Learning to listen to the land
The band in action with our throat-singing friends Lynda Brown and Heidi Langille (Photo by Dan Roy)
What does “tracing one warm line” mean to you? You may recognize the phrase from the classic Canadian folk song, Stan Rogers’ “Northwest Passage.” It describes a journey into a mythological northern homeland that we...
There's nothing
Barr Island south shore (Photo by Gary Bouchard)
Last night was probably my final night for this blessedly long season on the Big Lake. I was there in a monitoring capacity; my contract with the Nature Conservancy of Canada brings me out each field season (since 2012), to assess visitor...
Like a rock, elm that is
Short, gnarly side branches all the way up the tree (Photo by Bill Moses)
My interest in botany came late in life. To compensate, I have restricted my primary interest to approximately 175 species of native woody plants of Grey and Bruce Counties. I try to give each one of them equal status and attention. Building on...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part Two)
A cattle herd just west of Fort MacLeod (Photo by Doug Madill)
(Continued from Part One.) Since it was the landscape of the rangelands that had originally attracted me to Alberta and western Canada, I have become increasingly fascinated with not only the buildings and artifacts associated with the ranching...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part One)
Boholomec Ranch, Crowsnest Pass (Photo by NCC)
For me, there is something about the Canadian prairies. It’s not where I originally came from, but when I moved west to Saskatchewan and Alberta from Ontario some 36 years ago, they just took me in, and I knew I could not ever stop living...
Good morning Florida...The warblers have arrived in Virginia!
Palm warbler (Photo by Marshall Faintich)
It’s a beautiful spring morning here in Virginia and we are pleased to share that the first flocks of palm warblers have begun migrating through Virginia! Thanks to Florida for taking great care of these birds on the first leg of their...
The sheepshead: A true Great Lakes underdog
Freshwater drum swimming (Photo by Florida's Online Educational Clearinghouse)
I grew up a mere hour’s drive from majestic Lake Erie, and that meant lots of great fishing. The biggest thrills came when my dad and grandfather hired a charter boat to take us out for a day of reeling in Erie’s best game fish,...
Dissecting the dandelion
Dandelion (Photo by Yinan Chen, Wikimedia Commons)
This past summer I found myself in an unexpected scenario: on a wild foraging expedition in the heart of a concrete jungle, in my own backyard. The middle of a backyard, from house to gravel alleyway, is not the first place that comes to mind when...
Amateurs
Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
Amateurs have been instrumental in the history of science. Amateurs are numerous in astronomy and continue to find asteroids on collision courses with Earth! Out there they have found comets and former planets, but amateurs have also surveyed...
Hope is...
Denise Harris, Clifford E. Lee Nature Sanctuary, AB (Photo by NCC)
As I head into my 10th season with the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) Conservation Volunteers program, I am disturbed by news regarding climate change impacts, species extinction and so on. But whenever life’s challenges pop up, I...
