Talk and Presentation Videos

Click here to visit our YouTube page or scroll through our videos below.
Featured speakers Jessica Brousseau (she/her) and Elisabeth Shapiro (she/her), members of the Toronto Chapter of the Feminist Bird Club (https://www.feministbirdclub.org), tell us about the history of the Feminist Bird Club, its events, and outreach activities. As well, they discuss the future goals of growing the Club and how you can participate. Founded in 2016 by Molly Adams of New York, the Feminist Bird Club now has over 20 chapters across the globe. The Toronto Chapter is dedicated to promoting diversity in birding, while fundraising to protect the rights of women/trans folks, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of colour, and those in underserved and underfunded communities.
The Feminist Bird Club (April 25, 2022)
Our guest speaker this month is HNC and RBG member Rob Porter, a naturalist and software engineer based in Hamilton. He is the host and producer of the Songbirding podcasts (https://songbirding.com/), interpreted audio-tours of songbird territories. With over 85 episodes averaging 20 minutes in length, there are over 30 hours of educational and relaxing soundscapes available! Rob is a Director-at-Large of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club and collaborates with other members of the Club as part of the Hamilton Bioacoustics Research Project. In his presentation entitled “The Wide World of Birding,” Rob will explain how birding has changed a lot in the last couple of decades—with both new tools and new approaches to the hobby and study of birds. He’ll start from the absolute basics of birding and talk about the tools and resources that can help you on your birding journey as well as survey a wide variety of niches that have emerged in the birding world. In a deep dive into a couple of those niches, he will look under the hood of the new Merlin Sound ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, discuss Eastern Bluebird trails, and review discoveries that can be made by looking at Hamilton’s Christmas Bird Count data. Whether you’re completely new to birding or a veteran, you’ll learn something new and may even discover a new niche or two you’d like to explore more!
The Wide World of Birding with Rob Porter (Sept. 19, 2022)
This presentation is entitled: “Cross-Canada 2022: from birds in the air to herps on the ground and everything in between” and our speaker is Bob Curry. We are fortunate to have such a fine field ornithologist known throughout Ontario and North America in our midst. HNC and BSG member Bob Curry is best known for his authoritative book, Birds of Hamilton and Surrounding Areas, and as a founding life member of the Ontario Field Ornithologists. Within our Club, a trophy in his name is awarded to the young birder (under 18) who sights the most species of birds in the previous year in the Hamilton Study Area. A mentor to many top birders, Bob is an authority on status, distribution, and identification of birds in Ontario but has also explored all things natural in many other parts of Canada and the world. In the spring and early summer of 2022, Bob Curry and Glenda Slessor drove from Burlington to Vancouver and back. Their quest was to see western Canada in all its natural splendour of mountains, prairies, and coast. Oh, and they wanted to see new Canada birds and all the other animals and plants that they could encounter! Join them on this quest in a slide presentation of their trip narrated by Bob.
A Cross-Canada Nature Trip with Bob Curry (October 24, 2022)
Guest speaker Olivia Maillet, M.Sc. Candidate from Trent University, gives a presentation entitled: “Red-eye flight: Secrets from subarctic shorebirds migrating through Ontario.” “Birds are vulnerable to different threats at each stage of their annual cycle, so it is important to examine factors that could contribute to population decline on both their breeding grounds and along their migratory pathway. Little is known about the migration of the Short-billed Dowitcher and the Stilt Sandpiper, two shorebirds breeding in the Churchill, Manitoba region. There are indications of locally declining populations in their subarctic and arctic breeding areas but the reason for their decline has not yet been investigated. We seek to understand the varying responses of these bird species at the edges of their ranges to climate change in Churchill’s unique ecotone that spans the boreal forest, subarctic tundra, and coastal environments. I will share interesting results, photos, and stories from my recent research in the subarctic.”
Subarctic Shorebirds Migrating Through Ontario with Olivia Maillet (November 21, 2022)
This presentation is entitled: “Little Bird, Big World: Piping Plover Conservation in Ontario.” Our guest speaker is Sydney Shepherd (she/her) from Birds Canada. Piping Plovers returned to Ontario after a 30-year absence and in 2022 they celebrated their 16th breeding season back on our beaches! Join Sydney Shepherd of the Ontario Piping Plover Conservation Program to find out how you can help this charismatic shorebird and ensure we celebrate many more breeding seasons to come.
Piping Plover Conservation in Ontario with Sydney Shepherd from Birds Canada (December 19, 2022)
Guest speaker Kelly-Sue O’Connor has been a birder for 16 years. She has been very involved in citizen science during that time—starting with several Christmas Bird Counts a year, volunteering for nature organizations, fundraising, sitting on boards (like the Toronto Ornithological Club, Friends of Sam Smith Park, and Bird-Friendly Cities), and leading bird walks for the Ontario Field Ornithologists. Kelly-Sue found birding as a way to practise self-care, grounding, meditation, and mindfulness. Diagnosed with an auto-immune condition, C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Syndrome), ADHD (attention deficit disorder), and other health issues experienced by many, she was inspired to share her love of birding and its healing benefits with others. This presentation includes an overview of the Birder Brain Project, two short documentaries, some of Kelly-Sue’s favourite mindful birding experiences, and tips on how to use birding to improve your own mental and physical health.
The Birder Brain Project with Kelly-Sue O'Connor (March 20, 2023)
For decades, Don Scallen has visited springtime ponds to witness the wondrous spectacle of Spotted Salamander and Jefferson Salamander breeding. He shares pictures and video of this special time of year. Don’s salamander adventures are not limited to the spring, however. In recent years he has ventured into the woods in early autumn to document the nocturnal behaviour of various salamander species. And in late fall of last year, he finally had the opportunity to meet and photograph a mudpuppy in a local stream. Don Scallen dove into the natural world as a little boy and has remained immersed ever since. He’s a birder, a herper, butterfly blitzer, fish watcher and a native plant aficionado. He writes for In The Hills, an acclaimed regional magazine: https://www.inthehills.ca/author/don-scallen/ Don has also contributed articles to ON Nature magazine and Blazing Star, the newsletter of the North American Native Plant Society. He recently published a book called Nature Where We Live (https://loopsandlattes.ca/product/nature-where-we-live-don-scallen/) to encourage people to step outside and engage with nature in their own backyards and their local ecosystems.
The Wonders of Salamanders with Don Scallen (March 13, 2023)
Join critically acclaimed author Merilyn Simonds and local birder Bob Bell in conversation with Jackson Hudecki, Director of the HNC Bird Study Group, where they'll talk about the power of birds, and how sharing stories helps heal the soul. Merilyn's most recent work – Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay (2022) – is an innovative memoir/biography of an extraordinary recluse who changed the way we see birds. Bob is a first-time author of a book titled Out of the Lyme Light and Into the Sunlight: Birding as Therapy for the Chronically Ill (2022), which shares his journey after developing a bizarre set of increasingly debilitating symptoms, eventually leading to a diagnosis of Lyme disease.
Bird Prose: The Art of Storytelling with Authors Merilyn Simonds and Bob Bell (Jan. 16, 2023)
Crossbills are stereotypically birds of the West, where vast stands of pines support a variety of different crossbill call types. The East isn't without its crossbills, however—which were once an "enigmatic" mystery hiding in plain sight. This talk covers the basics of crossbill call types, the kinds of call types we can expect in Eastern North America, and the science of trying to figure out the ecology of the birds living in our region, where the number of conifers is lower but the variety is higher.
Get to Know Eastern North America's Crossbills - Ryan Mandelbaum (27 Feb 2023)
Load More... Subscribe

Resources

What's Alive Checklists

Books and Other Publications

Birding

Talk and Presentation Videos

The Wood Duck

Hamilton Study Area