Hey! Nature!

I'm an ecologist and an amateur photographer and I like nature. Expect lots of birds and fun facts!

[hey-there-nature]

Happy Pride!!

It’s Pride weekend in Toronto! Here’s a nature rainbow to celebrate! Species and info links under the cut.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Keep reading

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Happy Earth Day!

It’s impossible to avoid hearing about all the issues facing our planet these days - climate change, deforestation, pollution, certain government administrations.... 

Wouldn’t it feel great to take even a small action against those threats? Today’s a great day to make an actual, tangible contribution to protect the planet from these threats! I’ve listed some fantastic environmental organizations below. If you have anything to spare - even just $5! - just click one of the links below to donate: 

A personal favourite of mine, the Vancouver Aquarium’s Killer Whale Adoption Program, which funds ongoing research on an exceptionally well-known wild killer whale population. You can donate small amounts or, if you can swing it, symbolically adopt a wild whale. 

For Canada:

CPAWS, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, is dedicated to preserving large natural areas. 

Nature Conservancy Canada protects vulnerable species & focuses on preserving natural environments. 

For the USA:

The National Resources Defense Council does excellent work protecting environmental resources, particularly through legal avenues. 

The Environmental Defense Fund also does excellent work protecting natural habitats and working on environmental policy. 

The National Audubon Society is matching Earth Day donations so your $5 will double in value! Their work funds research and conservation strategies, primarily focused on birds. (Looks like only Americans can donate though!) 

If donating isn’t feasible today, why not look up a local initiative in your community? Every community has some kind of environmental volunteer opportunities - shoreline clean-ups, park clean-ups, recycling days, and more! 

Happy Earth Day!

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Great Blue Herons are some of the most magnificent birds you can see in urban parks. They can be over four feet tall and their wingspan stretches up to six feet across! They’re one of those species where you can really see the dinosaur heritage of birds. 

The coolest thing about GBHs is their hunting! Normally, you see these guys standing stock still, or maybe moving in slooooooow motion. But every once in a while, they suddenly strike at top speed to spear fish, frogs or anything else that gets in their way! You can see the video above for several examples of their sudden hunting strikes.

So how do they accomplish these high-speed catches? The secret’s in that amazing neck!

These birds have specialized neck vertebrae which allow them to coil their neck into an S-shape, when they’re flying or standing at rest. This same adaptation allows them to extend their neck and strike at prey with incredible speed. They can also hunt day or night, due to specially adapted eyes. Basically, if you’re a fish, these guys are pretty much your worst nightmare. But if you’re a birder they’re pretty great!

Learn more about GBH’s here!

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Charles River

Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

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Here’s a fascinating ocean giant! Mola molas are occasional guest stars of whale watches all over the world, and they don’t get nearly enough love!

Mola molas, or ocean sunfish, are the world’s heaviest bony fish. The heaviest individual on record weighed over 5,000 pounds! For perspective, that’s heavier than your average car. Also heavier than a black rhinoceros! They can also grow up to 10 feet tall, although the average is about 7 feet. 

It’s usually tough to appreciate the wonders of the fish world from a boat, but mola molas have the delightful habit of sunbathing at the surface for everyone to see. You can often spot them waving their dorsal fins in the air (see photo below). 

They lie on their sides while sunbathing, which has the side effect of making them look, um, dead. Every single time I’ve seen a mola mola, at least one fellow passenger has announced that it’s dead. They’re not dead! They’re just warming up, probably because they dive up to 40 times a day, often down to depths of 500+ feet below the surface! (That’s about the height of a 50-story building!) 

Despite their extreme coolness, mola molas aren’t actually very well known. A handful of intrepid researchers are now tagging them to try and discover more about their giant fishy lives. Here’s a cool article about recent research developments, and you can read more at this researcher’s website!

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola)

Farallon Islands & Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

California & Massachusetts 

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Ecologist? Nature lover? Amateur photographer? Birds? This blog is perfect. 10/10 would recommend.

Oh my goodness what a nice message! Thank you!! :D 

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It’s National Bird Day!

To celebrate, here’s one of my all-time favourite birds - the Northern Gannet! They’re magnificent seabirds, with a wingspan of up to 6 feet across and stunning black and white markings. That size can be pretty striking in comparison with other seabirds along the Atlantic coast. Here’s a juvenile Gannet and a Black-Legged Kittiwake, which looks tiny in comparison!

Gannets can take four years to develop their full adult privilege, so you often see the darker, mottled-looking juveniles like the one above. 

The coolest thing about gannets by far is their hunting method. These amazing hunters dive straight into the water like living missiles. They dive so powerfully that they can reach up to 72 feet under the surface! They feed mostly on small schooling fish like herring and sand lance. 

The Smithsonian has an incredible video of a large flock of gannets doing their missile dives into the water - check it out! 

And click here to learn more about gannets!

Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Off Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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Happy New Year, Tumblr! 

There’s over 2000 followers for this blog now, which is pretty exciting - who knows how many of those are just bots, but to all the folks who are following for photos and nature facts, thanks a bunch! Hope everyone has a nature-filled 2017!

Here are ten of my favourite sightings from 2016. I’ve had a very ocean-centric year! See below the cut for species names & fact links!

Top to bottom:

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Lunge-feeding in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) 

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, USA

Black-Footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes)

Monterey Bay off Monterey, California, USA 

Great Shearwater (Ardenna gravis) 

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

Nojoqui Falls, Goleta, California, USA 

Northern Elephant Seals, males (Mirounga angustirostris) 

Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, San Simeon, California, USA 

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) 

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus)

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)

Monterey Bay off Monterey, California, USA

Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

[hey-there-nature]

It’s the end of 2016, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve found it to be a pretty lousy year. So here are a bunch of humpback whales waving goodbye to 2016 for good!

Humpback whales have individually unique tail markings, which allows biologists (and whale-watching companies!) to identify individual whales in studied populations. The tails can be distinguished by the amount of white, the various scars and variation in bumps and notches along the trailing ridge of the tail. 

There are five different whales in this post, and you can tell the middle three apart by their tail markings! (The first photo is of the dorsal side of the tail, so the markings aren’t visible) 

Hope you all have a great New Year’s Eve!

Learn more about humpback photo-identification here! 

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off Boston, USA

Monterey Bay, California, USA 

[hey-there-nature]

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and get to enjoy some nature over the holidays! I dropped off some seed for our local wintering birds this week - it’s been a cold, snowy December and they definitely appreciate it. See below the cut for species & info links!

Happy holidays!

Top to bottom:

White-Breasted Nuthatch, female (Sitta carolinensis) - read for more info 

Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - read for more info 

Northern Cardinal, male (Cardinalis cardinalis) - read for more info 

Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - read for more info 

Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) - read for more info 

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I went on a very foggy, windy, rough seas whale-watch in New York a few months ago, and it was a complete bust for whales (it happens!). But we did find one of my favourite birds - a Common Loon!

Our boat appearing out of the fog startled this loon, who promptly took off. But as these photos show, taking off isn’t that simple for these birds. Loons are exceptionally well designed for their deep diving lifestyle. They have solid, heavier bones compared to other birds, and they can dive quickly and deeply to hunt fish. 

But the trade off is that it takes a lot more effort to get off the water. They “run” into the wind to get extra help with their lift-off, but if there isn’t a strong wind, they may need to flap for several hundred meters before they can actually get into the air!

Learn more about Common Loons here!

Common Loon (Gavia immer)

Rockaway, Queens

New York, USA 

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Look at this little guy go!

Chipmunks spend most of their lives on the ground, or underground. Unlike squirrels, it’s rare to see them up in a tree, climbing around to find food like this.

If you’re ever going to see a chipmunk foraging above ground, however, autumn is the right time of year. Right now, chipmunks are building up large food storages in their underground burrows so that they have a supply ready for the winter. Unlike other hibernating animals, they live off these food caches instead of stored body fat, and as a result they have to wake up frequently in order to snack!

Learn more about eastern chipmunks here!

Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus)

Charles River 

Watertown, Massachusetts, USA 

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Look at these beauties!

Common mergansers are large, stunning ducks that can be found around Ontario throughout summer and, depending on where you are, throughout the year. 

During breeding season, they pair up, one black and white male to one brown and grey female. The species is generally monogamous, which means the pairs stick together and don’t court other individuals. Their partnership doesn’t extend to parenthood though - once the female lays her eggs, the males abandon the nest and gather with other males to moult their breeding plumage.

 Females raise the ducklings for a few weeks, but they too abandon their offspring before they’re able to fly, leaving the kids to figure out the rest on their own. Sounds harsh, but it’s just another parenting strategy in nature - and it’s worked out pretty well for them, since they can be found across North America!

Learn more about Common Mergansers here!

Common Merganser (male & female) (Mergus merganser)

St Joseph’s Island, Ontario, Canada

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Bringing home the bacon! A mockingbird parent (top photo) brings a tasty insect snack delivery to a nestling (bottom photo).

Both male and female mockingbirds care for their offspring, and both parents fiercely defend their nests. This is not surprising, however, because mockingbirds also fiercely defend territories even when they don’t have nests. In fact, mockingbirds are just fierce all the time. Both males and females sing (often mimicking other birds and learning up to 200 types of calls!). They sing all day, and often all night. They will chase off any intruders into their territory, and this includes other bird species, dogs, cats, and people. Basically, don’t mess with a mockingbird.

Learn more about mockingbirds here!

Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Loblaws parking lot (the height of wilderness)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Monarch butterflies are probably the most famous butterflies in North America, and for good reason! These incredible little insects make a 5,000 km migration from the USA and Canada down to Mexico. Due to their short lifespans, the migration can not be completed in one generation, and the mystery of how the next generation figures out where to go has captivated researchers for years. A prominent theory is that the butterflies leave chemical trails for their descendants - but this might be a problem if their population continues to decline, and there are not enough butterflies to leave the trail.

Monarchs face three big threats: illegal logging of their winter habitat, a decline in milkweed plants that they need on their migration routes, and climate change. Thanks to their popularity, all three countries have taken positive steps to try and conserve the butterfly. In the US, the government has already planted about 100,000 hectares of milkweed and the Mexican government has taken numerous steps to try and protect their wintering grounds from illegal logging (with variable success). This cooperation is really important for migrating species!

But monarchs faced a huge set-back this year when a winter storm slammed into their Mexican wintering grounds. In March, snow and sleet swept through the area and wiped out a substantial section of the population. Some estimates say that up to 50% of the population may have been killed, although these estimates were complicated by the fact that migration had already begun, and the actual percentage could be as low as  3%. We’ll have a better idea of the damage later in the summer, as monarchs arrive up north. For now, keep an eye out for those orange and black wings - and get some milkweed planted in your neighbourhood!

Learn more about monarchs here!

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Museum of Natural History (gardens)

Los Angeles, California, USA

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These guys are my favourite gulls!

Gulls (the birds commonly known as “seagulls” although saying the word seagull will probably make snooty birders turn up their nose at you) are notoriously difficult to ID. This is because almost all gulls look the same. The two that stand out are the Laughing Gull with their distinct black heads, and these guys, Heermann’s Gull, and for that entirely shallow reason those two are my favourites. Also, look at that adorable red beak. So bright!

Heermann’s Gulls are easy to pick out of a crowd of typical gulls, thanks to their sooty, grey bodies and that brilliant red/orange clown bill. They aren’t as tiny as they look in this photo (those are Western Gulls in the background, and they’re huge), but they’re not especially big as far as gulls go. 

These guys are notorious food thieves! They are especially known for stealing food from Brown Pelicans, and are often seen dive-bombing pelicans as they hunt, and snatching fish right out of their mouths. Not the most high-brow of food strategies, but pretty impressive nonetheless!

Almost all Heermann’s Gulls breed in the same place: 90-95% of the population will breed every year on Isla Raza in the Gulf of Mexico. This makes them vulnerable! Historically, fishermen and egg collectors would go to the island and collect eggs (up to 50,000 in one breeding season!) and in the face of that and other threats, the gulls were reduced to about 50,000 pairs. In 1964, the Mexican government established a seabird sanctuary on the island, and the population is now at about 150,000 pairs! While they are still facing threats from invasive rats and pesticide contaminants, they are in much better shape than they were a few decades ago. Hurray for conservation!

Learn more about Heermann’s Gulls here!

Heermann’s Gull (Larus heermanni)

Long Beach Pier

Los Angeles, California, USA 

[hey-there-nature]

There are House Finches all over campus!

House Finches are not native to eastern North America, but they have one of my favourite “origin” stories of all our invasive birds.

Originally, House Finches were only found in Mexico and the American southwest. In the early 1900s, someone had the bright idea to keep them as pets, because they’re pretty and they have a lovely song. “House Finch” doesn’t really sound that interesting, so the pet stores gave them a much more glamorous name: the Hollywood Finch!

Hollywood Finches were sold in pet stores all over the place, eventually making their way into New York stores. In the 1940s, however, authorities started enforcing regulations that outlawed the selling of wild birds. The New York pet stores panicked, and released all their birds (way to go, guys).

The finches, it turned out, did just fine in New York. In fact, they thrived, and they spread out across North America at an incredible rate. Within about 50 years, they had spread all over the continent. Now, there are over 250 million House Finches, and we get them all the way up here in Canada. Pretty impressive for a bird that weighs less than 30 g!

Learn more about House Finches here!

House Finch (male) (Haemorhous mexicanus)

University of Toronto - St. George campus

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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It’s the cutest time of year in our neighbourhood - baby raccoon season!

Almost every year, a mother raccoon raises her little ones in the space between our building and the next. Raccoons can be destructive and come into conflict with people, but we’ve never had a real problem with this family so we get to just enjoy watching the kids’ antics.

Raccoons can have up to seven pups (this mom has five!) and like most mammals, all parental care is provided by the mother. The mother will nurse her pups for several months, and the family will typically stay together as a group until the next litter is born. 

It makes sense for the kids to stay with mom for a decent amount of time. There’s a lot to learn if you’re a little raccoon, especially in a city! Raccoons have adapted phenomenally to city life, and there is increasing evidence that populations in urban areas are better at problem-solving and, in the simplest terms, smarter than rural raccoons. This makes sense! If you’re a raccoon in the city, you can’t just rely on wild instincts to survive. If you’re smart enough to figure out how to cross the street, how to open garbage containers, how to get into a dumpster, then you’re more likely to survive and have kids. As a result, city populations select for raccoons with more brain power. 

Here’s mom, watching and probably learning as we speak! I call her Matilda.

These kids will stay with mom for the rest of the summer, learning everything about how to navigate a city. They have already started with the crucial lessons on How to Eat the Humans’ Decorative Plants and How to Knock Over Birdbaths Every Night. They’re off to a good start!

Learn more about urban raccoons here!

Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada