The World Through Our Lens
As Bob and I were driving along Highway 35 near Dorset, Ontario, Canada, one spring, I caught a glimpse of an interesting bird sitting on the power line that runs parallel to the road. At first, we thought we were seeing a Merlin, but the bird turned out to be a Broad-winged Hawk. Read more
On a visit to the West Cranberry Tract at Lynde Shores Conservation Area in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, we were lucky enough to see some muskrats at the edge of the marsh foraging for food. Read more
At Beamer Memorial Conservation Area on the Niagara Escarpment in Grimsby, Ontario, we happened upon an Eastern Towhee at the edge of an open area. Read more
We learned one spring that the Osprey had been sighted at Youngs Point, on the Trent-Severn Waterway at Lock 27, a small village just north of Peterborough, Ontario, in Canada. They had returned to their nesting grounds for the season. Read more
Bob and I had not gone out to Thickson’s Woods Nature Reserve, in Ontario, for about 5 weeks in the spring of 2013. Nor had we heard if the babies had hatched, so a visit was in order to check on the status of things. What a thrill when we sighted two Great Horned Owlets in their nest. Read more
Early one spring, on the shores of Lake Couchiching, Bob and I caught up with two members of the trumpeter swan family as they began their migration back to their breeding grounds in central Ontario.
Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) at one time were familiar sights in southern Ontario during periods of migration, but due to over hunting in the 18th and 19th centuries, for their feathers and their skins, as of 1886, they had vanished from the region. That year, a hunter at Long Point on Lake Erie shot the last known trumpeter swan that was migrating from the west.
Bob and I spent three days skiing and hiking on various trails in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, trying to make the most of the last weeks of winter. We love to go looking for birds and animals, but in this case, on Opeongo Road a Gray Jay came looking for us. Read more
On a frigid yet sunny winter day, Bob and I ventured out to a forest in Whitby, Ontario, to see if we could spot one of the two Great Horned Owls that makes that forest it’s home. Read more
With a gusty northwest wind blowing, Bob and I headed to Lynde Shores Conservation Area in Whitby, Ontario. We wondered if the Red-bellied Woodpecker was still lingering in the woods there, and sure enough, I heard its repeated chiff-chiff and rolling churrr before actually spotting the Woodpecker on a nearby tree. Read more
