It's that time of the year again when the young birds leave the nest and the berries on the trees begin to ripen. This morning a recently fledged American Robin (note spotty breast) was flopping about in an Amelanchier canadensis tree in the garden and learning to take fruit without falling out [...]
Why taxonomy is fun and confusing ... on the naming of roses. For years we have grown a truly splendid red-leaved species rose that is hardy to zone 2 (that's really hardy). When we first knew it, it was named Rosa rubrifolia but in recent years it has been renamed Rosa glauca. [...]
At last - it can be shared (** Warning - what follows was only observed and recorded because it was possible to do so without the birds being aware that they were being watched. We are only sharing it now that the birds have fledged and departed and there is no risk to [...]
Showdown at the OK Bathhouse … Although many people equate birds with calm and peaceful lifestyles spent twittering about amongst the rose and blossoms, in reality birds are feisty creatures. None more so than Wrens who have serious dominance issues. This afternoon at the “bird magnet” pool atop our waterfall the male and [...]
We get a number of requests from interested gardeners wishing to see our developing "Lo-Mow" ex-lawn. Accordingly this year, as visiting and seeing in person is still not wise under present circumstances, we are creating a page on this website devoted to seasonal changes. In essence, every week or two we will add [...]
Spring Planting Last year was the year of experimental vegetable gardening, not that we don't have many years of experience but very little of that in Canada. We had three excellent raised beds installed for us by Urban Seedling and stock the beds with seedling vegetables or seeds obtained from the same people. [...]
15 years later This is quite exciting - it looks as if a pair of Carolina Wrens are building a nest in an accessible (to us) site after an interval of some 15 years. We were taking our morning constitutional when we happened to observe the pair buzzing back and forth with nesting [...]
Opened up the waterfall (cascade) in the garden this morning and within five minutes a pair of Robins had already found it, took a splash and then proceeded to haul out wet leaves and chunks of moss which they flew off with to a neighbouring garden where, I guess, they are building [...]
How time does fly — just over a year ago I was inspired by a fine naturalist from England (thanks Tom) who had set himself the challenge of identifying 1000 UK species — birds, grasses, spiders, whatever. I had a couple of exchanges with him was assured that the concept was not trademarked, [...]
If you are not a keen birder this will perhaps not be of great interest - unless you have decided to really take up birding with the start of a new year and wan a target to aim for. Anyway, assuming you plan to read on ... here is what we saw [...]