Winter Bird Feeders

Feeding birds in the winter time can provide a source of enjoyment for many people. The observation of a variety of birds is amazing to experience as they find and come to the feeder station.

The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. Winter Staycation Brochure  (download)  provides a listing of those winter birds who may frequent the bird feeders in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.

Whether you are a novice or experienced bird watcher, it is a delight to see the flight of the black-capped chickadee arriving at the bird feeder. The chickadee does not swoop straight in an undulating or bouncing flight pattern. If one was to describe it on a piece of paper, it may look like a sine wave with curves up and down. The call or song of the black-capped chickadee is quite distinctive as a chickadee-dee-dee-dee. Though it will vary in their spring territory call which is a long high note followed by two lower short notes.

Besides the black-capped chickadee, the northern flicker is common in the afforestation area as is the bohemian waxwing. There is for sure the possibility the chance of seeing plethora of species depending on your time for observation, the weather, and when you arrive during the day.

Place a bird feeder in a site sheltered and protected from strong winter blizzard winds. The bird feeder should have a large canopy to keep snow and ice away from the bird seed placed out. Think of bird predators and squirrels who may also enjoy lunch at the bird feeder. If the bird feeder is placed near natural cover which will assist perching birds assess the bird feeder station area for safety.

Clean the bird feeder regularly. Bird balls and suet feeders also provide nutritious snacks for wild birds. Black oil sunflower seeds provides fat to birds which is a necessary nutrient. Birds require extra fat to keep them going through the long cold days. This bird feed may attract a good variety of birds. Nyger seeds, sunflower seeds and peanuts are also winter bird feeder choices. Try filling different locations of bird feeders with different seed to see what species of birds are attracted to the change of food.

As you embark on a winter bird feeding strategem, remember that some species of worms are meat eaters, seeking out insects, grasshoppers worms over the other months. A winter surprise of mealworms may provide the wild birds with a treat. Fruit is enjoyed by many birds. Placing out apples, bananas citrus fruits may be enjoyed by your several bird visitors. Consider spreading some peanut butter on an apple and add bits of peanuts and raisins. Remember to not place such a treat where dogs would reach it, as dogs cannot have raisins or they will have seizures.

In 2021 February experienced a terrific arctic cold front setting records with -53 Celsius records. At times like these, it is vitally important to keep any bird feeders topped up which birds may have become dependent upon.

Some birds are more comfortable feeding from the ground. Think of what other animals may be nearby which may pose a hazard to the birds feeding from the ground. Once in a while step on the snow at the base of the bird feeder, to provide ease of access to the ground feeding birds.

Partipate in the Christmas Bird Count and the Backyard Bird Count February 12-15, 2021 Register your count on the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Areas E-bird hotspot, Baker Area Eco-Quest on iNaturalist or on the Cornell Lab Audubon web pages.

As part of the winter-staycation challenges, register for the prize draw by sending in your photograph of a bird feeding station visitor.

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For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.com
Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

• Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity 
• Make it your own
• Spread the word about the UN Decade 
• Let’s Bring Back Forests
• Let’s Green Our Cities

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.     

John Muir

Do you agree?

Animal explosion or People explosion?

July 11: World Population Day

In 1957, Richard St. Barbe Baker was “convinced that the vegan way of life is the only sane way of life, and realising that the basic cause of tension is growing populations and diminishing food sources, for the past ten years I have devoted much of my time to studying the question of food production and the problems of large scale land reclamation by tree planting.”

Thomas Malthus notes that with an increase in world population, a pre-requisite is needed, food for that mass of humanity. “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.

By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal.

This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence.”

“The world’s problem, is not a population explosion, but animal explosion. We’ve got to decide whether we are going to feed animals or humans. To feed animals is a roundabout way of getting food. It takes 18 times more land to feed people on beef than on vegetables, nuts fruits and grains.” Richard St. Barbe Baker.

In June of 2017, the world population is calculated at 7.5 billion. The “latest projections indicate that the world will have around 8.6 billion people in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050. Keeping in mind that projections farther into the future are increasingly uncertain, the medium variant projection foresees a world population of 11.2 billion people in 2100.^Wilmoth” With every increase of about 5 billion souls there is “another billion hectares of human-claimed landscape, a billion hectares less forest ~ even without allowing for any further deforestation by the current human population.~ ^Quammen”

Scientists have summarized the increase of population and the ensuing environmental degradation as IPAT, where “Environmental impacts (I) equals population (P) times affluence (A) (usually income per capita) times the impacts per unit of income as determined by technology (T) and the institutions that use it. ^Kates

“Not even very large losses from disease or war can affect the world’s population in the long run nearly as much as changes in human values do. What we have learned from the dramatic changes of the past few centuries is that regardless of the size of the world population at any time, people’s personal decisions about how many children they want can make the world population go anywhere – to zero or to 100 billion or more.~^Singer”

This July 11, World Population Day, do you agree with Richard St. Barbe Baker?
“They’re teaching about The Pyramid of Life in the schools today. There is the ground producing all the soil bacteria, which is in the top few inches. That grows the grass, and a a lamb comes along and eats ten pounds of grass, and that makes one lamb, and then a tiger comes along and eats ten pounds of lamb, and that makes one pound of tiger. We have too many tigers. The Pyramid of Life is upset, and one of the things we must do is to turn from an animal economy to a silvan economy. We’ve got to have tree crops, instead of wasting all this land for raising beef and bringing money to the beef barons, who are proud to call themselves beef barons. It takes eighteen times more land to feed people on beef than it does on nuts and fruit. Eighteen times more land. When half the human family today are dying from starvation. I don’t feel justified in making these demands on the earth. I, myself have been a lifelong vegetarian. ”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
11 by Paul Hanley Quote: “Eleven billion people will crowd this marvelous planet by century’s end. If the global economy were to grow five-fold during this period as predicted, humanity’s ecological footprint would exceed Earth’s biocapacity by 400%. We need to chart a new course to the future.”

Kates, Robert W. Population and Consumption. What we know, What we need to know. Annual Edition. Environment 02/03. Editor John L. Allen McGraw-Hill Dushkin. page 36-41

Quammen, David. Planet of Weeds. Annual Edition. Environment 02/03. Editor John L. Allen McGraw-Hill Dushkin.

Singer, Max. The Population Surprise. From the Atlantic Monthly. August 1999, pp.22-25. Annual Edition. Environment 02/03. Editor John L. Allen McGraw-Hill Dushkin. Page 30-31.

World Population Prospects 2017 United Nations Press briefing for the launch of the World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision. Statement by Mr. John Wilmoth, Director, Population Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations 21 June 2017

If the armies of the world could be redeployed in planting in the Sahara desert, in eight years a hundred million people could be rehabilitated and supplied with protein-rich food grown from virgin sand. If we could only accept the challenge and make that a One World Purpose, this would unite East and West and be the scientific and physical answer to the world’s dilemna.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year).  Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers  Please and thank you!  Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated.  Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

 

“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nations saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.

 

 

Our task must be to free ourselves … by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.~Albert Einstein

. We have a motto in the Men of the Trees. TWAHAMWE. It is an African word meaning ‘pull together’ and I pass this on to all those concerned with conservation in this country. I would like to call you to silence for a moment with the words of Mathew Arnold:
“Calm soul of all things, make it mine,
To feel amidst the City ‘s jar
That there abides a peace of thine
Men did not make and cannot mar
~Richard St. Barbe Baker

genus Rosa

Common Characteristics of the genus Rosa

How can we determine which of the roses are which in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?

Part 3

What is taxonomy? Part 1 | Rosids Part 2 | genus Rosa Part 3
| Rose Species Part 4 | Rose reproduction Part 5 | Native Rose Plant Ethnobiology Part 6 | Bibliography   | New Wild Roses of Saskatchewan and How to Tell them Apart

Binomial nomenclature is a two-naming system featuring the first part of the name – the generic name– identifies the genus to which the plant or organism belongs, while the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – identifies the species.

The plants belonging to the genus Rosa can be characteristically described by flowers, leaves, fruit, and thorns.

The flowers of most species of native roses have five petals. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink. Beneath the petals are five sepals. These sepals may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into rose hips bearing achenes.  Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.

Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Bumblebee on rose

The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous.

Oddly pinnate leaf – imparipinnate Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2

The leaves of the wild roses of the region are alternate, and oddly pinnated.  Pinnation is the arrangement of the leaflets arise on both sides of a common axis.  This common axis is referred to as a rachis which is the backbone or spine of the leaf.   Each petiole or the stalk attaches the leaf to the stem or peduncle of the plant.  The small leaflets, themselves have little stems called petiolules.  The root pinna is from the Latin meaning “feather”, and these plants can be referred to as “feather-leaved” in everyday or informal usage.  Oddly pinnated leaves are also called imparipinnate, both terms meaning that the leaf bears one lone leaflet at the terminal or top of the leaf, rather than a pair of leaflets.

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip.  The hips of most species are red. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 “seeds” (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.

Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above

Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above

The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called “thorns”, are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem), unlike true thorns, which are modified stems. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa Acicularlis have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer.

The amazing thing about the rose bush, is that it will do the best on alluvium soils which are seasonally flooded, which works out well at the afforestation areas located as they are in the West Swale (a low-lying area caused the Pleistocene Yorath Island glacial spillway.)  However, that being said, the roses have a very high drought tolerance.

American Red Squirrel Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla Garrulus Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Mule deer, snoeshow hare, coyotes, squirrels, white-tailed deer and birds such as waxwings, pine grosbeaks, and grouse will nibble on the rose hip fare provided by the rose bush.  Wild rose hips are high in both Vitamin A and Vitamin C.  These animals, and birds will carry the seeds (achenes) away after nibbling on the rose hips, and through the digestive process disperse the seed in new areas.  The achenes do not sprout immediately, in fact, the majority will sprout on the second spring after snow melt.  The seeds require this period of dormancy and require the seasonal changes of warm and cold in order to sprout.  In regards to the health of the animals, the crude protein is higher in the wild rose hip while the leaves remain on the trees.  The rose hips remain on the shrubbery into the winter months, providing a much-needed snack during the cold days of the year for winter foragers when snow covers the ground.  The pollen during the month of June is beneficial for many pollinators.

When trying to distinguish various species of wild roses, bear in mind, that species may hybridize with one another.  The next chapter will delve into the taxonomic classification for species of roses at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.

Activities and Questions:

• Take a camera, ruler, pencil, and start a nature journal of your visits to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities where you record observations and measurements about the observable characteristics of native rose plants, insects and animals around these plants. Record their blooming time, and when the petals drop off, and when the leaves turn colour in the autumn.  Are all plants the same? Identify the number of leaflets, and their shape, record the colour of flowers, and the height of the plant.
• Would a bug find it easy or hard to walk along the top surface of the rose bush leaf?
• Would an insect find it easy or hard to walk along the underneath surface of the rose bush leaf?
• Are there any eggs, insect larva, etc under the rose bush leaf?
• Become a citizen scientist.
• Stop and smell the roses!  How do your ears, eyes, nose, mouth and skin relate to native rose plants for all the senses – hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch?  Do other animals need their senses to interact with native rose plants?
• Compare native rose plants with other forbes, and flora in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.  Which plants bloom at the same time?
• Do you think pollinator insects, dogs, birds, and deers appreciate the smell of the native rose plants?
• How do you think rose bush plants get the rose seeds out of the rose hip so the seeds may germinate in the ground?
• What kind of safety procedures would you need to use when observing a native rose plant?  What do animals do when presented with the sticky substance on rose leaves, or with the thorns and bristles on the rose stem?
• Compare the flowers, leaves, and seeds between the native rose plants, and other plants in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
• What kind of seasonal changes may occur for a native rose plant?
• Why do native roses lose their leaves for the winter months?
• Why would animals  choose to eat rose hips in the winter?  Do native rose plants support the health or harm the growth of deers, rabbits, and squirrels?  Do animals help the plants?  What happens when the animals disperse the seeds after digesting the rose hips which contain the rose seeds?  Create a food web of animals and native rose plant interactions.  What would happen if the native rose plant became extinct?
• How have humans affected the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?  Analyze an issue or case study where humans have greatly affected these environments, including a cost‐benefit analysis and ethical implicaᅾons
• Are the native rose plants afforested in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities, or do they grow naturally there?
• Create a map which will guide others to the location of a native rose plant.
• Create a set of directions from a specified location to arrive at the location of a native rose plant which you have found.
• Why are there no native rose plants in the middle of a trembling aspen grove?
• How can a native rose plant reproduce, if the animals eat the rose hips which contain the rose seeds?
• Observe the native rose plants, and write a poem or story, paint a picture or sketch a drawing of them.
• Analyze any of the native rose plants, and see what happens if there is a lot of rain, or if there is an extended dry spell.
• How do the native rose plants defend themselves, if there is a large population of wildlife eating their rose hips and flowers?

Bibliography

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year).  Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers  Please and thank you!  Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated.  Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker

“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. He will have to discover where he went wrong and make his peace with nature. In so doing, perhaps he may be able to recapture the rhythm of life and the love of the simple things of life, which will be an ever-unfolding joy to him.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker