Ontario Nature Blog

This weekend, I saw a new side to nature. On Saturday, I joined the welcoming and highly knowledgeable birders of the Toronto Ornithological Club on an outing to Humber Bay and Colonel Samuel Smith Parks. There were reports of a western grebe in the vicinity, and all of us were giddy at the possible sighting, ...

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Now that February is nearly over, I have excitedly started planning for spring migration. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved winter birding, and this winter has felt particularly rich and rewarding on the life bird front. The ducks have never been more wondrous, I’m thinking of you, wood duck! And I’ve enjoyed seeing American coots, ...

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What often starts out as a lackluster birding day frequently yields amazing finds. But the best days happen when you arrive with few expectations and simply let the day unfold. I’ll never forget the day when we heard that there was a red-headed woodpecker near the Hamilton airport. I have a thing for woodpeckers and ...

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My hairdresser asked me a question this weekend. “So you see a bird”, he said, “and then what?” And it got me thinking. It may well be that there’s something inherently pointless about birding. Unlike almost everything else in my life, there’s no tangible goal when I go out birding. I see a bird, I ...

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Hello Ontario Nature readers, my name is Amirah El-Safty. Today, I’d like to talk to you a little bit about the American eel. The American eel is a freshwater species of eel,  in Canada you should be able to find them living in just about any fresh body of water, estuary or coastal marine waters ...

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