It's windy, cool and rainy this morning. Poor Kara is wondering why her morning walk is delayed ...

I thought I'd point out some of the resources I have been using in working on this blog. It is a real learning experience for me, because I've really only been familiar with the more common species of plants and animals, and trying to identify the new ones (to me) has been a bit of a challenge.

(NOTE: I expect I may have mis-identified in some instances, and would really appreciate hearing from folks that know better!)

Anyway, one of the better and more comprehensive online birding resources is the All About Birds website, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It's quite comprehensive, with lots of images, and searchable in a number of ways.

A useful site for butterflies and moths is Butterflies and Moths of North America, although the sheer number of species listed can make ID difficult.

For identification of local common pollinators, this pamphlet, written by a former University of Toronto  Zoology department colleague Laurence Packer, can be quite useful: A Guide to Toronto's Pollinators

It has been devilishly hard identifying dragonflies and damselflies here, and I have used the Toronto Wildlife website for some common species, as well as photographer Tim King's lovely blog for identifying insects and other species.

I hope some of you find these links useful and interesting. If anyone has links that they would like to share, I'd appreciate hearing about them!