By Steve Howard
Where have the birds gone?
One species has declined by 52% over the last twenty years. Another has declined 54% in the same time frame. Another has dropped 29%. Another 28%.
These are not species of insects from a foreign continent. They are small insect eating birds in Ontario.
According to The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, the population of aerial insectivores, or small insect-eating birds have steadily decline in Ontario over the last twenty years. Why these birds are declining and what can be done to reverse the trend is a question that continues to baffle scientists.
Mike Cadman, who is with the Canadian Wildlife Services and helped [...]
Where have the birds gone?
London’s Birds and Birdwatchers Unite
By Angelique Veerman
With brightly coloured dried leaves crunching underfoot, thirteen Londoners went for an autumn walk through the Fanshawe conservation area on Sunday.
The walk was organized by The McIlwraith Field Naturalists of London and was led by bird expert Cathy McCrae, the club’s field trip coordinator.
For Janet Stevenson, it was her first time out with MFN, a club devoted to the preservation and enjoyment of nature, but it won’t be her last, she said.
She joined the group out of a desire to learn about birds and as an excuse to spend time outdoors. Living half the year at her cottage on Georgian Bay, she said she spends all of her [...]
Bat tracker uses acoustics
By Alana Power
Wind turbines in Ontario have the potential to kill thousands of bats every spring and fall.
Bat biologist Juliet Nagal is studying the migration patterns of bats along Ontario’s shores so that she can suggest locations for turbines that would be less harmful to the nocturnal creatures.
Nagal, 28, works for EchoTrack Inc., a company that tracks migrating birds and bats using radar which detects height, speed and direction. Microphones allow for species identification. The focus of Nagal’s research is to find out if bats are migrating in the same pattern as birds along Ontario’s shores.
Birds will follow the shoreline, and only cross it when it is totally dark, said [...]
If it’s got feathers …
By Alana Power
“If it’s got feathers, ask me,” said Cathy McCrae, as she gathered a group to go on a nature walk at the Fanshawe Park Conservation Area on Sunday.
The walk was organised by the McIlwraith Field Naturalists of London, a group dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of nature. McCrae works full time as an elementary school teacher, but has been an avid birder and McIlwraith member for the past 15 years.
Around 15 people gathered to go on the stroll around the conservation area. Janet Stevenson was among the group. Stevenson came to London to go to university, and it has been her home base ever since.
Stevenson feels very [...]
Her favorite creatures
By Steve Howard
Juliet Nagel has spent the last two months living in a trailer along the shores of Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario.
The small unit contains a pull-out bed along one side where Nagel spends her nights next to her dog Zeus. The opposite wall of the cramped space is lined with computer equipment. Monitors display readings taken from radar sensors outside. Nagel and Zeus have spent long hours in the tailor working well past sunset and into the morning.
Juliet doesn’t mind the long hours though, or the cramped trailer. She gets to share her nights with her favorite animals: bats.
“Bats are awesome,” Nagel says.
Her interest in bats began [...]
Tracking the night creatures
By Brittany Seki
When everyone else is sleeping, Juliet Nagel is out tracking the night’s leathery-winged creatures under the protection of her wiener dog Zeus.
“I quite like the night,” she said. “I have my dog, and even though he’s small, he lets me know when something’s around.”
Nagel, 28, is a bat biologist with EchoTrack Inc., a company that uses radar and acoustic technology to track the night migration of bats and birds. Currently, she is working with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to measure the affects wind turbines have on the airborne species.
Nagel records migrating birds and bats using radar to reveal the height, speed and direction the animals [...]
Bat migration studies may mitigate wind damage
By Alana Power
Wind turbines in Ontario have the potential to kill thousands of bats every spring and fall.
Bat biologist Juliet Nagal is studying the migration patterns of bats along Ontario’s shores so that she can suggest locations for turbines that would be less harmful to the nocturnal creatures.
Nagal, 28, works for EchoTrack Inc., a company that tracks migrating birds and bats using radar which detects height, speed and direction. Microphones allow for species identification. The focus of Nagal’s research is to find out if bats are migrating in the same pattern as birds along Ontario’s shores.
Wind power: Bat research using human radar
Links to multimedia files
Point Barrow Provincial Park, on a cold and windy fall afternoon … By James Saunders
Protecting bats from offshore wind farms – By Colin Schultz
Her favorite species — By Julliane Hazlewood
Radar Love –By Carrie Simmons
Wind turbines are built as environmentally friendly alternative energy sources — By Andrea Damiano
One woman’s fight to help save the creatures of the night — By Anna Delaney (pdf)