An Outside Chance

gazing into the reeds

PHOTO POST On an evening in late April as I walked along the road, my eye was drawn to a bird swimming across the marsh in a peculiar, herky-jerky fashion. When I zoomed in with my camera and saw the distinctive black and white markings plus the brilliant red beak, it was clear that this … Read More

Transition to a Low-Energy Future

One project has taken the lion’s share of my work time for the past year, and it has been a project close to my heart. As long-time readers will have noted, my writings frequently concern the intersection between energy and economics. I was honored and grateful, therefore, to be asked to serve as guest editor … Read More

watching the web

PHOTO POST The onrushing summer engulfs us with new blooms, hot winds, welcome rains, and a procession of insects that each play their role in the march of seasons. Milkweed leaves, above, may soon be eaten to shreds by monarch caterpillars. Meanwhile a Black & Yellow Mud Dauber Wasp uses the vantage point to look … Read More

regarding the ways of the marsh

PHOTO POST A long period of hot dry weather has hastened the fullness of summer in the marsh. Where you and I might see a smelly mess, many creatures are seeing a fertile, fecund, bountiful bouquet of life. The dropping water levels have exposed squishy mudflats – great dining areas for pipers including the Killdeer. … Read More

Climate change, citizenship, and the global caste system

Also published on Resilience.org Suppose humanity survives through the 21st century. Our descendants may shudder to realize their own grandparents blithely accepted, perhaps even praised, a rigid caste system that offered rich opportunities to a minority while consigning the vast majority to a brutal struggle for mere existence. This week hundreds of millions of people … Read More

pairings

PHOTO POST If you want to see some scary exotic creatures on the hunt, you could buy yourself a camera with a lens as long as its price tag, then book an even more expensive safari to the far side of the world. Or, you could pick up a half-decent magnifying glass, lie down in … Read More

keeping watch

PHOTO POST From the least of the sandpipers to the greatest of the owls, today’s post is all birds. Even while they’re out looking for food – whether seeds, bugs or fish – the birds around the marshes also need to look out for other birds who are looking for food. There’s always a chance that … Read More

bloomin’ weeds

PHOTO POST Full disclosure: not all the plants pictured here are wildflowers strictly speaking. Some have been introduced to the area, have escaped from gardens, and now roam the countryside, feral. The Wood Anemone at the top of the post grows across North America, including local meadows and at the edges of some marshes. A … Read More

hiding in plain sight

PHOTO POST Depending on your life style, there are times you might stand out a little more than is good for you. But the creatures of our marshes and woodlands generally know how to stay out of sight when that’s important. The Osprey may seem to have nothing to worry about – beyond the challenge … Read More

the right beak for the job

PHOTO POST The birds now nesting, hanging out, or just passing through the marsh carry beaks ideally suited to their ways of life. Many have a sort of “Goldilocks” facial protuberance – not too long, not too short, strong enough, but not so big as to be unwieldy. The Red-Wing Blackbirds (female above, male below) … Read More

brushes with light

PHOTO POST A chilly month of April has slowed the appearance of most green leaves and flowers – but the blooming that has begun seems all the more colourful for its scarcity. On savannah and at forest’s edge, trees and shrubs were budding out even on frosty mornings. Muddy creek banks took longer to warm … Read More

the forest beneath the forest

PHOTO POST A southern Ontario forest in early April might seem a bleak habitation, especially on a grey day. Few birds sing their songs, few green shoots have poked out of the ground, and only a few trees have begun to bud out. Yet the floor of the forest can be colourful on a damp … Read More