To study and appreciate nature. To protect and preserve wildlife and the environment. To stimulate public interest in, and promote protection and preservation of nature.
Who we are
The Midland Penetanguishene Field Naturalists Club (MPFNC) is one of the oldest affiliates of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. The objective of the Club is to promote public awareness of natural history, conservation and the environment. We feature lectures by expert naturalists on a range of fascinating topics at our monthly meetings. We also schedule outings (field trips) and nature study.
We meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month, 7:30 PM at the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre No meeting in December, July or August. Our June meeting is held at Tiny Marsh.
The MPFNC is involved in many projects in the area including the Christmas Bird Count as well as environmental and wildlife surveys, the Tiny Marsh BioBlitz and the Sweet Water Harvest at the Wye Marsh. The club also supports the Owl Foundation at the Christmas Bird Count Potluck Wrap-up at the Wye Marsh. This year we raised $300 for the Owl Foundation of Vineland through our famous Mystery Gift Not-So-Silent Auction.
As Canada Day approaches it was nice to find a Canada Warbler here in Tiny Township, Ontario, Canada, June 26, 2022. CanadaBY BILLY COLLINSI am writing this on a strip of white birch barkthat I cut from a tree with a penknife.There is no other way to express adequatelythe immensity of the clouds that are passing over the farms and wooded lakes of Ontario and the endless visibility that hands you the horizon on a platter.I am also writing this in a wooden canoe,a point of balance in the middle of Lake Couchiching, resting the birch bark against my knees. I can feel the sun’s hands on my bare back, but I am thinking of winter,snow piled up in all the provincesand the solemnity of the long grain-shipsthat pass the cold months moored at Owen Sound.O Canada, as the anthem goes,scene of my boyhood summers,you are the pack of Sweet Caporals on the table, you are the dove-soft train whistle in the night,you are the empty chair at the end of an empty dock. You are the shelves of books in a lakeside cottage: Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery,So You’re Going to Paris! by Clara E. Laughlin,and Peril Over the Airport, oneof the Vicky Barr Flight Stewardess seriesby Helen Wills whom some will rememberas the author of the Cherry Ames Nurse stories.What has become of the languorous girlswho would pass the long limp summer evenings readingCherry Ames, Student Nurse, Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse, Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, and Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse?Where are they now, the ones who shared her adventures as a veterans’ nurse, private duty nurse, visiting nurse, cruise nurse, night supervisor, mountaineer nurse, dude ranch nurse (there is little she has not done), rest home nurse, department store nurse, boarding school nurse, and country doctor's nurse?O Canada, I have not forgotten you,and as I kneel in my canoe, beholding this vision of a bookcase, I pray that I remain in your vast,polar, North American memory.You are the paddle, the snowshoe, the cabin in the pines. You are Jean de Brébeuf with his martyr’s necklace of hatchet heads.You are the moose in the clearing and the moosehead on the wall.You are the rapids, the propeller, the kerosene lamp. You are the dust that coats the roadside berries. But not only that.You are the two boys with pails walking along that road, and one of them, the taller one minus the straw hat, is me. ... See MoreSee Less
The Piping Plovers were the only ones practicing social distancing today June 25, 2022 at Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada. TP Measures Up!! by Ron Gordonhey!! six feet away, you must keep your distance!i'm healthy, no virus, and building up resistance.take out one TP roll from your closet and give it a measure(and yes, quick, put it back in your secret-hoarded treasure).4 1/2 inches wide is how ours met the rulerthen do some third-grade math---this couldn't be cooler.roll after roll after roll after roll--16 in all you will needthat's 72 inches---hey!! that's six feet, indeed!!so out and about? proudly tote your 16 rolls with great prideand be ready when someone crosses into the Healthy Divide.when folks stand too close and encroach in your zoneset out your measuring rolls as you do 'round your throne.have them respect the safe social-distance you need.and if they do, but they're sad, and begin a thin-paper pleadgive them one roll as a favor---you're making safety-zone friends(and we all know you have TP galore---you'll be flush 'til this ends.) ... See MoreSee Less
Filmy Dome Spider, Neriene radiata, Midland, Ontario, Canada, June 22, 2022Allowablesby Nikki GiovanniI killed a spiderNot a murderous brown recluseNor even a black widowAnd if the truth were told thisWas only a smallSort of papery spiderWho should have runWhen I picked up the bookBut she didn’tAnd she scared meAnd I smashed herI don’t thinkI’m allowedTo kill somethingBecause I amFrightenedMercyby Rudy Francisco (a response to “Allowables”)She asked me to kill the spiderInstead, I got the mostpeaceful weapons I can findI take a cup and a napkin.I catch the spider, put it outsideand allow it to walk awayIf I am ever caught in the wrong placeat the wrong time, just being aliveand not bothering anyone,I hope I am greetedwith the same kindof mercy. ... See MoreSee Less
