Birds of the Happy Valley Forest (Part One)
![Strikingly beautiful male rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder eating suet. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/blog/male-rose-breasted-grosbeak-at-feeder-dr-henry-barnett-thumb.jpg)
Strikingly beautiful male rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder eating suet. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
About 240 species of birds have been recorded over the past 60 years by my observation and that of my family occurring either within or over the Happy Valley Forest. In the first centuries of European occupation of forested Canada there was a...
Happy trails in the Happy Valley Forest
![Tour participants walk by a mature maple tree on the Goldie Feldman Nature Reserve. (Photo by NCC)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/people/on/HVF-tour-tree-June-2015-NCC-thumb.jpg)
Tour participants walk by a mature maple tree on the Goldie Feldman Nature Reserve. (Photo by NCC)
We heard the eastern wood pewee before we saw it. Just as the name suggests, we could hear it calling “Pee-oo-wee! Pee-oo-wee!” as we walked along the trail in the Happy Valley Forest. We stopped to admire some of the older-growth...
The nature of creativity
![Lake Superior shoreline (Photo by Cara Copeland/NCC staff)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/blog/shoreline-lake-superior-photo-by-Cara-Copeland-thumb.jpg)
Lake Superior shoreline (Photo by Cara Copeland/NCC staff)
Growing up in northern Ontario, I was fortunate to have regular exposure to the outdoors. Every summer we camped in provincial parks and visited my grandparents' cottages. Even so, when my parents decided to purchase a piece of land on Pancake...
Flowers of the Happy Valley Forest
![One of the most beautiful of Happy Valley blooms is the fringed gentian flower. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/species/plant/fringed-gentian-flower-HVF-Dr-Henry-Barnett-thumb.jpg)
One of the most beautiful of Happy Valley blooms is the fringed gentian flower. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
The trees, flowers, ferns, birds and other animals of the Happy Valley Forest have been observed and catalogued over the past 60 years - altogether 200 species of plants have been identified growing on the floor of this forest located on the...
Liberating the Happy Valley Forest from invaders
![Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Miguel Hortiguela)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/land/on/HVF-sign-ON-Miguel-Hortiguela-thumb.jpg)
Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Miguel Hortiguela)
It was a covert ground-assault by a small group of dedicated resisters, led by Thomas Unrau of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, on an invader to the perhaps not-so-Happy Valley. I'd signed up to participate in a valiant effort to thwart the...
A first timer at the Festival of Birds
![Going birding at the southernmost tip of mainland Canada! (Photo by Wendy Ho/NCC staff)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/blog/Point-Pelee-Wendy-Ho-thumb.jpg)
Going birding at the southernmost tip of mainland Canada! (Photo by Wendy Ho/NCC staff)
I love to travel. But travelling stresses me out when my focus is on optimizing every second for sightseeing with a tightly packed itinerary. A few weeks ago, I had a chance to reconcile those feelings on a trip to Point Pelee and Pelee Island...
On discovering Ontario’s tallest tree
Standing with Ontario's tallest pine (Photo by NCC)
Nature does not thank us for protecting nature reserves. But left to its own devices, it does offer up hidden rewards and ecological gifts for us to discover. We just found one of these natural gems in a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)...
A pilgrimage to the great Thessalon pine
![White Pine (Photo by Bernt Solymar)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/species/plant/White_Pine_Cluster_Bernt_Solymar.jpg)
White Pine (Photo by Bernt Solymar)
When a giant tree falls in the forest, does it make a giant sound? One thing is for sure, when the Giant White Pine of Thessalon collapsed in 1997, it must have scared the heck out of local wildlife. And it would have been really shocking to any...
The Toronto Carrying Place and the Happy Valley Forest
![Four Oaks Corner, Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/blog/four-oaks-corner-by-henry-barnett-thumb.jpg)
Four Oaks Corner, Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
In my late thirties one day in the halls of the Toronto General Hospital, I was sought out and challenged by the great neurosurgeon Harry Botterell to accept the fact that if I was to be so dedicated and single-minded about neurology and busy in a...
Chasing dragonflies and butterflies with Bob Bowles
![Bob Bowles, Carden Alvar, ON (Photo by NCC).](https://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/images/people/on/bob-bowles-carden-ON-NCC-thumb.jpg)
Bob Bowles, Carden Alvar, ON (Photo by NCC).
I met Bob Bowles fairly early in my career at the Nature Conservancy of Canada when I was tasked to run the Carden Alvar butterfly and dragonfly counts in the Georgian Bay–Huronia sub-region in 2009. We’d been planning the counts on...