An Outside Chance

bright lights of june

PHOTO POST In the first week of June, the last of the far-north migratory birds were still passing through. By the end of the month some local nesters were ushering fledglings out into the world. In the meantime a wide variety of flowering plants made up for a chilly spring by growing inches a day … Read More

The high cost of speed

Also published on Resilience Imagine that we used a really crazy method to establish speed limits. We could start by recording the speeds of all drivers on a given stretch of roadway. Then, without any clear evidence of what a safe speed might be, we might argue that the great majority of people drive too … Read More

Dangerous roads are no accident

Also published on Resilience If you watch network television you can see auto companies spending a lot of money making our roads more dangerous. One slick ad after another glorifies massive cars and trucks as they careen around curves, bounce over bumps and potholes, and send up clouds of dust on always-open roads. The message … Read More

a whistling of whimbrels

PHOTO POST It’s always fun to gaze across the water looking for our usual residents. But in springtime you never know when a beautiful stranger might drop by for a few hours or a few days. On a warm evening in the marsh, you might spot an ancient snapping turtle looming large at the surface, … Read More

an eye on the sparrow

PHOTO POST One morning last week two of the less-seen sparrows visited our front yard together. These two sparrows, plus the Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, and the Dark-Eyed Junco, often search for food in the lawn and gardens. The Savannah Sparrow and the Swamp Sparrow occasionally allow themselves to be seen in … Read More

in and around the woods

PHOTO POST The forest floor is still cold and in many places soggy. But the flowers that live there are in a hurry to bloom before the canopy fills in and blocks the sunlight. That means there is a lot of beautiful change happening every day – and a lot of delicate growth that might … Read More

red shift

PHOTO POST The green is on its way, but the first vivid colours of spring around here tend to the red. Tiny sedums poke out between twigs. Alongside the fence rhubarb erupts. On a path a weathered log feeds new life. Venturing beyond the yard, I find a few birds that I don’t see every … Read More

Climate liars, Canada branch

Also published on Resilience “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week. He decried the “litany of broken climate promises,” adding that “some government and business leaders are saying one thing – but doing another. Simply put, they are lying.” As if on cue, the Canadian … Read More

The toxic cloud called ‘Internet’

Also posted on Resilience. The global electronics network is a sort of “bad news, good news” story in Jonathan Crary’s telling. The bad news is that “the internet complex is the implacable engine of addiction, loneliness, false hopes, cruelty, psychosis, indebtedness, squandered life, the corrosion of memory, and social disintegration”; and that “the speed and … Read More

sweet water songs

PHOTO POST It was a brisk Saturday morning as I made my way to the lakeshore. I wasn’t after fish, but those who I sought would be fishing, or so I thought. I was on the trail of Long-Tailed Ducks, hoping to capture not only pictures but sound. Writing in 1925, Edward Howe Forbush called … Read More

lakeshore medley

PHOTO POST When you’re looking for fresh new scenery on a daily basis, the January lakeshore obliges – especially when the temperature plunges, heavy snow falls, and waves rearrange the ice, water and steam ceaselessly. As dawn breaks frost is forming on icicles at the waterline. The delicate filaments of frost are gone by the … Read More

back yard blizzard

PHOTO POST When a blizzard blew over a few days ago the wintering birds knew what to do: gather round the feeders and feast. Like most blizzards in Ontario’s deep south, this one was mild in temperature. But perhaps the birds sensed that much colder weather was on the way. They were so intent on … Read More