St. Francis Valley Naturalists' Club

08/17/2026

Hello, all SFVNC members and friends,

Club member Elisabeth Levac sends us this information (attached) on a tree project that she is involved with at BU that may be of interest to you. I certainly will be interested.

Gary

Tree project at Bishop’s

In 2024-2025, we conducted an inventory of the trees on the main part of the Bishop's College campus, at the University of Sherbrooke, and in Jacques-Cartier Park in Sherbrooke.

We created an interactive map of the trees. You can click on a point on the map to get information about that tree. My student created a story map about the Bishop's campus project:

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b123f58c50dc42a6b6be16ff3e71f65a

We also built a bilingual website with information on the urban heat island effect and vignettes on the benefits of trees in urban areas: https://www.treecanopysherbrooke.ca/
For the park in Sherbrooke, there's a website entirely in French: https://www.canopeesherbrooke.ca/

And QR codes have been placed on 25 trees on the Bishop's campus (and in the park, and at the University of Sherbrooke). See the attached announcement (one page in English, one page in French). So, you can take a little tour of these three sites and learn about trees.

Les arbres font tellement pour nous ©Elisabeth Levac, 2025 Photo: Parc Jacques Cartier, Sherbrooke, juin 2025 Les arbres jouent un rôle essentiel dans les environnements urbains: ils atténuent la surchauffe des villes en été, capturent les polluants présents dans l’air et améliorent l'esth....

08/03/2026

Hello all SFVNC members and friends,

Below is an invitation from our Georgeville friends inviting us to a walk around the Johnville Bog this Saturday.


Dear GNS Members,

You are invited to join us for a GNS activity, next Saturday, August 8th! We will be exploring the Parc écoforestier de Johnville in Cookshire-Eaton. It’s an easy, beautiful, and educational walk with many boardwalk sections (and no mosquitoes!).

Both GNS members and non-members are welcome. Here are the details:

🕗 When: Saturday, August 8th at 10 am (the walk will last about 2 hours, finishing around noon)
📍 Where: Parc écoforestier de Johnville, chemin North, Cookshire-Eaton (approx. 1 hour drive from Georgeville) (Google maps link)
🚙 Carpooling: Strongly recommended
🧺 Lunch: Bring your own lunch to enjoy together after the walk!

Additional information: In case of rain, the outing will be cancelled.

Please confirm your attendance in advance by August 6th at the latest by contacting Francine Caron Markwell at 819-434-1356 or [email protected].

07/23/2026

This Saturday, there is a Pollinator event at Square Queen in Lennoxville. Now is the time to find out what is and what is not a pollinator flower and which insects do the pollinating (not just bees).
Plus a description of the invasion by different plants and a presentation of a “weather station project” which is new to me.

07/06/2026

Reminder: SFVNC Visit to the St. Jude Birds of Prey Centre. Saturday, July 11th

Hello, all SFVNC members and friends,

The following is a reminder

Next club activity on Saturday July 11th

Visit of the birds of prey rehabilitation center in St-Jude (close to st-Hyacinthe)
Link to get to the center
https://chouetteavoir.ca/nous-joindre/

Adress : 875 rang Salvail Sud, St-Jude

Price : 27,20$ adults, 24,50$ seniors payable upon arrival (includes the guided tour)
If it is raining (light but not heavy rain) the activity can still be on and there is a place inside to lunch

Schedule
10:00 AM: Arrival on the St-Jude parking, and individual hike to wait for everyone
11:00 AM: Presentation with live ambassador birds
12:00 PM: Picnic lunch (bring your lunch)
1:00 PM: Guided tour of the rehabilitation complex in English
2:00 PM: Self-guided tour of the exhibit, trails with aviaries, etc.

Members who want to participate must send me a message or call me before Wednesday afternoon
E-Mail: [email protected]

If I don’t have any reservations the group activity will be cancelled


Camille D.
Lennoxville

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06/25/2026

This is a report from one of our members, she is fully certified to do the banding. I have included one of her pictures which shows the right way to hold a swallow to avoid injury.

Hello!
My class and I successfully banded several swallows at Swallowland last week, and I'll send you the data (wing and tarse measurement, band number and nest occupation) as soon as my professor goes through it.
Picture from Margot

06/22/2026

Options
Just received from Gary:

RE:REMINDER - SFVNC Field Trip - Heather's Place, Saturday, June 27th at 8:30am

This is a reminder to let you all know that weather permitting, the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club’s next field trip is this Saturday morning (June 27th @ 8:30am). Our destination will be Club member, Heather Ross’s, place. Once again, Heather has generously invited the Club to explore her farm where we will set about investigating the varied habitats on the farm.

Please Note: The weather has not been particularly great recently and there is a chance that the outing may be cancelled but if it isn’t, please dress accordingly, and wear appropriate footwear for the muddy parts of the paths.

I will send out an email if the field trip is cancelled.

Also, the beginning of the walk is all downhill, all the way to the swamp about 1.5 km. She will have a car at the swamp for anyone who might like a drive back since it will be all uphill on the way back.

Directions: 372 ch Smith Cookshire-Eaton.

From Lennoxville on the 108, turn right just past the Resto 108 on to ch. Harvey, and then right again on to ch. Smith. Heather’s house is past the railway tracks on the right at the top of the hill.

Let’s hope we have a good day,

Gary

06/16/2026

Brian and Margot at our table in St Antoine school at the friendship day event on Saturday June 13th.

06/05/2026

IMPORTANT NOTICE: POSTPONED SFVNC Field Trip - Heather's Place, Saturday, June 6th at 8:30am

Hello, all SFVNC members and friends,

As many of you are aware, the weather tomorrow looks very poor with rain forecast for the entire day. As a result, tomorrow's outing to Heather's place has been postponed to Saturday, June 27th at 8:30am. I'll send a reminder out as the day approaches.

Thank you, Heather, for hosting us in a few weeks.

Have a good, weekend - stay dry,

06/04/2026

Reminder: SFVNC Field Trip - Heather's Place, Staurday, June 6th at 8:30am

Good morning all SFVNC members and friends,

This is a reminder to let you all know that the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club’s next field trip is this Saturday morning (June 6th @ 8:30am). Our destination will be Club member, Heather Ross’s, place. Once again, Heather has generously invited the Club to explore her farm where we will set about investigating the varied habitats on the farm.

Please Note: The weather forecast for this coming Saturday is not good. It’s calling for a 95% chance of light to moderate rain all morning. There is a good chance that the outing will be cancelled but if it isn’t, please dress accordingly, and wear appropriate footwear for the muddy parts of the paths.

I will send out an email if the field trip is cancelled.

Also, the beginning of the walk is all downhill, all the way to the swamp about 1.5 km. She will have a car at the swamp for anyone who might like a drive back since it will be all uphill on the way back.

Directions: 372 ch Smith Cookshire-Eaton.
From Lennoxville on the 108, turn right just past the Resto 108 on to ch. Harvey, and then right again on to ch. Smith. Heather’s house is past the railway tracks on the right at the top of the hill.

Let’s hope the weather forecast improves,

06/01/2026

This is the event that dropped off the “”events”
REMINDER: SFVNC Field Trip Lennoxville Walking Path (Sentier récréatif de la rue Samuel-Gratham) Wed. June 3rd - 6:30pm


Hello, all SFVNC members and friends,

The next St. Francis Valley Naturalists' Club outing will be this Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:30pm, to the Lennoxville walking path (Sentier récréatif de la rue Samuel-Gratham).

We’ll meet at the start of the path on rue Samuel-Gratham, not far from the Amadee Beaudoin Community Centre. It’s an easy walk of roughly 2-3km along the St. Francis River, where we hope to see plenty of warblers, thrushes, and an occasional surprise or two. – I’m thinking nighthawks.


The weather looks good for the day – partly cloudy, with a high of 26C.