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Nature in the City
Last week, we drove to Toronto to see the newly-choreographed production of Romeo and Juliet performed by the National Ballet of Canada. The dancing, the music, the sets and costumes were all exquisite and well worth the pain of driving to downtown Toronto. We went early to ensure we were downtown in good time. That […]
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Sinclair’s Bush May 21/23
Sinclair’s Bush is a 46 hectare forest. It includes an undisturbed, original forest that is an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest with seven provincially rare species within its boundaries. We were alerted to the woods as a possible birding hotspot, but on the afternoon we were there, we detected few birds. Instead, we found […]
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Yarmouth Natural Heritage Area 2023 06 20
What a wonderful natural heritage area – 208 acres of forest, ponds, wetlands and streams. There were birds around the parking lot by the road and even more birds as soon as we started walking up the trail. We tallied 22 species altogether. Many were singing, a few were visible. The “best” bird we saw […]
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May 22 Rondeau
On the holiday Monday, May 22nd, we returned to Rondeau to look for birds we had missed on previous visits; especially, the Prothonotary Warbler. We were told that there were Prothonotary Warblers nesting in an area of the Tulip Tree Trail, but that one might be spotted anywhere along the trail. Spoiler alert, we were […]
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Erieau Marsh Trail May 21
You may know that Canada is experiencing an exceptional forest fire season with fires raging in almost every province and territory. Earlier in the month, our skies in London were hazy from wildfires in the western provinces. More recently, we have been affected more seriously by heavier smoke from fires in Quebec and northern Ontario. […]
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Erieau Marsh Trail May 20
To avoid the crowds at Rondeau Provincial Park, we decided to go to the Erieau Marsh Trail on Saturday and Sunday. From our cottage, we identified 20 species singing or seen from our cottage. The trail follows a former rail line on a dyke through the marsh. Today, there is marshland is on one side […]
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Rondeau May 19
Our cottage in Shrewsbury was across the street from a wetland on the shore of Lake Erie. There were Red-winged Blackbirds nesting among the reeds. We saw one act as a sentry when a cat came down the street. Even wilder was a Bald Eagle that was harassed by one sentry until it dropped the […]
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Rondeau May 18
We arrived at our cottage in Shrewsbury with enough time and energy to go to Rondeau Provincial Park before dinner. The cottage backs onto a short canal and overlooks a wetland. The road into the park is lined with trees and wildflowers. We had excellent directions to a tree with a Screech Owl and we […]
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April 26, 2023 – Solitude Nature Reserve
On a fine spring afternoon, we headed to Solitude Nature Reserve. The mission, as stated on the reserve’s website reads: “Solitude Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation for the purpose of preserving a natural environment where the public can enjoy nature.” The paths and the boardwalks through the wet […]
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Another Spring Outing
April 16, 2023 – Toyota Wetland We took advantage of one of the last sunny days to visit a wetland surrounded by development and near a Toyota dealership. Our brief outing yielded 17 bird species, many of them flying overhead at a distance – Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey Vulture, Osprey and two Tree […]