What’s flapping around in two Christmas Bird Count circles? (Part One)
Dark-eyed junco (Photo by Bill Hubick)
This is Part One of a two-part series on Christmas Bird Counts that took place this winter. The Christmas Bird Count is North America’s longest running citizen science project since 1900. Counts are carried out within a 24-kilometre-diameter...
Something's Fishy: Picking on pike
Northern pike (Photo by Dirk Godlinski)
There is a special day in every fisherman and -woman’s life where they reel in a fish that gives them a one-way ticket into the big players' club. Freshwater anglers across Canada dream of encountering these beasts, some adult species...
2015 - A natural reflection and year list
Belted kingfisher at Lake Ontario (Photo by Tianna Burke)
Blogging for me has always been as much about sharing nature with others as it has been about personal reflection. I have never written a year-end post before, however after learning about the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) Creative...
Badlands in Canada
Horseshoe Canyon (Photo by NCC)
As a child, almost all of my family holidays were spent packing up the camper and heading west from Edmonton to go camping in the mountains. As a result, I viewed Alberta predominantly as a province of trees, mountains, lakes and foothills. This...
My 2015 nature year in review
Ralph River (Photo by Alistair Taylor)
When you’re on Facebook and other social media you start following a plethora of organizations and groups that interest you. Before long they start to accumulate and your timeline is full of stuff to read, interact with and comment on. At...
A new hope for nature: Was 2015 a turning point for conservation?
Bayers Island in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
No one was expecting 2015 to be a special year for nature conservation. As we started the year, it seemed Canadians were mostly focused on the economy, security and health care. Yet when we reflect on the year that was, it’s clear the...
Winter isn’t just for the birds
Snow bunting (Photo by Wikimedia Commons, John Haslam)
While many bird watchers and nature enthusiasts in Canada might look forward to the spring – a time when millions of migratory birds return to fill Canada's forests and grasslands with a chorus of songs each summer – I experience a...
To everything there is a season. Tern! Tern! Tern!
Common tern in flight at Tern Island, Tabusintac (Photo by Claire Elliott/NCC)
On a June day last year, I found myself on a small sandy island surrounded by thousands of screaming terns overhead. With the smell of guano filling my nose, I carefully picked my footing around nests containing eggs and thought — it's good...
Something's Fishy: The good, the bad and the goby
Round goby (Photo by Peter van der Sluijs/Wikimedia Commons)
Think of the meanest, toughest fish in a Canadian river. The one other species actively avoid, swimming faster as it approaches. Is it the longnose gar, with its mouth full of sharp teeth? Or the largemouth bass, a species which devours its prey...
Reptiles and amphibians of the Happy Valley Forest
Red eft (the immature form of the spotted newt) are the commonest reptile in the Happy Valley Forest and crowd the forest trails during egg-laying time. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
The reptile species in the Happy Valley Forest number 19. The area provides one of the last redoubts for the threatened Jefferson’s salamander. Red efts are common, red-backed and spotted salamanders will be regularly seen in the but the...
