Al Lowe - Nature Science and You

These are the days when the woods, the fields, and the gardens are just starting to show the promise of things to come.
Around the houses, tulips and daffodils are out. And everywhere, the trees are budding and the grass is starting to turn green again.
Out in the woods, the same thing is going on. Instead of showy tulips, however, we have some fragile and delicate spring blossoms.

Most of us are accustomed to think of owls as large birds, hunting in the fields or the forest.
But there are little ones, too, and some are very small, indeed.
The first one is the Boreal Owl, which is just about the same size as a robin. It doesn’t have any ear tufts, so it shouldn’t be confused with another small owl, the Screech Owl.

When the white man first explored North America, he found three types of wolves—the timber wolf, the red wolf, and the coyote.
The coyote originally populated mostly the Prairie regions.
When settlement began, the settlers started a war on wolves of all kinds as wolves kill sheep, calves, poultry—even full-grown cattle sometimes.

There are two species of cuckoo in Ontario—Black-billed and Yellow-billed.
Casual observation shows that they are very much alike, however, since the Yellow-billed is nowhere near most of Northern Ontario, you don’t have to worry about mixing them up.

Recognize the name? Maybe not.
Try Poplar, Trembling Aspen, Popple, Asp, and White Poplar. These are all common names for the same tree.
The scientific name (Populus tremuloides) is the same all over the world.
This poplar is one of four which can be found in Northern Ontario. Some of the others are scarce, but this one certainly is not.

Our calendar has been in effect for thousands of years, right?
Wrong! The calendar we use today only has been in use for about 250 years.
Almost all civilizations of ancient times used “natural” divisions of time. There are three of them.

In the fall, the annual cycle of the seasons turns once more. And one of the great phenomena of this season is the migration of the birds.
Stand on the shore of one of our northern lakes some quiet evening. You will hear hundreds of tiny chirps above you as vast flights of small birds, sparrows, warblers, and the like move towards the south.

Here we are in the autumn of the year again. And that means, among other things, pumpkins.
Pumpkin faces—either real or cardboard—spring up all over the place in late October. Along with witches, goblins, and ghosts, the pumpkin has come to be a symbol of Hallowe’en.

The Golden Eagle is a truly majestic bird—one which you may never see, or maybe only once or twice in your lifetime.
It is found in almost all parts of Canada, from B.C. to Newfoundland.
With an overall length of three feet or so, and a wingspan up to perhaps eight feet, this is our largest bird of prey.

Probably a great many of you have never ever seen a shrew. First, they are very small. Second, when you go tramping through the woods, your footsteps sound like explosions to these tiny animals, so they wisely stay put.