Join us as we celebrate the Don River watershed at the 15th annual Mill Pond Splash, a  FREE eco-festival held at Mill Pond Park, near downtown Richmond Hill

The 15th annual Mill Pond Splash, a popular eco-festival hosted by the Don Watershed Regeneration Council, Toronto and Region Conservation, the Town of Richmond Hill, and the Richmond Hill Naturalists will be taking place on Sunday, June 2, 2013 at Mill Pond Park from 12:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Mill Pond Splash is a lively, family oriented event showcasing environmental conservation and our natural heritage. With a children’s activity zone, live music, native wildlife shows, tree and shrub planting, a local food market, and environmental displays – there’s lots to see and do!

• Run, roll, laugh, and play as you learn about the watershed through children’s games and activities
• Take part in the ‘Amazing Eco-Race’
• Come face to face with native mammals, reptiles, and birds of prey from southern Ontario
• Dig in! Plant a tree and help protect Mill Pond Park’s natural heritage
• Visit environmental groups and discover how to get involved in stewardship projects in your community

When: Sunday June 2, 2013,
12 – 4:30 pm

Where: Mill Pond Park, Richmond Hill

Parking is available in the lot opposite Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, on Trench Street.

For more information, please contact Michael Charendoff at 416-661-6600 ext. 5280, mcharendoff@trca.on.ca

We look forward to seeing you at the 15th annual Mill Pond Splash!

Tufted Saxifrage, Saxifraga cespitosa, Svalbard, July 2002, by Michael Haferkamp

Professor Theo Hofmann will speak on flowers found in both alpine areas, specifically the European Alps, and in arctic areas with emphasis on the Canadian Arctic. Some of the flowers from both the Alps and the Arctic of flowers do not grow in both regions.

The Banksias, flowering plants from small shrubs to sizeable trees, which grow almost exclusively in Australia. They are one the few groups of plants that need their seed pods to go through a fire before they can germinate.

Prof. Theo Hofmann – Researcher, Medical Faculties in Sheffield, Seattle and Toronto. Theo has travelled extensively, including birding in 57 countries. He has organized York Region Forest bird surveys for the past 5 years and was a co-coordinator for York Region in the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project.

Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church,
Wallace Hall
10,066 Yonge St., Richmond Hill
(West side, first entrance north of Major Mackenzie Drive)

Moss Campion, Svalbard, July 2002, by Michael Haferkamp

The public is cordially invited to this event. There is no admission charge, however a $5 donation would be appreciated. Parking is free and refreshments will be served. Richmond Hill Naturalists is an organization of town residents concentrating on discovering, appreciating and enhancing the natural world. For more information about our organization, consult the web site www.rhnaturalists.ca or contact Marianne Yake, 905-883-3047

Each fall, billions of songbirds leave Canada on an epic journey to their far-away wintering grounds in Central and South America where many live in tropical forests shared by toucans, howler monkeys, and jaguars. Dozens of species have experienced serious, long-term population declines that are driven in part by the threats that these birds face on migration and while in the tropics. But only recently has it been possible to track the entire migration of individual songbirds to find out how they accomplish their amazing 10,000 km (or more!) round trip and to map out critical habitats used during migration and for surviving until they return in spring. Bridget Stutchbury will reveal her surprising migration tracking results for Purple Martins, Red-eyed Vireos and Wood Thrushes and discuss how this research can help us save songbirds.

Bridget Stutchbury Professor at York University, serves on scientific advisory committees for World Wildlife Fund Canada, Wildlife Preservation Canada, and Earth Rangers. She is also
author of Silence of the Songbirds (2007 finalist for the Governor General’s Award) and The Bird Detective (2010).

Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church,Wallace Hall
10,066 Yonge St., Richmond Hill

The public is cordially invited to this event. There is no admission charge, however a $5 donation would be appreciated. Parking is free and refreshments will be served. Richmond Hill Naturalists is an organization of town residents concentrating on discovering, appreciating and enhancing the natural world. For more information about our organization, consult the web site www.rhnaturalists.ca or contact Marianne Yake, 905-883-3047

Hope you can join us on Dec 15th for the Annual Christmas Bird Count.

Please contact Gene lezned@yorku.ca or 905 889 – 7888if your interested in participating for the morning, afternoon or the full day.  Also anyone that can’t come out can assist us by counting at your feeder.

The Richmond Hill Naturalists Christmas Bird Count takes place on December 15th this year. The Richmond Hill Naturalists are just one group among thousands participating in the Christmas Bird Count throughout the western hemisphere. The count began in 1900 as an alternative to the then traditional practice of the Christmas Side Hunt, in which sportsmen and women signed on to teams which then went out and vied to see which team could kill the most birds and other animals in the allotted time. An officer of the fledgling Audubon Society, ornithologist Frank Chapman started the new and less lethal tradition of the Bird Census. 27 birdwatchers in 25 cities (including Toronto) participated in that first count; last year more than 50,000 counters in 19 countries from Antarctica to Alaska took part.

In Richmond Hill, each year groups of birdwatchers of all levels of expertise cruise their assigned sections; each group taking note of every bird and every species that they see in their area. The club’s results in turn are submitted to Bird Studies Canada, which works with the Audubon Society in the US and elsewhere to analyze the data. If you wish to be a counter or to volunteer your back yard please leave a message with Gene Denzel at 9058897888 or email lezned@yorku.ca

The Richmond Hill Naturalists are also looking for people with bird feeders to open up their back yards for the Bird Counters. Bird Counters would visit volunteering households ONCE between 8am and 4:30pm on December 15. They will check the yard to count all the birds and bird species that may be seen there for just a few minutes – maybe longer if your yard is particularly exciting at that particular moment! You may also choose to count the birds and bird species in your yard yourself on December 15th and report your results.

Test your birding skills–take the Fall eBird/Swarovski Photo Quiz!