Syd Cannings
@sydcannings1.bsky.social
Biologist, naturalist, bug- and bird lover, and inhabitant of the Yukon's boreal woodlands. Co-author of British Columbia: A Natural History. Conservation. Biodiversity.
Found this while digging through my old boxes... so glad my mother made sure I got me every vaccine going!
November 3, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Found this while digging through my old boxes... so glad my mother made sure I got me every vaccine going!
I like to think that #RobertBateman would paint a Lapland Longspur just like this! #birds #Whitehorse #Yukon
October 14, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I like to think that #RobertBateman would paint a Lapland Longspur just like this! #birds #Whitehorse #Yukon
I was doing last week's @nytimes.com Sunday crossword (we get it in the Wednesday Yukon News 😀) when I was thrilled to find a Yukon clue at 24Ac!
Unfortunately it was wrong! Spoiler alert, red alders are NOT native to the Yukon, even though they grow on the Pacific slope of nearby Alaska and BC.
Unfortunately it was wrong! Spoiler alert, red alders are NOT native to the Yukon, even though they grow on the Pacific slope of nearby Alaska and BC.
October 5, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I was doing last week's @nytimes.com Sunday crossword (we get it in the Wednesday Yukon News 😀) when I was thrilled to find a Yukon clue at 24Ac!
Unfortunately it was wrong! Spoiler alert, red alders are NOT native to the Yukon, even though they grow on the Pacific slope of nearby Alaska and BC.
Unfortunately it was wrong! Spoiler alert, red alders are NOT native to the Yukon, even though they grow on the Pacific slope of nearby Alaska and BC.
The view from my back door in #Whitehorse #Yukon just now... the sun must be acting up!
September 30, 2025 at 4:53 AM
The view from my back door in #Whitehorse #Yukon just now... the sun must be acting up!
I don't see Golden-crowned Kinglets very often because their calls are too high for me to hear, but this one was in a pack of chickadees and warblers! These little birds often forage in mixed flocks after nesting, presumably to gain mutual benefit from predator detection. #birds Fox Lake, #Yukon
September 17, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Sourdough from the Klondike! I've tried to resist posting sourdough photos, but last week I received some starter that reliable sources tell me is a direct descendant from sourdough during the Klondike gold rush, over 100 years ago! This loaf tasted pretty good, I must say.
September 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Sourdough from the Klondike! I've tried to resist posting sourdough photos, but last week I received some starter that reliable sources tell me is a direct descendant from sourdough during the Klondike gold rush, over 100 years ago! This loaf tasted pretty good, I must say.
It's the time of year when the horntails search out the recently downed spruce trees and lay their eggs under the bark, where the larvae can much on the yummy wood... You can always impress your friends by catching these in your hands, they're totally harmless! Urocerus flavicornis. #bugs #insects
September 9, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Horse fly season has begun in the Yukon, so let's take a moment to appreciate these wonderful bugs! Here's a gorgeous, big-eyed male Orange-sided Horse Fly (Hybomitra lasiophthalma) hovering along a pathway near my house, presumably waiting for a female to come along. And hey, males don't bite!
July 2, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Horse fly season has begun in the Yukon, so let's take a moment to appreciate these wonderful bugs! Here's a gorgeous, big-eyed male Orange-sided Horse Fly (Hybomitra lasiophthalma) hovering along a pathway near my house, presumably waiting for a female to come along. And hey, males don't bite!
Happy Canada Day!
Canada Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis
Canada Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis
July 1, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Happy Canada Day!
Canada Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis
Canada Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis
This Boreal Chickadee was eating Willow Blotch Leaf Miner caterpillars that are inhabiting every willow leaf around Whitehorse these days... he'll have to step up his game to have any effect, though 🤣 (This is one of those tiny moths that has a name longer than itself: Micrurapteryx salicifoliella!)
June 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
This Boreal Chickadee was eating Willow Blotch Leaf Miner caterpillars that are inhabiting every willow leaf around Whitehorse these days... he'll have to step up his game to have any effect, though 🤣 (This is one of those tiny moths that has a name longer than itself: Micrurapteryx salicifoliella!)
We don't get the fancy ones in the Yukon, but the Northern Coralroot C. trifida is common in shady woods here, and quite beautiful in its own right!
June 25, 2025 at 9:21 PM
We don't get the fancy ones in the Yukon, but the Northern Coralroot C. trifida is common in shady woods here, and quite beautiful in its own right!
Some mammal drama on my Haines Road Breeding Bird Survey this a.m... at Stop 24 (along Clear Creek) a mom and calf moose crashed out of the bushes as I was parking the car, and about 40 seconds later (as I was counting Fox Sparrows) a Grizzly blasted out in hot pursuit! Bird counting delayed... #BBS
June 24, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Some mammal drama on my Haines Road Breeding Bird Survey this a.m... at Stop 24 (along Clear Creek) a mom and calf moose crashed out of the bushes as I was parking the car, and about 40 seconds later (as I was counting Fox Sparrows) a Grizzly blasted out in hot pursuit! Bird counting delayed... #BBS
This hover fly (I think the Blackshield Meadow Fly, Chrysotoxum flavifrons) is such a good wasp mimic that it fooled the often amazingly accurate AI of iNaturalist, which only suggested two yellowjacket wasps! #Yukon #Syrphidae
June 23, 2025 at 2:54 AM
This hover fly (I think the Blackshield Meadow Fly, Chrysotoxum flavifrons) is such a good wasp mimic that it fooled the often amazingly accurate AI of iNaturalist, which only suggested two yellowjacket wasps! #Yukon #Syrphidae
Blue on Blue... find the butterfly! Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) on Arctic Lupine, Atlin, BC #Lycaenidae #Lepidoptera
June 21, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Blue on Blue... find the butterfly! Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) on Arctic Lupine, Atlin, BC #Lycaenidae #Lepidoptera
Bee flies are so friendly... Too bad this one has the unfortunate name of Anthrax irroratus!😅 Its English name is a little more mundane: Spotted Bee Fly. #Bombyliidae #Diptera #Yukon
June 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Bee flies are so friendly... Too bad this one has the unfortunate name of Anthrax irroratus!😅 Its English name is a little more mundane: Spotted Bee Fly. #Bombyliidae #Diptera #Yukon
Not as flashy as some of his cousins, but this little jumping spider (I think Platycryptus californicus) is certainly showing off his stuff well! In Penticton, BC, Canada #Salticidae
June 16, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Not as flashy as some of his cousins, but this little jumping spider (I think Platycryptus californicus) is certainly showing off his stuff well! In Penticton, BC, Canada #Salticidae
I'm thrilled to be a new board member of the Nature Trust of British Columbia... especially love the hat! Proud to join an organization that does important conservation work throughout BC. #NTBC
June 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I'm thrilled to be a new board member of the Nature Trust of British Columbia... especially love the hat! Proud to join an organization that does important conservation work throughout BC. #NTBC
June is busting out all over!
A pair of Badlands Tiger Beetles (Cicindela decemnotata) celebrating the arrival of warm spring weather in the Yukon. #Coleoptera
A pair of Badlands Tiger Beetles (Cicindela decemnotata) celebrating the arrival of warm spring weather in the Yukon. #Coleoptera
June 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM
June is busting out all over!
A pair of Badlands Tiger Beetles (Cicindela decemnotata) celebrating the arrival of warm spring weather in the Yukon. #Coleoptera
A pair of Badlands Tiger Beetles (Cicindela decemnotata) celebrating the arrival of warm spring weather in the Yukon. #Coleoptera
I was out collecting bugs on the south side of Whitehorse when I saw smoke billowing out of the forest... Great to hear that it was a prescribed, controlled burn attempting to reduce fuels, and not an actual wildfire! #Yukon
June 4, 2025 at 1:54 AM
I was out collecting bugs on the south side of Whitehorse when I saw smoke billowing out of the forest... Great to hear that it was a prescribed, controlled burn attempting to reduce fuels, and not an actual wildfire! #Yukon
Another spring milestone passed... the first bee fly of the year! This handsome one is the Pygmy Bee Fly, a close relative of (you guessed it!) the Greater, or Large Bee Fly. The larvae of these cute fellas are parasitoids of solitary bees. #Diptera #Bombyliidae
June 1, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Another spring milestone passed... the first bee fly of the year! This handsome one is the Pygmy Bee Fly, a close relative of (you guessed it!) the Greater, or Large Bee Fly. The larvae of these cute fellas are parasitoids of solitary bees. #Diptera #Bombyliidae
Our team recorded 99 species, but would have 100 if any of us could hear the Blackpoll Warblers Merlin kept reminding us about! Our "highlight" was a Starling! Donate if you would like to support bird conservation in the north: yukonbirds.ca. Click on Donate, choose Birdathon fund. #birds Thanks!
June 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Our team recorded 99 species, but would have 100 if any of us could hear the Blackpoll Warblers Merlin kept reminding us about! Our "highlight" was a Starling! Donate if you would like to support bird conservation in the north: yukonbirds.ca. Click on Donate, choose Birdathon fund. #birds Thanks!
I can't hear the super high-pitched song of the male Blackpoll Warbler any more, so it was nice to bump into this female near my home in Whitehorse. These tiny birds have a remarkable migration to and from South America, so I always wonder what adventures they've had along the way... #birds #Yukon
May 30, 2025 at 5:27 AM
The miner bees (Andrena barbilabris?) were out in the hundreds yesterday--swarms of males hovered over the sand hills of Whitehorse, looking for females. When they met, they hovered head-to-head, touching antennae... The males smaller and black/silver, the females a richer gold-brown. ID help, pls!
May 28, 2025 at 3:12 AM
The miner bees (Andrena barbilabris?) were out in the hundreds yesterday--swarms of males hovered over the sand hills of Whitehorse, looking for females. When they met, they hovered head-to-head, touching antennae... The males smaller and black/silver, the females a richer gold-brown. ID help, pls!