On May 24th weekend, I picked the first huckleberries of the season while descending the stairs to town. I was supposed to be doing hill repeats but those glossy purple berries were too juicy to resist. Now, here it is the end of July and my hands are still stained from the berries I stopped … Continue reading Berry Picking
This, via my favourite reptilian correspondent, @pembyboa, the instagram alter-ego of Dr Leslie Anthony. Anthony spotted this albino banana slug in 2009 on a hike to Garibaldi Lake. He hasn't seen once since, until July 9, during Whistler's Bioblitz, (the 10th!) when participants found three albino banana slugs on two different sections of trail. What … Continue reading Sighted: Albino banana slugs!
Most of my experiences with bushwhacking (struggling through deep undergrowth) have been unpleasant at best, forays into the darkest side of my personality at worst. They were desperate attempts to navigate from one location to another brought on by a lack of knowledge of the terrain or lack of desire to take the long way … Continue reading Bushwhack
I’m not a big traveller and I’ve often wondered why. I know what I’m missing - opportunities to explore other cultures, chances to experience new climates, occasions to marvel at the creations of this world, and openings into new ways of thinking. Yet, I stay home more often than not. Saint Augustine said, “The world … Continue reading Travel Widely
Folks in the Pemberton Meadows compare notes about what’s blooming and what birds are migrating through and what creatures they might have seen. Regularly last fall, we would talk about the latest elk sighting and whose field it was in. Then I saw a porcupine -a first for me in this valley - and … Continue reading Seasonal Observations: The Lupins
For the last three months, a group of volunteers has been going out at sunset to search for Western Screech Owls. Our task was to play a recording of a Screech Owl for about a minute, then listen intently for four minutes, then repeat the sequence three times. If we heard an owl, any owl, … Continue reading Night Music
Another season of the BC-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey has wrapped up. Since 2000, Bird Studies Canada has been monitoring owl populations in British Columbia and the Yukon, contributing information to the National Nocturnal Owl Survey database. Volunteers across the country select a route in their neighbourhood and survey for owls in the spring and late … Continue reading Owl Philosophy
by Polek Rybcyznski: I had to shoot this frame of a Tulip in the garden as i had never seen a spider like this. I was amazed. It was not amazed at me, though - as as soon as i got within 2-3 feet of this spider, it would go up on its rear legs … Continue reading Photo of the Week: Polek Rybczynski meets a chameleon, the goldenrod crab spider
I actually did some work while helping with the Pemberton Wildlife Association cleanup on the Tenquille Trail but there were many sights that caused me to pause and take pictures instead. Distraction number one was a male Blue Grouse, whose loud “whoot whoot” beckoned from far away. He sat on a rock while we passed … Continue reading Tenquille Lake Tempations
An annual excursion I cherish is a visit to the Trillium woods. These glowing white wildflowers are amongst the first to bloom and yet many people fail to see them because they typically grow in shady woods, often amidst some thick Devil’s club or Stinging Nettle. Come spring, my mom and I used to walk … Continue reading Seasonal Observations: Western Trillium
The Wellness Almanac 