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Don Scallen

Don Scallen is the author of Nature Where We Live: Activities to Engage Your Inner Scientist from Pond Dipping to Animal Tracking and Spotted Salamanders and Their World, and the monthly blog "Notes from the Wild."

Red-tailed Hawk

A red-tailed hawk’s vision can be 10 times more acute than ours.

Dec 23, 2015

Camouflage and the Vision of Birds

How good is your eye? Take our camouflage challenge and test your knowledge.

Nov 25, 2015

Talking Turkey

Turkeys – especially rival tom turkeys can be highly entertaining to watch at this time of year.

Nov 4, 2015

Goldenrod and Asters

Asters and goldenrods are tremendously important wildlife plants.

Oct 12, 2015

Honeybees

We need to learn more about honeybees and other pollinators so we can contribute intelligently to the conversation about their health and well-being.

Sep 16, 2015

The Beautiful and Damned – Dying Trees

Ash is doomed. Beech and butternut hover on the brink.

Sep 11, 2015

Hummingbirds

The migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds to and from the tropics puzzled early birdwatchers.

Aug 12, 2015

Butterflies

Butterflies are some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures on earth and can be easily attracted to your garden.

Jul 8, 2015

Treefrog Blog

Treefrogs have adhesive disks on the tips of their fingers that allow them to climb trees.

Jun 3, 2015

Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp

These aquatic shrimp fairies are aptly named, for they are tiny, gossamer creatures.

May 5, 2015

Green Herons

Humans and other animals – not so different. Green herons will sometimes use leaves and other objects to lure fish within striking distance of their rapier-like beaks.

Apr 7, 2015

Bobolinks and Meadowlarks in Search of Some Breeding Space

Long a familiar sight in southern Ontario farm fields, these grassland birds are disappearing. So conservationists and others are joining forces to find practical ways 
to reverse the decline.

Mar 23, 2015

Bur Oaks

Why do so many sentinel bur oaks grace farm fields in Caledon and other parts of southern Ontario?

Mar 6, 2015

Avian immigrants and bird-feeding

Bird feeding has been largely responsible for the expansion of cardinals and mourning doves into Ontario.

Feb 9, 2015

House Sparrows

House sparrows may now be the most abundant and widespread bird on Earth, occupying every continent except Antarctica.

Jan 12, 2015

Beech Trees

Beech trees are being destroyed at heartbreaking speed by an introduced pathogen called beech bark disease.

Dec 10, 2014

The Once and Future Great Lakes Country

History from the Ground Up

Nov 17, 2014

Where the Wild Things Are

Where brook trout flourish, expect other exquisite wild things.

Nov 8, 2014