Mudflats of New Brunswick
Flying over the vast mudflats at Johnson’s Mills, NB (Photo by NCC)
Brown. Flat. Smelly? A mudflat may not seem exciting at first glance. Even to those who grew up around the Bay of Fundy and are familiar with mudflats stretching as far as the eye can see, they may at first appear lifeless. But this couldn’t...
Return of North America's tiniest fox
Swift fox cub and its mum (Photo by Catriona Matheson, Cochrane Ecological Institute)
Foxes are a part of most people’s lives, whether in fairy tales, as a figure of speech or as a part of the landscape. They are found in cities, in the countryside and in wildernesses of forest, desert and ice. The strange link between...
Strength in numbers: Captive breeding and release program for shrikes in Ontario
All of the young shrikes are banded with a uniquely-numbered metal band before they are released; most will also get a combination of colour bands so they can be easily identified from a distance in the wild. (Photo by Lydia Dotto, ImageInnovation Photography)
There are only a few places left in Ontario where you can reliably find the endangered loggerhead shrike; one of those places is a property owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). NCC’s Scheck Nature Reserve, located northeast of...
Clarenceville Bog BioBlitz
Clarenceville bog BioBlitz (Photo by NCC)
When people asked what I was doing over the weekend, and I replied “Going to a bog,” the reactions ranged from puzzled faces to outright laughter. In the acoustic sense, the word “bog” isn’t particularly charming. And...
Something’s Fishy: Swimming with the sculpin
Deepwater sculpin (Photo by Doug Watkinson/Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
The first time I saw a sculpin splashing around was in a large bucket, among several other fish species, captured for a population survey of small creek on a piece of residential land. I was working with the Central Lake of Ontario Conservation...
Why forests matter to me: Quotes from staff and supporters
Ogilvie sunset on forest, BC (Photo by NCC)
Across the country, countless Canadians have been celebrating trees and forests last week as well as welcoming the arrival of fall. Although National Forest Week is behind us, there are good reasons to continue appreciating our forests and trees!...
Bring Back the Bluebirds Project: Season four in review
A female western bluebird steadies herself at a feeder before slipping through the robin-excluding mesh to grab mealworms for her second brood of fledglings. (Photo: R Hetschko/GOERT)
When, just days into spring, more adult western bluebirds had naturally returned to their former nesting or natal territories in the Cowichan Valley than in entire years previously, we knew we were in for a remarkable breeding season. But no one...
Butterfly metamorphosis
Mating monarch butterflies, Butterfly Garden at Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) Tampa, Florida (Photo by Joyce Graham Fogwill)
A few summers ago I watched and photographed the metamorphosis of a butterfly (we weren't sure if the species is a green comma or question mark) at Cape Broyle, Newfoundland. During my visit, I became friends with my seven-year-old neighbour, M.,...
Give a hiss on World Snake Day
A prairie rattlesnake neonate - note the triangular shaped head and yellowish-green colouration.(Photo by Wonnita Andrus/NCC staff)
The sun is just beginning to crest the grassland coulee slopes of Lethbridge, Alberta, but I have already been hiking for an hour. I am on the search for one of Alberta’s most feared predators. Its perfected greenish-yellow camouflage and...
Stories from the forest floor
Joanna Hudgins, NCC summer intern, cheerfully collecting bones (Photo by Claire Elliott/NCC staff)
As a child, I was dogged by an unfortunate desire to pick up all kinds of things in the woods that were deemed inappropriate by adults. I never did understand what was dirty about a bone or a feather. They were fascinating, especially if you could...
