Taking time for turtles
Blanding's turtle (Photo by Megan Quinn/NCC staff)
If you’ve been lucky enough to visit the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) beautiful eastern Ontario properties, you’ll know that they’re mostly made up of two things: large stretches of forest and seemingly...
Pointe Saint-Pierre: A site of natural splendour and heritage
Pointe Saint-Pierre, QC (Photo by NCC)
With four months off between two university semesters, I had a decision to make: Would I work, or would I travel? I looked for work away from the Quebec City centre, and the best of both worlds offered itself to me. I could actually work and...
When shorebirds and super moons collide
Flock in flight at Johnson's Mills, NB (Photo by NCC)
The moon on July 12 was a super moon, a time when the new or full moon is at its closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth. Super moons appear brighter and larger than regular moons, thus their nickname. This summer, the unusually high tides...
Emblems of Canada: bird edition
Blue jay (Photo by Gregg Williams)
Right at our doorstep is one of the most fascinating and watched creatures in Canada: our flying feathered friends. There is nothing that says, or better yet, sings nature than the sound of birds. While many birds call Canada home year-round, our...
When hope flies home: What the recovery of the peregrine falcon teaches us about endangered species
Peregrine falcon, ON (Photo by Brian Ratcliff)
There was a time when I never thought I’d see a peregrine falcon. I grew up in the 1970s, a time when the peregrine falcon was a poster species for wildlife loss. Hinterland Who’s Who told me it was already gone from eastern Canada,...
Sharks? In Canada?
Great white shark (Photo by Terry Goss/Wikimedia Commons)
Do you really know what’s swimming in Canada’s oceans? When most people think of sharks, they usually associate them with tropical environments. However, you may be surprised to learn that Canada’s oceans have a great diversity...
If you build it, they will come: Black bear dens on Vancouver Island
An example of the purpose-built den pods (Photo courtesy of Helen Davis)
For 26 years, I have been captivated by black bears and where they spend their winters. It all started with my masters of science research project in the Nimpkish Valley on Vancouver Island. I’ve been to lots and lots of dens ― usually in...
Bird homes: Location is everything
Juvenile American robin (Photo by Sarah Ludlow/NCC staff)
On May 17, Conservation Volunteers helped install 14 nest boxes on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Edenwold property in Saskatchewan. These nest boxes were designed with certain species in mind ― tree swallows and mountain bluebirds....
Long live loons and their research
I paddled hundreds of kilometres searching for loons and their nests. (Photo by Kent Prior)
In the 1970s, North Americans were already concerned about the effects of human activity on the common loon, a large charismatic diving bird that breeds on lakes. My bachelor’s thesis at Queen’s University examined this concern on...
Welcoming our summer visitors
Canada warbler (Photo by Gerald Deboer)
Spring at the cottage is so exciting. I have many clear memories of those first steps out of the car each year after the lake ice has broken up…The scent of trees coming back to life, humidity from breezes blowing across the waves, the...
