It’s mushroom Monday, and this week we have the eye-catching, edible, and ecologically-helpful Flame Trumpet (Craterellus ignicolor). No matter how much or how little interest you have in wild mushroo...

Fall is peak spider season on PEI, and the most commonly-reported of our nearly 200 different species is the lovely Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia).If you are among the 6% of the population th...

It’s Mushroom Monday and, as we’ve seen already this season, PEI’s fungi come in a variety of colours and shapes. This week, we have another species that is neither ‘mushroom brown’ nor stereotypicall...

You’re likely familiar with sweet, seedless supermarket grapes, and perhaps you’ve visited one of PEI’s commercial vineyards. But did you know that the Island has wild grapes as well? Meet the Riverba...

It’s Mushroom Monday, and if you’ve never noticed the similarities between the smell of maple syrup and that of curry, today’s species might surprise you. Meet the Curry Milkcap (aka Candy Cap, Lactar...

What comes to mind when you think about wild foods: bitter greens, sweet berries, meaty mushrooms? Spicy may not be at the top of your wild tastes list, but PEI does have some delightfully peppery pla...

It’s Mushroom Monday, and this week we have one of PEI’s most notorious species. Despite its reputation, this mushroom is beautiful, ecologically important, and perfectly harmless if you don’t eat it....

I love getting questions about the wild side of PEI and so was thrilled to get this photo from Megan Jones. She found this clump of bright red insects in some old straw near her barn and was curious a...

September on PEI doesn’t just mean shorter days, cooler weather, and back to school. It also means the return of Mushroom Mondays! Let’s kick the season off with a species that reminds us just how str...

PEI’s late summer landscape belongs to the Aster Family: yellow Goldenrods, purple Asters, and – one of my personal favourites – pink Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum). There are five Joe Pye specie...

One of the most common questions I’m asked this time of year is: what are these berries on my tree? In many cases, the answer is Crab Apples (Malus spp.)! On PEI (and probably elsewhere), it’s common ...

The Mi’kmaq have a name for each full moon of the celestial calendar, with August’s being the Berry Ripening Moon (Kisikewiku’s, pronounced gis-ig-ay-we-goos). This is indeed peak berry season on PEI,...

PEI has many interesting wild animals, but some of the most beautiful – and unusual – are Sea Stars, often called Starfish. The waters around PEI are home to at least five species, including the Commo...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. My inbox is overflowing with the question “why are so many Maple trees losing their leaves earl...

I would have liked a better-composed and more in-focus photo of today’s PEI animal, but I was under attack by a hoard of these fierce creatures. If you’ve met them, you know what I mean: these are Hor...

I get lots of questions about where to find certain PEI plants, but three species top the list: Common Elderberry, Serviceberry, and today’s subject: Mugwort (aka Common Wormwood Artemisia vulgaris). ...

Today’s PEI plant epitomizes the saying ‘big things come in small packages’. Meet Goldthread (Coptis trifolia). Goldthread is a member of the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and is common, though oft...

One of PEI’s most common woodland plants is often overlooked, occasionally misidentified, and fruiting now. Meet Sarsaparilla (pronounced ‘sass-parilla’, Aralia nudicaulis). Sarsaparilla is about 30 t...

As fields of grain ripen across PEI, you may have noticed a similar, though smaller, plant growing along roadsides, coastlines, and trails. Although this plant hangs out in human habitats and looks li...

Today’s PEI plant is one that I’ve received many questions about, along with a request to do a post on it. So, meet Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamera)! If these flowers remind you of tomato or...

There are certain, shared experiences that unite those of us who grew up on PEI. For example, getting storm-stayed in winter, going to the beach in summer, and having annual run-ins with Jellyfish! Th...

PEI has wildflowers that are beautiful, edible, and ecologically important. Today we have an example that’s all three, and flowering now: Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)! Fireweed can be found a...

We humans tend to divide insects into two camps. There are those we don’t like (Earwigs, I’m looking at you!), and those we do, with no better example than Fireflies. I captured this lone Firefly’s fl...

This week, we’re looking at a couple of edible non-native wildflowers that are in season right now. On Monday, it was Tufted Vetch; today we have Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). Most people are f...

This week, we’re looking at a couple of edible non-native wildflowers that are in season right now. First up: Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). Tufted Vetch is a member of the Pea Family (Fabaceae) with cl...

There are some PEI plants that, when I find them, suggest there was once a homestead nearby. Wild Apples and abandoned Lilacs are two examples, but so too is Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale). Com...

I love meeting a new-to-me mushroom, and so was quite happy when I found these among my favourite patch of King Boletes (aka Porcini) last week. Meet the aptly named Red-mouth Bolete (Neoboletus subve...

PEI’s dry summer has made for poor mushroom hunting so far. My go-to spots have yielded just a handful of edible Chanterelles and Meadow Mushrooms, a mixed-bag of Russulas, the ubiquitous Fly Agaric, ...

When we think about wildflowers, coastal areas often get overlooked in favour of fields, forests, and roadsides. But that means missing some of PEI’s loveliest native plants, including Starry False So...

It’s great to see landscaping with native plants becoming mainstream. Many nurseries now carry at least some native species and seed mixes, while PEI’s Rural Beautification Society has added a Native ...

This year’s damp weather may not be popular with everyone, but it has been great for mushrooms! The abundance of fruiting fungi has brought out a crop of social media posts asking about edibility. Her...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. I’ve been receiving photos of deformed Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) flowers from around the ...

If you’ve been travelling in central PEI lately, you’ve likely noticed a showy roadside tree with dense clusters of white flowers along the topsides of its branches – gardeners may be reminded of a gi...

Wildlife doesn’t always follow the rules, and despite their name, Red Squirrels are sometimes black. PEI has a higher-than-average number of black-furred Red Squirrels (such as this one photographed b...

Some PEI plants are inextricably linked with people – not only in how the species arrived here, but also in their ongoing social and cultural value. I can think of no better example than the Common Li...

Public awareness of invasive species is high now, but that hasn’t always been the case. In the 1800s, if a foreign plant was edible, medicinal, or pretty, it was brought to North America without much ...

Welcome to Insect Appreciation Days, celebrated from June 8 – 13th annually, thanks to the Entomological Society of Canada. And what better insect to profile than PEI’s most commonly-reported moth, th...

Right now, wildflowers are doing an amazing job of brightening up PEI’s spring landscape. Even bogs – habitats that go unnoticed most of the year – are putting on glorious displays of colourful Rhodor...

With their tiny size, fearless personalities, and amazing agility, Hummingbirds capture our imaginations in a way few other birds can. PEI has only one species – the Ruby-throated Hummingbird – and th...

I love flowering tree season on PEI. Right now, roadsides and hedgerows are alive with blossoms of Chokecherry, Pin Cherry, Hawthorne, Serviceberry and soon, the showiest of all: wild Apple. Unlike ma...

Perhaps it’s because there are so few blue plants, animals, or fungi in nature that they seem to really catch our attention. That is definitely true of this beautiful Oil Beetle (aka Short-winged Blis...

Late summer and fall may be peak mushroom seasons on PEI, but spring has fungi to find, too! While checking my go-to spots for Morels this week, I found lots of these Entolomatoid Mushrooms (Family En...

They’re baaaack! Here in Central PEI, the first Hummingbird and the first June Bug arrived within a couple of days of each other last week. Most people look forward to seeing the tiny birds far more t...

One of the nicest treats of a PEI spring is harvesting your own fresh, local food after a winter of stored root vegetables and imported fare. Fiddleheads, dandelions, cat-tails, dock, watercress, and ...

PEI has so many wild foods on offer in May: fiddleheads and nettle greens, burdock and primrose roots, morel mushrooms and pheasant’s backs, and so much more! Cat-tails (Typha latifolia) are versatile...

There’s one PEI plant that most people are very familiar with, but few have seen growing in its natural habitat: Eelgrass (Zostera marina).  This is how most of us know Eelgrass: washed up along the s...

It’s almost conifer-tip season, that time of year when we can enjoy the tasty, Vitamin-C-rich, new growth of our needle-leaved trees. While all of our conifer trees are edible, PEI does have one poiso...

The sound of Canada Geese is one of my favourite signs of spring – “goose music”, as Aldo Leopold called it. Their northerly migration is also marked by the return of feeding signs in PEI’s bays and e...

As a botanist, I confess to teasing birders from time to time: groups of people flocking to the same spot to see an unusual species – really? But then spring rolls around and I eat my words as I make ...

Spring is a time of renewal, including for PEI’s wildlife. Early breeders such as Coyotes, Foxes, and Ravens have their young now, and others such as Snowshoe Hares, Striped Skunks, and Red Squirrels ...