Connection and conservation during COVID-19
Exploring Burntcoat Head Park in Noel, Nova Scotia. (Photo by Kyle Erickson)
A year ago, my husband and I sold our house, packed up everything we owned — including two cats — and relocated from Edmonton to Halifax. Between new jobs, a new home and a new city, we didn’t have a lot of time to get involved...
Murder hornets: What’s all the buzz about?
Asian giant hornets have orange-yellow heads and alternating bands of black, orange and yellow. (Photo by Yasunori Koide, Wikimedia Commons)
If you’ve been following the news this summer, you’re sure to have seen mention of murder hornets. After isolated discoveries of this invasive species in British Columbia and Washington state, news about the Asian giant hornet has...
The Green World Hypothesis
Sea star (Photo by Samantha Ceci)
Why is the planet filled with the colour green? What if I told you that the answer to this question originates from an experiment conducted using starfish? In 1963, professor Robert Paine stood on the shore of the Makah Bay in Washington state....
How spending time in nature benefits your baby’s gut health
Sleeping infant (Photo by Daisy Laparra from Pexels)
Being close to nature has motivated my life choices — where I live and how I spend my free time. In these times of COVID-19, where I work is now where I live, and I am lucky to live on a ravine in one of Edmonton’s natural areas, as...
Exploring the Fraser River Estuary
Low tide at Swishwash Island, BC. (Photo by Fernando Lessa)
The Fraser River is one of the most important rivers in Canada. Its waters, running for almost 1,400 kilometres before reaching the Pacific Ocean, are a major salmon waterway that is used by all five species of Pacific salmon and salmonids to...
A peak experience at Buffalo Pound
Buffalo Pound Lake, SK (Photo by Bill Armstrong)
Many Canadians, I think, perceive Saskatchewan to be one billiard table-flat, never-ending field of wheat. Not so. To prove my point, I recently made a second visit to a property at Buffalo Pound Lake, where the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) is...
The voice of nature
"Beaver," ink with watercolour wash. (Painting by Leanne Cadden)
Capturing ecosystem health through sound When I was six years old, my family moved to a suburban neighbourhood on Vancouver Island. We came from Ontario, so we were not at all acquainted with the incredibly wild and lush biodiversity of British...
Terminarch: Making music out of birdsong
Sage thrasher (Photo by Dick Cannings)
One of the best things about composing music for the concert hall is that inspiration can come from just about anywhere. My latest work, Terminarch, is a 10-minute piece for a quartet of percussionists based on the birdsong of 12 endangered...
A breezy hike at Buffalo Pound
Buffalo Pound property, SK (Photo by Bill Armstrong)
What a delight it was to watch a wary coyote cross the trail in front of me, sizing me up before continuing on its way into a nearby coulee. This encounter may not seem like much, but after three months of staying at home to help stop the spread...
How do you solve a problem like migration?
A flock of shorebirds takes to the air at Oak/Plum Lake Important Bird Area, a migration stopover site in Manitoba. The mixed-species flock includes Wilson’s phalaropes, red-necked phalaropes, stilt sandpipers, pectoral sandpipers, dunlin, white-rumped sandpipers and semipalmated sandpipers. (Photo by Christian Artuso)
I can feel the rapid thrumming of the bluebird’s heart against my palm as I carefully manoeuvre its foot into position over a tiny Ziploc bag. I pick up my nail scissors and take a deep breath to steady my hand. I will only get one chance to...
