Learning about migrating geese at Jack Miner’s

In 1904, Jack Miner, also known as “Wild Goose Jack,” dug a hole for a pond and filled it with water. Many geese came to that pond and Miner would feed them. Miner’s pond would become a stop on the path the geese use when flying south for the winter.  Miner protected those geese by not allowing any hunting on his farmland. He was the father of conservation in North America and one of the world’s most famous naturalists until his death in 1944. 

“Now is the migrating season and we are banding like crazy,”  said Amanda Everaert, a current volunteer board member of the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary and a tour guide 17 years ago when she was going through university. Banding allows the Sanctuary to track the geese as they migrate. 

Last weekend during Kingsville’s annual Migration Festival, Everaert was a tour guide once again at Jack Miner’s, along with other part-time students working their way through school.  As a part of the festival, groups would meet at the Jack Miner Museum and the guides would take them to either the Stuart Playfair Nature Stadium or Ty Cobb Field.  During his visits to Kingsville, Hall of Fame ballplayer Cobb would occasionally play games with children after Sunday school, taught by Miner in the field named after him.            

 

During the Migration Festival weekend, children could participate with their parents in activities such as hopping inside passenger cars made of plastic barrels pulled by a John Deere lawn tractor, a run around a maze made of hay bales, and cast a line for trout inside an above-ground pool. (The children could take home the fish they caught.) They could have also watched peacocks, pheasants and quail being nursed back to health through outdoor viewing enclosures. During the winter months, injured birds are housed for warmth inside pens. 

Named after another close friend to Miner, the nature stadium was built to accommodate crowds of about 500 spectators viewing bird-banding demonstrations and air shows of eight different types of waterfowl during the migrating season, which lasts until late November.    

“We are also very renown in the States,” said Everaert, referring to their banding program. “Jack Miner’s is the Holy Grail for conservation.”  

Miner believed he was spreading the word of God by putting biblical scriptures and verses on his bands – and finding one of those bands on waterfowl is akin to finding the Holy Grail, according to Everaert. The tradition continues today. Everaert showed one of those bands to the tour group.  

The verse read: 

“THE RIGHTEOUS KEEP MOVING FORWARD” – Job 17:9 

Along with keeping traditions alive, Jack Miner’s is also moving forward. 

“We’re doing everything we can to put Jack Miner’s back on the map and a place where everyone wants to be,” said Joe Vermeulen, Director of Parks at the Sanctuary.  

The garden and pond in front of the nature stadium will be renovated to attract more birds – and lovebirds – for weddings. 

Plans also include upgrades to the neighbouring Kennedy Woods hiking trails, by upgrading the outdoor picnic area and custom playground. The Essex Region Conservation Authority will also be planting additional trees here to attract more butterflies and nesting birds. 

Jack Miner’s depends entirely on donations to operate and has a staff of one full and three part-time members. 

“I have a great staff, otherwise I couldn’t do it,” said Vermeulen. “There are so many hours and too much work to be done.” 

Children of all ages can help Vermeulen on their next visit the bird sanctuary, by scooping a cup full of buckwheat and barley from a bin and feeding the mixture to the migrating geese and ducks at the viewing pond, just like Jack Miner did more than a century ago.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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