On the ground Coming events In cyberspace News from elsewhere The Fletcher Wildlife Garden is a project of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. It is located on 6 ha of land just south of the Arboretum in Ottawa, Canada. Check our Blog often for photos and notes on what's happening at the FWG. And, for a longer-term view, read our Progress reports	If you have trouble viewing this page, please click here What's up at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden April 2009 Spring is finally here and it's a frantically busy time for our volunteers as well as for the creatures that live at the FWG. We're working on a "wet" bed in the Backyard Garden, preparing for our annual plant sale, and completing renovations in our Interpretive Centre, among many other jobs. A list of some of the things we want to get done this year is on our web site - see Jobs for 2009. Backyard Garden crew - Friday mornings, 9 a.m. to about noon. If the backyard is too tame for you, come along anyway and we'll give you a challenging task. Butterfly Meadow group - Wednesday evenings, 6 p.m. to dark, starting on May 6. This volunteer group is expanding the original meadow and transforming the whole area into a paradise for butterflies. More hands are always needed. Contact Diane for more information.
On the ground	New raft for Amphibian Pond Diane and Christine built and launched a turtle raft this week. Made of cedar logs and anchored in the "deep" end of the pond, it now awaits turtles, frogs, herons, dragonflies, or any other critter that wants to use it. See our blog (23 April) for more photos.
Coming events	Nature Walks As part of the National Capital Wildlife Festival, the FWG is holding two guided walks. On 27 April, an unusually hot day, we were treated to the sight of five Mourning Cloak butterflies twirling together right up to the treetops in the Ash Woodlot. Join us for a second walk on Sunday, 3 May, 10 a.m. to noon. International Migratory Birds Day Saturday, 9 May, 10 a.m. to noon Don't miss this annual event at the FWG. Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day with a guided birding walk through the garden. Free refreshments, displays and handouts. For more information: vanessa@magma.ca. Sponsored by the Ottawa Wildlife Festival and the FWG.
	Ottawa native plants forum Thursday, 14 May, 6 to 9:30 p.m. at the Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod Street, Ottawa. The seventh annual Wildlife Festival forum will focus on the importance of native plants in our environment. We'll be examining what is meant by the term "native plant," a much debated designation, taking a look at the native plants that grow in eastern Ontario, and discussing some of the ways you can help scientists learn more about the ecology of our native plant species. Details
Garlic mustard in bloom, with long seed pods forming below the flowers.	International Day for Biological Diversity This year's theme is "invasive alien species," and FWG is partnering with the Canadian Museum of Nature for a day of education and work. On Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. the FWG is planning a blitz on garlic mustard. Please join us to learn more about this weed, which is having a negative impact on Canadian forests, and help us eradicate it from the FWG. An education session - "talk and walk" - to learn about this invasive species and how to identify it is limited to 50 people. Later, about 20 people are needed to weed out garlic mustard at the FWG. Please register to participate. If you think garlic mustard may be invading your neighbourhood, read the material on our web site on identification and control, then get a group of neighbours together to pull it out! FWG annual native plant sale Saturday, 6 June 9:30 to 12:30 at the FWG Interpretive Centre. More about the sale... | En français...
In cyberspace	The Internet IBC Bird Collection Photos, videos and sounds of birds from all over the world. These are uploaded by users and it's not clear whether the material is verified, so please take what you see with a grain of salt. However, the search engine is good, the results are annotated, and many videos and photos are excellent. Read more... New "mammal gallery" Our popular photo galleries on PBase now include mammals. Like the others, it is a work in progress and more photos are added frequently. See Mammals of the FWG. Jardin écologique Fletcher Thanks to Nicole, many of our web pages are now available in French. She's been focusing on the "Your garden" part of the site because we thought you might find it most useful. However, we would love to hear what other pages you would like to read in French.
News from elsewhere	Friends of the Farm roster of events Among other events, Friends of the Farm are organizing a bus trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. Also coming soon (12 May), a "historical walk" in the Central Experimental Farm. Read more... PlantWatch Ontario needs your help! PlantWatch, it is a nation-wide program that relies on volunteers to record flowering times of certain plants and report them to researchers through the Internet or by mail. The plants chosen bloom every spring, largely in response to rising temperatures. Information collected from "citizen scientists" to date indicates that some species are flowering almost a week earlier than they were a few decades ago! Ontario has fewer PlantWatch participants than any other province or territory! We need your help to monitor plants and assist us in assessing how climate change is affecting blooming times across Ontario. Please pick a plant, pick a location and start recording and reporting data! Everything you need to know can be found at www.plantwatch.ca, including a list of the 22 plant species being monitored in Ontario. If you have any questions, please contact me at niwanycki@rbg.ca or (905) 527-1158 ext 238.