Animals and Plants

Skunk Cabbage at Dickson Wilderness Area

skunk cabbage_dickson Conservation area_ontario

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

Turtles killed by Winter in Toronto

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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

A Cooper’s hawk after a wet night in Comox

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On our morning outing to Comox from Bowser, British Columbia, Bob and I stopped at the edge of the Salish Sea. Nothing much was stirring in the Sound, so we walked into an adjacent brushy area and came upon a very wet Cooper’s Hawk. Read more

Beaver Sighting At Arrowhead Provincial Park

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On a winter trip to the Huntsville area, Bob and I decided to check out the ski trails at Arrowhead Provincial Park. Despite having grown up in the vicinity, I had never visited that Park before, always opting instead to go to Algonquin Provincial Park since it was closer to home. What a delight to find a beaver just off to the side of the groomed ski trail. Read more

Trumpeter Swans Sighted In The Spring At La Salle Park

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trumpeter swan in Hamilton Harbour holds wings up

There is nothing like strutting your stuff, and that is just what several Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) were doing when we showed up on the beach at LaSalle Park in Burlington, Ontario, in the spring of 2013. Read more

Mountsberg Raptor Centre a world of hawks, owls, and eagles

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photograph of Jean holding an Eastern Screech owl at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, in Campbellville, Ontario, Canada.

Bob and I do not profess to be expert bird watchers, but when we sighted our first ever owl, a Northern Saw-Whet Owl, a fire was lit within us. To learn more about raptors in general, we decided to take a drive out to Campbellville, to the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, in Ontario. Read more

Hiking the Beaver Pond Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park

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Beaver Pond from the trail lookout on the Beaver Pond Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park

I was so happy to have three days wide open for hiking and skiing in Algonquin Provincial Park, in Ontario. It meant more opportunities to explore the trails and look for wildlife and birds. This cute little Red Squirrel captured our interest along the Beaver Pond Trail. Read more

A Sopping Wet Sharp-shinned Hawk In Toronto

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A Sopping Wet Sharp-shinned Hawk In Toronto

One spring, in our local Toronto park, in Ontario, a Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) was taking issue with the weather even as a gentle mist continued to settle on the land. The hawk had taken refuge in the top of a local century old maple tree. Read more

Wild Beavers We Have Sighted Across Ontario

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Beaver on the shoreline of Oxtongue River

With winter finally getting a grip on the land, Bob and I decided it was time for a hike on the Seaton Hiking Trail along the Green River near Whitevale, north of Pickering, Ontario. Our outing proved worth the effort when we sighted wild beavers swimming up the river. Read more

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A Sopping Wet Sharp-shinned Hawk In Toronto

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