Join Nature Canada, the Child & Nature Alliance and local nature experts for a NatureBlitz on Saturday, October 3rd and Sunday, October 4th at Ottawa’s Forest & Nature School on 411 Corkstown Road (Wesley Clover Campground)! This event will feature walks*, nature-based activities and family fun from 10:30 am Saturday until 2 pm Sunday (map and daily schedules below).

Help us explore your NatureHood in Ottawa’s amazing Greenbelt, and test your ability to migrate like a bird, find clues about animals preparing for winter, or detect bats using a special ultrasonic microphone! NatureBlitzes are a great way to get outside and learn about nature with members of your community and local nature experts! This is the first survey of its kind in this area and we hope to identify as many different living things as possible at the site.

Visitor events will include guided wildlife walks, a migration obstacle course and flap-a-thon, nature scavenger hunts and a search for bats and other night creatures! Participants will have an opportunity to learn how to identify the trees, plants, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects and fungi found around the Ottawa Forest & Nature School, which is located on this property and includes a great outdoor classroom. The walks will also have a special focus on local species at risk, including Little Brown and Northern Long-eared bats, which might be foraging in the area before or as they are forming into colonies to roost and hibernate for the winter. So get your binoculars, rain gear, hiking boots and flashlights ready and come join us as we get up close and personal with a world of mystery right outside your door. It’s nearby nature! And it’s your NatureHood!

Don’t have binoculars? No field guide? No flashlight? Don’t worry! You can borrow one of ours. We have 8 pairs of binoculars, bilingual field guides and some head-lamps available to sign-out at the Nature Canada tent once you’ve registered for a guided walk. And we’ll have handheld ultrasonic bat detectors available for sign-out, too!

Check the schedule to see which walk(s) you would like to join, or come out for all of them! Beginners, experts and especially kids and their families are welcome to this FREE event! We hope to see you there! Please download your free NatureBlitz tickets at EventBrite.

A detailed trail map by Orienteering Ottawa is also available here.

Financial support for this NatureBlitz is provided by: