Recently, Jan and I were visited by Don McIlraith at our home in Kitchener. He presented me with one of his exquisitely crafted walking sticks. Such a gift from the PBTC is very much appreciated and quite close to my heart. The working portion of my career was in a secondary school where I had the honour of teaching fantastic young people. They, too, taught me many things. For several years, I took grade 13 biology students for a three-day, ecology-focused trip to the group c

I was recently walking through the bush with my family, when my son pointed out something odd-looking. It appeared to be a used-up tea bag that someone had flung into a shrub, where it became stuck to a branch. We took a closer look and realized it was an elongated casing made of a tightly woven, hardened organic material. We had found the cocoon of a Cecropia moth. This led to the bigger question – just where do insects go in the winter? Cecropia moths are just one of tho