Workshops
Exploring the Birds of Ontario

Name: Exploring the Birds of Ontario
Start: 2025-10-19T13:00:00-0400
End: 2025-10-19T16:00:00-0400
Location: Royal Ontario Museum

Date

Sunday, Oct 19, 2025 13:00

Registration Opens

Monday, Jul 28, 2025 00:00

Audience

Adults

Date

Sunday, Oct 19, 2025 13:00

Registration Opens

Monday, Jul 28, 2025 00:00

Audience

Adults

Spend time with the birds. This casual, fun workshop introduces and engages audiences with the newly published Field Guide to the Birds of Ontario as a guide.

Led by ornithologist and former ROM Collections Specialist Mark Peck OR ornithologist Emily Rondel, the workshop includes an in-classroom component to highlight the importance of the field guide and its use as an important reference tool for anyone wanting to engage with the natural world around them in both urban and rural spaces. Participants will use ROM specimens from the collections as a reference to practice their identification skills.

Participants will receive a copy of the new Field Guide as part of their registration fee. As a practical test of their new skills, participants will also be guided through the galleries, using the publication to identify local and migratory birds.

Note: Participants are not permitted to bring personal specimens to this workshop.

Instructors

Mark Peck

Mark Peck (ret.) has been a member of the ROM team since 1983, with most of that time in Ornithology. He has been involved in collections management, public programs, gallery development (Schad Gallery of Biodiversity and the Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family Gallery of Hands-on Biodiversity), and has served as a curatorial consultant for several exhibitions, including: "Wildlife Photographer of the Year"; Deborah Samuels "Elegy"; "Audubon's Wilderness Palette"; "Birds of Canada"; and "The Nature of Birds: A Photo Essay." He is also a contributing author and photographer for The Birds of Nunavut and wrote the text for Deborah Samuel's book, The Extraordinary Beauty of Birds. He is the Program Director for the Toronto Ornithological Club, ROM liaison for the Ontario Bird Records Committee, a consultant for Ontario Birds/Ontario Field Ornithologists, and a member of the Ontario Biodiversity Council. Mark Peck is an avid natural history photographer with a special interest in breeding and nesting birds. He has traveled worldwide with the ROM, but he still considers Ontario and the Canadian Arctic his favourite research locations.

Royal Ontario Museum Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Bloor Street Entrance.

Emily Rondel

Emily Rondel is a naturalist, biologist and science educator. After completing her graduate work in ornithology, she worked as a biologist at Birds Canada, with a particular focus on avian species at risk and urban bird populations. Emily later served on the board of the Toronto Ornithological Club for 14 years as Secretary, Records Councillor, and finally, President. She was a co-author of the “Birds of Toronto” book for the City of Toronto’s Biodiversity Series and has been involved in several programs to survey the birds of Ontario, including as an eBird reviewer, a Volunteer Committee member for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, and Christmas Bird Count Coordinator. Emily leads numerous walks and workshops each year to teach the public and interested naturalists about the wild birds of the province. She is on Birds Canada’s Baillie Fund Grant Committee and works as a Biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service.