This morning marked the year’s unofficial beginning of  Community Stewardship at Milne Hollow in the City of Toronto’s Charles Sauriol Conservation Area.* It was great to be back! We assist the city’s Forestry section with restoring the habitat in the natural environment park.

In addition to simply enjoying the hands-on and restorative activity in the outdoors, we enjoy the camaraderie with fellow nature enthusiasts. That includes being able to share in the thrill of seeing certain plants, migratory birds, butterflies and other wildlife, such as this morning when we spotted the mourning cloak (Nimphalis antiopa) butterfly in the above photo. Due to the air’s cool temperature, I was able to get much closer to it with my camera (it has very limited zoomability). What a stunning creature of Creation!

*The City of Toronto’s Community Stewardship Program officially kicks off at Milne Hollow on Thursday, May 5, and orientation for new volunteers is at the Toronto Archives during the evening of Thursday, April 28. The Milne Hollow Team meets Thursday mornings, 10:00 am until noon, April through early November–we’re real keeners!–and all other teams meet weekday evenings, 6:00 until 9:00 pm, May through August. For details about the program, click here.