Posted May 14, 2016
Each spring white suckers migrate up Laurel Creek from the downstream reservoir in order to lay eggs. It’s pretty impressive springtime spectacle. My son Sawyer recently won a GoPro in a contest so we thought we would test it out on some unsuspecting spawners. Check it out! [wpvideo Tx6slxw2]
Posted May 9, 2016
Last week Ms. Kelly’s five grade 7 classes from LBP PS in Waterloo, visited the Blair Outdoor Centre to study stream ecology. We did a stream study in the morning -Blair Creek is a Class 1 cold-water stream – and an ecology hike around the property in the afternoon as well as the use of […]
Read more about Lester B. Pearson Grade 7’s @ Blair »
Posted April 27, 2016
In 2013, I found a blandings turtle at Laurel Creek. You can read about that turtle day here: https://outdooredguys.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/blandings-turtle/ It was pretty exciting because blandings turtles are listed as “threatened” on the list of species at risk in Ontario. They are tricky to find. Last year, staff of the Grand River Conservation Authority found another, or […]
Read more about Another (or same) Blandings Turtle »
Posted April 24, 2016
I headed out to the Huron Natural Area this week with my co-teacher to prepare our classroom for our spring grade 2 and 3 programs. We walked our nature trail circuit and observed several seasonal changes taking place. When we arrived we noticed that the city of Kitchener is organizing a family Earth Day event […]
Read more about Opening Huron Natural Area for Spring programs »
Posted April 22, 2016
Each year on (or around) Earth Day, the outdoor education staff of the Waterloo Region District School Board organizes an event which brings together students from several different schools. This year we visited Steckle Heritage Farm where students learned about the ins and outs of food production. We weeded, composted, planted and cooked. For lunch […]
Read more about Earth Day at Steckle Heritage Farm »
Posted April 20, 2016
[wpvideo 2r8A96Dm]
Posted March 31, 2016
Monarch Migration northwards from the wintering grounds in the mountains of central Mexico has begun. We were heartened by the increase this year in the number of wintering butterflies… Good News from Mexico (From the Website Journey North) The number of monarchs overwintering in Mexico has increased dramatically from the record lows of the past […]
Read more about Monarch Migration – Good News, Bad News… »
Posted March 31, 2016
The Laurel Creek Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre has been hosting grade 3’s for maple syrup programs the last few weeks. We were concerned that this spring was going to be a bust as far as syrup production goes, due to a string of above-seasonal temperatures. At one point in early March, the Weather Network had […]
Read more about Maple Syrup Report »
Posted March 4, 2016
Some of our local birds are starting to think about carving out breeding territories for themselves for the spring. This may involve harassing others of their own species until they command their own piece of turf. Today at Laurel Creek someone was banging on our window. When I went to see who it was, I […]
Posted February 19, 2016
Grade 6 students studying Biodiversity do a hike around the Blair property looking for evidence of winter wildlife. We struck pay dirt yesterday with fresh deer tracks in the field, a shallow spot along the stream where a fox broke through thin ice (no worries, it was only centimeters deep) and this awesome scene of […]
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