Hamilton Naturalists' Club - Protecting Nature Since 1919

Monthly Public Meetings of the Hamilton Naturalists' Club

The Hamilton Naturalist's Club meets monthly, September through May, usually on the second Monday of each month. Meetings are held at 7:30 PM, at the Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Rd West, Burlington. (See note about free parking). Come early for social and refeshments.


HNC Monthly Meetings (Photo: Stephanie Lechniak-Cumerlato)

Monthly Meetings 2009 - 2010
Date Topic Speaker
September 7, 2009 "Predators and Prey" Dave Taylor
The topic will be "Predators & Prey" and it will look at the role predators play in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Recent research has pointed out that they are more important than we used to think they were.

Dave Taylor is an author and wildlife photographer with over 40 books to his credit.  The most recent titles are "Black Bears: A Natural History" (2006), "Deer World" (2008) and "Predators of North America" (Fall 2009). He writes for a number of magazines including Real fishing and Canadian Wildlife. A retired teacher, Dave, currently is the Education Program Consultant for The  Riverwood Conservancy. A life-long naturalist he has guded several East African safaris and with his wife has travelled the world to view wildlife in their natural habitats.

October 5, 2009 "Reptiles at Risk on the Road" Project and the Herpetofaunal Atlas Program Joe Crowley
& Jeff Hathaway

Jeff Hathaway (Sciensational Sssnakes!) talks about "the Reptiles at Risk on the Road" project. It is an excellent opportunity to learn more about Ontario's reptiles and to see many of our native species up close and personal. This is a joint presentation with Joe Crowley from the Ontario Nature's new Herpetofaunal Atlas program. The Sciensational Sssnakes! segment will provide information about Ontario's reptiles using live animals while the herp atlas portion and information will be given on how to get involved in the new atlas program.
November 9, 2009 Galapagos Brian and Dolores Mishell
Brian and Dolores Mishell are HNC members who love to travel the world in search of new nature experiences. Several years ago, we enjoyed an account of their visit to Madagascar with its exotic lemurs. Now they are ready to thrill us again with the story of their visit to the Galopagos Islands and the many unique species which live there. On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his publication of "On The Origin of Species" it is fitting that we revisit the place where he gained some of his most important insights
December 14, 2009 Spiders Tom Mason
Tom has been Curator of Invertebrates at the Toronto Zoo for many years, and has a naturalist's enthusiasm for seeking out his subjects in the wild. The spider field trip that he leads for the Toronto Entomologists' Association has become an annual favourite. He will give us an overview of spiders of Ontario. Our spiders are amazingly diverse in both form and behaviour. They include aggressive little jumping spiders that pounce on prey nearly their own size, crab spiders that change their colour so they can hide in plain sight, and skilled artisans that weave their silk into a myriad of ingenious trap designs. Join us for this talk which is sure to be packed with insights on this fascinating group of arthropods.

Tom has a BSc. degree from the University of Guelph and spent most of his professional life working for Zoos. Tom Mason has worked in zoos for over 29 years. He is currently the Curator of Invertebrates and Birds at the Toronto Zoo. He has collected fish and reptiles on 5 continents and has successfully bred over 50 species of reptiles and amphibians in captivity. He has also worked on several recovery teams for Ontario endangered species. Tom has worked on conservation projects in Cuba and Costa Rica. Tom is heavily involved in COTERC (Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation) and takes fish and reptile hobbyists to their research station in Costa Rica every year.
January 11, 2010 A Lyme Disease Survival Guide - Pests, Protection and Politics Rob Manten
The American CDC now refers to Lyme as an "emerging epidemic". There are an estimated 200,000 new cases each year (more than AIDS and West Nile combined), the vast majority of which are in close proximity to Ontario's border. With unreliable tests, a lack of awareness in the medical community, and indifference from our government, we really don't know the true magnitude of the disease in our country. It is next to impossible to get a timely diagnosis in Canada. And yet success treatment depends largely on a quick diagnosis. Learn what you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones from this devastating and growing health concern.

A professional engineer by vocation, he became a victim of Lyme disease in 2004. While his treatment for Chronic Lyme disease is on-going, he is an advocate for Lyme patients and improved Chronic Lyme disease public policy. He is a founding member of the southern Ontario-based Lyme Action Group.
February 8, 2010 "Rare Trees & Shrubs of Ontario" Sean Fox
Come take a photographic tour of some of Ontario’s rarest and most interesting tree and shrub species. Data and images from the University of Guelph Arboretum’s Gene Bank and Ontario Tree Atlas Project paint a unique picture of some of our favourite woody friends.

Sean Fox is the Assistant Manager and Horticulturist at the University of Guelph Arboretum. There he oversees more than 30 woody plant collections represented by over 1700 different taxa of trees and shrubs from around the world. During the past 9 years, Sean has spent a significant portion of his time dedicated to the Rare Woody Plants of Ontario Program, and the Elm Recovery Project, both sited at The Arboretum. These programs ultimately aim to establish seed orchards to protect the unique genetics of Ontario’s threatened species.
March 8, 2010 "Dragonflies" Brenda VanRyswyk
Brenda will cover a basic introduction to Odonata, their life cycle and identification. We will look at the differences between dragonflies and damselflies, Odonata reproduction and general behavior. She will give some tips on where to find Odonata and some basics on getting started studying them for fun. Go over the general family groups and then get into the specific identification of some of the more common species of our area. She will give a summary of the past years Hamilton Odonata Count and how counts can help our understanding of an areas biodiversity or trends. Brenda will also discuss the recent project of compiling an Odonata Atlas for the Hamilton Study Area using local naturalists sightings and record from the Ontario Odonata database and how these two efforts are helping expand our knowledge of the Odonata in our area.

Growing up in rural central Ontario (South of Ottawa) gave Brenda a great appreciation and love for nature and the outdoors. Having spent much of her time roaming around outside as a child not a whole lot has changed as she grew except the objects of her study continues to expand or shift. First introduced to the world of Odonata when trying to find people to help identify dragonfly photos taken on her first digital camera but since then this hobby has become a full blown obsession. Currently residing in Hamilton, an area rich in Odonata species diversity, she working in the field she loves as a Natural Heritage Ecologist for Conservation Halton doing plant and wildlife inventories. She spends much of her free time chasing or photographing these interesting insects or she occasionally leads others in counts or educational workshops in her area and encourages more people to get involved with this interesting hobby.

April 12, 2010 "Cedars" Peter Kelly
Peter joined the Cliff Ecology Research Group in 1989 for a summer inventory of ancient cliff-face forests along the Niagara Escarpment but only recently left the group after close to 19 years of ecological and conservation work on the ancient cedars of the Niagara Escarpment. He has co-authored two previous books related to cliff ecology (Cliff Ecology: Pattern and Process in Cliff Ecosystems (2000) and The Urban Cliff Revolution (2004)). He has published extensively in the popular and scientific press and given numerous talks to a broad range of audiences. Peter, along with Doug Larson, Uta Matthes and John Gerrath received a Niagara Escarpment Achievement Award from the Niagara Escarpment Commission in 2002 for their research efforts. His photographs have been featured in numerous media and public exhibitions and he has photographed on every continent including Antarctica. He resides in Guelph, Ontario and is currently Research Director at 'rare', a 913-acre land reserve in Cambridge at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers.

Peter Kelly grew up in Lambeth, Ontario with a passion for the natural environment and photography. He received an Honours B.Sc and M.Sc. in Physical Geography from the University of Western Ontario. Here, he conducted fieldwork in the Canadian Cordillera and on Devon Island in the High Arctic. He has travelled extensively and photographed on all continents including Antarctica.
May 3, 2010 Coral Reefs Jeremy Woodley
Reef-building corals seem to be simple animals; like sea-anemones in calcium carbonate cups. I will show that they are not so simple and how, in shallow tropical seas, they help form reefs which support the most diverse communities on the planet. I’ll point out how reefs benefit humans, providing coastal protection, beaches and food; and then the many ways in which humans have degraded them! In many areas, including the Caribbean, dramatic changes have occurred within living memory. Conservation is possible; but now coral reefs worldwide are threatened by our greenhouse gas emissions; both by warming and by increasing acidity due to solution in the sea of more carbon dioxide.

Jeremy Woodley grew up in England and studied Zoology at Oxford. He left with a D Phil and a certificate in SCUBA diving. He then worked 33 years for the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, first in teaching undergraduate Zoology. From 1975 to 1993, he  ran the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory. That Lab, on the north coast, specializes in studies on the geology and biology of coral reefs. After that, he ran the multi-disciplinary Centre for Marine Sciences back on the main campus in Kingston. His interest in coral reefs (and international symposia) took him all over the Caribbean and to Australia, Bali, Florida, Guam, Kenya,  Micronesia, Panama and the Philippines. He retired in 2000 and now lives in Dundas with his Canadian/Jamaican wife, whom he met in Jamaica. He still returns there from time to time to keep up with research and go diving.

Parking at RBG

The automated parking machines have been removed from the RBG headquarters parking lot and parking is now free in this lot all year.

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