An Outside Chance

growing up

PHOTO POST Not long ago they were fledglings. Now they’re on their own. And with no helicoptering parents issuing shrill warnings whenever a suspicious character approaches, some of the adolescent birds in the neighbourhood can now be seen right out in the open. The juvenile Black-Crowned High Heron, above and below, is both more handsome … Read More

If the insects go, we all go

An illustrated review of Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects Also published at Resilience.org Buzz, Sting, Bite is a breezy read with a sobering message: insects are so deeply woven into the web of life that the worldwide drop in insect populations threatens every other species. (Buzz, Sting, Bite is published by Simon & … Read More

the view from up here

PHOTO POST A chorus of squeaks and squawks comes from on high as birds scout out good feeding territories, warn of possible predators, or call out “bring me another worm!” A Purple Finch is interested in tasty seeds – and likes to wait between snacks in the cool shade of lower branches. A Chipmunk … Read More

green fusion

PHOTO POST Is there an entomologist in the house? Alas, there is not – but this time of year, you only need to sit down beside a garden or in a meadow for a few minutes each day to spot a profusion of insects who are no less splendid even if you don’t know their … Read More

The Fight for Right of Way

Confronting the legal web that enforces drivers’ privilege Also published at Resilience.org Why is car culture so dominant in North American life? Is it a matter of personal preference, or is it the result of extensive advertising? Those are important factors – but University of Iowa law professor Gregory H. Shill says that auto dominance … Read More

sincerely, july

PHOTO POST As June gave way to July there was a whole lotta catchin’ up goin’ on along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Finally, summer at its finest – the weather hot, but not too hot; gentle breezes, but no storms; lots of moisture, but a break from big rains every-other-day. And creatures of … Read More

the eyes have it

PHOTO POST To see, or to be seen? That is the question. The birds and plants in the woods and waters of Port Darlington show us some of the ways in which the invention of the eye has shaped life history. Many birds (for example the Yellow Warbler, above, and the Scarlet Tanager, below) are … Read More

plastic swamp

The billions of pieces of plastic floating in ocean gyres begin their watery journeys in ditches and creeks in almost every location inhabited by people. Many are tossed into tributaries in the centre of continents, far upstream from any ocean, including the small watershed where I live. Also published at Resilience.org The neighbouring coastal marshes … Read More

flight paths

PHOTO POST Amateur photographers who try, as I do, to capture birds in flight soon learn that the smaller birds tend to be more difficult to catch than the big birds. You need to get that much closer to a small bird, and with some exceptions they tend to be skittish. Their takeoffs are amazingly … Read More

walk on the wet side

PHOTO POST Through the past week’s intermittent rains returning migrants have joined our full-time residents around the bird feeders and in the marsh, while green shoots have begun to decorate muddy creek banks. This Black-Capped Chickadee looks for food in a freshly-pruned Forsythia. Our many sparrows include a Tree Sparrow (which likes to feed on … Read More

the colours that are spring

PHOTO POST The calendar says spring started weeks ago – and there has been a quiet explosion of new colour. As modelled by our migratory birds, the season’s first flashy hues run to black, white, and the whole gamut of earth tones. The marsh, of course, hasn’t warmed enough to start sending up new vegetation. … Read More

Bicycling on the Polar Sea

Thirty years ago this week, near the end of my first winter in the Northwest Territories, I completed a bike ride I’d been planning for months: north along the Mackenzie River ice highway from Inuvik to the coast, and then across the sea ice to Tuktoyaktuk. The journey seemed like the sort of thing one … Read More