Maple Syrup Season

Each year, I chalk up signs of spring: the mild south winds I call ‘yearning winds,’ the arrivals of migratory songbirds, the appearance of pussy willows and snowdrops, the night chorus of...

Honeyeaters

With less than a week remaining before the vernal equinox, a late winter storm has again wreaked havoc in Nova Scotia, dumping freezing rain, ice pellets and snow during the past two days, rendering r...

Great Backyard Bird Count

In the midst of the Great White North’s shortest month, the Great Backyard Bird Count offered me a welcome reprive from February blahs. During the past four days, I spent hours scanning my yard,...

Ice Storm

This morning I ran our back road through the woods in -20°C weather, a scarf over my nose and mouth to warm my breath, the forest still and silent except for a golden-crowned kinglet’s high, sw...