Welcoming our summer visitors
Canada warbler (Photo by Gerald Deboer)
Spring at the cottage is so exciting. I have many clear memories of those first steps out of the car each year after the lake ice has broken up…The scent of trees coming back to life, humidity from breezes blowing across the waves, the...
Regeneration ablaze on the Rice Lake Plains
A black oak engulfed in smoke from the prescribed burn at Hazel Bird Nature Reserve. Black oaks are tolerant of low-intensity fires, allowing them to thrive in tall grass prairie ecosystems. (Photo by NCC)
“Why is that on fire?” ― a burning question I have received from many curious folks on my Instagram account after posting videos of a prescribed burn that took place at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) Hazel Bird Nature Reserve...
An emblem worthy of a mother’s love
Pink lady's-slipper, ON (Photo by NCC)
Every Mother’s Day, I buy my mom her favourite chocolates and a bouquet of fresh flowers. This may seem like an easy-out gift for this day, but I’ve yet to come across a mother who doesn’t love flowers. Mine loves yellow...
Himalayan blackberry and English holly and Japanese knotweed…oh my!
East bank of Centre Creek overrun by dense Himalayan blackberry (Photo by Lynn Pinnell)
As part of my bachelor’s degree at the University of British Columbia, I had the honour of doing an independent research project with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). For the project, I mapped all occurrences of invasive species at...
Tap into the power of maple trees
Sugar maple (Photo by Liz West)
With maple tree tapping (sap extraction) season now underway, it’s the perfect time to talk about maple trees. I have fond childhood memories of maple trees, and I have witnessed the growth of a maple tree in my front yard over the...
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...
Manitoba's mystery stonefly
An example of a classic spring. Tufa spring, Fort Ellice, MB (Photo by NCC)
Everyone enjoys a good mystery, even entomologists. During my early years of teaching a course in aquatic entomology at the University of Manitoba, the name Capnia manitoba kept appearing in the list of stoneflies in the province. It was a...
Heard it from a Scout: How climate change affects maple syrup production
Scouts pouring hot maple syrup on snow to make maple taffy (Photo by Andrea Burbidge Photography)
Climate change is one of the great challenges of this century. From major natural disasters to large-scale shifts in weather, it's easy to forget about the other ways that climate change is affecting our world. One is on our breakfast...
Five ways to save a lake
Lake Winnipeg (Photo by Christine Chilton/NCC staff)
There has been a lot of bad news lately about Lake Winnipeg. Algae blooms occur regularly, and zebra mussels are settling into their new home. Lake Winnipeg was named the world’s most threatened lake in 2013 by Global Nature Fund, and some...
Parenting tricks from the wild
Baby elephants playing (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)
Parents everywhere would agree that raising children is no easy feat. New challenges come with every stage of development, from the newborn stage of learning how to eat and sleep, to the more advanced skill of communication. It wasn’t until...
