Local residents report the birds are rare at bird-feeders, even those that have regularly hosted cardinals for several consecutive years.
Biologists are puzzled by the shortage of cardinals this year. Excessive predation by hawks does not appear to be the cause, since raptor numbers are not higher than usual.
Other species that are present in diminished numbers are: American goldfinches, pine siskins, house finches and black-capped chickadees.
Blue jays and mourning doves are also in lower numbers.
On the other hand, it is small consolation that starlings are much more plentiful than usual. So are Canada geese and herring gulls, especially in the Barrie area.
Greater black-backed gulls are extraordinarily visible wherever open water persists.
Lynx sightings are on the rise. Although the range of the lynx extends to just below the Great Lakes, the animals are not usually present in big numbers in the Georgian Bay area.
But, this year, the animals are unusually prominent. The lynx is easily recognized by its prominent ruff around the face and pointed ears. Adults are usually about one metre long.
Snowshoe hares are the main diet items.
The lynx is famous for its massive population cycles. In peak years, there are six or seven times as many as in lean years.
Forest clearing has severely reduced the distribution of the lynx in recent decades.
It is easy to confure the lynx with its somewhat smaller relative, the bobcat. Bobcats lack the pointed ears of the lynx. They are very rare north of Lake Erie.
The most recent lynx reports come from the area west and south of Orillia, and in central Muskoka.
Sea urchins might be related to humans, new DNA evidence suggests.
According to recent studies, purple sea urchins share 70 per cent of their genetic material with people. Bruce Brandhorst, a Simon Fraser Unversity molecular biologist says DNA sequencing studies show that sea urchins might have developed into mammal-like animals a billion years ago.
"It tells us about how early mammals developed," he said.
Compared with apes, whose DNA is 98-per-cent human-identical, sea urchins do not seem to be all that closely related to people.
But, they are twice as similar to humans as are fruit flies, which share only about 40 per cent of their genetic information with people.
Hummingbirds flee Ontario's winters, migrating in early autumn, and they do not return until spring.
But, in British Columbia, the birds are year-round residents.
They frequent nectar feeders all winter long. Some B.C. residents warm nectar with heaters.
But, recent cold weather has been unusually harsh on hummers in B.C.
Residents have recently found dead hummingbirds, sometimes frozen, on the ground beneath feeders and nearby.
The extent of the loss is not yet clear.
Most hummingbirds in British Columbia are Anna's hummingbirds and rufous hummingbirds, neither of which species occur in Ontario.
