The World Through Our Lens
Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer.
It was almost exactly a year earlier that Bob and I had occasion to observe a family of Red Foxes in Algonquin Provincial Park, and here we were, once again, in the company of the same vixen with a brand new litter of kits. Read more
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
A sure harbinger of spring is when the forest floor erupts into a brilliant carpet of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). We came upon these fragile spring wildflowers which belong to the poppy family at the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area, near Grimsby, Ontario. Read more
In the spring of 2013, it was evident that spring was upon us along the shores in Huntsville, Ontario. Not only had the heavy snows of winter 2013/14 all but melted away, but April showers were in full swing. For several days in a row, heavy rains had added to the runoff creating dangerous levels of water and flooding in all bodies of water. Huntsville was one of the worst hit areas when it came to the Flood of Spring 2013. Read more
What promised to be a sunny, warm weekend was anything but that. Instead the rainy weather produced The Spring Flood of 2013 at Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario. Read more
I have lived in Ontario my whole life, and despite trekking through the bush as a child, and doing endless hikes as an adult, this past spring was the first time that I have ever come across a Skunk Cabbage plant at Cootes Paradise, in Hamilton, Ontario…lots of them, in fact. Read more
On a sunny morning, Bob and I drove south out of Amsterdam towards the village of Lisse where we planned to visit the world famous Keukenhof Gardens. Read more