Henry Miller – Tales from the Wild

Two ways to join, and newcomers welcome This year’s Christmas Bird Count will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18. The area covered is quite large, so more volunteers are needed to help spot birds. Anyone can help, even if you can’t identify birds, as you can be paired with an […]

Birding is a very popular activity. The objective is to find and record as many species of birds as possible. Some birders go to other countries to add to their list. Many visit the west end of the District, where there is a great variety of birds. I decided to […]

By the end of October, most leaves have fallen. The red, orange yellow and emerald have disappeared, leaving a dull landscape. But wait! What is that golden yellow display which has appeared among the spruce trees just north of town? It’s the tamarack (or larch) trees, whose needles have changed […]

Moose look shabby in spring because of hair loss in the winter. That’s because moose are the major host of the winter – or moose – tick. Ticks are arachnids, which wait on grasses or shrubs to latch themselves to the moose, just like wood ticks, which wait for you […]

Red foxes are common in our district, but are rarely seen, as they are shy, nervous and generally nocturnal. Recognized as being a cunning mammal, they can survive in any type of habitat. They eat whatever is available, feeding on vegetation, such as berries, grasses and corn, as well as […]

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 […]