The internet: what resources are out there for the naturalist?

More and more, we turn to the internet for what we want. Since we write our own webpages, we know that information can be wrong from the start, or become dated. We think the following are pretty good sites.

• Astronomy Picture of the Day
• Environmental Library: Endangered Animals
• Key to Fireflies of Ontario (requires a dissecting microscope)
• Basic aquatic insects (illustrations for children)
• Journey North – Global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change
• Photographic key to aquatic insects (requires a dissecting microscope)
• Key to larval mosquitoes of Ontario (requires a dissecting microscope)
• Photographic key to adult female mosquitoes of Canada (requires a dissecting microscope)
• Oil spill cleanups have gotten better. This industry web page also links to outside organizations.
• Nature – Science news and a career database from the publisher of the prestigious journal.
• Ontario Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae) – Provides details on over two dozen species of lady beetles found in Ontario.
• Salamanders: “Eastern Newt” (Notophthalmus viridescens) on the Animal Diversity Web

Other resources:

• To access Environment Canada’s weather forecast for Ottawa, call 998-3439. This is a free service.
• About Lyme Disease

Revised Apr. 4, 2012. Additions made at intervals, most recently Nov. 7, 2014. All photos by Macoun Club participants. Coding revised again in May, 2016.