Hummingbirds: The forgotten pollinator when it comes to pesticides
Female rufous hummingbird (Photo by Jennifer Kepler CC BY-NC)
When life is leaping forth in its freshest tender green and shrubs are casting their best wine-rich blooms of colour, there comes a humming. Not just from the song of spring rising in the world, but from wing beats — 52 to 62 per...
Invasive Species Olympics
Phragmites javelin (Photo by NCC)
The Olympic Games: the spectacle of international competition, where every four years, thousands of athletes from over 200 countries compete in the pinnacle of their sport. Inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, first held in Olympia, Greece, in...
Bring on the alternative lawns!
A cottontail among a red clover and black medic clover patch (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Weeds: What are they? Unwanted, non-traditional turf? But what if there was something more to all those pesky patches of plants? For some, there’s nothing more satisfying than a healthy lawn full of lush, green grass. For others, like...
Travel back to the Carboniferous
Shady horsetail (Photo by Elena Yalysheva CC BY-NC)
Alongside marshes and in forests and meadows lives a group of plants that are older than the dinosaurs. Called horsetails, these plants have had quite a trek through time. This group is also referred to as the Equisetum genus, a type of...
Saving the bees: Plants to help our buzzing buddies
American bumble bee (Photo by K.S. Gardener/iNaturalist)
Humans have a very delicate relationship with bees. Despite their importance, many of us fail to understand just how much bees impact our daily lives — and how much we’re putting them at risk. Canada has over 850 native bee species,...
Support local biodiversity by avoiding invasive plants in your garden
Winged euonymus (Photo by John Ruter/University of Georgia/Bugwood.org)
With gardening season upon us, the warm weather brings hope that your favourite plot of soil will be better than it was last year. At the Invasive Species Centre, we have one request as you mull over your garden plans for 2019: please avoid the...
Native grassland is important habitat for grassland birds
Native grassland (Photo by Sarah Ludlow/NCC staff)
Saying that native grassland is important habitat for grassland birds seems quite obvious. And you might think to yourself, “Of course grassland birds like grassland habitat; it’s right in the name!” The important point to note...
Beech leaf disease: A new problem for Ontario trees
Early-stage leaf striping (Photo by John Pogacnik, Ohio Department of Natural Resources)
Beech bark disease began ravaging beech trees in Ontario in the late 1990s, after spreading west from Atlantic Canada. But recently, a new beech disease has emerged in the province. Beech leaf disease was first detected in North America in 2012 in...
The colours of early spring
Buttercups (Photo by Brynn Bellingham/NCC staff)
It finally feels like that time of year. One that we here in Canada are so familiar with: warmer days, more sunlight and melting snow. But how do we really know that spring has sprung? Rather than waiting to see a groundhog’s shadow, I like...
Alvar explorations of a wandering biologist (part two)
Esme on the alvar in Malham Cove, U.K. (Photo by Esme Batten/NCC staff)
In part one, I explained what alvars are, where they occur and their importance. Now, I talk about my alvar explorations in the U.K. On Boxing Day in 2018, I set off early in the morning from Cornwall, in the southwest end of the U.K., to drive...
