An Outside Chance

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

merganser mating party

PHOTO POST The Red-breasted Merganser is one of the most striking birds that passes through this area but they don’t stick around for long. For several years I’ve been hoping to get some good photos but I only managed a few fleeting glimpses. So the last week has been special, with a half-dozen or more … Read More

reaching for spring

PHOTO POST The first growth of the season is just beginning to emerge in the plant realm, but in the avian world spring moves are well underway. Many of the visiting waterfowl – Long-Tailed Ducks, Scaups – have apparently ended their sojourns in our marsh to carry on north. A few Ring-Necked Ducks and more … Read More

a fond farewell to winter

PHOTO POST In truth it wasn’t much of a winter, with only a few cold days and a modest amount of snow. But now a wide variety of returning species are expressing their faith that an early spring is in progress. Mild temperatures did not, of course, mean that the winter was easy for all … Read More

Energy storage and our unpredictable future

A review of Energy Storage and Civilization Also published on Resilience.org It’s a fine spring day and you decide on a whim to go camping. By early afternoon you’ve reached a sheltered clearing in the woods, the sky is clear, and you relax against a tree trunk rejoicing that “The best things in life are … Read More

the fastness of february

PHOTO POST The problem with February, you may feel, is that it goes by much too fast. This year we award ourselves a free bonus day of February – though it looks like we’ll still end up with a good bit less winter than we used to take for granted. The mild weather seems to … Read More

just this side of freezing

PHOTO POST Winter proceeds in fits and starts. The marshes have frozen, thawed, filled with January rain, frozen again. Perhaps that suits the otters just fine. They certainly appeared to enjoy playing on thin ice in recent weeks. There was enough open water to dive into while chasing mud-cats, and enough ice to climb onto … Read More

portrait of december

PHOTO POST Has this been the greyest month of the year? So it seems, but intermittent snow cover and several spectacular sunrises have brightened things up. A sudden afternoon squall caught these birds – and their photographer – by surprise. One minute the sun was poking through and the next a swift … Read More

colours of summer past

PHOTO POST Vivid colours are not so easy to come by this time of year, but when you look close to the ground the garden still shows some hues as bright as a summer flower. The play of sun and cloud on water seldom disappoints and seldom holds one shape for long. Though the colours … Read More