We recently returned from a month in Argentina and Antarctica. There, it was very easy to notice (and be awed by) nearby Nature. Not only was it spring (vs late autumn in Canada), but many of the plants and animals were new to us. That makes it easy to notice and be awed by the beautiful flowers, birds, and seals.

But even in Antarctica, the newness factor fades fast. As early as our third landing where we walked among the fur and elephant seals, I remarked to Mr GeoK how easily we’d all adjusted to our new normal of walking among potential aggressors that outweighed us by as much as a several thousand pounds!!

Fortunately, between our personal habit of really paying attention to Nature and the expedition crews’ ongoing education program, getting past that initial phase led to deeper observation. We watched courtship behavior between King penguins. We noticed how the seals establish and maintain their territory, and skuas cannily hunting over shag (cormorant) colonies.

The Biohazard precautions implemented in response to the arrival of avian flu in South Georgia provided repeated opportunities to reflect on the ebb and flow of balance in Nature. And on humanity’s role in disrupting and supporting that balance.

News Feed

Alberta Needs Snow

Despite blizzard conditions at the Calgary International Airport when we returned home from a month of traveling, there is almost no snow on the valley bottom in Calgary, Canmore and Banff right now. The weather forecast suggests that may change over the next week or so. We really need snow!!

Many parts of Alberta experienced drought conditions and declared agricultural disasters in 2023. Calgary was under mandatory outdoor watering restrictions, as were many other municipalities. News outlets reported in late December that Alberta is still at Stage 4 of its water management plan. Stage 5 means we’re in a province-wide emergency. The government is advising municipalities and industry to plan for water shortages in 2024. Perhaps coincidentally, the town of Banff is considering a lawn replacement program.

What does this mean at the personal level? The easy bits are obvious: ensure your habits include shorter showers, run the dishwasher and washing machine only when full, turn off the faucet when brushing your teeth, etc. If you live in a home with a yard that isn’t already xeriscaped, the harder part will be re-imagining how best to evolve that landscape over time to reduce outdoor watering requirements.

Cultivating My Nature Connection

I’ve mentioned iNaturalist many times in Nearby Nature Project blog posts. In February 2023, I explained why I participate in this ongoing program of citizen science. With year-end 2023 statistics now available, I thought I’d spend a few paragraphs reflecting on my ongoing participation.

iNaturalist tools show that I exited 2023 with more than 1500 lifetime observations related to 475 species since I joined this citizen science initiative in 2020. For 2023, the numbers are 890 observations of 312 species. Those numbers are pretty much bang on my aim of at least 800 observations covering 300 species for the year! Observations in Argentina, Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands/Malvinas definitely helped with that.

For the first 7 months of 2023, I was good about uploading photos soon after taking them. I submitted fairly precise location information. But I fell way behind for the back half of the year, batch uploading several hundred observations over a one-week period straddling New Year’s Day. As a result, the location information is much less precise (e.g., a large circle that takes in all of Vermilion Lakes One and Two, rather than a specific shoreline or cluster of trees at Vermilion Lake One). I think this somewhat reduces the value of the observations for researchers, so I’m aiming to be more consistent in 2024.

Thinking about 2024, I’d like to submit another 800 observations covering 300 species. And, new for me, I’d like to confirm identifications made in at least 100 others’ observations. I think this last is a super power of the iNaturalist program. Volunteer participants with appropriate expertise confirm the IDs assigned by the observers, thus improving the quality of the observation for the purpose of research. While I know next to nothing about fungi and lichen, I have increasing knowledge of local birds and wildflowers that I can apply to identification.

My Nearby Nature Projects

Gardening

It’s mid-winter, so there’s not much happening on the gardening front right now. We are enjoying fresh herbs from the most recent re-planting of the AeroGarden. I made jam from the 2022 and 2023 raspberry harvests (these made for great Christmas gifts). And there are still a few onions in the cold room from last year’s harvest.

Looking ahead to spring/summer 2024, the likelihood of watering restrictions is a factor. So I’ll think about whether to change the mix of vegetables I plant. I’ve already sowed wildflower seeds in one raised bed, to transplant into the flower gardens in the spring. Native wildflowers should require a lot less watering than, say, peonies.

Birding

We saw a LOT of new-to-us kinds of birds in Argentina and Antarctica. Some highlights from Tierra del Fuego National Park, just outside Ushuaia, Argentina (aka “The End of the World”).

Yes, we also saw lots of penguins and seabirds. Rather than make this post overly long, I’m saving those for an upcoming series of posts about our Argentina/Antarctica trip.

Back in Canmore since the start of 2024, we’ve seen few birds: magpies, ravens, mallard ducks and a lone common goldeneye. The mallards are busy choosing mates for the 2024 breeding season. One morning I witnessed head bobbing and mounting behaviors in a nearby pond.

Bird Feeders

Canmore bylaws allow bird feeders between December 1 and March 31. We were away for most of December, so we finally got around to putting up our bird feeders on New Year’s Day. The Brome Squirrel Buster is filled with black oil sunflower seeds. It lasted about a day before we spotted an athletic squirrel hanging from the bird perching ring!! Thanks to the feeder’s design, it wasn’t able to access the seeds. But now that the nuthatches and chickadees have found the feeder, there’s enough spillage to keep the squirrel scurrying around cleaning up.

As for the suet feeder, visitors so far include the above-mentioned nuthatches and chickadees, plus a couple of Clark’s Nutcrackers and a magpie.

If the weather forecast is anything to go by, we put them up just in time for at least a few birds to figure out there’s an easy source of food to help get them through next week’s cold snap. 🙂

Coming Up

The 2024 Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 16-19. Go here for details on how to participate. There will be several webinars leading up to the actual count. I’m especially excited about LEGO’s Build the Change webinar on February 10th! 🙂