On Saturday morning, Bird Protection Quebec organised a birding field trip in the Arboretum to which Arbo members were invited and which several joined. For my sins, I was delegated to organise and lead the outing. I don't go on many field trips (I have problems with more than six people together at once) [...]
One of our most enjoyable activities each year is spending the winter servicing and filling the bird feeders at the local bird banding station and recording the birds that are in the season when the nets cannot be put up. This year we started a bit earlier than usual after the first decent [...]
Spring migratory birds in the Garden I suspect that anyone reading this journal entry will already be aware of the pleasure we take in enticing birds to visit our garden. This week has proved to be the (slightly delayed) peak week for northwards migration soy can feast your eyes on some of the [...]
In Search of Spring Flowers in the Arboretum It's the time of year when the trees are in blossom and forest ephemerals are flowering and making the most of the available light before the tree leaves cast the forest floor into shade. Mid-week the Arboretum suggested a walking route that would take visitors [...]
"Just the place for a Snark!" the Birders cried, As they entered the forest with care; Stepping, each man, with gait broad and wide While they searched for the Snark in his lair. What the 21 intrepid BPQ and Arboretum birders were seeking this morning was perhaps not the Snark, which anyway turned [...]
61 species of birds in the garden during 2018 Every year we keep detailed lists of the birds we see in our garden - admittedly we do have advantages over some home owners in that we designed and plant and maintain with wildlife in mine, we have a lot of native species and we [...]
Christmas Bird Count 2018 - Hard, cold work The CBC this year was very cold (mostly windchill) with virtually no snow and all the birds keeping well down and sheltered and so extraordinarily hard to find and count. As usual, J and I were working CBC Route #2 south of Hudson which takes us [...]
A "Whaaat the heck is that ... ??!" Moment We have been extraordinarily lucky, helped by cunning garden design and planting, over the years to get the high garden bird count that we have amassed but this afternoon we were sitting quietly having a cup of tea when J grabbed her binoculars and called "Whaaat [...]
Birds, flowers, butterflies and photographs High summer is one of the very best times to go wandering in the arboretum because for the most part you have it to yourself and that means the wildlife is much closer and more easily observed. We saw birds close up today that usually stay well away from [...]
(1) The value of wildlife gardens And so we come to a new gardening year and more opportunities for making our own small or large home patches welcoming to wildlife. We will get to what has been happening in this garden shortly (snow mostly ) but it’s an opportune time for us to pause [...]