Mary Whitley felt surprise and compassion when she saw a robin perched in a tree in her Hillcrest yard on December 9th. It was -19ºC — and a strange place for a bird that heralds Yukon spring. Her husband saw it first. “He looked out the window and said, ‘There’s a robin out there!’ And …
Monarch butterflies may appear fragile, but as a whole the species is extraordinarily hardy. Every year, the Eastern North American monarch butterfly population migrates thousands of miles from southern Ontario to overwinter in Mexico. This impressive migration is multi-generational. After wintering in massive butterfly bunches, the monarchs wake and journey to areas in Texas and …
“Last year was a big year,” says Scott Cameron, Environment Yukon’s Wildlife Viewing Technician. “We were up to 2,000 swans every day for a few days.” The height, he says, was April 9, when 2,200 were counted out on M’Clintock Bay. Typically that number is closer to 1,200. “And early too – usually you expect …
When Shea Newnham goes to Wolf Creek Campground, he can still see the trail that he helped build as a Yukon Youth Conservation Corps (Y2C2) member. Ryan Drummond sees his stint as “the beginning of my understanding of the real meanings of natural resources and conservation”. Today, he is a fish and wildlife technician with …
Until recently, collections of Yukon natural history have been given homes in other parts of the country. Our own territory has had no formal collection of our own diverse species of birds, plants, or insects. Someone living in Ottawa had a better chance of viewing such collections. But, something is coming. To the Yukon Research …
As the first fatality of the 2011-2012 snow season is reported (a snowmobiler in Prince George, B.C.), Kristie Simpson muses that the timing for the new Yukon avalanche forecast system couldn’t be more crucial. Simpson, a board member of the Yukon Avalanche Association and owner/operator of Avalanche North, is one of several dedicated volunteers who …
April is upon us, and even though the weather is warm, and the sky is cloudy. People always ask, “What is an northern astronomer to do on a cloudy night?” The first thing to do is apply the 5-Minute Astronomer Rule”. The 5-Minute Astronomer Rule is having your binoculars or small telescope on the front …
