Peterborough Examiner – February 18, 2022 – by Drew Monkman It’s no exaggeration to say that this winter has been brutally cold. On January 29, the mercury plummeted to -34 C! While we enjoy the luxury of our cozy, heated homes, plants and animals are on their own. Surviving this kind Read more…
I was doing maintenance in the vegetable garden today and found three very large and healthy Tomato Hornworms which will soon pupate and become a Five-spotted Hawkmoth. I placed them on some tomato seedlings that came up in the compost pile as the larvae have a sweet tooth for the Read more…
I got a picture of this Giant Swallowtail butterfly today (August 1, 2016)), a species I had never seen before. So again, something unusual has popped up at Curve Lake! I did some reading and these butterflies are moving northward. Reports thus far say that they are now found at Read more…
I saw my first Giant Swallowtail of the year in the garden today, hovering around the phlox. I checked the dill plantation but there were no larvae. No Monarchs have been seen. Bill Snowden, Ennismore Note: I saw my first Giant Swallowtail today, too, just east of Havelock. Giant Swallowtails Read more…
I have not seen a Giant Swallowtail this year at all. Although I haven’t kept count of Monarchs this year, I did see my first one on May 29th – my earliest ever – and my second on June 2nd. The first was near Warsaw, and the other, near Stoney Read more…
The Kawarthas is home to at least 100 species of butterflies, 135 kinds of dragonflies and damselflies and a thousand or more different moths. Learning to identify the more common species is a great way to connect to the natural world around us and get kids interested in nature. Butterflies Read more…
Even people who don’t like winter will grudgingly admit “well, at least, there’s no bugs.” Guess again. Insects are indeed out and about in the winter woods. The good news, however, is that the species you’re most likely to encounter ‑ the minuscule snow flea ‑ has no interest in Read more…
If you think from reading the title that you are about to read an excerpt from a steamy romance novel, I am afraid you might be disappointed. If, however, you have an interest in where moths go during the cold months, then I hope you`ll find the following of interest. Read more…
As pleasant as a late summer picnic might be, there always seems to be a handful of unwanted guests. Like corn-on-the-cob, tomatoes and blueberry pie, hornets and yellowjackets are often part of a late summer outside meal. They would be little more than an annoyance if it wasn’t for the Read more…
In my last column, I began a discussion about the importance of our native bee species. It is becoming increasingly clear that native wild bees – not just Honey Bees – are vitally important pollinators for our food system and ecosystem health in general. The bad news, however, is that Read more…
One of the joys of tuning into nature is discovering the many amazing organisms that exist right under our nose and often go unnoticed until someone points them out. When it comes to flying under the radar, there are few better examples than Ontario’s native bees. Susan Chan, a pollination Read more…
Over the past couple of weeks, the milkweed plants in my perennial garden have literally bolted out of the ground. The Common Milkweeds already have flower buds, and the patch of Butterfly Milkweed is much larger than it was last year. However, as I admire these remarkable plants, I Read more…
You’ll hear hummingbirds and insects by day, owls and loons by night Click here to read column Note: The bumble bee shown in the photo is not a rare Rusty-patched Bumble Bee but rather a Tri-coloured Bumble Bee, which is a much more common species.
Plants in bloom, bird song winding down during the hottest month of the year Click here to view column NOTE: The web address for dragonfly and damselfly pictures was mistakenly omitted from the column. Go to http://www.odonatacentral.org/
Look around and you’ll find there’s no such thing as a bug-less snow season Click to view column