Henry Miller – Tales from the Wild

What is meant by interrelationships of species? In nature, knowing animal and plant behaviour and how they interact with each other is more important than knowing the names of many species. Most of us are familiar with the predator-prey relationship, which is just the beginning of multiple connections. But we’ll […]

Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists (RRVFN) reluctantly cancelled planned activities in 2020 – 2021 because of COVID-19, but all commitments had to be met. There was the Christmas Bird Count, the Nocturnal Owl Survey, repairs and upkeep of the Cranberry Peatmoss Interpretive trail (the Bog Walk), removal of interpretive signs […]

The hole shown above was made by a sharp tailed grouse which spent the night under the snow to keep warm. Birds keep warm in many ways. They must forage all day to find enough food to keep their body temperature a few degrees warmer than the air temperature. The […]

Rick Neilson in his article in the Fort Frances Times, Nov 27, titled “Farming Practices Impacting Local Landscapes,” gives the reader some insight into what happens when forested land is cleared. Any mammals, birds, insects and other wildlife have lost their habitat. Any ecosystem that is disturbed leads to other […]

In a previous article, I had mentioned that only a few bluebirds had returned from the south this spring. Ice storms had killed the migrating bluebirds as well as most wildlife in some southern states. In addition, I had given preliminary results of our first monitoring of the birdhouses. In […]

Where are the bluebirds? Our expectations were that it would be another great year because of last year’s phenomenal success with an abundance of bluebirds nesting in our many bluebird houses. Usually by mid-May many are already nesting but sadly we saw only two nesting pairs thus far this year. […]

Sixty years ago naturalists were alarmed to see that the bluebird populations were drastically declining. Two invasive species, the house sparrows and the starlings were driving the bluebirds away and nesting in the limited numbers of natural cavities found in trees and fence posts where the bluebirds themselves liked to […]

Spring has arrived, muskrats are on the move. This muskrat was seen walking across the Nordic Ski Club parking lot on Feb. 2. Muskrats spend most of their lives in water where their waterproof fur, paddle-like hind feet and flattened, furless tail acting as a rudder, are important assets. They […]

Besides the Christmas bird count (see table for results), the Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists participate in the Nocturnal Owl Survey, which involves travelling along a pre-determined route year after year in April. The club has five routes. We begin half an hour after sunset and end at midnight, stopping […]