By ANN BROKELMAN While many people have been struggling with having to stay home during the COVID-19 outbreak, and I really sympathize with those people, I’ve been able to use my birding opportunities to help me appreciate the small benefits of the quarantine. I truly hope that the sharing of my pictures and stories has […]
By ANN BROKELMAN First an update on Wol the great horned owlet: Three weeks to the day after he was put in a new laundry basket nest, Wol both branched and fledged. The roller coaster of emotions from watching this little owlet have everyone who helped feeling exhausted. On May 8 I went up to […]
By ANN BROKELMAN April 17th was a special day for Josette and her daughter, residents of Kawartha, a great excuse for me to get out of the house, and a very lucky day for a great horned owlet! Today’s story began when Josette, after having observed an owlet sitting prone on the ground near her […]
By ANN BROKELMAN This winter, and now continuing into the spring, I have discovered the joy of using trail and inside cameras. For the longest time, our dog, Rory, would be sitting on his ottoman by the front windows and would tell us, better described as ‘losing his mind while howling’, whenever we had a […]
By ANN BROKELMAN What a winter this one has been! One day it felt like -20 with the wind chill and the next I’m driving with the windows down . I’ve certainly taken advantage of the warmer days to get out more often and observe some local animals’ winter behaviour. A few weeks ago I […]
By ANN BROKELMAN What strange weather we are having. One day it is +5 and the next it’s -15! Does it do this every year, and we just forget? I can’t prove this isn’t just my biased memory, but I honestly don’t remember it changing this dramatically when I was growing up. Well, not only […]
By ANN BROKELMAN Wednesday, Nov. 27 was a cool, sunny, and beautiful day without any snow on the ground. I used the nice weather as an excuse to get outside, walk through three of my favourite places, and look for inspiration for my next article. My day started at the Rosetta McClain Garden Hawk Watch, […]
By ANN BROKELMAN In this article, I’d like to bring up the dangers of fishing line, sports netting, and other loose garbage to our local wildlife. The first question that comes up is usually: is this stuff really that dangerous/problematic? Does the media just take one or two bad pictures every year and make it […]
By ANN BROKELMAN Well, summer sure left us in a hurry this year! It was the first of October, it was cool, and the winds were blowing something fierce. As an optimist, I try to remember that, while I may not like all types of weather, there will always be an animal that will take […]
By ANN BROKELMAN This summer I became a crazy butterfly lady. After having knee surgery in July, and almost immediately getting cabin fever because of my limited walking, I decided to try raising monarch and black swallowtail butterflies. What started as, what I thought would be, a quick learning curve for a small scale science […]
