January 27th, 2012

Congratulations to Sean and Al as the number of bird species they record at their OEE Centres grows.  They have a long way to go to catch up to the birder mentioned in a previous post who, in his Big Year of Birding quest, claims to have seen 120 species as of January 26th .

Mirroring Sean’s experience at Laurel Creek, Mrs. Harrington’s class from Howard Robertson P.S. saw a peregrine falcon in the skies above Blair on January 25.  We witnessed a high speed glide with wings swept back (peregrines dive in a “stoop” at over 300 km/hr), only to have the bird pull up and circle slowly back over us – amazing.

Students from Ms. Glebe’s class at Avenue Road P.S. sent their views on a day of Habitat studies at Blair via the outdooredguys blog.  Click here to see all the enthusiastic comments they wrote.  Thank you everyone!!

Laura Ehnes from the Grand River Conservation Authority (some may remember Laura as their teacher/guide at the Huron Natural Area) visited Blair this week, and we trekked out at the end of the day in search of white-winged crossbills we thought we might have heard earlier.  We weren’t able to confirm their presence but we did startle a great blue heron into flight from it’s fishing hole in the stream – pretty good bird sighting for January!!

Breaking news – I’ve just this minute had confirmation from the Region of Waterloo Waste Management that the Blair OEEC will be able to participate in the Green Bin program so that paper towels from washroom use as well as organic food waste can be diverted from the landfill.  I’ve always had and fed a backyard composter here, but the Green Bin can accommodate a far greater range of items.  Thanks, Kathleen at the ROW.

All-in-all a pretty good week in the world of outdoor and environmental education…