There are many, many species of asters in North America–perhaps 120 in all. Of these, possibly 20 or more can be found in Northern Ontario. These very large numbers are particularly American. There are very few wild asters in Europe. England, for example, has only one wild species. Asters, as […]
Al Lowe – Nature Science and You
The May Beetle You probably know this one as the June Beetle, or the June Bug. It is the familiar brown beetle, maybe an inch long and half-an-inch wide. It has a slow, bumbling sort of behaviour, whether it is walking or flying. There are a lot of different species […]
We have some brilliant birds in Northwestern Ontario but here’s one which we don’t really have very much–not yet, anyway. The cardinal is a bird which is almost all red–at least, the male is. He is vermilion red all over, except for a bit of black around his beak. He […]
The Snowshoe Hare is found right across Canada, from coast to coast. It is a true hare, and not a rabbit, even though we often call it the Snowshoe Rabbit (it used to be called the Varying Hare). This hare is one of the most important links in the whole […]
If you see Crossbills close at hand, you can see the feature which gives them their name. The upper part of the beak is longer than most, and is strongly hooked. The lower mandible is bent upward, and both are skewed to the side so they can cross. The crossed […]
You cannot spend much time in the north woods without becoming familiar with the Whisky-Jack.He will drift out of the trees in the coldest weather to share your lunch–stealing the beans from your plate and your sandwich while you reach for the coffee. This bird is one of the jay […]
In all fresh water, there is no other fish like it. Big, streamlined, and camouflaged, the muskie has a devilish grin–and a wicked set of teeth. Fishermen tell me you don’t expect to catch a muskie in an hour or two. Many people have spent days, even years, trying to […]
In a country like Canada, almost everyone has something to do with wheat. We grow it in vast quantities, we sell it to other nations, we use it in all kinds of bread, buns, and rolls, and we feed it to our animals and poultry. Wheat is an almost indispensable […]
In Northern Ontario, we have three grouse–the Ruffed, the Spruce, and the Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus). It is often, wrongly, called prairie chicken but that is an entirely different bird. The Sharp-tail is a little bit larger than the common Ruffed Grouse. Its conspicuous marks are a short pointed tail, […]
There are three native wild cats in the Canadian north. One of them, the Mountain Lion or Puma, apparently has been sighted several times in the past but whether it is really here or not is still a subject for debate. The smallest of the three, the Bobcat (Lynx rufus), […]
The Bufflehead is a very small duck, with the males weighing a pound and females still smaller. Many of you hunters will know these as “butterballs.” This is because, in the fall, they store up a large amount of fat for use during the long migration south. The male bird […]
Many people have noticed an increase in the number of large, black birds on our northern lakes in the past few years. They are cormorants, or to be more precise, Double Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocrax auritus). Old-timers tell us that they used to be very numerous here years ago, and then […]
