Question Mark Butterfly at Rouge National Park

Question mark butterfly along the Cedar Trail at Rouge National Park, Toronto, Ontario

Bob and I had not entertained our youngest son and his wife for quite some time, so in early August, we got together to catch up on all the news.  Not being ones to sit around and visit ad infinitum, after passing a couple of hours on our backyard deck, I suggested a bit of a walk to work up an appetite for dinner.  Cedar Trail at Rouge National Urban Park is close by, and we promised that we would not stand around for hours photographing birds, but the chance sighting of a Question Mark Butterfly did hold us up for several minutes with no complaints from our company. Read more

Eastern Wolf Lurking In The Shadows

Eastern wolf in Algonquin Park, in Ontario, Canada.

On any given trip into Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada, Bob and I are on the lookout for wildlife.  Who goes to the Park and doesn’t hope to see an animal in its natural habitat?  One of the purposes of the Park is to provide a safe natural habitat for all the creatures that live within its boundaries.  On this visit to the Park in early October, an Eastern Wolf gave Bob a rare opportunity to see and observe its movements. Read more

Shamrock Orbweaver Spider at Col. Samuel Smith Park

Shamrock Orbweaver Spider at Col. Samuel Smith Park

Shamrock orbweaver spider at Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada

Late last summer, based on reports of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron being seen at Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Etobicoke, Bob and I finally found the time to take a spin down to that waterfront park to see if we would be lucky enough to find it.  Amongst other things, I found this gorgeous Shamrock Orbweaver Spider. Read more

Striped Hairstreak Butterfly in Huntsville, Ontario

Striped Hairstreak Butterfly on a plant leaf near Huntsville, Ontario, Canada.

After arriving at our accommodation in Huntsville, Ontario, late one July, we headed off almost immediately to stretch our legs.  As we are always on the lookout for whatever wildlife might cross our paths, we had our cameras in tow.  It was Bob’s keen eye that noticed the fluttering of a Striped Hairstreak Butterfly on a plant and had him exclaiming, “there’s a new butterfly!”.  Read more

Atlantis Fritillary Butterfly in Algonquin Park

Atlantis fritillary butterfly on the ground at Mew Lake, in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada

This past summer found Bob and me in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario in search of Black Bears.  The blueberry patch at the old airstrip near Mew Lake Campground was a magnet for two families of Black Bears a year ago, so we were hoping that some of them might have returned in search of this year’s crop.  Instead, the only visitors to the blueberry patch were countless Atlantis Fritillary Butterflies. Read more

Modest Sphinx Moth Caterpillar at Oxtongue Lake

Modest Sphinx Moth Caterpillar on the ground at Oxtongue Lake, Ontario, Canada

How would you like to come face to face with this fierce-looking caterpillar if you were about knee high to a grasshopper?  It was about 4 inches long (10 cm), around 1/2 inch in diameter (1 cm), and surprisingly quick at navigating through the tangle of grass.  This is the larva of a Modest Sphinx Moth (Pachysphinx modesta) that we saw in the community of Oxtongue Lake, Ontario, near the end of August. Read more

Black Swallowtail Butterfly In Toronto

A Black Swallowtail Butterfly sitting on a coneflower in Toronto, Ontario

I relocated some Coneflowers in my Toronto garden last fall, and was blessed with the gift of a few more from a friend, and the plants seem to be flourishing in their new location.  Bob and I have monitored them closely since they are said to attract butterflies, and late one afternoon, we spotted this beauty, a Black Swallowtail Butterfly tasting the nectar from one particularly tall specimen. Read more

An Eastern Garter Snake at Oxtongue Lake

eastern garter snake, oxtongue lake, ontario, pic 2

Bob and I spend a lot of time at my childhood home at Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario, because my parents still occupy the same house all these 65 years later.  That is where I had my first encounter with a Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) when I was knee high to a grasshopper.  Seldom since then have we seen any snakes on their property, but this beauty slithered across the beach property recently, and I was so pleased to become reacquainted. Read more

Hickory Hairstreak Butterfly At Tommy Thompson Park

hickory hairstreak butterfly on milkweed flower, tommy thompson park, toronto

On a particularly hot July day, Bob and I decided to seek cooler temperatures along the lakefront here in Toronto, so we loaded our bikes and made for   Tommy Thompson Park.   There, along the bicycle trail, Bob spotted this dainty Hickory Hairstreak Butterfly.  It was a Lifer for us. Read more

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