Monthly Archive: December 2015

If you spend much time in forested regions of Canada and parts of the US, you’ve probably heard a curious drumming sound as the winter months draw to a close: http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/OJMFAOUBDU/XC132868-JMJ-20130506-070658-0855-USA-MN-LakeBemidjiSP-RUGR.mp3   The drumming...

Small, unassuming, but not to be underestimated, the Piping Plover inhabits shores and sandbars of water bodies in the Prairies and the Atlantic coast of North America. These little shorebirds nest in the sand,...

The days immediately following birth can vary tremendously among different species. Neonates, or newborns, are born somewhere in the range of completely helpless and requiring complete care, to quite mature and able to care...

There is nothing quite like the sight of the courtship ritual of the Clark’s and the Western Grebes. The ritual involves a variety of feeding, preening, and display behaviours and ends with a mating...

Hmm, birds…milking…where’s the connection? Wait! Did you know that some birds feed milk to their young? Crop milk is a nutritious substance composed of cells sloughed from the lining of the crop. Adult birds...

Canada is home to three species of swans: the native Tundra and Trumpeter Swans and the non-native Mute Swan, introduced from Europe and Asia in the 1870s. Once endangered, Trumpeter Swan populations in Canada...

Snow Geese are one of the most abundant species of waterfowl in North America. Once protected in the early 1900s after their numbers dropped to low levels, the species had fully recovered by the...

Bird banding (or ringing) has been an important tool in monitoring wild bird populations for over a century (with reports of the practice as early as four centuries ago). Environment Canada works with the...

Many birds vacate the Canadian Prairies before the frigid winter sets in, but there are many tough little residents and winter visitors that choose to brave the cold. A short walk outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan...