By Natalie Sopinka Ever get stumped trying to describe that smell after a misty, spring rain when the grass is dewy and lush? Well that smell has an official term, petrichor. Produced by interactions between plant oils, bacteria, and an organic compound called geosmin, petrichor is the earthy aroma after rain. This spring, as the [...]
By Natalie Sopinka Can you spot the special visitor to the OFNC booth? On Saturday May 31st Nature Canada held its 2nd annual Bird Day Fair at Andrew Haydon Park and members of the OFNC were on hand to celebrate our avian friends. Mark Brenchley, Natalie Sopinka, Julia Cipriani and Anouk Hoedeman manned [...]
by Sandy Garland, based on notes from the campaign blog The chimney swifts are back, and they're moving right in to their new roosting site in Shawville, Quebec! In summer 2013, the West Quebec School Board hired contractors to shorten and cap a now-unused tall chimney on McDowell school in Shawville. What they didn't know [...]
Sharp-shinned Hawk by Christine Hanrahan So you want to be a birdwatcher, but you just don't know where to begin? And the thought of trying to distinguish a nighthawk from a nuthatch reduces you to despair? Don't worry, help is at hand! The following information will provide you with everything (well, almost everything) [...]
by Sandy Garland with much help from Rémy Poulin (OFNC) and Bill Petrie (IPBO) First photo from the newly installed webcam at Innis Point Bird Observatory Plans to install a webcam on an Osprey nesting platform with a live feed to the Internet took a leap forward this spring. Although wireless service is [...]
by Bev McBride Editor's note: In the interests of full disclosure, this Red-winged Blackbird was not photographed during this excursion, nor was it photographed at Mud Lake. However, Bev says this species was "emblematic" of the morning's very successful field trip. Photo by Gillian Mastromatteo About 20 people came out for this morning's [...]
by Sandy Garland Collage of some of Jeewa's many photos of local wildlife We see thousands of snow geese take off from a field near Winchester, a stunning scarlet tanager calling to a rival from the top of a spruce tree, a nest of baby blackbirds developing to fledgling size, a pair of trumpeter [...]
by Christine Hanrahan The FWG's November blog is up and running now (http://www.pbase.com/fwg/fwg_blog_november_2013). It was kick-started by some excellent photos from Robert Berry. I've added a few more, and there'll be more to come as the month progresses. Incipient winter is felt in the decreasing numbers of birds and the almost entire lack of insects [...]
by Christine Hanrahan Where DOES the time go? Here it is, past the mid-way point in September, on the downslide to October. That autumn feeling is really seeping in with the colour changes in the leaves, the business of birds fuelling up for journeys south, and bees nectaring like mad on the dwindling supply of [...]
by Christine Hanrahan Mid-afternoon at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, August 14th. A sunny and pleasant afternoon to be looking for things to photograph for the PBase Blog. My first sighting was of the Sphex ichneumoneus, the Great Golden Digger as it is sometimes called, nectaring on swamp milkweed. Its counterpart, the Great Black Digger, S. [...]
