This past maple season, I got the chance to work at the Fundy Maple sugar shack—a mesmerizing experience. Every year, I’d heard stories of the magic of sugar harvest season. In 2025, the season was short, but sweet. Even then, I enjoyed it! This installment of NB Fieldnotes focuses on the joys and challenges of maple season – our “Fifth Season” just before the real spring.
Since I have started to be more serious in learning about birds, waterfowl have always intimidated me a bit. So many ducks to learn, so little time, I thought! Until I realized I have the rest of my life to learn about them. So I travelled to Saint John to learn more about waterbird surveys, by tagging along with my colleague Lauren.
In this blog post, Samuel walks us through the role marram grass plays in coastal ecosystems and highlights efforts to protect and restore this important plant. You’ll also find actionable tips on how to share space with marram grass during your next trip to the beach. Let’s tread carefully into the story of marram grass—the unsung hero holding our dunes together.
Letters were sent out this fall for the Seed Sitters Club, containing the seeds of five species for this year. Then Samuel donated 24 species to the Club, from the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library. Whether you were part of this first batch of “Seed Sitters” or not, now is a great time to start your planting for the winter! Our Communications Coordinator Samuel LeGresley, who conducted a webinar this fall (in French) on winter sowing, is excited for the sowing season. He talks to us about his current projects with the Club, and for the near future.
This summer, as I was taking a break from this blog and keeping up with the busy season, I had the chance to meet some very interesting insect-eaters. Thanks to Birds Canada’s survey programs, I was able to contribute meaningfully to the conservation efforts for those species, even though the survey I did myself ended up with a total of zero sightings. Read on to learn more about my adventures (sorted by survey) and what you can do to help!
If you were around eastern New Brunswick’s beaches in the 2000s, you might have noticed many of these strange, black, four-pointed “cases”, known colloquially as mermaid’s purses. These purses are in fact the discarded egg cases of the various Skates in the surrounding seas.
Reflections on the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse cast its shadow on North America, with millions of people captivated by this rare spectacle. This event proved to not only be remarkable because it was a rare celestial event, but also because of how it brought people together and inspired so many …
Maple trees are flowing with sugar and Bumblebee queens will soon come out of their long hibernation. But prepare to be amazed, as something remarkable is happening: nothing less than the beauty of spring in the woods! Learn how to profit fully from this period by reading this third installment of our NB Fieldnotes series.
Life is full of traditions, big and small. Some revolve around holidays, others are daily rituals, while some follow the seasons. Since I was a kid, camping has been a personal tradition of mine, with each trip bringing about its own stories, experiences in nature, and, of course, weather.
Maybe you haven’t heard, but as each year comes to a close, numerous bird enthusiasts throughout the continent eagerly anticipate the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with a fervour that rivals their excitement for the holiday season. While this might appear unusual to some, the act of counting birds plays a crucial role in monitoring the (unfortunately, largely declining) bird populations. This tradition has persisted for an impressive 124 years!
