There are times when the natural world just leaves you in awe. Standing in the middle of a field with binoculars around your neck, and your mouth hanging open. Last Saturday was one of those days. The local bird alert line had mentioned the sighting of a gyrfalcon near a …
We are having the gentlest October I can remember in a long time. Sunny days hovering around 20C (70F), not a breath of wind, and lots of yellow leaves gently drifting down. The weather gods are obviously trying to apologize for the dismal drenching we got in September. When camping …
I’ve never been overly fond of yellow. After spending an inordinate amount of time looking through pictures trying to identify little yellow birds, I am even less fond of it now. The last time we were at the lake, the trees and bushes were full of bright flashes of yellow. One …
I’m pretty sure I broke a new personal record for the number of pictures taken last weekend. After record high temperatures, a cool front pushed the smoke from forest fires in British Columbia across the Rocky Mountains. A haze covered the entire province for a few days, and the sun …
This was the first lake weekend that we had rain. Sometime during Saturday night, a nice gentle rain started and clearly luled me into a great sleep, as I awoke the next morning at 11:00 am. Mind you, I had been up all hours of the previous night, putting those …
Summer has truly arrived on the prairies. Things are slowing down, the temperatures are going up, and the frenetic bird activity of the last few weeks is gone. For the next few weeks, Marsh Diaries posts will be a sporadic event, as we won’t be going to the lake every …
We do a lot of prairie driving. Even without the regular trips to the lake, we’re prone to hopping in the car and driving through the grasslands to see what’s new. When most people think of the prairies, they think of field after field of crops or rangeland. What many don’t …
Our weather has the hiccups. Last Friday was 30C (90F), the weekend was 14C (58F) and raining. Today is supposed to be 90C again. Suffice it to say, we didn’t go camping, but it was World Cup weekend anyway. Let me take this moment to say, yet again, I TOLD …
Summer birding has clearly arrived on the prairies. It’s no longer a matter of just following my ears – now I have to actively go look for the birds as the singing has decreased dramatically. Fortunately, we have a very handy little spruce tree close by. Warbling Vireo, House Wren …
