Greenhouse visit

There are a TON of little things that need fixing around our property. One of those...is a greenhouse (conveniently placed in the shade).  This sucker needs a door (that is very strangly sized) and little bits of the roof are also missing.

While I was prepping our gardens earlier this week I could hear birds singing all around me. Warblers had just begun to return so Nashville, Yellow-rumped, and Black-and-White were common sounds.  I hadn't gotten my binoculars out just yet to be able to actually see up close.

Suddenly I could hear fluttering, boinking, and turned around to see a little bird fluttering about trapped inside the greenhouse! I went inside and quickly managed to catch and remove a beautiful little Black-and-White Warbler from inside the greenhouse

Black-and-white Warblers are one of my absolutely favourite birds. Exactly like their name suggests, they are black and white! They have a longer, slightly downturned bill, used to pry insects out of tree bark, and watching them you may think that they seem a bit more like a nuthatch than a warbler.  Listen for their high pitch  Zee-zoo-zee-zoo-zee or weezy-weezy-weezy song.  You may think it sounds similar to a chipping sparrow or pine warbler, but it is softer and higher pitch.

 Oh how handling a bird made me miss bird banding again!! I can't wait for the day that happens =)

Hello again!

I guess there is no better time to get back into writing and blogging than a pandemic is there?  Stuck at home, catching up on everything that you've been putting off the last while (okay...more like years), and making time for the things you loved to do before life got in the way.

It looks like it's been a solid two years or so since the last time I wrote. To say it's been hectic is a bit of a understatement!  Here's a little bit of a catch-me-up before I get back to writing a bit more semi-frequently than the last little while, I've really missed it and tampering in a bit of photography.

What happened with that ol' degree?

I successfully defended my Master's of Science at Trent University.  This looked at studying Bank Swallow habitat (both natural and human-made). One of these days I will write a little bit of a post about what I specifically was studying, the results that were found, and post some behinds the scene observations, stories, and more. 

Until then, my full thesis can be found at: http://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/objects/etd-553  (Beware...it's long!).

We also successfully published a first paper from this work in The Condor!  It can also be found here: https://academic.oup.com/condor/article-abstract/121/4/duz050/5613992

Where the heck are you?

We are still up here in good old Parry Sound, Ontario!  This past year we celebrated our anniversary by getting married (hurrah!).  It was a complete blast and we are so thankful for everyone who came out, shared in our joy, and sent us messages of love.  The day would not have been the same without them. It was outdoors, relaxed, and felt like the classy house party with a bonfire that we wanted.

We also began planting roots by buying our first home!  Not just any home....but a hobby farm. It came with some nice acreage, a small barn, fenced in run, AND... a maple shack built in 1939!! You can be sure that I'll be soon updating one of the pages to be a running bird list for our property!

There will be many stories of our expanded "zoo" too! Last year we finally answered the pleas of our cat (Bojangles) and got a puppy.  A little Bernese Mountain Dog named Juniper entered our life. She's got spunk, sass, and a whole lot of adventure in her. Their adventures can be found on twitter (@BojanglesNJune) and Instagram (@BojanglesAndJune).



















When we moved into our home we were also quite surprised to find 19 chickens still there, so I became a chicken mom! A number have died off unfortunately (due to age and some were quite sick when we arrived), but they are all not happy and healthy with some more on the way! So while this was traditionally a birding blog....we may be expanding a little bit into....shall we call it homesteading?


I am still working as a Conservation Biologist for the amazing Georgian Bay Biosphere, a local charity. I am so very lucky with being able to do some pretty amazing work, see amazing areas, study neat species, and interact with such a variety of people along the coast. Hopefully I can make the time to share some of those fun adventures too!

Hope everyone is keeping well during this time!