Conserving Canada's natural capital
Lusicich, Crowsnest Pass, AB (Photo by NCC)
It might be hard to imagine that there's a close connection between my job as an economist at TD and my passion for the great outdoors — camping, hiking and canoeing being among my favourite pursuits. But there is. Over the past two years,...
Wetlands update from the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve
First light on the Garry oaks. (Photo by Ren Ferguson)
The morning was a beauty, with mist rising from Quamichan Lake illuminated in the rich sunrise. I was in for a treat. As I walked through the fields past huge Garry oak trees, I saw a fine black-tailed deer buck with shiny antlers and muscles...
Something's Fishy: Ghosts of fishes past
A 60-day-old American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) fry (Photo from Wiki Commons)
They’re there, lurking the depths of Canadian lakes and rivers, unseen by humans or other fishes. Ghosts of fishes extirpated or extinct from waters across Canada haunt other species and scientists alike. Their absence leaves an impression...
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...
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...
Tailing biologists on a local "bat blitz" near Osoyoos
The big ears, strong bite and honey-coloured downy fur make this rare male pallid bat distinctive. (Photo by Richard McGuire)
It’s Sunday afternoon and I have a date with a large group of biologists conducting a bat blitz at the Sage and Sparrow Conservation area [in BC's Okanagan region]. The forecast is calling for a severe thunderstorm, but I have no way to...
My (grizzly) neighbours - Part Two
Grizzly bears attempt to corner a horse.
If you followed Part One of my grizzly bear chronicle, you'll know my motto to, "never leave the house without a camera." Over the years, I've captured many images, too many for a single posting so I have singled out bears as being the most...
My (grizzly) neighbours - Part One
No need for coffee when you see this vision outside the kitchen window first thing in the morning. (Photo by Peter Shaughnessy)
Never leave the house without a camera...and a spare battery. I learned that lesson well over the past 27 years while living and working in British Columbia’s Tatlayoko Valley and I will explain why. But first, where is Tatlayoko? It is a...
Beyond the boardwalk at the Garry oak preserve
BC Garry Oak (Photo by Tim Ennis NCC)
I’ve been wanting to visit the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC's) Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve since we moved here, but as an endangered ecosystem it’s not open to the general public. We’d wandered the (short) boardwalk...
Why I'm hooked on birding at the Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory
Avery Bartels with a sharp-shinned hawk (Photo by Kristie Foster)
Many years before I was born my parents bought eight acres (three hectares) with a small cabin on it near Nelson BC. As their family grew, so did their humble abode to accommodate my four siblings and me. From as early as I can remember I have...
