NCC teams up with David Arrigo for the 2015 Gifts of Canadian Nature (Part One)
David Arrigo, artist behind 2015's Gifts of Canadian Nature art prints
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) recently teamed up with world-renowned artist David Arrigo to create collectible art prints for this year’s Gifts of Canadian Nature program. I recently spoke with David about his art and...
Mammals of the Happy Valley Forest
White-tailed deer thrive in Happy Valley Forest wintering in the Hemlock areas of relatively less snow. (Photo by Dean Mullin)
In the wintertime the mammals are the most conspicuous form of life in the forest. The largest is the white-tailed deer, of which as many as nine have appeared below our feeder. Squirrels are the commonest mammal, with the black and its colour...
Something's Fishy: The old fish and the lake
Juvenile bowfin from Ontario waters (Photo by Raechel Bonomo/NCC Staff)
What if I told you there are living fossils swimming in our waters right now? A few fish species that inhabit Canadian lakes and rivers have such ancient lineages, they are considered prehistoric. Some of these species swam alongside the...
The day peace was announced
Graduation day June, 1944. Five lieutenants in the RCAMC (left to right: Crawford, LaPierre, Barnett, Wells, and Smyth). Headed for junior internship then army officer training camps, graduating as captains.
I graduated from an abbreviated Toronto medical course in June of 1944. My real interest as a youth was to become an ornithologist but that did not resonate well with my father or the culture of the times. Instead I decided upon medical school and...
How to set a river free
Just add water. Newly opened natural bypass channel! (Photo by NCC)
Perseverance is stubbornness with a purpose. It’s what river lovers need to remove a dam, and set a river free. Luckily for a beautiful trout stream that feeds into the Noisy River near Creemore, Ontario, the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC)...
Bats of the Happy Valley Forest region
Little brown myotis (Photo by Brock Fenton)
I’ve had many encounters with bats in the Happy Valley Forest over the years, but perhaps the most memorable was the one day in my practicing years when I was asked to visit on elderly lady at home. Consultants tend to eschew house-calls.As...
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...
The Carden Alvar dragonfly count: An unforgettable learning experience
Volunteers searching for dragonflies at Carden Alvar, ON (Photo by Leanne Gauthier-Helmer)
There truly is an art to learning. I discovered this two years ago when, at the age of 35, I went back to college as a full-time student. I also learned that we all learn differently. I have watched, mystified, my husband and son both take...
The symbiosis of fashion and nature
Models dressed in fake fur as as their hemlines were soaked by the melting catwalk (Photo from Wiki Commons)
With Fashion Week coming to Toronto, Canadian designers from across the country will showcase their ready-to-wear fashions on the runways. This term, ”ready-to-wear,” means what you see on the runway can be worn in day-to-day life: in...
Birds of the Happy Valley Forest (Part Five)
Evening grosbeak (Photo by Anna Tchoulik)
Our forest cover in the Happy Valley begins a few miles above the lakeshore of Lake Ontario. Birds stop here each year to feed and rest while on their migration north in the spring, and as a last stop in the fall as they move south. In the fall...
