How animals judge distance
Peregrin falcon, BC (Photo by Stuart Clarke)
Animals can jump great distances, dodge predators and catch fast moving prey. How do they do it? They use their binocular vision to judge the distance in a millisecond. The question of how this works came to me from a curious Saskatchewan...
The foxes of NCC
Red fox (Photo by Alex Badyaev)
Growing up, my favourite book was Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was no surprise that the Christmas following the first time I read (and then re-read over and over) the ionic children’s novel, I asked Santa for anything and...
Exploring Elora
Elora Quarry (Photo by Adam Hunter/NCC staff)
Earlier this summer, my friends and I took a day trip to Elora, Ontario, to visit the Elora Quarry and Elora Gorge conservation areas. Elora is a small town near Guelph, about a 90-minute drive west of Toronto. The drive there was very scenic,...
What the heck is a neotenic salamander?
Lemon-yellow prehistoric-looking creature that I later found out to be a western tiger salamander (Photo by Sherry Nigro)
My dad told me about it during a phone call. A neighbour had discovered some weird, not-seen-here-before creatures in his dugout. Bright yellow ones, dark ones, some with frills around their necks like miniature dinosaurs; these creatures were...
Obituary for a curlew
An Eskimo curlew taxidermy is likely the only way to see this species in the flesh nowadays. (Photo taken at the Royal Ontario Museum by Dan Kraus/NCC staff)
It’s probably unusual to think about writing an obituary for a bird. But the story of the Eskimo curlew recently led me to do just that: Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis), after a long battle with market hunting and habitat loss, passed...
Something's Fishy: A whirlwind of a problem
Whirling disease can cause a severe spinal deformity in infected fish (Photo by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
As I spend most of my free time outdoors, I’ve been fortunate enough to see many great examples of Canadian nature. I have watched a family of deer feeding by a stream in Alberta, seen tracks of several elusive mammal species, such as...
10 facts about Saskatchewan's species
Wideview, SK (Photo by Bill Armstong)
Located right in the middle of Canada, Saskatchewan is full of amazing species and ecosystems. To celebrate the prairie province, here are 10 amazing facts about species that you can find in Saskatchewan. 1. Prairie aerial acrobatics Songbirds...
Top 10 invasive species to stop this summer
Man fishing in New Brunswick (Photo by NCC)
Our Canadian summers are short and fleeting. Warm and sunny days are best spent enjoying the outdoors and connecting with nature. While you are out exploring nature’s wonders, you can also help control the spread of invasive...
When hope flies home: What the recovery of the peregrine falcon teaches us about endangered species
Peregrine falcon, ON (Photo by Brian Ratcliff)
There was a time when I never thought I’d see a peregrine falcon. I grew up in the 1970s, a time when the peregrine falcon was a poster species for wildlife loss. Hinterland Who’s Who told me it was already gone from eastern Canada,...
Naturalists notice nature - even in winter
There may be a lot more happening than meets the eye in the dead of winter (Photo by Dispatches from the Field)
For some, it is easy during cold, snowy days (when it’s supposed to be spring!) to curl up with a cozy blanket, a good book, and a hot cup of tea. But where does the wildlife go at this time of year? Sure, some animals migrate to where it is...
