Naturalist Miles Hearn was leading a walk this morning just down the street at Sam Smith Park. It’s not my usual day (I’m on the Wednesday schedule), but since it was so close, I decided to tag along. Winter is starting to really set in… Read More
I’ve been going on Miles Hearn’s nature walks (through the Toronto District School Board) since early spring of 2018. Today is the first of a series of winter walks. I’m excited about this since after these walks I’ll have experiences the various GTA locations through… Read More
After 3 seasons of photographing plants and wildlife with a little point and shoot camera, I’ve upgraded a wee bit to a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000, a bridge camera that gives me zoom up to 400mm. I wandered out to the Sam Smith Park this morning… Read More
I was reflecting this evening on how much I’ve learned about the natural world around me here in the Toronto area, during 3 seasons of nature walks with Miles Hearn. We started in April with the spring session, did 4 July summer walks, then a full slate of fall walks. We visited three spots close to home – Sam Smith Park, just down the street, Marie Curtis Park, and Humber Bay. We explored the top and bottom of the Scarborough Bluffs, and visited our urban national Park, Rouge National Urban Park. We walked two connected parks, Wilket Creek and Sunnybrook, visited Crother’s Woods in the Don Valley, and Cedarvale Park uptown.
We’ve observed plants in early, mid and late season, and saw both migrating and resident birds. I’m happy to have helped out with some mushroom identification, with the assistance of my brother. Miles has given us so much information on everything from bird calls to buds, it’s hard to take it all in. I don’t remember everything, but now when I walk on my own I realize just how much I’ve learned.
Next week I’m going to go on my first nature walk with the Toronto Field Naturalists group. The have an extensive schedule of walks, all of which are included in the modest cost of membership. Then in January, Miles is doing 7 winter walks, which I’ve also signed up for.
I took a lot of pictures on these walks, and in spite of not being outfitted with fancy equipment, I snapped what I consider some pretty good pictures. I took advantage of a “Black Friday” sale and ordered a new camera, a significant upgrade from the one I’ve been using. It’s a mirrorless bridge camera with a 1″ sensor and a zoom equivalent to 400mm. Hopefully it will be in next week.
Here are some highlights of 3 seasons of walks in pictures.
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place close to home at Marie Curtis Park. This is our final walk of 2018 in this series of nature walks. More walks will take place beginning in mid-January. Meanwhile I plan to do other walks on my… Read More
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn was at Scarborough Bluffs. It was a cold morning – I wore long johns and a warm coat as well as toque and mittens. As it turned out, the temperature rose a little during the walk and there was… Read More
Normally, I go on nature walks on Wednesdays, but Miles Hearn’s Friday group was going to be right here in Long Branch today, at Marie Curtis Park, so even though Mother Nature planned rain, snow and maybe even freezing rain for today, I decided to… Read More
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place at Humber Bay. It was a cool day, and though at times the sky was threatening, there was no rain. I was unable to photograph two of the highlights of this walk – a coyote and a… Read More
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place right in my neighbourhood, at Colonel Sam Smith Park. It was a drizzly morning but the temperature was moderate and comfortable. I didn’t bring my notebook and I restricted photography to those times when the rain… Read More
