All My Blogs

The new bird book I got on the left and my trusty one I use locally. We are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks, down the West Coast to the Panama Canal and up to Fort Lauderdale.  There, we disembark and fly home.  The three week trip includes stops in Mexico and Central America.  And so I thought I would bring along a bird book covering the area.  I was surprised by what I got. The first thing I noticed was the size of the book, about three times the weight of my field guide.  I can't call the new one a field guide unless I happened to have a sherpa with me, as it's not what I would call a convenient pocket size.  When I opened it up, I got another surprise.  There are a lot of bird species south of the US.  Many more than we have here in Canada. Looking at the hummingbirds alone, I found that all of North America (not including Mexico) has about 14 species.  Mexico and Central America have closer to 60 species.  To give you an idea...

Killdeer I photographed in Esquimalt Lagoon, 2025 Canadian winters are not for the faint of heart.  Many of us northern folk head south to warmer latitudes, which used to be the United States, but it seems that the killdeer had the right idea all along; skip the US and head further south to Mexico or Central America.  I noticed some migrate to the tip of Florida and stay there, believing that the end of the road has come.  They could be forgiven for not realizing that, should they proceed further south, another landmass awaits. Killdeer range map, from the website Allaboutbirds.org Migrating means flying long distances with few breaks and being exposed to more risk.  Natural threats include harsh weather, predators, exhaustion, and getting lost where no water or food is available.  Add to that all the human vectors of death, such as cruise ships, wind turbines, city lights, tall buildings, and all the chemical threats that exist, and you have a true obstacle cou...

A walking stick, belonging to the order Phasmatodea, photographed at Victory Butterfly Gardens. When I was a boy growing up in Ontario, I spent a lot of time outdoors.  It's where my love of animals and invertebrates began. Sometimes I would find walking sticks.  They were not very large, less than four inches, which is negligible when it comes to walking sticks (see image here ).  The record holder is from China at a whopping 30 inches ( see video here ). I love the Pixar movie A Bug's Life , as there are a lot of insect puns.  Some of the best ones are about the walking stick.  If you want a chuckle, click here to see an excerpt. We had a terrarium at school with a population of walking sticks indigenous to India, but we were told to get rid of them as they represented a dangerous invasive threat should they escape.  Given the fact that a single female can, without a male present, lay eggs parthenogenetically, even a single escapee could represent a...

Time to paint the fascia, windows, and even the basketball backboard. I don't mind heights, but my 24 foot ladder was feeling a little shaky when I climbed to the top of the roofline.  So, if I was going to paint the fascia, I was going to do it safely, which meant renting scaffolding. I have used scaffolding before, but always with someone's help.  I was on my own.  Yesterday I went to the equipment rental place and grabbed enough of it to do the job.  Putting it together was a little hard, but nothing I couldn't manage.  I can also climb it, although I find that my body can't move around scaffolding the way it used to. I am slower, have tender spots where weight-bearing is a bad idea, and don't have the range of motion or strength of a guy in his 30s.  And yet I seem to be making progress. The good news is that I should be done in a few days.  My goal is to get one section done each day; there are 5 sections in all.  I use a wire brush and sande...

  Our dog, Murphy, dressed to kill, in a tux. Admit it, you've probably done it, or wished you had.  Dressing your dog up.  There's an entire industry geared to this exact purpose.  Halloween, of course, is standard, but then there are special events (weddings), important holidays (Christmas), and just because.   A lot of dogs wear bandanas.  You know, kerchiefs - those triangular fabric pieces that are wrapped around a dog's neck.  Then there is the clothing with a purpose - rain gear, cold weather gear, and even little booties to keep our precious pets' feet dry and safe.  You can even get cooling vests and anxiety jackets for dogs that need them. Of course, there is bling too.  Yes, bling.  Why wear an ordinary collar when a special, sparkly stud-infused harness could be flaunted?  Attached to these showy pieces may be fancy name tags, lights, or even location devices.  The collar has become a canine charm bracelet. Not...

American robin photographed with my iPhone - cropped and sharpened. I wish I had my camera and long lens with me.  I knew something was going on with the robin right away.  It was at least 30 feet away, could fly, and seemed to be foraging in the usual way.  But when it turned its head, there was a pinkish mass surrounding the eye.  I had never seen anything like it. The lack of detail hasn't helped, but it has at least provided evidence that something was wrong.  I looked up what it could be.  The most prominent theory was avian pox, although other possibilities included mites, finch eye disease, and cancer.  Of the four, avian pox was most likely the culprit, although most of the images from the search I did were different.  Below, I have included similar images I have found. An image search turned up these birds with avian pox. Avian pox is a viral disease that affects only birds.  There seem to be two types: a wet variety and a dry variet...