The World Through Our Lens
The grandeur of Kylemore Abbey extends well beyond the opulence of the original Castle to the expansive Victorian Walled Garden that rises from the heretofore boggy moorland in County Galway, Ireland. It is a magnificent example of what can be achieved when creative engineering is combined with tenacity and inspiration. Read more
It is so much fun to go hiking and birdwatching in the springtime. With all the migrating birds arriving daily in Ontario, we never know what surprises are in store for us at places like Dickson Wilderness Area, near Cambridge, Ontario. The same can be said for all the tender new growth that is pushing its way up out of the cold soil. With each passing day, new treasures are to be found amidst the bleached leaf litter on the forest floor. Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is always one of the very first plants to emerge from the frozen earth because this plant is capable of generating its own heat and can even thaw its way through a thin veneer of ice. Read more
One spring, on the only clear day in a week of rainy weather, Bob and I seized the opportunity to go birdwatching. A return trip was in order to the area of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. Not since the previous spring had we visited the protected areas in the Gardens’ vicinity, all of which make for great hiking and birdwatching. It was in the Grindstone Marsh that Bob and I came upon two pairs of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) idling in the backwaters of one of the marshes. Read more
On a spring visit to Milliken Park in Toronto, we were shocked to come upon a number of dead turtles along the shoreline of the pond that had been killed by what is called Winter Kill. Read more
On a visit to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Bob and I were thrilled to discover a Moose (Alces alces) in a boggy area just to the side of the highway. It was a nice spring day, so the Moose was encouraged to leave the protection of the forest and soak up the warmth of the bright sunshine. Read more
Bob and I took a drive down towards Cambridge to see if we could locate any of the Sandhill Cranes reported to be nesting in the area of Grass Lake. Our first observation over the marshy lake revealed nothing to us of the Cranes’ whereabouts, but a fellow birdwatcher pointed us a little further down the dirt road where Eastern Bluebirds were preparing to nest. They were going to have to stand in for the Cranes until a little while later. Read more