Snapping Turtle Eggs
Posted September 25, 2015
One day this past June, two city of Waterloo workers showed up at the Laurel Creek Outdoor Education Centre. They were doing some work on Beaver Creek Road, and said that they had found an injured snapping turtle in the ditch. I put on my snapping turtle gloves, and went to have a look. I found […]
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School Malaise Trap Program
Posted September 23, 2015
This week across Canada, and at two of our Outdoor/Environmental Education Centres, the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario‘s School Malaise Trap Program (SMTP) got underway. Insect collecting “malaise traps” have been set up at 60 school sites across the country, including the Blair and Camp Heidelberg OEE Centres. After a two week period, the specimens are […]
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Bee careful raccoon
Posted August 31, 2015
We have a little apiary at Laurel Creek. Even at night the honeybees are on guard. [wpvideo OICQV06U]
Snail Mail
Posted June 18, 2015
I am very lucky to work at Laurel Creek, where at the end of the day, people thank me for doing my job. Students clap. Parents shake my hand. It’s pretty sweet. I am also a big fan of the power-whoosh. A power-whoosh is a type of thank-you that involves the students clapping their hands […]
Pond Study from the Students’ Perspective!
Posted May 28, 2015
Spring is pond study season at our Outdoor and Environmental Education Centres. Grade 4’s study Habitats and Communities; Grade 7, Interactions Within Ecology; and for Grade 9 it’s Aquatic Ecology. Recently Miss Siertsma’s Grade 4 class from Elgin Street P.S. came to visit me for just such an adventure. Afterwards they wrote thank-you letters and […]
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Swamp Creatures
Posted May 26, 2015
More trail cam fun… [wpvideo FEfkbiEl]More trail cam fun… [wpvideo vjHR5QNh] [wpvideo HSGiCqZy] [wpvideo P32Ac1Ex] [wpvideo yIvu1AyL]
Laurel Creek Pictures
Posted May 20, 2015
Hi, My name is Olivia. I am Sean’s Co-op student at Laurel Creek. I wanted to share some photos I took here at the Nature Centre that I really like. A Chickadee I saw while on a walk. Leopard Frog at the pond during a pond study. A Cardinal in a tree. Mother Canada Goose […]
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Birds and Butterflies – Spring Migration on the Bruce Peninsula
Posted May 18, 2015
We spent this past weekend, the Victoria Day long weekend, in Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. There was still ice on our bay, and several kilometers out into Lake Huron, just three weeks ago. It’s gone now, but that cold water has a great influence on the local weather. We had single […]
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Global “Big Day” of Birding
Posted May 14, 2015
On May 9th, people all over the world participated in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s fundraiser Global Big Day, tallying all the bird species that could be identified in one 24 hour period. Globally, over half the world’s know species were tallied (incredible!), and the Cornell team of crack birders, on the ground in Panama, […]
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Counting Crows
Posted May 4, 2015
Fellow Outdoor Ed. Guy, Al Woodhouse and myself, have an annual competition to see who can see more species of birds at his respective outdoor centre each year. My yearly totals for the past 3 years have been 103, 96 and 89. Al generally beats me by 15 or so. This year I have re-doubled […]
