For the bison: A day at Old Man on His Back
Plains bison, Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area, SK (Photo by NCC)
Upon waking up, I look out the window of the interpretive centre at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area (OMB) in Saskatchewan. I watch the bursting sunrise stretch...
Magic shrubs: How to master live staking
Willow live stakes (Photo by NCC)
I remember raising my eyebrows skeptically when my colleagues from the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority told me that we were going to be cutting branches off of shrubs and hammering them into the ground along the Nottawasaga River to...
A chance meeting with an iconic Canadian mammal
Moose and her calf (Photo courtesy of Wild for Wildlife and Nature)
Moose are an iconic part of Canada's wildlife. Growing up to six and a half feet tall at their shoulders and weighing up to 1,400 pounds, they are the largest species of deer in the world and one of the largest land mammals in Canada.Crossing...
Sky-high conservation: Why monitoring birds is important
An osprey soars around its nest (Photo by Lorne)
You may have heard about the dramatic population declines that certain groups of birds — such as grassland songbirds and aerial insectivores —are experiencing. While much attention gets paid to the factors causing these declines and...
Observing the pollinators of the prairie
Prairie crocus finishes flowering in early May (Photo by Diana Robson)
Summer is in full bloom at the Yellow Quill Prairie Preserve, and once again, I’m studying pollinators at this Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) property, just south of Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba. Last year I made the mistake of...
Nature through the eyes of young Canadians
Students from John Norquay Public School, Nature Days Vancouver (Photo by HSBC Bank Canada)
When I set out to research young Canadians’ views of nature and their childhood experiences within nature, I had no idea that the results would be only the beginning of a larger conversation about the difference between attitude and...
Something's Fishy: Cat's got my tongue
Channel catfish, Fat Fish series (Illustration by Al Lau)
Before all you cat ladies and cat fanatics start reading this blog, I need to disclose something: I’m a dog person. It’s not that I don’t like cats. Who couldn’t love their long whiskers and unpredictable behaviour? I just...
Flattening a prairie province's misconceptions
Missouri Coteau, Saskatchewan (Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj)
Growing up, I learned a lot about my home province, Saskatchewan, from my fellow Canadians. I was told that the land — limited to fields of wheat and canola — is tabletop flat and devoid of trees. I heard that our towns, villages and...
Trading screens for shovels: NCC national staff lend a hand for nature
NCC National staff joined Ontario field staff for a day of planting and pulling and cutting down invasive species (Photo by NCC)
The sun was shining down on the Barr property in southern Ontario as the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) national staff gathered around Todd Farrell, NCC’s conservation biology coordinator for the Ontario Region. We were learning our...
Song of Northern Superior
White-throated sparrow (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)
It was a chilly April morning in southern Ontario, so all of the windows in my house were closed. But I could still hear something outside. I quickly pushed open the window and listened. There it was — the cheery song of the white-throated...
