Today’s post comes from Cortney LeGros, the Healthy Parks Healthy People coordinator at Ontario Parks.
The holiday season is steeped in tradition.
No matter how you celebrate, there’s one scientific tradition that’s been around for over 120 years to help mark the holidays.
For me, the holidays would not be complete without participating in at least one Christmas Bird Count.
Continue reading Christmas Bird Count — keep the community science tradition going!
Today’s post comes from Barb Rees, our Discovery Program and Marketing Specialist in the Northwest Zone of Ontario Parks.
Winter is a great time to watch for woodpeckers. Why? Simply because there are less leaves on trees making most birds more visible.
Typically, there are also more birdfeeders placed out in the winter than the summer (since the bears are hibernating). So attracting birds closer to your home makes bird-watching possible right from the warmth of your living room window.
Today’s post comes from Bronte Creek Provincial Park Discovery Ranger Hannah Stockford and Darlington Provincial Park Piping Plover Student Jax Nasimok.
Once upon a time, bird migration was a great mystery!
Early ideas about migration by philosophers and scientists from hundreds of years ago were quite unusual. They varied from thinking birds hibernated in the mud at the bottom of lakes to flying to the moon!
Now we know most birds that migrate do so to find food, or travel to seasonal habitat or reproductive grounds.
While our understanding of migration is limited, with new technologies like Motus, humans are on the right track expand our knowledge in order to better understand and conserve migratory wildlife.
Can you believe we’re already well into fall?
If your day-to-day is anything like ours, your summer flew by, leaving you wondering where the time went. It’s amazing how quickly summer comes and goes, year after year.
But that’s nothing to worry about — fall at Ontario Parks is a favourite time of year for many, and for good reason!
So if you’re feeling stressed from fleeting summer, back-to-school routines, or the impending winter, this blog is sure to help you take a step back, relax, and enjoy the best time of year.
We’ve partnered with our friends at Subaru Canada to share 5 ways to practice fall mindfulness in parks:
Today’s post comes from Mitch Kellar, a Discovery Leader at Bon Echo Provincial Park.
Being a staff member at Bon Echo has given me a lot of incredible experiences: seeing the Mazinaw Rock at sunset, camping on Joeperry Lake, and a very memorable Kishkebus canoe trip, to name a few.
Above all, my experiences with Peregrine Falcons — small birds of prey and the fastest animals on the planet — will always be one of my favourites.
Continue reading The fastest animal in Bon Echo, Canada, and the world!
Today’s blog was written by former Discovery leader at Kettle Lakes Provincial Park and current birder and Senior Discovery Ranger at Rondeau Provincial Park, Sarah Wiebe.
Meet the Common Nighthawk.
This peculiar nightjar (medium-sized nocturnal bird) calls Ontario home during the summer months and can be seen all over the province, including cities and provincial parks!
Continue reading “Peent! Peent!” Here comes the Common Nighthawk
Today’s post comes from Jess Matthews, chief park naturalist at Rondeau Provincial Park. Special thanks to Kevin Gevaert for providing Prothonotary Warblers photos!
Close your eyes.
Try to imagine a spring with no birdsong.
A spring without flashes of colour flitting through the bushes.
A silent forest void of oranges, yellows, blues, and reds…
…it may be hard to imagine, especially if you spend springtime in Rondeau Provincial Park, where migrating warblers appear to be dripping from the branches in all colours of the rainbow.
While such a dire situation may be difficult for us to imagine, the reality for one spring singer is one of disappearance, silence, and extinction.
The Prothonotary Warbler is currently listed as endangered in Canada, which means it is facing imminent extirpation (no longer exists in Canada) or extinction.
`In today’s post, Kettle Lakes Provincial Park‘s senior park naturalist Sarah Wiebe shows us that loons and campers aren’t so different!
Just like many families, Common Loons choose Kettle Lakes as the place to stay with their family in the summer.
You could say that loon families love parks as much as we do!
Like many visitors, I grew up visiting parks, spending every summer of my childhood exploring shorelines and lakes.
I would spend hours making sandcastles at Arrowhead Provincial Park, splashing in the water at Balsam Lake Provincial Park, going fishing in The Massasauga Provincial Park, and paddling through Algonquin Provincial Park.
I can easily say that I love parks.
As I was watching a family of loons return to the lake near our staff house at Kettle Lakes this spring, it got me thinking about how loons like to spend their summers in Ontario Parks, too!
By observing the loons, I’ve noticed that loons love parks as much we do.
Continue reading Loons are like campers — they love their park!
In today’s post, Awenda’s Chief Park Naturalist Tim Tully defends what some may think is the undefendable: the gull.
If there was ever an animal that gets a raw deal, it’s the gull.
It’s time to set the record straight and come to the defense of this unfairly maligned avian “underbird.”
For starters, we can’t even get the name right. I hate to tell you, folks, but there is no such thing as a seagull!
Today’s post comes from Assistant Ecologist and Piping Plover specialist Ian Fife.
If you’ve visited some of our popular Great Lakes beaches, you may have noticed restricted areas for a tiny bird no larger than a sparrow.
What’s so important about these birds, and why do we fence off parts of our beaches to protect them?
