The incredible migration at Johnson's Mills Shorebird Reserve
Semipalmated sandpiper (Photo by NCC)
From late July to mid-August, the scene at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Reserve on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick is awe-inspiring. There are days when as many as 140,000 semipalmated...
10 species protected thanks to Conservation Volunteers, coast to coast
Juvenile burrowing owls (Photo by Lauren Meads)
So far this year, hundreds of volunteers from across the country have gathered to lend a hand for nature at events hosted by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Whether it was removing invasive species wreaking havoc on a delicate forest, or...
Banding together to protect birds
Warbling vireo that was just banded. Also shown are the banding pliers used to apply the band, data sheet, wing chord ruler and digital scale. (Photo by NCC)
In a previous blog post, I discussed how scientists determine long-term trends in bird populations through annual monitoring. Those estimates provide valuable information about a species, but are limited in their capacity to explain the underlying...
Parasitism: The dark side of symbiosis
Sand steenbras infected with tongue-eating louse (Photo by Marco Vinci/Wikimedia Commons)
In nature, when two individuals of different species often live in close association with each other, this leads to a phenomenon called symbiosis. There are three types of symbiosis: Mutualism is a win-win situation for both organisms because...
Bear versus caterpillar: A day in the field
In early summer, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)'s Saskatchewan Region moved offices. As the move didn’t require all staff to help and also limited the in-office work able to be done, this presented a perfect opportunity to have a day...
You never know what you'll find in your own backyard
Acorn weevil (Photo by Jenn Forman Orth)
It was late in the afternoon last summer when I decided to relax by reading a book in my backyard gazebo in Winnipeg. As I looked up from my book, I saw a tiny insect, backlit by the sun, fly for a few metres across the yard and then vanish from...
Going head to head with the prairie rose
Prairie rose (Photo by Karol Dabbs)
I cannot kill this dang plant growing in my garden! Emotionally I can’t kill it, because it means something to me, and literally, because I accidentally tried and it didn’t die. This hardy little number is the prairie rose, and...
Rescuing roadside reptiles
Snapping turtle crossing the road, ON (Photo by NCC)
It was a warm, late-June evening, while driving on a backroad near my home in Guelph, Ontario, when I saw a familiar sight up ahead: a car pulled off to the side of the road, at least one human standing on the road, looking concerned, and the dome...
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...
Experimenting with native species in small spaces
Honeybee on butterflyweed (Photo by NCC)
Earlier this summer, a group of Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) Leaders in Conservation visited St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre in Norfolk County, Ontario, for a tour of the nursery's impressive facility. With several years of...
