The World Through Our Lens
When Bob and I stayed in the community of Fox Glacier on New Zealand’s South Island, it made perfect sense to hike into the actual glacier for a look. On the appointed day, a slight break in the rain encouraged us to set off, but we ended up hiking in cold, wet weather for a view of the ancient blue ice. Read more
The Great Horned Owlet that Bob and I had been observing in Markham, Ontario, Canada, during the month of May 2021 was nearing 6 weeks of age. We weren’t certain if it would still be in the woodlot where it hatched but figured it was worth a look. Read more
The Great Horned Owlet that we had been observing was now almost 6 weeks old. Bob and I were keen to see if the family of owls was still occupying the same woodlot in Markham, Ontario. Read more
Bob and I refrained from visiting the Great Horned Owls in Markham, Ontario, Canada, for a few days. From another person in the know about the owls’ location, we learned that the Great Horned owlet was becoming increasingly difficult to find. Read more
On May 12, Bob and I went to check on the Great Horned Owls’ nest previously observed in a Markham park in Ontario, Canada. We found the 3-week old Great Horned owlet hunkered down out of sight. After a few minutes, the owlet appeared over the lip of the nest and looked in our direction. We were there and gone after 15 minutes. Read more
In early spring, 2021, Bob and I were contacted by a friend who had been tipped off to the location of a Great Horned Owl in our midst. It turned out that there was a pair of these owls raising a newly-hatched chick near the urban area of Markham, Ontario. Read more
Northern Hawk Owls are denizens of boreal forests and rarely leave their breeding grounds. Some winters, however, for lack of food in their normal habitat, Northern Hawk Owls will venture into southern Canada and even the northern United States. In 2019, nature enthusiasts like ourselves were thrilled to have a Northern Hawk Owl show up in the village of Schomberg in southern Ontario. Read more
Bob and I had been seeing reports of a Varied Thrush sighted in Central Ontario in early December 2019. A denizen of forests in the Pacific Northwest of Canada and continental U.S.A., the visitor was far from home and seemed to be enduring Ontario’s cold winter quite well. Read more
Our drive from Port Elizabeth to Mossel Bay in South Africa followed the Garden Route. Bob and I were looking forward to seeing that region because the landscape is painted in a wide range of wildflowers. Read more