My Journey to the South: The Fall Migration of a Prothonotary Warbler

by Priya Vaidya As the air starts to cool and the days become shorter, I can sense that it will soon be time to fly down south. It feels like just yesterday when I left the cozy little nest that my parents built for me and my four siblings. Our nest was in a humble wetland, north of Lake Erie. My father found a silver maple tree with the perfect little nook that was carved out by a Downy Woodpecker and started to build a nest from moss and bark. When he met my mother, she helped him turn ... Read More

by Priya Vaidya On September 26, 2021, the world celebrates World Rivers Day, which aims to raise awareness and engagement for conserving our rivers and waterways. With over 8,500 known rivers in Canada and growing, these ribbons of freshwater play a major role in our daily lives. Rivers carry freshwater from sources like rainfall or snowmelt and deliver it to larger bodies of water, like lakes. They are a source of fresh drinking water, recreation for Canadians, and they are home to a ... Read More

Ian is an Environmental Technician this summer with Watersheds Canada. He shares his experience so far in the role:   "As a student coming out of college, I am more than pleased to work with Watersheds Canada. I began my journey with Watersheds as a field-placement in my program at Sir Sandford Fleming College, which turned into a summer position. I quickly realized all my skills and knowledge I learned from the Ecosystem Management Technician program were falling into place when it ... Read More

by Nathaniel Holloway I am a second year Environmental Studies major at Carleton University who has experience volunteering—and now working—with Watersheds Canada. My volunteering experience made conservation feel more accessible than I had previously thought, while my work experience only cemented this notion. Being an Environmental Studies major, the focus of my degree is the Environment with a focus on legislation and problems facing different populations of the world. As such, I am ... Read More

by Ian Grist If you are a property owner with a river, creek, or stream nearby, you may be concerned or curious about the health and pollution levels in the water. There are ways you can find out the contaminate levels present in your water by what aquatic organisms you observe. In particular, benthic macro-invertebrates are excellent bio-indicators of freshwater health. Macro-invertebrates do not have a backbone and are visible to the naked eye. They live on the bottom of a water body, often ... Read More

by Nathaniel Holloway From the point of view of a twenty-one year old student, the future seems uncertain. While I am an optimistic person, it is hard to ignore the constant flow of warnings from scientists. These warnings make me worry for the survival of our lifestyle and—much more importantly—future generations. However, humans have historically developed technology to meet demands which were previously thought insatiable (e.g., the green revolution which attempted to intensify and perfect ... Read More

by Samantha Cunningham Celebrated across Canada each fall, Terry Fox is a national icon. During the Marathon of Hope in 1980, Fox set out to run across Canada to raise awareness and money for cancer research. This cross-Canada journey took place over 143 days, 5,373 kilometres, and 6 provinces, leading Fox to run through 75 of Canada’s 1,382 sub-watersheds. These sub-watersheds were areas of land that caught falling precipitation, facilitating their drainage into nearby streams, lakes, ... Read More

by Samantha Cunningham While we think of snakes primarily as predators, they are both predators and prey! This makes them a key component of a healthy, balanced ecosystem. These slithery serpents help keep pest populations under control by eating insects, rodents, and small mammals. They are nature's pest control and they are particularly good at protecting gardens from slugs and other nuisances! Snakes are also preyed upon by birds and larger mammals.   Fun Fact: Snakes, while ... Read More

by Nathaniel Holloway Plastic has become central to the way humans package, ship, and consume products. This includes everything from electronics, to medications, to baby toys. Plastic was—and still is in some contexts—considered a miracle product which is waterproof, hard-wearing, and easily malleable. However, we have allowed this material with a myriad of unknown adverse health effects to accumulate in Earth's oceans. While it may seem like an “out of sight, out of mind” scenario, it most ... Read More