Interested in joining a YNC Chapter?
Our Young Naturalist Club families go on a lot of adventures! Each Chapter meets at least once regularly every month during the school year, with special events and all-chapter get togethers throughout the year. Interested in attending a field trip, talk, or special event? Check out our event list in the side bar for an overview of all our upcoming events, or visit our individual Chapter pages to learn more about our regular meetings. Many of our events are drop-in, though you may want to check in with a Chapter leader beforehand for information on meeting times, what to bring, and directions to field sites. Some events with space limitations or extra fees may require registration with the Chapter leader. To become a member of the Young Naturalists club, gain access to our regular events, and join our mailing list, register online. Learn more about each of our Chapters below:
Family Chapters
Halifax East Hants South Shore Cobequid Cape Breton
Youth-Only Chapter
No chapter in your area? Reach out to our Coordinator about starting your own!
There is a lovely set of maintained trails at Otter Ponds, but we couldn’t help but step off the trail sometimes to feel the springiness of the moss-covered forest floor. 
More fungus! This one loved to grow on the road surface. We think it was Orange Peel Fungus. 
Painting native species on beach rocks for a quick art project 
Dagger moth 
Where do they live? Erich showed us his map drawing skills 
We looked at coyote fur 
Clustered leaves: White Ash 
Planting red oak trees 
Pollinator Count and Bee Friendly Activities 
Making beeswax wraps. 
Maceo and Josiah during tree planting 
Doug installing the nesting boxes 
Deceased Northern Gannet we found on the beach clean up 
Juliet signing the Tree Swallow nesting box she helped make 
The group in front of our nest box! 
Madeline helping Bernard make a nesting box 
Josiah and Maceo planting some native species 
Making forests in a jar 
Young Naturalists in their giant birds nest 
Young Naturalists at the 2019 Celebration of Nature in Liscombe Mills 
Migratory birds flying away 
Bird anatomy lesson and puzzle 
We met outside the Back to the Sea Touch Tank Hut and heard from the founder, Magali Gregoire, about the group’s vision to bring a catch-and-release aquarium to Halifax (finally!). 
Visitors are allowed to hold the animals in the tanks, but first we learned how to do so in a way that doesn’t harm the animals. 
The start of the squid dissection began with a description of the squid’s body parts, including how it moves through the water (jet propulsion!). Photo by Toby Balch. 
Inside the Touch Tank Hut, we had the chance to stick our very clean hands into the very cold water of the tanks. Photo by Toby Balch. 
Our special guest for the field trip was Butch Galvez, a wildlife technician with the Department of Natural Resources. He shared with us some of the special adaptations coyotes, deer, and other animals have to cope with the harshness of winter. 
Karen thanking everyone for their support 
In goes the cake…. 
Ducks Unlimited getting ready to do some pond dipping 
Katie from CARP talking about the turtles they monitor 
Exploring Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes 
Reviewing basic principles 
Snacktime 
Jen brought some great little collecting containers so that YNC members could collect and take a close look at the creatures we found. 
Right away, everybody started to catch Green Crabs. These crabs are very common, and unfortunately very agressive towards our native crabs. 
If you looked closely, the small tidal pools were full of life too, including stickleback, and freshwater invertebrates. Jen lent us little containers to try to catch the tiny, fast creatures. ALL inverts were returned to the water by the end of our awesome trip. 
Jen and others got right in the not-so-cold water of Cranberry Cove. 
Jen Frail-Gauthier, our guest leader for this field trip, showed us the secret trail near Peggy’s Cove to get to Cranberry Cove. 
Adrien talks to us about the ecosystems in the Acadian forest 
Adrien Green takes us on a walk in the Acadian forest at the KCIC botanical gardens 
Karen helps a Sascha look up close at a mud shrimp 
During our field trip we learned how to identify several species of plants, ferns, birds, and a few lichens. 
Matt Miller, our host, explains their approach to forestry at Otter Ponds, including the emphasis on leaving standing and fallen dead trees, which are higher in species diversity than live trees. 
Walking further into the Otter Ponds property on a new road. Volunteers have put in a lot of work in the last couple of years to build roads, bridges, a composting toilet, and a picnic shelter. 
Larry speaking about Milkweed and Monarchs 
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Lyra looking out for birds 