Helping people connect with nature through interpretation, art, and science. Ph.D. in Conservation Ecology. #scicomm #sciart http://www.discoversecondnature.ca/
I’m guiding a tour that spends three days exploring Riding Mountain National Park. It’s one of my favourite places to visit in Manitoba, but I don’t get to come very often. Right now, the purple paintbrush are in full bloom and they are amazing. 🌿
Going though old photo albums with my family this evening. This is me at the age of two sitting on the front steps of the cabin. Who would have guessed that 46 years later I would be living there full time and almost finished the mortgage.
While I do often work in digital media, I also work in a variety of more traditional media including acrylic, coloured pencil, clay, and graphite. All of the courses I teach use graphite and coloured pencil. 🌿🎨
It feels like it's hard to find traditional artists on here, so could we do an art share with artists who work primarily in #TraditionalArt?
I'll start. I work mostly in watercolor and ink and have recently branched out into charcoal and pencil.
Belugas are hard to photograph. You usually only get the white hump of their back. However, every now and then in the right light, even just that view can look pretty special. 🌿🦑🦊
Parasitic jaegers get their name from their feeding habits. They chase down gulls, terns, and other seabirds, dogging their flight until they cough up or let go of recently caught prey. They're very hard to photograph, but I managed to catch one over the Churchill River. 🪶🌿
A ring-billed gull taking off from an ice floe floating where the Churchill River meets Hudson Bay. Not a typical scene for early July. The ice has held on for longer than usual. 🌿🪶
This surprisingly in-focus parasitic jaeger offers itself as a size reference to show just how big this ice floe is. Taken at the junction of the Churchill River and Hudson Bay. 🌿🪶
I had the best group in Churchill! Half of them came sightseeing with me while the rest took a helicopter trip. I asked if they'd mind me hopping out briefly in a spot where I'd heard sparrows' egg lady slippers were blooming. They offered to help me look! So we searched the ditch and found them 🌿
Hello #PortfolioDay! I'm Heather. I am a natural history illustrator who works in graphite, colour pencil, acrylic, and digital painting. Most of my work is for the interpretive signs that I create, but others are just for fun or subjects in the online classes I teach.
Calling all #insect peeps! This rather large friend was dogging one of my guests a few days ago. This was where the Churchill River meets Hudson Bay. It looks like a wasp with some truly muscular legs, but I’m not sure and would welcome any expertise. 🌿
The photo is out of focus, but the subject matter is cool. While belugas are the focus of our tours, I'm always looking for seals. I didn't see this until later, but this harbour seal is wearing a satellite transmitter. It's part of a long-term monitoring study by the Assiniboine Park Zoo. 🌿🦑🦊🦭
Every winter, Hudson Bay creates brand new sea ice. As evidenced by these floes that were left beached by the receding tide, the ice gets extremely thick. It was so cool to see these. It’s quite late in the year for them. 🌿
An amazing adventure among the ice floes in the Churchill estuary and Hudson Bay. I took so many pictures and video. While I have been here before, I have never been when there is ice like this. It’s absolutely magical.
This one’s for you @crawlieswithcri.bsky.social. I drove up to where the road is lined with hundreds of showy lady slippers. The largest of all of our orchids they usually bloom around the 1st of July. Seeing so many at once is truly something to behold. 🌿
It’s 10°C on the Canada Day long weekend. Definitely not normal weather for southern Manitoba, but I don’t mind having a fire in the woodstove. The only problem was when I opened the door, all the mosquitoes that had come down the chimney got out into the living room.
Just finished a new set of interpretive panels.
These are for a local high school where the grade 11 students came up with the idea of turning an old slough on their grounds into a proper wetland. The students came up with what they wanted the signs to be about and I made it happen. Lots of fun. 🌿🎨
I was in Winnipeg for the last 48 hours. As much as I love living in the forest, I do enjoy cultivated gardens as well and this one on one of the streets in my old neighbourhood is amazing.
One more look at my Polyphemus mama. Moths really are just flying teddy bears. I managed to get her into a more appropriate host plant and I hope she manages to successfully lay her eggs. 🌿🐛
I found them in the road this morning. I didn’t realize it was two until I picked them up. These Polyphemus moths will stay joined for the rest of the day and separate at dusk so the female can lay her eggs. I ended up bringing them home to my yard where I know they will be safe for the day. 🌿🦋🐛
Polyphemus moth update:
Look at that face! :) She's so cute!
The pair stuck together all morning, but they have now parted ways. She's currently resting and I'm debating whether I should move her to a more appropriate host plant or if she'll do it herself. 🌿🐛🦋
I found them in the road this morning. I didn’t realize it was two until I picked them up. These Polyphemus moths will stay joined for the rest of the day and separate at dusk so the female can lay her eggs. I ended up bringing them home to my yard where I know they will be safe for the day. 🌿🦋🐛
I found them in the road this morning. I didn’t realize it was two until I picked them up. These Polyphemus moths will stay joined for the rest of the day and separate at dusk so the female can lay her eggs. I ended up bringing them home to my yard where I know they will be safe for the day. 🌿🦋🐛
Spent a quiet morning on the porch, listening to the neighbors. This is just part of what I heard. I can hear farther than Merlin can. The final tally was 28 species in an hour and a half. 🌿🪶
