Feb. 16, 2008 - Indigenous, edible gardening
Something I think about during winter is gardening. It may seem strange to ponder on such a topic, but when all one sees is a blanket of white for seven months, spring and gardening often comes to mind!
The visits of various types of birds to our yard has been a topic of recent discussion for my family. We have a birdfeeder with wild bird mix in it. One year we had a suet feeder but we didn't see any birds eating at it. (We probably scared them away when we opened the back door!)
Most birds visit our yard because of our trees, shrubs and garden plants. The vegetation provides year-round protective cover, spring nesting sites and winter food. It is important to retain trees and choose to plant indigenous, edible garden plants.
Every year we plant at least one more shrub and new garden plant to benefit birds and insects. For fertilizer I use aged 'manure tea' made from duck litter. I don't spray weeds and I don't use insect spray. I depend on beneficial insects to munch up the 'bad bugs'.
We see a surprising amount of fauna visiting our suburban yard. The birds are drawn here because of the availability of food, foliage and water. I'm happy because not only do nature study opportunities come to our door, but I know that the birds can safely snack on what grows in our yard.
A few years ago my husband snapped this photograph of a female Ruffed Grouse eating the edible berries on a smaller tree in one corner of our front yard. We watched this bird for one half an hour. This gave us time to look up and learn more about Ruffed Grouse, including whether it was male or female and it's colouration (grey phase).
...Without learning of the importance of indigenous, edible gardening, we wouldn't have had this wonderful experience!
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Feb. 3, 2008 - Mid-winter visitors from Canada's Arctic
At lunchtime on Monday, January 28th, my 11 year old loudly exclaimed and called me to go and look out one of the side windows. A mixed flock of Common Redpolls and Hoary Redpolls had travelled south from the Arctic to visit our backyard! They were feasting on the multitude of seeds hanging from our Paper Birch trees.
It was -30°C (-22°F), but being indigenous to the Far North, they weren't bothered by the cold. As you can see from the photo, Redpolls have well-feathered little bodies! For quite some time we stayed at the window, watching them fluttering from branch to branch.
The birds were quite pretty, in an understated way. Their heads were variegated brown with a tiny, bright-red cap. Their wing feathers were brown and white and their crisp tail feathers were a darker brown. The soft-looking feathers on their bodies were white with streaks of brown. Bead-like eyes were set just before a yellowish beak, with a black bib at their chins. The male birds had a pink area on their chests.
It took some time for us to determine which ones were rare Hoary Redpolls and which were Common Redpolls. There were far more of the latter, than the former. The Hoary Redpolls have white on the back above the tail; overall, they look as if their feathers have been dusted with frost. I guess that’s why they are called ‘Hoary’ as in ‘hoar frost'!
In the photo below, the bird on the left is a female Hoary Redpoll; the bird on the right is a female Common Redpoll. There were more females than male birds in this flock - I wonder why?
As I was afraid of frightening the eager birds away from their meal, I took photos through the window; the tree and birds were twenty feet away. I wish the resulting pictures were less blurry, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to watch them and share our experience with you.
This is encouragement for all of us that, even in the coldest weather, it is possible to do nature study!
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Feb. 2, 2008 - Winter Temperatures
Despite the warnings of global warming, winter temperatures have been within seasonal norms for our area. With the temperatures being lower than recent years, all across Canada, it makes me wonder if the world is leaving a warmer period and entering a cooler one.
Throughout history there have been natural cycles of cooler and warmer weather – some more extreme than others. In fact, one could liken it to the heating and cooling cycles of a forced-air furnace or space heater.
Two famous examples of the earth going through cooling and warming periods pertain to Canada’s Arctic and the search for the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin and the entire crew of his two ships perished after they had to abandon their ships, icebound for two years, from 1845-1847.
Yet it was only 56 years later when Roald Amundsen was able to navigate through relatively ice-free waterways during 1903-1906. In 1940, RCMP Henry Larsen and his crew sailed the Northwest Passage from west to east (Vancouver, BC to Halifax, NS). They returned from east to west in 1944.
In those instances, the Canadian Arctic waterways had been frozen during the winter but thawed in the summer, permitting the Gjøa and St. Roch to pass when Franklin’s ships, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, could not.
…These are some of the things a person has time to ponder, when it is so cold, for so long! 
Here is a photo of dd holding the outside thermometer on our back deck. The daytime temperatures have been –30°C (-22°F) or colder, with cooler temperatures at night. Even through the ski coat and snowmobile gloves, dd’s body heat warmed the ambient air temperature around the thermometer, raising the temperature to –29°C.
Keep warm!
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Oct. 18, 2006 - Grizzly Bear visits my neighbourhood
Not long ago a Grizzly Bear (aka Brown Bear) made repeated visits to our neighbourhood. The reason? He (or she) was bulking up for winter and, unfortunately, found lots to eat due to human negligence.
What kinds of things will draw a bear to human habitations? Unmowed lawns with dandelions. Unharvested garden produce. Unpicked fruit on berry bushes and fruit trees. Birdfeeders full of seed. Pet food dishes, empty or full. Unsecured garbage cans. Discarded trash such as empty pizza boxes or fast food containers. Uncleaned barbeques.
We went on a "nature-detective hunt" to find signs of the Grizzly Bear. We didn't see the bear, so no photographs. However, this is what we did find:
~ Trampled grass in wide drainage ditch beside the road.
~ Many crabapple trees full of ripe fruit.
~ Broken branches on crabapple trees and fallen fruit.
~ Birdfeeders half-emptied of seed.
~ Over-full, non-secured garbage containers.
~ Pizza boxes and other odiferous discarded garbage.
~ Barbeques sitting out in people's yards.
~ On the pavement, Bear scat with crabapple seeds in it.
We saw plenty of things that would attract Grizzly and Black Bears. They have an incredible sense of smell and can smell a tuna fish tin or empty pizza box from remarkable distances.
Do you know what the first thing is on a bear's mind when he/she comes out of hibernation? Food. And where will he/she go? To the last place food was found. If it is a sow, she will bring her cubs with her. Sadly, many bears are destroyed each year because of having become habituated to unnatural (human) food sources.
What can we do to help the bears? We can:
~ Keep our lawn mowed and yard weeded.
~ Harvest our garden, berry bushes and fruit trees.
~ Feed our pets only inside our home.
~ Store livestock feed in secure containers in a shed.
~ Bring in the birdfeeders until the cold weather arrives.
~ Recycle tin cans, juice & milk containers (wash & keep indoors; take to recycling depot).
~ Practice proper composting (no meats or fats; cover new items with dirt).
~ Pick up roadside garbage in our neighbourhood.
~ Do not overfill our garbage can and keep the lid closed.
~ Store garbage can in a secure shed until pick-up day.
~ Make sure our barbeque is cleaned and stored in shed.
~ Share with neighbours what they can do to prevent bear visits.
We may make colourful posters to put up on bulletin boards at the local library, gas stations, etc. This will be a fun project and a relevant, helpful one, too.
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Oct. 6, 2006 - Autumn is here
'Fall' is here, that's evident. For the last month the leaves have been changing to various shades of yellow, orange and red. Now they are falling like confetti and covering the green and gold grass.
How much fun it is to shuffle through the leaves in our yard or stomp on the curled, crunchy leaves on the road! The air is redolent with the aroma of a spice cupboard: nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cloves.
This is the best time of year to find different types of leaves for our notebooks! The wind blows the leaves from their trees into our neighbourhood.
...So although our yard doesn't have a Cottonwood, we find it's immense leaves at the feet of our Paper Birches. The Trembling Aspens' small heart-shaped leaves are a surprising treasure, found mixed with those of our Wild Rose bushes. The Maple keys hang onto the parent tree, while the leaves find other resting places beside a Mountain Ash.
What a wonderful opportunity for a nature treasure hunt! Brisk wind, fresh air, spicy smells, brilliant colours, interesting shapes and textures, and the sound of leaves scuttling as they travel across roads...
We hope you have a terrific time enjoying your season (be it Autumn or Spring) on a nature walk with your family, today!
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