I have the good fortune to live on the edge of Mill Creek Ravine. The ravine is beautiful. It is no longer a "natural" watershed area - the creek, which has several branches, is piped underground in many parts of the city; the water we see flowing along the creek is controlled through a storm water pond upstream. The water comes out of a huge pipe just north of Argyll Road, flows through the ravine, and is piped underground again before Connors Road, appearing again through an outflow along the North Saskatchewan River. Such is the life of a creek in a city.

The ravine is many things to many people. For some, it's a great place to hike, cycle, walk a dog, have a picnic, make a dandelion crown. For others, unfortunately, it's a place to hack down trees to create more biking trails on rough terrain. Coyotes try to mind their own business there, as do pheasants, Pileated, downy, and hairy woodpeckers, owls, ravens, nuthatches, chickadees, Bohemian waxwings, frogs, bats, tiny fish.

This is the diary of a ravine and the creek that still flows through it.