A number of years ago I happened to be driving through Hay River, NWT . It was noon, so I grabbed a sandwich at a local coffee shop and sat myself down on a park bench to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Within minutes, five or six Common Ravens had gathered around me in a perfect semicircle and fixed me wi...

Lately I’ve been watching young Robins Grackles and Blackbirds harass their parents for food, and their constant squawking reminded me of the various parenting strategies, phenomenons and conflicts that animals find themselves in as they raise their offspring. Blinded by the plight It was a hot, sum...

“Hey Mark, check out these little loons!” Garth, a Parks Canada resource conservation staffer, had just walked into my office. On his camera were photos of a couple of small, black, fuzzy loon babies. Rescuing injured, lost or otherwise needy birds was not all that unusual for Parks staff, but the l...

“Hold on!” the pilot yelled. We had been surveying arctic caribou from a Dehavilland Beaver (often referred to as the best bush plane ever built). This particular aircraft’s “tundra tires” allowed its pilot to land just about anywhere, but our makeshift landing strip would be a real test. The ridget...

My watch claimed it was morning, but as I walked towards my snowmobile it was still dark. The snow crunched loudly beneath my boots, as it does when the thermometer dips below -30℃, and when I drew breath, I could feel the crispness of the frigid air as it entered my lungs. I swung my arms in a vain...