Lights, camera, nature: An ode to Canadian landscapes in film

Nodwell, AB (Photo by R. Berdan)
One of my favourite things about living in Canada is getting to experience different seasons. However, my personal favourite season may not be on everyone else's list…Oscars season! As an avid film junkie, one of the most exciting times of...
Your winter getaway is a lot closer than you may think

Ancient cottonwoods (Photo by Steve Ogle)
Who says you can only enjoy nature when the snow has melted? There’s nothing like breathing in the crisp, fresh air on a winter nature hike as you take in the sights and sounds of wildlife around you while braving the cold. I love hearing...
A mega-rare mistle thrush visited my mountain ash

Mistle thrush (Photo by Peter Gadd)
On Christmas Day 2017.... It is here! It is here in the mountain ash tree at the crack of dawn. It is a brief appearance, as it turns out, but one long enough to perhaps sense it is sending a Christmas greeting. A bird, once known as the ...
Keeping my distance from a gentle giant

Moose on Mount Hereford, QC (Photo by MRC de Coaticook)
I have had a great respect for moose ever since a misadventure at Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, more than 20 years ago. While hiking along the popular Skyline Trail, my boyfriend and I came across several moose grazing on low...
Keeping Halifax wild

A visitor takes in the views at Williams Lake, NS (Photo by NCC)
This fall, Halifax Regional Council voted unanimously to move forward with a proposal by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for a 379-acre (152-hectare) urban wilderness park just 10 minutes from the downtown core, on the shores of Williams...
Capturing a conservation gem in action

Bald eagle (Photo by NCC)
One of the greatest Canadian conservation success stories is that of the bald eagle. It’s hard to believe that such an iconic species was almost wiped out, yet today in Atlantic Canada, bald eagles are so numerous that we export them to the...
A Nature Destination with a big view: Maddox Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador

Iceberg off of Maddox Cove, NL (Photo by Ronald Stone/Stone Island Photography)
I’m going to be honest, I’m not a bushwhacker at heart. I’ve done field work for more than a decade, including coring trees, assembling plant inventories and digging soil pits in all types of forests, all over Atlantic Canada....
A laid-back Nature Destination on the Atlantic Ocean

Thomas Island, PEI (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Visitors to PEI often comment about the laid-back, friendly nature of the people who live here, and in the Maritimes in general. I’ve given this some thought, and concluded this attitude is not only because of generations of inherently...
Places worth protecting: Atlantic Canada

Crabbes River, NL (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
At the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), we like to say we produce results you can walk on. Without a doubt, the lands that NCC protects are the primary measure of our effectiveness and contribution to the conservation of Canadian nature in all...
A summer for the (at-risk) birds

Canada warbler (Photo by Gerald Deboer)
I groggily open my eyes, and by the faint moonlight filtering in through my tent, I find my phone to check the time: 4:29 a.m. — one minute before my alarm is set to go off. I turn it off before the artificial sound interrupts the chorus...