I hadn’t seen a turtle out in Ottawa yet this year, but it was 14°C and fairly sunny so I went to Mud Lake, one of the nicest urban wetlands here, where many painted turtles were out sunning themselves. (So this will be my last #FirstTurtle post of 2026, and also a 2nd, 3rd, …NthTurtle post.)

Just saw a big big bumblebee buzzing by in Ottawa, Ontario. I am guessing maybe a queen. (No photo.) The bees are back, baby!

Ottawa Riverkeeper just released a short documentary "Wìgwàs Chìman - The Birchbark Canoe" about Indigenous youth building a canoe in the traditional way, lead by Pinock Ish from Kitigan Zībī, and challenges due to climate change and deforestation. English version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1hJ...

Check out this video of a tiny musk turtle hatchling taken last week at the excellent new Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre building in Peterborough, ON. ontarioturtle.ca They take injured turtles and rehabilitate them, even doing surgery! Many thanks to staff member Selena for explaining it all!

On Saturday, on a road trip to Halton Hills, Ontario, I saw my #FirstTurtle of 2026 basking in the sun at Willow Park Ecology Centre, at Silver Creek and the Credit River. The park was pretty waterlogged, and the creek was really flowing. If you are in the area, it's a very nice, short nature walk.

Well this is new!

Ok, I am calling it because I have heard it too many times now. The word "bro" has crossed the gender gap. Young women are regularly calling other young women "bro". Don't worry, fellow oldsters, the same thing happened years ago to the word "guys". No worries, men, "bruh" remains male-gendered.

Maple taffy on a stick at the Vanier Sugar Festival (Festival des sucres de Vanier) in Ottawa! So good, but careful it is sweet enough to make you hallucinate, and nearly impossible not to get sticky stuff on your hands! The festival continues today just until 5:30 pm. museoparc.ca/en/programmi...

The annual @museoparc.bsky.social Vanier Sugar Festival is this weekend, March 28 to 29 at Richelieu Park. Learn why maple syrup is so connected to French Canadian culture and see First Nations artefacts and demonstrations. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4swe45l

The geese are back in the GTA! Well, these particular geese are known to overwinter in Toronto, but still, they are back...

First turtle(s) of 2026 this Friday in Ontario! #FirstTurtle This is cheating, though. These turtles, red-eared sliders, live indoors at Allen Gardens, a conservatory greenhouse in downtown Toronto.

I stopped in at the new Spirit Garden beside City Hall in Toronto and saw the very cool stainless steel Métis Spirit Canoe by artist Tannis Nielsen. The cedar-clad teaching lodge by John Keeshig Maya-waasige is behind, and the Turtle Sculpture is at right. More info www.councilfire.ca/spirit-garden/

What's with all the big jeeps with the oversized wide tires in Brampton? Do these drivers know they are in Brampton?

It is up to 11°C today in Ottawa so I dropped by the Vanier Sugar Shack. The sap is really running! Ça coule! It is full-on maple season here now. Most of the buckets were partly filled.

These Ottawa city workers are just finishing prepping the ice above Rideau Falls. They are drilling holes with ice augers, and marking them with spray paint. They will put a charge in each hole and blast, breaking off slabs of ice and sending them over the falls, preventing ice dams and floods.

The start of a new month already!? @waub.bsky.social wrote that the Anishinaabe name for this month is Onaabenii-giizis, meaning moon of the crusted snow, which matches the snow conditions here in Ottawa right now, and is also the title of his apocalyptic novel ecwpress.com/products/moo... .

The sap is starting to run! Ça commence à couler! At the Vanier Sugar Shack the maples are tapped, the buckets are hung, and the sap is just now starting to run. This afternoon most buckets and taps were dry, but some of the taps on trees on the sunny side of the hill were just beginning to drip.

Only a couple of trees were tapped at the Vanier Maple Forest in Ottawa, though many were marked with red ribbons. There was no sap running into the buckets yet - it was only -18ºC! - but it should start very soon. The Vanier Sugar Festival takes place later in March museoparc.ca/en/programmi...

At Confederation Park the ice sculptors were finishing up at Winterlude/Bal de Neige. Lots of people! Nice sculptures! I liked this one called “Heart of my childhood/Coeur de mon Enfance” by Jocelyn Galipeau and Oleksiy Poda. It is about time for the maple syrup season that it shows! #winterlude

Also: The baby's back! The humongous "Head of a Baby" is back on display at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, in the collection, just after you exit the special exhibit. Artist Ron Mueck from Australia made it in 2003. I am not going to post a picture because you have to see it in person. Crazy!

It was -25ºC here, à propos for the National Art Gallery’s excellent exhibition “Winter Count: Embracing the Cold” (on until Mar 22). Many great paintings! This parka on display would be practical now. BTW: You you can photograph anything except if there’s a tiny no cameras icon on the nameplate.

I personally had a very nice day here in Ottawa despite the cold weather. It is basically the same cold here as in places in Minnesota. Shocked and disappointed by the ongoing cruelty towards the people there. It is time for that to end. Leaders in the USA, please step up and do the right thing.

Nice winter weather today so we went skating on the Rideau Canal Skateway again! On the way there I ran across this cool mural which I don't recall seeing before. It is signed "Fatspatrol" and I found it on the artists webpage here: fatspatrol.wixsite.com/fatspatrol . It is called "I hope hope wins"

The 2026 Anishinaabe language learning calendar from @anishinabeknation.bsky.social just came out! This year it has really lovely cover art by @mishiikenhkwe.bsky.social ! Lots of resources in there for language learners, and also interesting for people like me who know only a few words, if any.

The Rideau Canal Skateway opened fully today! Here it is this afternoon, looking southeast under the Laurier Avenue Bridge towards the Corktown Footbridge. The ice was really quite good from Rideau to Bank Street. It was mostly okay but rough in patches from there to Dow's Lake and on to Carleton.

Happy New Year from Ottawa! This year, the Rideau Canal opened for skating on New Year's Eve for the first time in many years. Over 3 km was open - about half the full length of the Skateway - and the ice was quite good. We were grateful for the chance to be out there. Best wishes to all for 2026!

It was freezing rain at night here in Ottawa and rain today. It is slippery to walk, skiing is lousy, and cars are sliding. I put studded tires on a hand-me-down mountain bike and put that to the test. Amazing! Totally stability and control! The only problem areas were where snow is caked down.

Bunch of turkeys. This is at Beechwood Cemetery today, in Ottawa. I'm impressed that they don't seem at all bothered running through snow in their bare feet.

Snowy forested ravines like this will become little streams feeding meltwater into the Ottawa River in spring. Here the noon sun - so low these days! - shines through the woods casting long blue shadows in the snow.

Clear skies and cold at noon today along the Ottawa River, which is in winter mode, but there is still plenty of open water. The trail conditions were great to walk, ski or fatbike. There were quite a few skiers on the Ski Heritage East trail with tracks well established and even some skate-skiing.

This afternoon the Ottawa River was otherworldly with lightly falling snow decorating oddly shaped ice surfaces. Some people had already skied along the path, but the snow is pretty thin for that. This intermediate season is perfect for fatbikes, though - a bit slippy in places but great overall.

In Ottawa today the trees, grasses and other plants put on a show. The ordinary, everyday world turned magical and monochrome.

Statue of Liberty stands up just a little bit taller, glances back at poor huddled masses.

For councillors voting for Landsdowne, how bad would it have to be to vote against? Going 9800 seats to 5500 is okay - how about 2500? No roof is okay - how about no seats? PVC instead of a park is okay - how about a dump? Public housing funds for private parking is okay - how about hospital funds?

When they sing the US national anthem at the beginning of sports events, they should change the line about it being "the land of the free". It just doesn't seem that is what it is these days. Maybe "the land to be free"? It is still the home of many brave people. I hope things get better for them.

It is coming in to peak color in Ottawa-Gatineau right now. Many leaves have fallen, but the trees are still well decorated. There are reds, oranges, yellows, browns, but still a fair bit of green here and there. I hope you get the opportunity this long weekend to get out there and get a good look!

Ottawa City council announced a needed refresh of St Laurent Boulevard, with better transit, walkways and bike routes - all welcome, but am I reading this right - most will be done after 2046? www.ottawa.ca/en/city-hall... If so, thanks for the heads up, but that's more than 2 decades from now!?

I almost missed this female? or juvenile? goldfinch because it was wearing camouflage, perched here on one of the stems of what remains of the false sunflowers. It is easy to see here, but that's because is is in the center. You can totally understand the tail colors - they look just like leaves.

It is second summer in Ottawa-Gatineau this weekend. McKay Lake was dressed up in its full fall colors. Just beautiful.

I hope we are able to make our way down this difficult road.

It is late in the wildflower season in Ottawa and these little lavender asters are everywhere. The bumblebees really go for them, and there are many, but the flowers are so small they really have to work, zipping from one cluster to another, landing only briefly on a couple of flowers at each.

Whoa! I almost missed Fat Bear Week this year! Here's the link. Cast your votes for the greatest ones! Not voting would be pretty much unbearable. explore.org/fat-bear-week

Over 50 Canada geese were way up there over Ottawa honking and flying in a V formation, headed toward the setting sun. C'mon guys! One side of your V was like 40+ of you all, the other side was maybe 10. You call that a formation? That's embarrassing. Symmetry, please!

It was a just glorious late-summer/early fall day in Ottawa-Gatineau. It is peak season at the Orleans Fruit Farm and it was hopping at apple picking - still v. good! - and at the tent. Great stuff at the kiosk: corn, four varieties of apples including macs and lobos, strawberries, carrots and more.

The geese have assembled and are honking as they fly overhead this morning. They're almost ready to go.

It is the transition between summer and fall. This bumblebee was sleeping on a false sunflower in a cluster of false sunflowers. Another bee, maybe a sister, flew up and tried to rouse her, but she brushed her away with her front legs and went right back to sleep. Being a bee must be exhausting!

Happy Waababagaa-Giizis, @waub.bsky.social . Where are we now in the whole story? Pre-, mid- or post- apocalypse? These days I'm finding it a bit hard to be sure. I am thinking early-mid?

I was at Montfort Hospital earlier this week. Just wanted to make sure people here know the nurses, support staff, and Dr.s there are amazing super pros! English or French, up to you! But waits are far too long - more Dr.s needed! Also, building maintenance is needed. Automatic doors have to work!

Slightly diminish a band: Martha and the Muffin Tops

Slightly diminish a band: AB/DB