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 [...]
We were visited by a couple of raccoons in the garden, one barely being impeded by next door's fence which it scaled without effort. The other passed through to investigate what we had, digging several holes with its busy little paws as it went. The sludge on the bottom of the only partially [...]
I have mentioned before that I am writing a Natural History of the town I live in, and a few nearby places within a short distance. A friend who we met ten years ago on a wildlifing trip of north-western Newfoundland and Labrador pointed out from some early draft pages that I don’t [...]
I have just experienced one of those biological “well I never” moments that makes biology such a fascinating pursuit. This I have to share with you. In a book I am reading (details at the end) I found the following. Quote: "Another example … is the unusual bathroom behaviour of sloths. Three-toed sloths [...]
Not that we have any urge to escape from the garden - this lockdown business is not causing any mental disturbance at all - but occasionally we like to check up on what the wild world is up to and so we take ourselves five minutes down the road to walk the trails [...]
What did forests once look like? It has been understood, taken as gospel, that the “Bambi Factor” which prevents hunting and management culls of too large deer populations is leading, in large parts of eastern North America, to a severe loss of forest understory as out of control deer eat pretty well [...]
The 21 January each year is Squirrel Appreciation Day - as we were reminded throughoout the day by numerous emails and FB posts from the various conservation organizations that we support. A couple of days later this rather scruffy black-form gray squirrel visited the garden in order to do some appreciating of [...]
We seem to have slipped into the habit of writing a round-up of recent activities in the garden around the middle of each month. This one is being composed as we swelter under a “heat dome” sent to us from south of the border - far too hot to do anything physical at [...]
Eastern Chipmunk - Tamias striatus Although every other creature in Quebec other than Coyotes has visited our garden in the 21 years we have been here we have never seen a Chipmunk before, so we were really happy to see this young fellow scurry across the deck after a major wind and rain [...]
Yesterday we were invited to join a small supporters outing and information session hosted by the Nature Conservancy Canada at the wonderful Kenauk Wildlife Reserve between Montreal and Ottawa. This is our favourite place on earth bar none so naturally we jumped at the chance. Apart from simply "being there" once again being enough [...]