Darwin, phoebe and International Biodiversity Day
Eastern phoebe (Photo by John Benson, Wikimedia Commons)
I saw an eastern phoebe yesterday. Phoebes are small and drab birds, they don’t have a pretty song, they don't do anything particularly endearing, other than bob their tails when perched on branches. I know, I know...big deal. Phoebes...
So you'd like to see a warbler...
Black-and-white warbler (Photo by NCC)
I like birding at just about any point of the year, but spring birding brings a certain excitement after a long winter season. Throughout Canada, warblers and other songbirds are starting to flock to landscapes that were recently quiet. Many are...
Thanks Florida, thanks Virginia…They made it to Canada!
Palm warbler (Photo by Marshall Faintich)
With a mild winter and an early start to spring, the palm warblers have already arrived. They are starting to nest throughout Canada, and it is a joy to hear their lovely trills filling the woods. The forests here truly come alive with colour and...
Lessons learned from Mother Goose: How I learned to appreciate Canada geese through three seasons of careful observation
Canada goose (Photo by Denise Harris)
Sometimes we don’t know what we have until we lose it, and that is exactly how I feel about Canada geese this spring. This year, I have discovered the territorial a flock of Canada geese who conveniently bred in my urban backyard for the...
Ohhhhh Canada, Viva Virginia…This is Florida calling!
Palm warbler (Collage by One Sky Our Birds)
I have some exciting news from Florida: I am starting to see flocks of wood-warblers in our coastal hammocks on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. They have just completed an epic journey from the tropics, where they spent the winter...
Be a beaver believer
Beaver (Photo by Makedocreative/Wikimedia Commons)
Aside from the long list of initiatives celebrated today, April 7 is also a day to celebrate beavers! For starters, here’s a little beaver-inspired anecdote from our Alberta office: “There was once a young man who walked to work...
Wondrous, whimsical and inconceivable words for wildlife
A romp of sea otters (Photo by Mike Baird, Wikimedia Commons)
A leap of leopards. A prickle of porcupines. A romp of otters, an exaltation of larks. These terms are not typically very practical, yet the collective nouns used for animals are fanciful. And fanciful is good. I like to think these charming...
A race for survival, and a photo finish
Ella enjoying the sunrise along the Beaver River trail (Photo by Mark Stabb/NCC staff)
Nature lovers are spoiled by the phenomenal wildlife footage circulating on various media these days. But you don’t have to be a cinematographer to capture real-life wildlife “foot”-age of your own. This little photo essay shows...
Owl angels in the snow
Have you ever seen an owl's snow angel? (Photo by Jaimee Dupont/NCC staff)
My hometown is a small, lovely and isolated boreal mining town in northern Manitoba. On a recent trip back to visit family, my husband and I were out for an evening walk when we stopped alongside the edge of town to marvel at the silence. That...
Ingredients of a great explorer (Part One)
A view of the Antarctica landscape - taken during TA’s expedition to climb Antarctica’s highest peak (Photo by TA Loeffler)
Excerpts and images are taken with permission from TA Loeffler's blog, Adventures that Move. Earlier this week the local newspaper caught my eye with the headline, “Local woman named one of country’s greatest modern explorers.”...
