I live in an urban neighbourhood, a 45 minute walk or 15 minute bike ride from Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital. It’s not a place I would expect to see a lot of wildlife, but I do.
Cormorants, green and great blue herons live at my local swimming holes. I hear and see woodpeckers, bats, ravens, cardinals, blue jays and many smaller birds. My back yard is full of fireflies. Occasionally I run into wild turkeys. I have even seen foxes and deer while out on walks. This year, people are being encouraged to plant gardens that will attract butterflies, and it seems to be working. I have seen both yellow and black swallowtails for the first time in 30 years living here.
I only see and hear these things when I’m out walking or riding my bike. It’s an aspect of active transportation we don’t talk about much, but it does get mentioned in this presentation on Nature and Mental Health, which is full of information and ideas for families, educators, employers, architects and policy makers.
It didn’t have any suggestions on how to convince these raccoons that they were not allowed to join me on my bicycle.
