get. The rest of us left our cars out on the road. By quitting time the wind had picked up and the road was filling in fast with blowing snow. Austin had to back all the way out with Joe, Ed and I going along the road in front (back) of him shovelling the snow drifts. Meanwhile, Tony got stuck along the Perimeter Road, which was also narrow and was filling in fast with blowing snow, when he and one of the larger military vehicles met. The military guys used a tow rope that Tony had and helped get him back on the road. All concerned got the heck out and headed home with more snow squalls on the horizon.

March 21—There were wild turkeys at the Innis Point feeder and at the Skeet Range (on their front porch). Not much bird activity at our feeder or at Innis Point. There was a flock of red-winged blackbirds at the Hilda Street feeder and we had a flock of 20 to 30 Canada geese in an open area down along the bay shoreline. We also saw an otter in the Kindack Pond and a dozen or so deer. We saw one live ruffed grouse and a second one that had just been killed by a red-tailed hawk. This grouse had been almost completely plucked and was ready for eating when the hawk took off. It no doubt returned as soon as we left.

March 28 —that was a pretty good day—the morning anyway. We put up box number 4 on pond 6 but with just enough support to hold it. That box will definitely have to be replaced next year. We added straw to the two remaining "mallard" cones we have. The one on the Don Gray pond needs some sort of cover for protection. This cone has been used by a mallard in the past. We also found a couple more dead deer which is not surprising.

In the kestrel box down by the bay we found some kind of a nest. The box was a mess with wet rotten leaves on the bottom (squirrel nest maybe). On top there was dry material including many bird feathers. There wasn’t any "cup". Not a kestrel or a grackle for sure. In amongst the feathers we found some egg shells which we could not identify. They are small but you can see the colour and pattern on them. Turned out it was another great crested flycatcher nest.

April 6—Shooting was going on all day at he range—with machine guns—it was a good place not to go. So we went to Watts Creek. The nesting box installation crew was out bright and early. We put up a new pipe for box W9, installed the new box and then added a new number to box W7. Everything went smoothly and no one got wet. It was a nice morning and we saw a couple of deer, geese, a great blue heron and the wild turkeys were everywhere you looked. Obviously the locals have been feeding them. 

April 11—a good time was had by all. That is if you can forget about the cold weather, driving rain, mud, etc. We accomplished quite a bit in the short time we were there. Even checked some of the duck boxes to expel the unwanted starling eggs. No duck eggs were found. Cleaned up some around the sheds and made our garbage heap even higher. We even had the propane heater going to keep everyone’s hands warm. (Churchy said it was never this cold during the winter).

On May 2 Austin had a very interesting experience. He was removing a mass of starling nest material from a duck box when he felt something soft and warm. On closer inspection it turned out to be a wood duck hen snuggled down under the starling nest, incubating her own eggs. A week later, she was still on her nest with no new starling activity in evidence. 

 
SANCTUARY ACCESS RULES

Usually we can count on having Bill or Austin out at the sanctuary to lead the way, but sometimes they can’t be there. On those days, here are some guidelines Bill sent for the other members who have keys to the sanctuary:

The rules to follow are pretty simple. Check with Range Control on the way in to make sure it’s all clear. If you would like to go to Innis Point, find out if there is anything going on in the Training Area first and sign out a key. You don’t want to be out on the Perimeter Road if there are exercises going on. When you leave, check in again at Range Control and return the key if you borrowed it. If you have a cell phone you can leave the number at Range Control so they can then get in touch with you if necessary. Every member with a cell phone should be on our list of cell phone holders. The Range Control number is also on that list. Check with Ben Mancini if you don’t have a list or want to be added. Take your ODC identification plaque with you to display in your vehicle (if you don’t have one speak to Ben). If the RED FLAG is flying on the butts DO NOT GO IN. Check again with Range Control. It may be that someone or some group checked out of the range but neglected to lower the flag. Range Control can take care of that and give you the all clear.

We ask members to advise Bill and Austin who was out and (briefly) what was accomplished. This is especially important if you are checking the wood duck boxes. We need to know which boxes were checked, what was observed (number of duck eggs of each species, hen on nest, chicks in box, predation, etc.) and what action was taken (starlings’ eggs removed, shavings added, box repaired, etc.) You have all seen our annual reports so you know the info we would like to have. Pass on your notes to Austin. Most of you have been through the exercise already—there are three groupings of boxes to make the checks easier to do. (We check a total of 61 boxes and try to do so every week.) As far as the other work is concerned we don’t need much detail. This information just helps complete our reporting forms that go to MNR in relation to our grants. It also helps Austin keep his TO-DO list up-to-date. Finally, if you’re the last member out there, don’t forget to put up the chain gate along our road when you leave.

If you have any questions check with Bill. It’s becoming more important to try to have more members willing and able to go out on a day other than just the Friday. There is plenty to do for sure, but this certainly doesn’t mean you can’t also take a walk around, do some bird watching, photography, or other nature-related activities.

If there are no red flags or bullets flying, the only other thing to watch out for is poison ivy. As Bill can attest, the sanctuary has a healthy crop of it growing in several places, including a patch near the sheds. Remember the old rhyme, “leaves of three, let them be.” 

According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, poison-ivy is a woody perennial that may grow as dwarf, shrubby plants only a few centimetres high and carpeting the ground, as upright plants 60-90 cm (2-3 ft) high, or the vine-like form may twine around trees, shrubs and posts, and reach a considerable distance above the ground. These vines often develop root-like structures which act as attachments, but apparently do not damage the living plants to which they cling.

 

Poison ivy contains a chemical, urushiol, that can cause a red, itchy rash and even blisters in the skin of persons sensitive to it. Urushiol is present in all parts of the plant, but particularly in the sap. People vary in their sensitivity to urushiol. Some have no problem with it and others experience severe allergic reactions. This can also vary over the life of a person. You might be unaffected as a child and become sensitized with repeated exposures. So even if you are not allergic now, it is a good idea to learn how to recognize poison ivy in case your body changes with age.

The skin irritation caused by poison ivy is Rhus Dermatitis. It usually starts as itching and small blisters within a few hours after exposure. Depending on how strong the exposure was and/or how sensitive the person is, that may be all there is to it. However, it may develop into an inflamed, swollen rash with open, weeping, sores that persists for up to two weeks. Severe cases may require a visit to the doctor. Urushiol is absorbed into the skin within three minutes of exposure. If it is washed off quickly with dishwashing soap and water, the consequences will be less, but you are seldom close to a washroom when you get exposed, so learning to recognize and avoid it is the best strategy. An important fact to remember is that the urushiol can travel on your clothes or the fur of your pets, so remember to wash them too if you suspect they were in contact with poison ivy. 

CHURCHY’S COLUMN

If you haven’t made it out to the sanctuary recently, you’ve been missing a lot of activity. The Canada geese have been nesting for weeks and their goslings have now shown up. Same story for great blue herons, wood ducks, hooded mergansers and tree swallows. A single purple martin was seen checking out accommodations a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t seem to have been able to convince his flock to follow, though another was there in mid June. Other interesting sightings are common terns, green-backed herons, bitterns and common moorhens.

In the last issue we had a report from Austin on our hatch results for 2007. What we neglected to mention is that those results only covered the boxes we check in the summer. The final results for 2007 show that the wood duck hatch was very similar to 2006, while the hooded merganser hatch more than doubled. Overall the percentage of eggs hatched in 2007 was good. 

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Well, where did the summer go? Here it is, September already; time for Ottawa Duck Club members to get together to review the summer and make plans for the fall and winter. We still need to re-shingle and repair the sheds, build some new floating nest boxes, and start cleaning our wood duck boxes. We have two meetings planned.

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Club News

Membership renewals

Last call for membership renewals. We’ve had a pretty good response so far - almost 40 - but the more the merrier. There are still many of you who haven’t renewed. If there’s no renewal form with this newsletter, you’re in the clear. If there is one, please fill it out, write that cheque and re-up to stay on our mailing list for future newsletters. In fact, why not come to the annual meeting on March 22 to rejoin and get reacquainted with other members. Your club needs you. It needs your money too.

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Club News

Membership renewals

Well, another year is almost over. Time to look ahead to 2007.
Time to make resolutions. Time to resolve to renew your membership in the Ottawa Duck Club.

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Membership renewals

Another year is drawing to a close - the Ottawa Duck Club’s 40^th - and soon it will be time to renew your membership in the club. Next month we will be sending renewal forms and return address labels. Please watch for them and make a point of renewing promptly. Don’t forget, you will receive a tax receipt from the club for your membership fees and any donations you make.

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Club News

ANNUAL MEETING
MONDAY,MARCH 27, 7:00pm

Ottawa Citizen Conference Room

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

Rod Brook has arranged for Jack Hughes of Environment Canada to come to our annual meeting on March 27 to speak about Canada goose problems in urban areas (what problems?). Jack should be able to tell us what the future holds for Ottawa’s geese and advise us what we should or should not do so we don’t add to the problem.

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Lordy, Lordy look who’s 40

Us, that’s who. That’s right, the Ottawa Duck Club turns middle-aged this year. In fact, the very first meeting of the club took place near the end of January 1966 and the first general meeting was held on March 10, 1966. Why not mark the anniversary by coming out to a meeting or outing?

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