Bloomin' flowers at the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve
In Bloom Wildflower Festival, Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve, BC (Photo by NCC)
Here in the BC Region of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, one of our favourite conservation projects is the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve. It's a favourite because there is so much that goes on there — university research, Conservation...
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...
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...
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...
Where have all the pollinators gone?
Research site (Photo by Diana Robson)
After a summer filled with ticks, mosquitoes and biting flies, I was ready for a pest-free pollinator survey at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) properties near Riding Mountain National Park this September. Autumn field work can be quite...
Pollinators (and people predators) galore
Bee on Hedysarum (Photo by Diana Bizecki Robson)
After the relative calm of my June field work on Nature Conservancy of Canada land near Riding Mountain National Park, I was kept very busy observing insects in July and August. In total I saw approximately 64 insect species making over 1,200...
The rapid return of bees to an early restored NCC property
Bombus (Photo by Sheila R. Colla)
I started working on a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) property in the South Walsingham area of Norfolk County in 2007. It is a unique 400-acre (160-hectare) property. Historically, 150 acres (60 hectares) of the property were used to grow...
Winter without central heat: How wildlife on the prairies survives
Three-flowered avens (Photo © Manitoba Museum)
During frigid winter days I find myself marvelling at how wild plants and animals manage to survive the cold temperatures. As my current area of study involves flowering plants and their insect pollinators, these are the organisms that I will...
