Tales of recovery: Eastern bluebird
Eastern bluebird (Photo by Cameron Curran/NCC staff)
There is perhaps no other bird that has endeared itself into our popular culture as the bluebird. It’s the helpful feathered friend in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Bluebird is in the lyrics of over 500 songs, performed by...
Connecting with nature under COVID-19
Danielle Horne (Courtesy of Danielle Horne/NCC staff)
On the last weekend in April, I joined the City Nature Challenge 2020, an international effort to document nature in cities around the world, by taking pictures of plants and animals in my neighbourhood in Halifax. This was my second time...
I just mailed, to say…
A painting of Mount Hereford in Quebec (Photo by Christine Beevis Trickett/NCC staff)
Let friends and family know you’re thinking of them with a handmade nature postcard If you’ve tried to pick up yeast or flour lately, you may have been surprised to find a lack of both on grocery store shelves. With everyone staying...
Mhairi’s bird of the day: Wood duck
Wood duck (Photo by Frank Vassen/Wikimedia Commons)
Spotted on March 23, 2020 Wood duck Aix sponsa Aix: “diving bird” in ancient Greek For the last 10 years, I have been recording my bird observations on my daily bike commute to work, before we started working from home in light of...
Tales of recovery: Pronghorn
Pronghorn antelope, Old Man on His Back (Photo by Karol Dabbs)
Ask a Canadian to name the fastest land animal in the world. Even if they have never watched a nature documentary, they probably know it’s the cheetah. But most Canadians don’t know the planet’s second fastest animal, even though...
How human-made dams impact rivers
Dam (Photo by Austin Evans, Unsplash)
As the lifeblood of the planet, rivers are teeming with biodiversity. They support a wealth of wildlife and provide many benefits to humans. In Canada, we have over 8,500 named rivers, according to WWF-Canada, and are home to 20 per cent of the...
Cultivating climate change solutions
Springbank clover has an edible root (Photo by catchang, CC BY-NC 4.0)
In the face of a changing climate and biodiversity loss, more and more we are looking to nature-based solutions. Lo and behold, the answer to these problems may be hidden just under our feet – deep within the roots of Indigenous...
Seeding positive change at home
Climate Change Squad (left to right): Izzy Mitchell, Hazel Dempsey, Evening Martin, Dryden Dinsmore (Photo by Creemore Echo)
When I turn on the TV or read online news lately, I often overlook the positive stories because they’re often overshadowed by the negative ones. But they are there, sometimes right in our neighbourhood, or even from people within my...
Tales of recovery: Small white lady's-slipper
Two small white lady’s-slippers, a threatened species with deceptive flowers (Photo by Steven Anderson/NCC staff)
There is no abrupt line marking the edge of Canada’s prairie region. No sign on the highway saying “thanks for visiting.” In western Canada, grasslands gently rise and merge into the forested foothills of the Rocky Mountains....
Mhairi's bird of the day: Song sparrow
Song sparrow (Photo by Stuart Clarke)
Spotted on March 20, 2020 Song sparrow Melospiza melodia Melo: “song,” in ancient Greek Melodia: “tune,” “voice” For the last 10 years, I have been recording my bird observations on my daily bike commute...
