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Head in the Clouds!

Have you ever looked up and been amazed by the fluffy, floating formations in the sky? Welcome to the wonderful world of clouds! Clouds are forever changing formations that marvel

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The Quartz Reports

A Rock of Many Colours This blog will dive into the wonderful world of quartz, a fascinating mineral that comes in a variety of colours. Get ready to travel through

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The Secrets of Fall Colours

Have you ever wondered why some trees lose their leaves in the fall while others don’t? Well, there are two main types of trees in nature: Coniferous and Deciduous. Coniferous

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Wonderful Warblers!

 Exploring the Unique World of Georgian Bay’s littlest cottager, the Prairie Warbler! Have you heard this distinct melody while exploring the eastern Georgian Bay coastline? Listen to this bird call!

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Good Things About Wildfires

Wildfires can be a scary thing. It’s a heavy subject, as wildfires can be powerful and devastating to land, animals, and people alike. We’ve all seen the smoke from the

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Fossils: a blast from the past!

What are fossils?  The first thing that comes to mind when we hear fossils is dinosaur bones! But, fossils can teach us about any living thing – or organism from

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Salamanders on the Move!

There’s something slimy crawling around these parts at night. Something with beady little eyes and a long, smooth tail, and it’s creeping through the forest on four stubby legs. It

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Let’s Get Cracking! A Quick Egg Read

Many animal species spend the first part of their lives developing in eggs, including birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Over time, species adapted to lay eggs or give live

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Mudpuppy: Mom Can We Keep it?

Mudpuppies are special salamanders that live under rocks in the Georgian Bay and other parts of Ontario. They are the only completely aquatic salamanders in Canada!  How to Identify a

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Animal Talk: Can You Hear Me Now?

If you look or listen carefully, you will be overwhelmed by the constant and various ways animals communicate with each other. They regularly convey messages like “there is danger nearby”, 

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Animal Talk: Can You Hear Me Now?

If you look or listen carefully, you will be overwhelmed by the constant and various ways animals communicate with each other. They regularly convey messages like “there is danger nearby”, 

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The Songbird of Winter: Black-Capped Chickadee

Whether or not you know it, you’ve probably heard a black-capped chickadee singing in the winter. The most common sound you’ll hear is its classic call and namesake “chickadee-dee-dee”. Black-capped

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Marvelous Migration

Have you ever noticed that you don’t see or hear as many birds in the winter? Where do they go? They migrate! Migration is when a species seasonally  travels to

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Life Under the Fallen Leaves

Have you heard someone say “don’t rake your leaves in the fall” but never been clear why that is? Some people think that leaves are messy and they make their

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Animal Poop: Who Dropped That!?

Animal poop is like a crystal ball into an animal’s past, present, and future! Biologists call animal poop by a much nicer name, ‘scat’. Scat Studies Collecting and studying animal

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Green Predators: Carnivorous Plants

When you think of predators, a species that eats other animals, what comes to mind? Maybe wolves… lions… tigers… eagles. Which predator do you think is the fastest in the

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One of a Kind: The Five Lined Skink

A skink is a type of lizard. In fact, the five-lined skink is the only lizard native to Ontario! It is smooth and skinny with relatively short arms. The five-lined

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Not-So-Creepy-Crawlies

How Bugs in the Mud Help Keep Waters Clean Have you ever wondered why you never see baby dragonflies or mosquitoes flying around? A lot of baby insects look very

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Terrific Turtles of the Georgian Bay

You’re out for a walk, taking in the familiar scenery by the waterfront. Windswept pines, sparkling water, a log floating by the shore, wet rocks lined up on the log,

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Taking a Bite out of the Biosphere

Many wildlife species spend much of their time foraging. Foraging means to spend time searching in the wild for food. For as long humans have been around, we’ve been foraging

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iNaturalist: The Virtual Field Guide

We have become more familiar with the virtual world as the pandemic changed our daily activities. We shifted from going to the library, going to school, seeing friends, to a

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Bats of the Biosphere

Bats get a bad reputation. Many people are scared of them. This may be because they come out at night, or because some species live in caves, or even because

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Snails & Slugs, Oh My!

It’s nearing the end of summertime on Georgian Bay, and by now  you’ve probably run into a couple of snails and slugs. A lot of people  think their slimy bodies

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Fun with Fungi

If you have played at the park, walked your dog across a soccer field, or ordered a pizza, you have stumbled across an alien-like being that lives all across earth.

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A Prickly Pal: Porcupines

There are actually 23 different porcupine species around the world, but in Canada we only have one, the North American porcupine. Have you ever seen a porcupine? Look up! Most

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Who am I? Similar Snakes…

Have you ever seen a wild snake before? You can find 11 different species of snakes in the Georgian Bay Biosphere. Some of the snakes you see might look very

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Microplastics & Microfibers, Oh My!

More and more now, we hear the words microplastics and microfibers in the news, in classrooms, and in conversation with friends and family. Beaches covered in plastic bottles and fishing

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Antlers are Awesome

There are two animals in the biosphere that share an awesome feature: antlers! Can you guess which two animals they are? Moose (moozo) and white-tailed deer (waawaashkesh) are the two

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Learning About Leeches

You might be thinking: AHHHHHH LEECHES or EWEEEEEE LEECHES. These plump little creatures get a bad rap. Like all of the animal neighbours in the Biosphere, leeches have some pretty

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Oshkinigig

A Wiigwaas Jiimaan named Oshkinigig

Niibin (summer) is here! With the warm weather and beautiful days, Oshkinigig is ready to get into the water. Oshkinigig is a wiigwaas jiimaan, a birch bark canoe. The Georgian

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This one is for the plants!

On the coast of Georgian Bay, like many places, native plants have adapted to survive harsh conditions, from -30 winters to +30 summers. This area is full of unique and

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Biting Blackflies

Have you noticed lots of small, biting flies lately? It’s blackfly season in the Georgian Bay Biosphere. Have you ever wondered where all these flies come from? Mother blackflies lay

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A Biodiversity Showdown

What is Biodiversity? Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. Better known as biological diversity, biodiversity can be broken down into bio (life) and diversity (variety). When we talk

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How Sweet is the Sugar Bush?

Ziinzibaakwad – Maple Syrup Like a reliable friend, March has once again arrived to help shake off the colds of winter. There are a lot of exciting things happening in

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The Iconic “Georgian Bay Tree”

Picture a Georgian Bay tree. Did you picture a white pine? I imagine you did! The white pine is the classic Georgian Bay tree. You know the one; its windswept

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Fuzzy Wonders: Woolly Bears

Even though many of us may be returning to school, that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop exploring the outdoors. It’s around this time of year that one of the

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The Coolest Hummers

Meet the tiniest bird in the Biosphere, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird! These amazing little creatures have a lot of attitude and determination, despite their size. We’ve got no time to waste!

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Meet the Meteors!

Have you ever made a wish on a falling star? Did you wish for a helpful Kids in the Biosphere blog post about what falling stars really are? I hope so! Let’s meet the

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Toad-day’s the Day!

Have you seen a toad in the Biosphere? I’ll bet you have! For some reason, we sometimes hear that toads are yucky and ugly, but once you get to know

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The Flashy Lives of Lightning Bugs

It’s nighttime and you’re sitting outside around a campfire looking up at the stars and the trees and suddenly you see a tiny blinking light. You think to yourself: did

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Eyes See What You Did There

Animal Vision What if I told you that you have the ability to see radiation? When we use our eyes to look around we are detecting one type of radiation. That

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Are You Likin’ the Lichen?

Before you read any further, STOP and look outside. Notice all the life that exists around you from the grass and trees to the insects and animals. How did it

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Quick Tick Tricks

Ticks are NOT insects! Does that bug you?  Ticks are actually arachnids, just like spiders and mites. Ticks eat the blood of living animals, almost like little mini vampires (minus

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LOON-ey Tunes

Picture this… it’s a calm, quiet night and you’re sitting by the shore. What do you see? The stars? The moon? The shapes of pine and oak trees all around?

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From Garbage to Garden

We all know that littering is bad for the environment. Did you also know “throwing away” our garbage pollutes the earth?  When the garbage truck comes every week, they take

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Stories in the Stars

Clear summer nights in the Biosphere are perfect times to go stargazing! If you’ve been stargazing before, you know how amazing it is to lie back, look up, and see

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The Buzz on Mosquitoes

Bzz…bzz…bzz…smack! You finally got that mosquito that’s been buzzing around your head all afternoon. Mosquitoes and other ‘pests’ are a Biosphere summer constant – especially at dawn and dusk. They

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The Canadian Shield Rocks

Have you ever heard of the Canadian Shield? The Canadian Shield is the name for a large area of exposed bedrock. The Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve is on part of

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A Beaver’s Job is Never Done

Beavers are a favourite Canadian icon. We even have them on the nickel! Beavers love water, and while they are slow moving on land, they are super-fast in water and can

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Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

During the warmer months of the year, you may notice turtles crossing the road. Turtles are so slow, and cars are so fast… why would turtles take that risk!? Turtles

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Spidey Senses

Do you ever see spiders and think “ew“? I used to too, but that was before I realized how cool spiders are! Since many spiders don’t have the best eyesight,

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