During one of my 90 or so nature trips to Toronto, Ontario's vast Tommy Thompson Park, I was stopped by one of two women who said "We have come to look at the monarch butterflies. Have they all gone south?" She added that it was wonderful that the park had developed totally spontaneously, that nothing was planted and that it just grew.
I replied that I had not seen many monarchs that day, but that I had just seen two red-tailed hawks. She did not seem interested in the hawks; it had to be butterflies. I later thought that if she had been spontaneous, she would have been glad to see any species which was there - that it did not have to be a particular kind at a particular time. I did not get a chance to tell her that if you go with what is, you end up seeing a lot. Each visit is a different experience, with new birds or butterflies to see or new flowers in bloom.
The hawks had been fascinating. The pair of them flew over me and circled around, with one of them in particular taking in every detail about me. They impressed me as being very aware. I had had a similar experience at the Vancouver Aquarium,when I was looking through a window at a killer whale swimming around and it came over and sized me up. It seemed to know everything about me!
Any creature which gets its food by being a predator has to be very alert and know what its prey is going to do. Another time I saw a coyote at Tommy Thompson Park and, even though it was a hot, summer day and the coyote was not moving very fast, it was looking in all directions and taking everything in. It had a sharpness about it which was far superior to any domestic dog. I realized that I had probably been observed by coyotes many times, without even knowing it, while I was looking at the birds, butterflies and flowers. They have certainly mastered the ability to observe with openness and receptivity whatever comes along, and we could learn much from them about how to enhance the richness of our own experience.
As for the monarch butterflies, there were plenty of times that I watched them too. One time, on what is called Peninsula A, I saw 14 monarchs on one Canada goldenrod plant, and lots of them on other plants too. They looked very beautiful, and they were filling up on nectar for their long trip south.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ten Ways to Be Kind to Wildlife
l) Preserve their habitat - forests, streams, wetlands etc.
2) Create new habitat for them. Plant trees and native plants. Have water for them.
3) Don't go near their nests, or they may abandon their young.
4) Use binoculars or telescopic lenses to avoid disturbing them.
5) Have a birdfeeder in the winter and keep it refilled with birdseed and regularly cleaned.
6) Help any injured birds or animals to become well again. (Learn how first.)
7) Donate money or land to charitable organizations which help wildlife.
8) Teach others, including children, to appreciate wildlife species.
9) Don't have things which could harm them, such as pesticides or large windows which birds could fly into.
10) Become politically active in protecting nature and/or join a naturalist group.
Natureontario.blogspot.com is my Earth Blogsite. You can also view my Sky Blogsite, which is astrologyinspiration.blogspot.com.
2) Create new habitat for them. Plant trees and native plants. Have water for them.
3) Don't go near their nests, or they may abandon their young.
4) Use binoculars or telescopic lenses to avoid disturbing them.
5) Have a birdfeeder in the winter and keep it refilled with birdseed and regularly cleaned.
6) Help any injured birds or animals to become well again. (Learn how first.)
7) Donate money or land to charitable organizations which help wildlife.
8) Teach others, including children, to appreciate wildlife species.
9) Don't have things which could harm them, such as pesticides or large windows which birds could fly into.
10) Become politically active in protecting nature and/or join a naturalist group.
Natureontario.blogspot.com is my Earth Blogsite. You can also view my Sky Blogsite, which is astrologyinspiration.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Nature is Ours to Protect
I once had a conversation with a very intelligent South Korean woman who was working in the local grocery store. I had told her that I had been listening to the Seoul, South Korea radio station on my short-wave radio and that I had heard a story about how the people of Seoul are doing wonderful things to re-create nature in the middle of their city. They are restoring a river which flows through the downtown and making nice parks on either side of it, as an eco-tourist attraction. I said that it would be nice if we could get the people in Toronto to do things like that too.
She replied that the reason why the South Koreans are taking care of their environment is that they feel that it is theirs to protect. They have lived there for generations. She said that the problem with Toronto is that no one feels that it is theirs to be responsible for. Everyone, of any race, is in a minority, when they compare their numbers to the total population. They are afraid that anything they do could be undone by other people.
Toronto needs to solve this problem, if our environment and, indeed, our future livelihood are to be protected. Multi-culturalism started out with the ideal that people could work together for the good of all, and that the society as a whole could benefit from the best ideas of so many different cultural backgrounds.
So, let's not stop in the middle. Let's keep affirming that nature is our collective responsibility to protect. Each individual can identify with nature and be aware of being an important part of it. All of us will benefit if we create a greener, pollution-free, more beautiful environment.
She replied that the reason why the South Koreans are taking care of their environment is that they feel that it is theirs to protect. They have lived there for generations. She said that the problem with Toronto is that no one feels that it is theirs to be responsible for. Everyone, of any race, is in a minority, when they compare their numbers to the total population. They are afraid that anything they do could be undone by other people.
Toronto needs to solve this problem, if our environment and, indeed, our future livelihood are to be protected. Multi-culturalism started out with the ideal that people could work together for the good of all, and that the society as a whole could benefit from the best ideas of so many different cultural backgrounds.
So, let's not stop in the middle. Let's keep affirming that nature is our collective responsibility to protect. Each individual can identify with nature and be aware of being an important part of it. All of us will benefit if we create a greener, pollution-free, more beautiful environment.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Naturalist R.D. Lawrence and the Wolves
One moonlit night in the early 1980s, when I lived in a farmhouse near Kirkfield, Ontario, I awoke to the psychic knowledge that there were wolves in the field out beside our house. I could tell that they were aware of our presence in the house, but that they respected that the house was our territory, and they knew that I knew that the field was part of theirs.
I had lived in an area away from most humans in my preschool years, and there had been foxes coming up near our house then. We would find their tracks and the tracks of the rabbits they were chasing in the snow the next day. As a child, I must have become psychically familiar with the foxes and, therefore, the wolves.
The next day after the wolves came, I went out and found wolf tracks in the snow. I followed them back to where they had come from, and they had entered the field through a low place under the fence and then from a bush across the road. I told some of the people around there, but they just dismissed them as being dog tracks. I still knew that they were wolves.
As it happened, shortly after that, I met the well-known Canadian nature writer and biologist, R.D. Lawrence, who had lived among wolves and written books about them, such as "In Praise of Wolves". He was then living a few miles north of us near Norland, Ontario. He told me that I was right - that there was a trail which the local wolves used and that it went right across our property!
R.D. Lawrence later got old and passed on, but he leaves a very valuable, natural legacy for Ontario: He showed by his positive example that animals can best be studied alive and free in their natural habitat, not in biology laboratories. He also bought a large property further north as a safe haven for wolves. Other naturalists have preserved it, and it is still there to this day.
I had lived in an area away from most humans in my preschool years, and there had been foxes coming up near our house then. We would find their tracks and the tracks of the rabbits they were chasing in the snow the next day. As a child, I must have become psychically familiar with the foxes and, therefore, the wolves.
The next day after the wolves came, I went out and found wolf tracks in the snow. I followed them back to where they had come from, and they had entered the field through a low place under the fence and then from a bush across the road. I told some of the people around there, but they just dismissed them as being dog tracks. I still knew that they were wolves.
As it happened, shortly after that, I met the well-known Canadian nature writer and biologist, R.D. Lawrence, who had lived among wolves and written books about them, such as "In Praise of Wolves". He was then living a few miles north of us near Norland, Ontario. He told me that I was right - that there was a trail which the local wolves used and that it went right across our property!
R.D. Lawrence later got old and passed on, but he leaves a very valuable, natural legacy for Ontario: He showed by his positive example that animals can best be studied alive and free in their natural habitat, not in biology laboratories. He also bought a large property further north as a safe haven for wolves. Other naturalists have preserved it, and it is still there to this day.
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Food Value of Pines, Maples, Beeches and Oaks for Humans
As explained in my previous blog, the original vegetation on the Oak Ridges Moraine was mainly pines, maples, beeches and oaks. Their food value for humans is described in the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants:
Pines - All species of pines are edible. The young male cones can be boiled, and the inner bark made into highly nutritious flour. The fresh needles can be used to make a tea rich in vitamins A and C.
Maples - The sap from maples can be boiled to make maple sugar. The watery sap itself is quite pure and can be used as drinking or cooking water in areas where the water supply may be contaminated. All maples make excellent syrup.
Beeches - Beechnuts have sweet kernels that are delicious roasted and eaten whole, or ground into flour. An outstanding vegetable oil can be squeezed from the crushed kernels.
Oaks - Acorns are rich in protein and fat. They need to be boiled first to get rid of the bitter-tasting tannin, but then they can be roasted and eaten as nuts. Dried and crushed acorns can be ground into meal and used to make excellent breads and muffins.
So, when trees are cut down, a valuable food source is removed, which will take years to replace. This was not thought of by either the early settlers nor the current developers. However, the sooner that more of these kinds of trees are planted, the sooner there will be a reliable food supply for the future.
Pines - All species of pines are edible. The young male cones can be boiled, and the inner bark made into highly nutritious flour. The fresh needles can be used to make a tea rich in vitamins A and C.
Maples - The sap from maples can be boiled to make maple sugar. The watery sap itself is quite pure and can be used as drinking or cooking water in areas where the water supply may be contaminated. All maples make excellent syrup.
Beeches - Beechnuts have sweet kernels that are delicious roasted and eaten whole, or ground into flour. An outstanding vegetable oil can be squeezed from the crushed kernels.
Oaks - Acorns are rich in protein and fat. They need to be boiled first to get rid of the bitter-tasting tannin, but then they can be roasted and eaten as nuts. Dried and crushed acorns can be ground into meal and used to make excellent breads and muffins.
So, when trees are cut down, a valuable food source is removed, which will take years to replace. This was not thought of by either the early settlers nor the current developers. However, the sooner that more of these kinds of trees are planted, the sooner there will be a reliable food supply for the future.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Restoring the Oak Ridges Moraine
The original vegetation of the area of the Oak Ridges Moraine was "a mixed forest of pine and hardwoods. The valuable white pine was early sought out and very few trees of any size are left in the present woodlots. Among the hardwoods, hard maple, beech, and red and white oak were the most important and a few good stands may be seen." This is according to the book "The Physiography of Southern Ontario", published by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
In my May 30 blog I reported how these trees - pine, maple, beech and oak - are among the very most important ones for creating wildlife habitat.
The destruction of trees has continued in the same way as in the early days, because of developers feeding off the human overpopulation problem. However, if there is any good news about urban sprawl, it is that most of the houses have very large yards round them. What an opportunity to plant new trees! Instead of having to spend their weekends cutting acres of grass, the owners of these new houses - rather, the entrusted stewards of the land - could create good karma for themselves by planting the kinds of trees which rightfully belong there.
Then they could enjoy observing the many species of birds and animals which these trees would attract.
In my May 30 blog I reported how these trees - pine, maple, beech and oak - are among the very most important ones for creating wildlife habitat.
The destruction of trees has continued in the same way as in the early days, because of developers feeding off the human overpopulation problem. However, if there is any good news about urban sprawl, it is that most of the houses have very large yards round them. What an opportunity to plant new trees! Instead of having to spend their weekends cutting acres of grass, the owners of these new houses - rather, the entrusted stewards of the land - could create good karma for themselves by planting the kinds of trees which rightfully belong there.
Then they could enjoy observing the many species of birds and animals which these trees would attract.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
The Grackles' Reply to the Construction Project
It was on September 15 , 2006 just after lunch that I took a walk down a Toronto residential street which had been plagued by loud construction noise from one, particular house all summer. The house was one of those oversized, bull-in-a-china-shop types which would never look right on the street anyway.
Every fall, for generations long past, a large flock of grackles have migrated south over that location and stopped to rest and eat along the way. They are a part of nature which was meant to be.
A young squirrel, whose habitat was also being disrupted, made pitiful, repeated cries of disorientation and pain at the ongoing, loud noise of the construction. The large flock of grackles perched in the tall, white oak while the construction workers sat down to eat lunch. Unexpectedly, the grackles started biting off unripe acorns and letting them fall to the ground. Most of them landed on the car below, sounding like an intense staccato of hail. Some landed on the next car too. The grackles were fighting back!
The men at first thought it was the squirrels. After a few more minutes of the grackles continuing to pound acorns on the car, the worker who owned it came over to move it. "I'll get my shotgun out after those birds!" he yelled. The grackles had successfully exposed the violence inherent in the construction activity.
The rest is up to us. The grackles have done their share.
Every fall, for generations long past, a large flock of grackles have migrated south over that location and stopped to rest and eat along the way. They are a part of nature which was meant to be.
A young squirrel, whose habitat was also being disrupted, made pitiful, repeated cries of disorientation and pain at the ongoing, loud noise of the construction. The large flock of grackles perched in the tall, white oak while the construction workers sat down to eat lunch. Unexpectedly, the grackles started biting off unripe acorns and letting them fall to the ground. Most of them landed on the car below, sounding like an intense staccato of hail. Some landed on the next car too. The grackles were fighting back!
The men at first thought it was the squirrels. After a few more minutes of the grackles continuing to pound acorns on the car, the worker who owned it came over to move it. "I'll get my shotgun out after those birds!" he yelled. The grackles had successfully exposed the violence inherent in the construction activity.
The rest is up to us. The grackles have done their share.
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