Despite a foot or more of snow being on the ground and still some flurries around noon today, it is gradually thinning and even revealed a solitary snowdrop yesterday? We could still have a late March dump but it won't usually stay for long. Today was our penultimate visit this year to the [...]
Sixty-some years ago I had inherited a black-and-white roll-film Box Brownie camera and was the envy of my friends ... sometimes I even had enough pocket money saved to put a 12-shot roll of film in it and sometimes my parents paid to have it developed. This was high technology on the opening [...]
Not as cold this morning as anticipated, maybe -5C with a bit if wind but by tomorrow morning we are looking at -25C and with windchill an effect -35C to -40C which will give even hardy souls like us pause for thought before going out. Even with good snowshoes this was a hefty [...]
Winter in Quebec can be rather cold and tough but it has its compensations given a warm coat and boots. Sitting here this morning as the snow falls and the temperature falls faster we have been warmly enjoying the glorious flowers of three Amaryllis bulbs* while watching the indomitable Dark-eyed Juncos outside [...]
Thursday morning at this time of the year means we put on the snowshoes and go tramping ... looking for birds along the way, of course. Here are some of the regulars. Especially amused by the Cardinal looking longingly at the squirrel's snack. Rather less amused by the hanging squirrel that somehow [...]
2022 - Another Year of Birding As a new year starts I like to make a note of the birding “ticks” from the year just coming to an end. Here goes for 2022 … a couple of days early but I don't expect anything new between now and the weekend. First, it's important [...]
A couple of weeks ago a knowledgeable friend (thanks Ron) drew my attention to a tall and mature Cottonwood tree growing beside the local cemetery. Way, way up high he said “it looks like there is a birch tree growing out of a crack or fork in the main trunk”. Finally we got [...]
It took a lot of organisation to ensure that the first snowfall of the winter came yesterday, just one day before our first weekly duty session at the MBO (bird banding station). Along with a couple of friends who do the same on another day of the week, we will be regularly visiting [...]
A friend called us over this afternoon to admire some "interesting" fungi growing in a wood-chip path in her garden. Very well worth the visit (nice to visit and chat anyway) because there was a large collection of fungi of the genus Mutinus. This genus being named after a phallic deity, Mutunus, one [...]