Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
PREDICTING THE BIRDS AT OUR FEEDERS December, 2014/January, 2015 issue Having pursued the study of birds as a hobby for close to 60 years now, it is always fun to reflect on how much we have learned about bird behaviour in that time. A…
GETTING READY TO HUNKER DOWN October/November, 2014 issue There was a skin of ice on our car windshield, and frost on the grass around our campsite at Ferris Provincial Park on September 14th. Had fall started already? By noon, we were back to T-shirts…
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST August/September, 2014 issue The tropical groove-billed ani is one, and also the couas and coucals of Madagascar. Even that star of cartoons, the famous roadrunner who is relentlessly pursued by Wiley Coyote, is also a member of the…
SPRING AWAKENING EVERYWHERE April/May, 2014 issue Expressions like “old fashioned winter” and “winters of my youth” became obsolete terms this past season after enduring the hardest winter in memory. In Prince Edward County, almost daily snow squalls off Lake Ontario kept snowblowers and shovels…
THIS RUFFED GROUSE HAS ME ON EDGE February/March, 2014 issue I have never killed a bird intentionally. However, there is one along the road I walk every morning whose days may be numbered. The bird is a ruffed grouse that purposely waits for…
WOOD FIRES AND CHRISTMAS December, 2013/January, 2014 issue I had the pleasure one winter of participating in a Twelve Days of Christmas presentation at a museum not far from where I live. I represented the Four Calling Birds. However, there were only three of…
GIRL OF LIMBERLOST AND SON OF POSEIDON November/December, 2013 issue The photo of the caterpillar that Scoop editor Angela Saxe sent me, taken by Isadora Spielmann, was a mystery. Covered in tiny white spiracles, the caterpillar’s identity was lost in the carpet of these…
ROCK DUNDER IS A CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD August/September, 2013 issue When I attended elementary school back in the 1950s, all of us kids always looked forward to visiting “The Big Stone” on Arbour Day. It was located at the back…
NATURAL WORLD PROMOTES GOOD HEALTH AND LONGEVITY June/July, 2013 issue I seldom use insect repellent on any guided hikes that I lead as I find the fog of toxins enveloping me more annoying than the insects they are designed to repel. On the rare…
WOOD WARBLERS – THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BIRD WORLD April/May, 2013 issue It is early morning during the second week of May at Prince Edward Point, the southeastern tip of Prince Edward County. The trees along the groomed Point Traverse trails are wet…