Why Canada needs more forest conservation
Forest in Saint-Georges-de-Clarenceville (Photo by NCC)
Canada is a nation defined by many things: multiculturalism, hockey, universal health care, politeness, eh? We’re also a nation defined by our landscapes. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King once referred to Canada as a country with...
Birds of the Happy Valley Forest (Part Three)
Pileated woodpecker, the size of a small crow, is the glamour boy of the Happy Valley Forest. His shouting call is heard throughout the year. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
Without a doubt the pileated woodpecker is close to the top of dramatic inhabitants of the Happy Valley Forest. Its demanding call is befitting of the crow-like size and overall rugged appearance — wild! One cannot walk in the forest in the...
Birds of the Happy Valley Forest (Part Two)
Two species commonly sharing the feeder: rose-breasted grosbeak and male indigo bunting. These and the oriole represent the greatest beauties in the forest. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
Summer birds There is plenty of sound in the Happy Valley Forest, from the summering birds throughout the day and the woods only quiet down from September to late March. Some usually mid-southern birds have reached the Moraine to live. I can...
Birds of the Happy Valley Forest (Part One)
Strikingly beautiful male rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder eating suet. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
About 240 species of birds have been recorded over the past 60 years by my observation and that of my family occurring either within or over the Happy Valley Forest. In the first centuries of European occupation of forested Canada there was a...
Happy trails in the Happy Valley Forest
Tour participants walk by a mature maple tree on the Goldie Feldman Nature Reserve. (Photo by NCC)
We heard the eastern wood pewee before we saw it. Just as the name suggests, we could hear it calling “Pee-oo-wee! Pee-oo-wee!” as we walked along the trail in the Happy Valley Forest. We stopped to admire some of the older-growth...
Flowers of the Happy Valley Forest
One of the most beautiful of Happy Valley blooms is the fringed gentian flower. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
The trees, flowers, ferns, birds and other animals of the Happy Valley Forest have been observed and catalogued over the past 60 years - altogether 200 species of plants have been identified growing on the floor of this forest located on the...
Liberating the Happy Valley Forest from invaders
Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Miguel Hortiguela)
It was a covert ground-assault by a small group of dedicated resisters, led by Thomas Unrau of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, on an invader to the perhaps not-so-Happy Valley. I'd signed up to participate in a valiant effort to thwart the...
On discovering Ontario’s tallest tree
Standing with Ontario's tallest pine (Photo by NCC)
Nature does not thank us for protecting nature reserves. But left to its own devices, it does offer up hidden rewards and ecological gifts for us to discover. We just found one of these natural gems in a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)...
A pilgrimage to the great Thessalon pine
White Pine (Photo by Bernt Solymar)
When a giant tree falls in the forest, does it make a giant sound? One thing is for sure, when the Giant White Pine of Thessalon collapsed in 1997, it must have scared the heck out of local wildlife. And it would have been really shocking to any...
The Toronto Carrying Place and the Happy Valley Forest
Four Oaks Corner, Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
In my late thirties one day in the halls of the Toronto General Hospital, I was sought out and challenged by the great neurosurgeon Harry Botterell to accept the fact that if I was to be so dedicated and single-minded about neurology and busy in a...
