When my father was up in his eighties and living in a retirement home, my brother brought him a bird-feeder and set it up outside his window for him. He knew that my father would like this because he had had a bird-feeder outside his front window at home for many years and had always loved nature.
Sure enough, cardinals and blue jays came to the feeder. Red-winged blackbirds came up from the nearby marsh. My father enjoyed watching them far more than he had a use for the colour television in his room. Everyday he put out more seeds for the birds, from a large bag of seed which my brother had brought him.
The next time I went to visit my father, there was a whole row of bird-feeders, all along that side of the building - one outside each resident's window. A new interest had been created, which kept both the seniors and the birds happy.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
How I Became Interested In Nature
Being encouraged by one's family definitely helps, and there is much that parents can do to teach their children about nature and the environment. When my great-grandparents came to Canada, they had a choice of several farms and they chose the one which was most scenic, because that was what my great-grandmother liked.
Her son (my grandfather) used to stay up late at night and read the Encyclopedia Britannicas by oil-lamp, so that he could learn about the different kinds of plants, trees, animals and birds etc. He became very knowledgeable about the subject and he got along well with the Indians, as they both shared a concern about nature. He passed on his knowledge to his son (my father) who, in turn, taught me a great deal about it.
When I was young, we still lived on the family farm and my mother used to take us on walks to the nearby lake, a pond, the woods and fields. She taught us about the different plants, birds, etc. which we saw and when we were a bit older, she taught us about gardening.
As a student, I did not have as much to do with nature but I gradually came back to it. I learned a great deal from the Conservation Authority at Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. I also joined the Toronto Field Naturalists and went on their nature walks and attended their lectures. This was a good learning opportunity as well, because the group included very knowledgeable people, some of them retired biologists.
Then I found that I could learn more about nature by going on outings by myself, because in a group there is more of a tendency to pay attention to the other members of the group than to be able to use your senses and experience nature as a deeper meditation. So, I went on quite a few outings by bicycle or on foot to various parks in Toronto.
Her son (my grandfather) used to stay up late at night and read the Encyclopedia Britannicas by oil-lamp, so that he could learn about the different kinds of plants, trees, animals and birds etc. He became very knowledgeable about the subject and he got along well with the Indians, as they both shared a concern about nature. He passed on his knowledge to his son (my father) who, in turn, taught me a great deal about it.
When I was young, we still lived on the family farm and my mother used to take us on walks to the nearby lake, a pond, the woods and fields. She taught us about the different plants, birds, etc. which we saw and when we were a bit older, she taught us about gardening.
As a student, I did not have as much to do with nature but I gradually came back to it. I learned a great deal from the Conservation Authority at Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. I also joined the Toronto Field Naturalists and went on their nature walks and attended their lectures. This was a good learning opportunity as well, because the group included very knowledgeable people, some of them retired biologists.
Then I found that I could learn more about nature by going on outings by myself, because in a group there is more of a tendency to pay attention to the other members of the group than to be able to use your senses and experience nature as a deeper meditation. So, I went on quite a few outings by bicycle or on foot to various parks in Toronto.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wildwood Parkette
Hidden away on a side-street named Wildwood Crescent, in Toronto's Gerrard and Woodbine area, is a small park along the railway track called Wildwood Parkette. Its significance is the number of wildlife species which can be found in the city, if even a small space is friendly to them.
Because the grass and wildflowers are seldom cut along the railway track, a surprising variety of plants can be observed there, and the seeds from them resut in wildflowers popping up on the park lawn. The wildflowers include milkweed, Canada goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, common sowthistle, butter-and-eggs, white sweet clover, small hop clover, white clover, red clover, tumble mustard, dandelion, pigweed, bluet, and columbine. The far side of the tracks has a beautiful, long patch of dame's rocket, and the fence on the park side has Virginia creeper.
Insects include monarch butterflies, bumblebees, cabbage white butterflies, cicadas, field crickets, and carpenter ants.
Much of the side of the park which is along the tracks has trees, both inside and outside of the railway fence. I once watched a yellow-bellied sapsucker systematically making holes in a branch of one of the Scotch pines. Another time I saw a barred owl, resting up on a tree branch during the day.
Other birds seen there include: song sparrow, junco, robin, marsh hawk, chickadee, crow, ring-billed gull, starling, pigeon, house sparrow, mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, hermit thrush, golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, yellow-shafted flicker, and tree swallow.
Railway tracks also serve as corridors along which mammals travel, most notably coyotes. One time a women living a few streets further south reported seeing a deer in her back yard, and it would have travelled along the railway tracks and then down to her garden.
Because the grass and wildflowers are seldom cut along the railway track, a surprising variety of plants can be observed there, and the seeds from them resut in wildflowers popping up on the park lawn. The wildflowers include milkweed, Canada goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, common sowthistle, butter-and-eggs, white sweet clover, small hop clover, white clover, red clover, tumble mustard, dandelion, pigweed, bluet, and columbine. The far side of the tracks has a beautiful, long patch of dame's rocket, and the fence on the park side has Virginia creeper.
Insects include monarch butterflies, bumblebees, cabbage white butterflies, cicadas, field crickets, and carpenter ants.
Much of the side of the park which is along the tracks has trees, both inside and outside of the railway fence. I once watched a yellow-bellied sapsucker systematically making holes in a branch of one of the Scotch pines. Another time I saw a barred owl, resting up on a tree branch during the day.
Other birds seen there include: song sparrow, junco, robin, marsh hawk, chickadee, crow, ring-billed gull, starling, pigeon, house sparrow, mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, hermit thrush, golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, yellow-shafted flicker, and tree swallow.
Railway tracks also serve as corridors along which mammals travel, most notably coyotes. One time a women living a few streets further south reported seeing a deer in her back yard, and it would have travelled along the railway tracks and then down to her garden.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Glen Stewart Ravine
Glen Stewart Ravine is in the Toronto Beach area, running south from Kingston Road just east of Glen Manor Drive. You go down a long flight of wooden steps and follow the trail.
Before you even get down to the woods, you have likely seen house sparrows, starlings, crows, blue jays, grackles and robins, as well as pigeons and ring-billed gulls flying overhead. At the bottom of the steps, there is a very tall tree with a hole away up high, where downy woodpeckers go in and out.
In the leaves below may be hermit thrushes, house wrens, and even a whippoorwill. Chickadees and flickers call in the background. Along the path, you may look up and see a crow's nest away up high, a nuthatch at eye level, and, in the fall, golden-crowned kinglets.
If you take the steps up to Balsam Avenue, you may see a hairy woodpecker and winter wrens. If you go straight ahead, rather than up the steps, you come to a more open area where there may be goldfinches. There are migrating warblers in spring and fall. In fact, according to a City of Toronto booklet entitled "Glen Stewart Ravine Nature Trail", up to 110 species of migrating birds may be seen in this ravine.
Foxes used to have a den in the ravine as well. One day I saw a young fox run across Southwood Drive near Glen Ames Road and go behind some houses towards the ravine.
A number of years ago, small signs on metal posts were put in front of the largest trees to number them and tell what kind of trees they were. The 12 numbered trees, starting at the southerly entrance and heading up north along the right side of the main path - the left side has a nice stream running along it - are:
Red Maple
Eastern Hemlock
Yellow Birch
Northern Red Oak
White Oak
Mountain Maple
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Black Cherry
Witch Hazel
American Beech
Sugar Maple
White Ash
If you visit this ravine, you may wish to bring a tree book with you and see how many of these trees you can find. Stay on the main trails, because erosion of the sandy soil is a problem, and the trees need the soil preserved for their roots.
Before you even get down to the woods, you have likely seen house sparrows, starlings, crows, blue jays, grackles and robins, as well as pigeons and ring-billed gulls flying overhead. At the bottom of the steps, there is a very tall tree with a hole away up high, where downy woodpeckers go in and out.
In the leaves below may be hermit thrushes, house wrens, and even a whippoorwill. Chickadees and flickers call in the background. Along the path, you may look up and see a crow's nest away up high, a nuthatch at eye level, and, in the fall, golden-crowned kinglets.
If you take the steps up to Balsam Avenue, you may see a hairy woodpecker and winter wrens. If you go straight ahead, rather than up the steps, you come to a more open area where there may be goldfinches. There are migrating warblers in spring and fall. In fact, according to a City of Toronto booklet entitled "Glen Stewart Ravine Nature Trail", up to 110 species of migrating birds may be seen in this ravine.
Foxes used to have a den in the ravine as well. One day I saw a young fox run across Southwood Drive near Glen Ames Road and go behind some houses towards the ravine.
A number of years ago, small signs on metal posts were put in front of the largest trees to number them and tell what kind of trees they were. The 12 numbered trees, starting at the southerly entrance and heading up north along the right side of the main path - the left side has a nice stream running along it - are:
Red Maple
Eastern Hemlock
Yellow Birch
Northern Red Oak
White Oak
Mountain Maple
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Black Cherry
Witch Hazel
American Beech
Sugar Maple
White Ash
If you visit this ravine, you may wish to bring a tree book with you and see how many of these trees you can find. Stay on the main trails, because erosion of the sandy soil is a problem, and the trees need the soil preserved for their roots.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
How Nature is Viewed
On the television show "The Nature of Things" on January 16, 1997, there was a discussion about how nature has been viewed in proprietary terms, rather than for its own sake. In other words, there is too much of an attitude that nature is a commodity to be used and that it is not useful unless it is destroyed. How much progress has there been since then?
There is more awareness of the need for recycling, and this is a positive step forward. However, the materials which are not recycled are still taken to places called "landfill sites", as if the land needs to be filled, rather than appreciated as it is.
There has been terrible destruction of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with governments doing little to stop the so-called construction (actually, destruction), which has threatened Toronto's future clean water supply from the kettle lakes and permanently destroyed much valuable farmland.
Lawn pesticides for cosmetic use have been banned province-wide in Ontario, and this progress. However, golf courses, which take up large areas of land, were excluded from the ban and pesticides are still used on foods which people actually eat.
Thus, although there has been some noteworthy progress - as a result of the hard work of caring naturalists - there remains a lack of right-brain awareness on the part of those who are imprisoned in the goals of money and power. Those in that category still regard nature as a commodity in the same way that they view other people as a commodity, to be used for those goals. This attitude, in turn, stems from viewing themselves as being commodities. That is, they are caught up in the misbelief that they have to impress other people to have any value themselves.
There is more awareness of the need for recycling, and this is a positive step forward. However, the materials which are not recycled are still taken to places called "landfill sites", as if the land needs to be filled, rather than appreciated as it is.
There has been terrible destruction of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with governments doing little to stop the so-called construction (actually, destruction), which has threatened Toronto's future clean water supply from the kettle lakes and permanently destroyed much valuable farmland.
Lawn pesticides for cosmetic use have been banned province-wide in Ontario, and this progress. However, golf courses, which take up large areas of land, were excluded from the ban and pesticides are still used on foods which people actually eat.
Thus, although there has been some noteworthy progress - as a result of the hard work of caring naturalists - there remains a lack of right-brain awareness on the part of those who are imprisoned in the goals of money and power. Those in that category still regard nature as a commodity in the same way that they view other people as a commodity, to be used for those goals. This attitude, in turn, stems from viewing themselves as being commodities. That is, they are caught up in the misbelief that they have to impress other people to have any value themselves.
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