Take a moment to envision the most meaningful place of your childhood. There’s a good chance that it was somewhere outdoors. Ours, however, may be the last generation to remember what it’s like to deeply connect with nature. Why? Because children around the world today spend as much as 90% Read more…
We were at the Ecology Park on the morning of April 23 and saw this male Yellow-rumped Warbler. Hallelujah for the return of spring! Helen and Larry Keller, Mark Street We have had a little Chipping Sparrow flying up against our windows Read more…
Returning from Campbellford on Saturday , April 29, I noticed that the nests in a heron rookery all contained birds settled down. This rookery is on County Rd 50 just south of Hwy 7 Carl Welbourn
On April 26, I was extremely surprised and excited to hear a Whip-poor-will calling from the field out behind our house (7th Line Smith & Peacock St. area in Selwyn Township …. near the Otonabee River). It was about 8:45 pm when I heard it, and it “sang” it’s classic Read more…
The ice left Stoney Lake on April 12 this year, which is a little earlier than I had anticipated this year. I have included the dates of freeze-up and ice-out for the past few years. I know I have older records and will send them along. Freeze-up in 2015 was Read more…
On the afternoon of April 23, Sylvia and I went for a walk in the Trent Wildlife Sanctuary. When up on the drumlin, where the Tree Swallow boxes are, we met two young women birders who said they had just seen what they thought was a Northern Mockingbird. Almost on Read more…
One of the greatest gifts you can give a child is a sense of wonder in the natural world and how everything in nature can be explained by science and critical thinking. And nowhere is there a better example of the power of critical thinking than when it comes to Read more…
Spring is springing forth at a rapid pace now – hard to keep up! I was so excited to see a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the brushy trees near our house this morning -just classic and unmistakable -white eye ring and white wing bars, and he even showed a bit of Read more…
Kids make great amateur scientists. They love to ask “why” questions. “Why is the monarch butterfly so colourful? Why does it start life as a caterpillar? Why does it migrate? Thanks to Charles Darwin, we now understand that questions such as these are entitled to an evidence-based answer – and Read more…
A pair of bearded hen and tom Wild Turkeys photographed April 8 near Peterborough. Doug Gibson
When I used to hear the words ‘brook trout’, the image that came to mind was a pristine lake in Algonquin Park. Well, that image has changed. What I now see is a tiny stream running along Rye Street in this busy commercial and industrial sector of southwest Peterborough. As Read more…
Happy spring! Today, April 4, there were 2 Osprey on the nesting platform in Young’s Point. Most of Stony is still frozen but there were pair of absolutely resplendent Common Loons dancing and calling. Rob Welsh, Stoney Lake This morning, April 5, I heard my first Common Loon (Upper Buckhorn Read more…
Three recent studies point to just how broad, bizarre, and potentially devastating climate change is to life on Earth. And we’ve only seen one degree Celsius of warming so far. Source: The Guardian Author: Jeremy Hance Date: Wednesday 5 April 2017 Climate change is rapidly becoming a crisis that defies Read more…
Source: The Conversation: Academic rigor, journalistic flair Date: April 5, 2017 Authors: Gretta Pecl: Deputy Associate Dean Research, ARC Future Fellow & Editor in Chief (Reviews in Fish Biology & Fisheries), University of Tasmania; Adriana Verges, Senior Lecturer in marine ecology, UNSW Ekaterina Popova: Senior Lecturer in marine ecology, UNSW; Read more…
My wife, Mathilde, spotted a Virginia Opossum in our backyard on the evening of March 24 at around 9:30. We saw the white face and body by the light from our livingroom windows. It was eating a pomegranate that she had set out for some robins. Ralph Colley
On March 23 at about 5 pm, I used a hooting call to lure in this fabulous Barred Owl. To our surprise, a female also showed up. They quickly mated, and then hung around for a bit before going their separate ways. We were in the vicinity of Sandy Lake Read more…
April 2 – I heard a Wilson’s Snipe quietly calling in the marshy area on the Parkway trail, east of Chemong, directly underneath the WalMart parking lot. Also, 3 Northern Leopard Frogs hopping along the new not-yet-opened road that skirts east of the airport as well as 3 Killdeer in Read more…
I had the pleasure of wading around in a vernal pool at Harper Park in Peterborough this afternoon and found 100’s of fairy shrimp (Eubranchipus sp.). They are an indicator species for vernal pools. Wood Frogs breed in this same pool. The pool has lots of ice in it still, Read more…
As we turn the corner into spring, let’s pause a moment to reflect back on the winter that’s been. For many people, the temperate weather was a blessing, with only moderate snowfall and temperatures well above average. Yes, the abnormally mild winter did make life easier for most of us. Read more…
On March 20, there were 27 Tundra Swans on Lake Chemong across from my house which is located on Frankhill Rd. Paul Ruth, 668 Frank Hill Rd. Tundra Swan (Whistling) (Cygnus columbianus columbianus) (10) – Reported Mar 20, 2017 12:11 by Luke Berg – Keene–McGregor Bay Rd south of Hwy Read more…
It was a good first day of spring for river sightings on our stretch of the Indian River. The pair of Canada Geese, first seen on February 26, came up onto the back area to check out the availability of grass. Conclusion – not much there! The geese tend to Read more…
Check out great photos of tracks from Don McLeod’s Nature Blog. Some are from a Peterborough Field Naturalist outing in early February of this year. Click here
Today ( 10 March 2017) at noon I observed a Merlin in a cedar at the Little Lake Cemetery. Of course, I did not have my camera. He was quite content to sit and let me wander around the base of the tree to get a closer look. On Sunday, Read more…
Turkey Vulture (Northern) (Cathartes aura aura/septentrionalis) (1) – Reported Mar 08, 2017 14:56 by Matthew Tobey – Downtown Bus Terminal, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: – Checklist: – Comments: “flying northeast over the terminal” Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) (1) – Reported Mar 09, 2017 10:10 by Iain Rayner – Peterborough–Millennium Park, Read more…
I saw first saw this fabulous red phase Eastern Screech-owl on the 9th Line of Selwyn at about 8:30 this morning, March 11. I was bringing home hay and went by it three times over the course of two and a half hours. It was still there and cute as Read more…
Stretching from Georgian Bay to Kingston, along the interface of the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield, is a unique ecoregion, now known as The Land Between. It is home to loons, bears, moose, deer and more hummingbirds, at risk reptiles and habitat types than anywhere in the province. At Read more…
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) (1) CONFIRMED – Reported Mar 07, 2017 08:30 by Chris Risley – 510 Gilmour Street, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: – Checklist: – Media: 1 Photo – Comments: “chickadees giving strange mobbing call and on inspection saw this saw-whet owl; raining” Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) (1) Read more…
There may be a nesting pair of Bald Eagles between Bobcaygeon and Dunsford, Ontario. We have seen them on a nest to the north and east of the bridge over Emily Creek on County Road 36. We drive past this location almost 5 days a week, twice a day. Over Read more…
Loggerhead Marsh is a Provincially Significant Wetland found on the west end of Peterborough. It is an important natural feature in our city due to its ecological and social value. The City of Peterborough has committed to protect the marsh but new development proposals now threaten its sensitive ecological state. Read more…
On March 4, we saw a flock of 60 Red-winged Blackbirds in a tree near our home on Algonquin Blvd. On March 3, we awoke during the night to hear a Great Horned Owl calling. Mike and Sonja Barker