Ontario Nature Blog

If you’re fascinated by macro insect photography, you’re in for a treat. Retired nature photographer Herman Giethoorn has captured thousands of vivid images of insects and arachnids found in Ontario and beyond. Through his decades-long career, Herman’s work has been featured in books, magazines, calendars and more. Today, he’s the top contributor to our Flickr ...

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I remember the first time I saw a firefly, on a lonely Ohio road one summer night. I was about eight years old, and I’d read about them, but I never saw any where I grew up in suburban Ontario until about five years ago when I stumbled upon a cluster of them near my ...

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Imagine the roadsides of expressways being a meadow of native flowering plants instead of mown turf grass. Imagine the beauty and habitat for pollinators that this would create. The dream of the Pollinator Roadsides, a project of Waterloo Region Nature, is that this will become the normal practice. These roadside areas constitute potential important pollinator ...

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As spring unfolds and summer draws nearer, many migratory species are making their way back to Ontario. One such species is the iconic monarch butterfly. Their long journey is a multi-generational undertaking: while it typically takes only one generation to make the southward journey in fall, it takes several generations for monarchs to make their ...

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The decline of bees worldwide has been of scientific and public concern in recent years, yet their diversity in Canada is not fully understood. From drilling through wood, cutting leaves, or even mining through the ground, the behaviour of bees is incredibly varied. There are over 800 native species of bees in Canada, 400 of ...

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