Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦

@donnag.bsky.social

1962 Followers 500 Following

Aquatic entomologist, kayaker, naturalist Ed: Newsletter of the Biol. Surv. Canada & Mayfly Newsletter born at 314 ppm Professor Emerita at UPEI, Fellow of the ESC Retired home to BC's spectacular Sunshine Coast

ventral image of a larva of an aquatic fly called Blepharicera tenuipes. The larva is pale cream in colour, and each segment has leg like structures out to the sides, and a suction cup structure in the middle, to help it hold on to rocks in strong current.
Eurasian spoonbill trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to swallow a crayfish. The bird is large, with brilliant plumage and a large flattened black beak. It is standing in water up to its knees, as it tries to swallow the crayfish.
side view of a gull holding a sea shell in its open beak. The gull has a white head and a yellow beak.
a colourful wood duck is perched on a branch in the woods, with a background of bright green leaves in early spring. The duck has a bright orange beak, and the head is a patchwork of green and reddish brown.
Three wooden bowls made from layering different types of wood, and then turning them on a wood lathe. Each bowl has a plain wood upper and lower layer, then the centre layer is contrasting, with distinctive patterns.
a map of eastern Canada, with black dots showing sites in Newfoundland and Labrador where mayflies were collected during the 1970s and 1980s.
a pair of mating Nymphomyia walkeri adults. These tiny little flies would have feathery wings when they first emerge, but lose their wings when they re-enter the water to mate.
Fellow Dipterists / systematists / ecologists, if you have not yet heard, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada is planning to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, supposedly for financial reasons. The open letter below has been prepared by Dr. Art Borkent. If you agree with the letter, and would like to add your name in support, please follow the directions below. Message is as follows: ********************* The following is an “Open Letter” that will be presented to the Canadian press by a Member of Parliament, Ms. Elizabeth May. If you can support this petition, please send your name, full affiliation and address (including country) to Art Borkent’s email: artborkent@telus.net Your name will be added to a supporting list that will likely never be seen publicly but needs to be noted by our member of parliament. Please consider helping to stop the removal of the Diptera Unit in Ottawa, Canada. Please remember that we are writing this for the press – someone gave advice that it should be written at about the level of an intelligent 14 year old. If any of you are members of another society of specialized Dipterists or otherwise, please feel free to send this on to your other colleagues. I am hoping to have this submitted to Elizabeth May with all the signatures by Friday, Feb. 13. Time is of the essence. best wishes, Art Borkent and David Grimaldi
four glass vials with aquatic insect specimens inside and green stoppers. The stoppers on the left have swollen so they are impossible to remove without breaking them and potentially damaging the specimens inside.
face-on photo of a white hummingbird, with its wings outstretched.
a long vertically narrow painting showing a dark sky in the upper fifth with green and blue streaks of light from an aurora, and a snowy scene at the bottom with a lone figure snowshoeing towards a cabin on the horizon.
A waterfall in the woods. The waterfall consists of two main parts - one higher than the other - with a strong flow of water from recent rains.
The sun streaming through the trees in a west coast forest in south-west Canada. The trees have a coating of white, from a fresh snowfall, and the sun is giving them a golden glow.
a collage of flower photos taken in a southwestern British Columbia (Canada) garden on New Years Day, 2026. There are three rows of photos, and they include some yellow and orange daisy like flowers, a yellow snapdragon, some small blue photos, a red azalea flower, two small pink flowers, and a white and a pink heather, with their tube like flowers.
A shady forest with sun peaking through the trees, showing a star-like burst of light in the middle of the photo.
photo showing a rocky shore in the foreground, then a group of five ducks swimming just off shore. The ducks are strikingly coloured, with black and white markings and patches of rusty brown over their heads and backs.
Three turkey vultures perched on the railings of a waterfront pier. The birds are large with black feathers and a bright red head.
photo showing the head and forelegs of a mayfly, Drunella cornuta, collected in Newfoundland in 1980.
an image showing a brilliant pink sunset over houses and trees, with mountains in the distance.
A common yellowthroat warbler perching on a branch above a wetland. The bird is a tan colour, with a striking black face with white above, and a bright yellow throat. Photo from Sechelt Marsh, southwestern British Columbia.
Our terrestrial team partnered with UBC bryologists to complete a flurry of surveys for rare and endemic mosses in central Gwaii Haanas. The primary focus of the fieldwork was a set of detailed surveys for an endangered species, Dalton’s moss, whose entire Canadian population is found within a single inlet in Gwaii Haanas. We found several new populations of the moss and the information from the survey will be vital in defining its critical habitat in the upcoming federal recovery strategy. In addition, new populations of several critically imperilled, red-listed and endemic species were located. Data will be used in part to support species-at-risk listing processes, taxonomic science, and add weight to the formal designation of Haida Gwaii as a “Key Biodiversity Area” in Canada. British Columbia is a renowned global hotspot for moss diversity, recognized with areas such as Southeast Asia, the Northern Andes, and the African Highlands (among others) as being globally significant. Within BC, Haida Gwaii is a vital and rich part of that provincial diversity, with many rare and unique species making their home in our forests. A well-known example is our lush mats of Takakia, considered by many to be the most ancient land plant on earth. Other examples include species that are found only on Haida Gwaii and in the Himalayas; some that only live on Haida Gwaii and in Northern Europe; some species are only found on Haida Gwaii and in the tropics; Some species are endemic and found nowhere else on earth.
A side view of a waterfall, against the deep green of a Pacific northwest forest.
A mostly white hummingbird perched on a branch in front of blue sky. This is a leucistic hummingbird, some some patches of darker feathers as well.
A video showing a waterfall, with a west coast forest surrounding it.
A "No Kings" protest poster featuring the art of Nikkolas Smith, showing a person in a frog costume standing in front of a large group of heavily armed soldiers representing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the U.S.A.
a small brown bird (a Pacific wren) is perched on a branch in the forest, with a mossy branch in the background
an image of a person examining an insect using a Wild M5 stereoscopic dissecting microscope. He is peering down the eyepieces of the microscope.
A view of a stream with a large number of salmon swimming in a pool just below a large log and a series of rapids.
boxes of freshly cleaned glass vials, ready for their next project.
A view of mountains in the distance with residential rooftops in the foreground. A large white plume of smoke rises from behind the mountains, and spreads out to the left of the photo.
A photo of a portion of a thick blackberry bramble showing a large number of juicy ripe black berries in amongst red and green berries that are not yet ripe.
A red kayak shown approaching a rocky shore.
A person in a white hat and red shirt, paddling a red and white kayak around a rocky point in Sechelt Inlet, BC.
A violet green swallow resting on a fence. The swallow has a brownish green head with a bright white cheek patch, green back and shoulders, and violet coloured wings and tail feathers.
A photo of a blue dragonfly (Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis) perched on a grass stem just behind a small tree frog.
a beefly foraging on some forgetmenots.
Immature gull with a sea cucumber on a sandy beach. The gull's beak is open and it has just dropped the sea cucumber which is still in mid air.
A double sign at a marina store on Canada's west coast. The top sign reads "Trespassers will be used as bait" and just below the words is a skull and crossbones. The bottom sign reads, "Marina Store - Bait now available".
image of a woman wading in a river, holding a net to collect invertebrates. Trees line the sides of the river, which has a rocky bottom.
reflections of shoreline trees in a pond
A view of two entomologists carrying nets across a rocky hill, with snow capped mountains in the background.
a photo of a hiker with a red backpack and green hat, on a mountain trail in New Zealand
A meme showing a picture of Eeyore from Winnie the Poo, trudging through the snow, with text under it reading: "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And Freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."
A screen capture of the Earthquakes Canada report on the earthquake that hit just north of Vancouver today at 1:30 local time. It includes details on the 5.1 earthquake, as well as a map showing its location.
political cartoon depicting 2 men at a poker table, one of them Vladimir Putin and the other a naked Donald Trump. Putin is in a large comfortable chair, and is surrounded by piles of poker chips plus Trump's clothes. Trump is naked and sitting on a small stool with a word cloud coming from him which says "Nobody makes deals like me".