Don Scallen
Don Scallen enjoys sharing his love of nature through his writing and presentations. Check out his blog "Notes from the Wild".
These Flora and Fauna Rely On Forests
Sep 18, 2020Here are six plants and animals, representative of myriad others, that depend completely on forests.
Singing Insects
Sep 8, 2020You likely won’t see many of these without a little dedicated searching.
Beetle Mania
Aug 4, 2020Four beetles among hundreds of thousands, each with a unique story to tell.
Promethea Moths
Jul 6, 2020While most moths release their pheromones after dusk, promethea moth females are an exception.
Red Foxes
Jun 16, 2020The Georgetown fox family is lucky to be living in an older section of town where yards are spacious and tree filled.
Dispatches from a Vernal Pool
May 5, 2020Vernal pools, like coral reefs, are theatres showcasing life and death struggles between prey and predators.
Flying Squirrels
Apr 7, 2020Remarkably, flying squirrels can glide up to 90 metres, though most of their aerial journeys are much shorter.
Where the Moose and the Elk Used to Roam
Mar 24, 2020Wildlife populations in Dufferin and Caledon have come and gone over the past few centuries, most dramatically since European settlement. Some species have vanished from the landscape. Others have arrived. Now things are changing again.
Otters
Mar 9, 2020The reappearance of otters in our hills is a hopeful sign that the capacity of our rivers and landscapes to support wildlife is improving.
Animal Tracks
Feb 6, 2020Tracks inscribed on snow by unseen animals offer tantalizing multilayered puzzles.
Insect Engineers
Jan 10, 2020Football-sized bald-faced hornet nests, hanging from branches, are prominent in the winter landscape.
Burls and Trees on Stilts
Dec 5, 2019The reasons burls grow on trees are still not fully understood, but infection by viruses, fungus and bacteria are likely causes.
Tree Co-operation
Nov 12, 2019The research into the co-operative nature of trees is in its infancy.
Night Creatures
Oct 8, 2019Most of the nocturnal critters my friends and I find are insects, but spiders, millipedes and amphibians also appear in our flashlight beams.
River World
Sep 16, 2019The Credit, the Humber, the Grand and the Nottawasaga rivers are home to a lively community of creatures that form a complex, interdependent web of life.
The Flight of the Mayflies
Sep 14, 2019The annual emergence of mayflies, wherever it occurs, brings predictable responses.
Amazing Beavers
Aug 6, 2019This serendipitous meeting with a near-sighted beaver was my favorite type of wildlife encounter!
Benthic Invertebrates
Jul 3, 2019The abundance of these aquatic larvae in our streams and rivers is a good thing.