Forecasting birds (and rain)

We had some weird weather this afternoon. When I got up, it was raining lightly. The sun peeked out for a bit, but then it clouded over and rained again for a while. When the rain had passed, I took Raven outside for a romp outdoors. It was windy and a bit nippy, but otherwise [...]

Tuesday Miscellany

It’s been a busy week! I’ve been trying to pull together the October issue of the Ontario Field Ornithologists’ newsletter, and have been working on a fair bit of moth-related stuff for the book. This has not only kept me from posting much this week, but also kept me from getting outside very much, so [...]

The “artificial” natural forest

This morning I drove out Ottawa way to join my sister and mother who were doing a horseback ride in support of breast cancer research. The ride was organized by a local group that helps maintain the trail system in one of the largest tracts of forest near Ottawa, and in fact southern Ontario south [...]

Tay Meadows Tidbit – Cooper’s Hawk

You know those moments where you just happen to be prepared at the right place, at the right time? That happened to me the other day. I had taken my camera out into the yard to try to capture some photos of the Chipping Sparrows that have been hanging around in the garden, so I [...]

Tuesday Miscellany

I have a suspicion that my Monday Miscellanys may be indefinitely bumped to Tuesday for the winter, as Mondays are my tv-watching night, with the season starting yesterday. I don’t watch much tv, following just a couple of shows religiously every week rather than plopping down on the couch in the evening, and Monday happens [...]

International Rock-flipping Day

As mentioned in this morning’s post, today was International Rock-Flipping Day. This year’s event was being coordinated by Susannah over at Wanderin’ Weeta. I participated last year, as well, at our lake house. I think I always go in with high expectations of what I might find. I actually got a couple of interesting beetles [...]

National Moth Night – part 2

As suspected, the cool weather last night kept the moths in hiding. When I turned the light on at dusk it was already well below my 10 C (50 F) threshold, but I put it on anyway. Five moths tallied at the sheet in a couple of hours: four Maple Spanworms and a pinion (I [...]

National Moth Night – part 1

Tonight is the first of two nights designated for National Moth Night (perhaps more accurately National Moth Weekend) in Britain, which I mentioned in The Moth and Me. I’m encouraging those of us on the west side of the pond to join in, too – why should they have all the fun? – and make [...]

The Moth and Me #6

Summer is drawing to a close for us here in the northern hemisphere. The weather is cooling, the nights are becoming cool though the sun still warms our faces during the day. We have another couple of months of mothing left to us, if we’re lucky, here in Ontario. Already we’re starting to see a [...]

Monday Miscellany

Autumn is upon us here in the far north. Although most of the trees still retain their green colour, a few are beginning to shift to shades of red or yellow. And a very odd few have already made the change. I spotted this strikingly red tree not far from the road along the route [...]