Snow on spruce trees is a hallmark of the Canadian winter. While most PEI plants lose their leaves or disappear altogether as temperatures drop, you may not have thought about how and why conifers take a different approach. Today, we take a look!     Broad-leaved trees like Maple, Beech, and Birch produce big leaves with huge surface areas that are very efficient at catching sunlight and turning it into food for the tree. Even if those leaves didn’t freeze, they lose water an

Few PEI scenes are more beautiful than frosty winter mornings like the one we had last week. Under certain conditions, ice crystals coat trees, twigs, and fence lines, turning the landscape into something magical. We call this ‘hoar frost’, but there are actually two very different types of ice that cause this phenomenon. Let’s take a look!   ‘Hoar’ is an old word for feathery white, like a beard. It’s an apt description for the delicate, feathery ice crystals that form true

There have been some bitterly cold days this winter, with temperatures well into the minus teens and twenties Celsius. Clear, cold days are great times to be in the woods, but you may notice some unusual noises: the snap, crackle and pop of trees! Media have been having fun with sensational ‘exploding tree’ headlines, but let’s look beyond the clickbait. A clear, bitterly cold day in the woods on PEI. Trees do their best to prepare for winter. This includes getting rid of tho

This fall, we’ve been exploring some of PEI’s least-common trees, including Balsam Poplar, Ironwood, and Jack Pine. Today it’s one many people haven’t even heard of: Bog Birch ( Betula pumila ).   We often think of Birch as among the majestic trees of PEI’s early forests. Nineteenth century writers told of Yellow Birch ( Betula alleghaniensis ) three to four feet in diameter, and it was said that Mi’kmaq people were able to make a six-person canoe from the bark of a single Wh

Most Islanders are familiar with Poplar (aka Trembling Aspen, featured last week), and many know of its relative, Large-tooth Aspen. But...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. Today’s topic is courtesy of...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. Winter is great time to spot...

Some may say that PEI is geologically boring, but I think nothing could be further from the truth! Our sandstone bedrock holds...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s easy-to-identify fungi. ‘Mushroom’ usually evokes the stereotypical...

When you hear the words ‘endangered species’, I’m betting animals like Piping Plover and Monarch Butterflies – or maybe Elephants and...

Humans think in decades, forests operate in centuries, but the land’s timeframe spans hundreds of millions of years.  We can read...

There’s a line in E.B. White’s book Stuart Little that I love “…orchards so old they have forgotten where the farmhouse is”. I often...

I’ve been enjoying the first berries of the season here on PEI.  No not Wild Strawberries, though a quick glance at a handful might fool...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal “Google” for information on all things natural on PEI!  In October, I posted about...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal ‘Google’ for all things wild on PEI! Late last week, my inbox started filling up with...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal ‘Google’ for all things wild on PEI! I received these photos of foamy trees from...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal ‘Google’ for all things wild on PEI! I’ve gotten lots of great questions since...