The World Through Our Lens
Photography from our encounters with wild animals, from our travels around the world.
On a drive north of Whitby, Ontario, Bob happened to glance into a farm field adjacent to the highway where he spotted a Coyote (Canis latrans) sauntering along. It is quite common to see Coyotes in and around rural farm properties in Ontario, as well as right in the heart of cities like Toronto, where they share our green spaces and waterways. Read more
Early last fall, Bob and I wanted to introduce my sister and brother-in-law to a new trail system that we discovered earlier this year. It is called the Nokiidaa Trail, which in Ojibwa means “walking together”. The trail which links between the towns of Aurora, Newmarket, and East Gwillimbury is used by cyclists as well as walkers, and we were on wheels on this particular day. Well into our ride, I spotted something round and dark on the crushed rock surface of the bicycle trail, and nearly ran over what turned out to be a baby Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). In the immediate vicinity, we discovered four others lingering on the path. Read more
Earlier one fall, Bob and I set off for a three-day visit to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. We were on a mission to find and photograph a Bull Moose. Given the time of year, the odds were pretty good that we might come across one. Instead, we were rewarded with the opportunity to observe and photograph not one, but two, Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes). I was ecstatic! Read more
Along about mid-summer, Bob and I were interested in exploring some new wetlands that we had come to know about, and one of them was Atkinson Park Wetlands or McKenzie Marsh in Aurora. It is located near St. John’s Sideroad and Yonge Street. Bob and I were delighted to find a series of boardwalks that traversed a good-sized pond and wetland, and these conducted us to a paved trail adjacent to another smaller pond. It is there that we came upon a Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) sitting discreetly on a milkweed leaf. Read more
Earlier one summer, Bob and I undertook to hike the Mizzy Lake Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park. It is touted as one of the more difficult trails in the Park but also the trail along which hikers have the best chance of sighting wildlife. The 11-kilometre loop skirts nine small lakes and ponds while passing through dense forest. We enjoyed a clear day with intermittent clouds that gave brief reprieves from the blazing sun that threatened to discourage any wildlife from making a show of themselves along the trail. Still, we sighted many turtles and frogs such as this Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). Read more
Bob and I had put in a very full day in Algonquin Provincial Park on the last day of our visit to that wilderness area so were heading home to Toronto late in the afternoon. We had no reason to stop again until we got home…that is until we spotted a young Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) hobbling across the pavement of the South Portage Road near Dwight, Ontario. Read more
Bob and I cannot get enough of exploring the wilderness in Algonquin Provincial Park here in Ontario. It was while hiking the Mizzy Lake Trail that we came upon a Moose cow and her calf standing in the muddy water at one end of a lake. Read more
Bob and I were visiting my parents at Oxtongue Lake near Algonquin Provincial Park one summer, and we decided to take a drive into the park to check on the progress of the wild blueberry crop. At one of the beaver ponds along Highway 60 where moose are known to frequent, we spotted this big Moose cow and calf beside the roadway. Read more
What a sad summer it was here in Toronto, Ontario in 2014, because Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) were conspicuous by their absence. Bob and I had been monitoring sightings posted by nature lovers on Facebook, and websites such as The Insects and Arachnids of Ontario, The Weather Network, and Butterflies and Moths of North America. We were not the only people discouraged by the poor showing of these beautiful insects so far this year. Read more