© Lora Denis
Imagine you are relaxing in your beautiful garden, enjoying the natural beauty, the sounds, the colors, the scents. Now imagine you could do all of this and contribute to the protection of native biodiversity at the same time. You can make this happen by adding native plants to your garden.
There are 1,000s of wild pollinators in Ontario. Bees and flies are most significant, but butterflies, beetles, wasps, ants, moths and hummingbirds also pollinate plants. It is important to keep this in mind when reading about pollinator decline, which has been a hot news topic for many years.
Great spangled fritillary butterfly © Noah Cole
Ontario Nature’s 24 nature reserves are teeming with life. Along with the many common species, about one-fifth of Ontario’s more than 200 species at risk are found on the reserves. This past spring and summer, I visited a few of the reserves and saw songbirds, butterflies, wildflowers, dragonflies, and many other plants and animals. Here ...
Monarch butterflies on New England aster © Shutterstock
Every once in a while when I am walking through Thickson’s Woods in Whitby, I catch a glimpse of gold dancing over the meadow. Tragically, these magical encounters are becoming uncommon. The dramatic population decline of monarchs is of concern to scientists and naturalists, and of interest to the media.
Crocuses are finally poking up through their winter hiding places. Ontarians can rejoice: spring is here and summer is right around the corner. Soon the air will fill with the humming and fluttering of pollinators including bees, butterflies and birds.
Sign the declaration to show you care about protected places and ask the governments of Ontario and Canada to meet the commitment to protect at least 17 percent of lands and inland waters by 2020.
Quetico Provincial Park © Noah Cole