by Randy | Oct 3, 2015 | Birdwatching, Stoney Creek
They are called platform nests, Kathy, and both the male and female blue herons build them. Just look at them all. It looks like there might be three on that one branch alone! As our eyes skim the tops of the cottonwoods we lose count after about 20 nests – some...
by Randy | Aug 24, 2015 | Birdwatching, Botany, Stoney Creek
The plants are your friends. As you walk by them in the forest greet them by name. This will help you remember them. Rub the leaves of an elderberry and you smell peanut butter, a herb Robert geranium – nuts and a swamp or stink current’s – currents. Who...
by Randy | Jun 10, 2015 | Birdwatching, Stoney Creek
The Stoney Creek Environment Committee began keeping official bird records in August of 1996. That important work continues to this day with data recorded on bird species, sex, age, nesting sites and behaviour. In 2014 our weekend birding group identified 36 bird...
by Randy | Mar 21, 2015 | Birdwatching
September 6, 2014 – part 2 Edward spots its red head first. On the grassy slope at the base of a young cedar a tense drama is unfolding between a silent pileated woodpecker and a much smaller black squirrel. Eyes locked on one another each does a little power dance –...
by Randy | Jan 29, 2015 | Birdwatching, Stoney Creek
Saturday, September 6, 2014 – part 1 All around us dry crispy leaves are falling from the trees. We can actually hear them hitting one another as they lazily float down to the gravel pathway like snowflakes. It smells like fall – even though it is officially 17 days...
