Bees: Nature's busy farmers
Bee balm (Photo by NCC)
Pollinators are extremely important: not only are they responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat, but they are vital in creating and maintaining the habitats and ecosystems that many animals rely on for food and shelter. Bees...
13 tweetable facts about pollinators
Bee on flower (Photo by NCC)
Nature has always been a fascination of mine, sparking numerous moments of wonders and awe. Like the time when I first learned about how bee orchids are designed to entice certain pollinators leading to pseudocopulation - that blew my mind! As the...
Chasing dragonflies and butterflies with Bob Bowles
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...
A fine balance: An update on the Poweshiek skipperling
NCC’s Tall Grass Prairie Natural Area protects Canada’s only population of endangered Poweshiek skipperling. (Photo by NCC)
It may be a small and unassuming species, but for a few years now scientists in both Manitoba and the U.S. have been playing close attention to the Poweshiek skipperling. The small, brownish butterfly — about the size of a loonie — was...
What’s the buzz on bees at the Cowichan Preserve?
Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve flowers, BC (Photo by Tim Ennis/NCC)
You’ve probably seen it in the news: bees are in trouble. There has been a lot of press about managed honeybees that have been introduced to North America for pollination and honey. Unfortunately, we also know that many wild bees are also...
Moths and butterflies: What we're doing to help these little-known pollinators
Sphinx moth (Photo © Manitoba Museum)
Bees are well known for their ability to pollinate flowers but there are other pollinators out there, including moths and butterflies. Moths pollinate flowers both during the day and at night. This summer, Nature Conservancy (NCC) staff will be...
What would insects think about #dressgate #thedress?
Bee on flower (Photo by NCC)
The #Dressgate colour craze is currently all over the online community and newspapers. For those who have yet caught on, there has been an eruption of arguments on social media over the true colours of a dress — blue and black, or white and...
Pollinator edge effects on Manitoba's grasslands
A small andrenid bee sheltering in a wild strawberry flower (Photo by Marika Olynyk)
Animal pollination is a key ecological process, ensuring the reproduction and genetic diversity of most flowering plants, and providing food for pollinators. In Manitoba, insects are the most important pollinators. Our short summers are busy as...
The eastern subterranean termite: An introduced species in Ontario
Eastern subterranean termite (Photo by United States Department of Agriculture, Wikimedia Commons)
Most of us in Ontario, I think it is safe to say, don't give a moments thought to termites, or realize that they are found in this region. In fact you are unlikely to ever meet the acquaintance of one, unless your house unfortunately becomes...
It's the great pumpkin pollinator! Meet the squash bee
Female squash bee on a male pumpkin flower (Photo by Margaret Chan)
At my house, Halloween is a frenzy of pumpkins — those lovely globes that throb with the vitality of summer. We carve them into frightening orange-skinned, ghoulish-grinned beasts set aglow by the light of beeswax candles. I fell in love...
