30 April 2009
Firefly larva, Lampyrid sp.
Today was much quieter in terms of birds seen and heard. However, insects were abundant.
I saw my first dragonfly of the year, a common green darner This one was a male (brilliant blue abdomen). A few seconds later I saw a milbert's tortoiseshell butterfly, and later in the old field area, another one. Three cabbage whites were also around.
I was in the Ash Woods when it occurred to me to look for firefly larvae (having just seen some yesterday, elsewhere). I turned around and looked at the tree behind me and... there it was, one firefly larva. "Well", I thought, "that was easy. Now I'll see how many more I can find." After more than 20 minutes of peering intently at a number of trees I had found no more and was feeling rather deflated :-) These are odd-looking larva, dressed in armour. They hunt snails at night and hang out in trees by day. What a life. Until they metamorphose of course.
30 April 2009
Slime mould (Hemitrichia clavata)
I came across a very rotten log, so soft it was like a sponge. Turning it over I saw these minuscule slime moulds which I think are probably Hemitrichia clavata. You can see the sporangia or fruitbodies hanging from a deep cup. No Carabids, which is what I was hoping to find.
30 April 2009
Red squirrel with walnut
This cheeky little guy was flying along his arboreal, aerial highway with a walnut in his mouth, and still managing to keep an eye on me and Tasha below.
30 April 2009
Andrenid bee excavating nest hole
I spent some time watching an Andrenid bee excavating a hole and was amazed at how swiftly she was able to dig herself down into the soil. Daffodils were being explored by quite a few bee species including Nomadas.
30 April 2009
Magnolia
Our two magnolia trees are in full bloom after a day of rain and a day of sun.
30 April 2009
DSV, Dog-strangling vine/Pale swallowwort
It is truly astonishing how fast things are growing. It is as if once having started, there is no stopping all those trees, shrubs, flowers from leafing out, popping up, tripling in size almost as we watch. In the Ash woods, white trillium is now appearing, red trillium is in full flower, herb robert has appeared, mayapple shot up overnight, and on and on... Meanwhile, the bloodroot is starting to fade. Wasn't it only yesterday that it appeared? Spring is too brief.
DSV is already sticking its cheery little head out of the ground. Now, how did that happen? On Wednesday there was virtually no sign of it.
30 April 2009
Pierre rototilling
Diane has been busy all day with the Butterfly Meadow. Starting early this morning when AAFC rototilled a large area, and carrying on until mid-afternoon, she got an impressive amount done. Here you can see the site being rototilled by Pierre, from AAFC, who did a beautiful job.
30 April 2009
Rototilled area in butterfly meadow
Here is the site after the rototilling. The object of this exercise is to chop up all the DSV roots, remove them (volunteers sift the soil and remove all bits of DSV root), and then plant with wildflowers attractive to butterflies and their larvae.
30 April 2009
Another rototilled section of the Butterfly meadow
This section is part of the area that was worked on in 2008. It is now on the way to being ready for planting.
30 April 2009
Diane inspecting the mountain of last year's DSV
A pretty impressive mountain of dead material raked from the butterfly meadow.
30 April 2009
Cottontail rabbit
Early this morning, Diane saw two rabbits near the Centre.
30 April 2009
Mallard, male, resting
This mallard was resting on the packed down cattails at the pond, but clearly keeping a wary eye on me.
28-APR-2009
Magnolia
Spent a few hours at FWG and the Arboretum in the heavy rain this morning. I thought it might be a good day for birds and it was. I parked in the Arboretum and walked through there to FWG. I wanted to check out the magnolias first which are in bloom right now. The rain and wind was tearing off the petals, but there are many more unopened buds so I predict that the next few days to a week will be the best time to see the main display of magnolia flowers at the Arboretum. They don't last long, sadly. However, there are many other magnolias that haven't even begun to bloom, many of the yellow and pink blossomed varieties, for example. The main cluster, however, is the big draw because of the sheer display of blooms. We have two magnolias at the FWG, as well.
28-APR-2009
Black-throated blue warbler
Throughout the Arboretum I heard chipping sparrows calling, and more from FWG as I approached the garden. Climbing up the slope to the Ash Woods, I heard a black-throated blue warbler and got a quick look and an even quicker (and blurry) photo of it (right). Both of these species were first of the year for me. There were at least 250 white-throated sparrows. The entire garden, woods, fields, BYG, ravine, were alive with the sound and sight of these birds! Mixed in with them were some white-crowned sparrows. Other new arrivals were a flock of ruby-crowned kinglet, a veery, yellow-rumped warblers, and a house wren! I did a circuit around the garden and came back to the Ash woods about 30 minutes later to find the yellow-rumped warblers had arrived. It is the kind of day where things change quickly with new arrivals at any time. Not surprisingly, neither the tree swallows nor eastern phoebe and great crested flycatcher were active in the rain. Didn't hear any pine siskins today... they must have followed me home yesterday because they've been VERY vocal around my place :-)
28-APR-2009
Northern flicker, male
There were at least 8 flickers, 6 of them feeding on the ground together (I managed to get four of them in one photo, but not a good photo I'm afraid).
28-APR-2009
Northern flickers
Although you can't tell from this photo, the bird on the left is a female.
28-APR-2009
Northern cardinal, male
Here is a list of the birds seen today at FWG:
Mallard 2
Ring-billed gulls many flying over
Downy woodpecker 1
Northern flicker 8
American crow 7
Black-capped chickadee 8
White-breasted nuthatch 1
House wren 1
Golden-crowned kinglet 5
Ruby-crowned kinglet 8
Veery 1
American robin 10
European starling 6
Black-throated blue warbler 1
Yellow-rumped warbler 6
Northern cardinal 4
Chipping sparrow 4
Song sparrow 5
White-throated sparrow 250+
White-crowned Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed junco 3
Red-winged blackbird 8
Brown-headed cowbird 8
House finch 2
American goldfinch 10
28-APR-2009
Chipmunk emerging from burrow
The squirrels were not deterred by rain, of course. This little chipmunk in the photo, dove into a burrow in the Ash woods, and then quickly poked his head out again and gave me a look as if to say "these are MY woods!"
28-APR-2009
Ash woods greening up
It always amazes me how quickly things green up. I swear that trees and shrubs leaf out, and flowers emerge as one stands there! The Ash woods are already getting that green haze.
28-APR-2009
Red trillium in the Ash woods
the red trilliums, which yesterday were just barely beginning to open, have progressed greatly. The bloodroot flowers are already losing petals to the rain, bellwort is almost ready to flower, false solomon's seal is twice the size it was yesterday, and should be in flower in another week or so. Red baneberry is growing where I swear it was not yesterday! And on it goes...
28-APR-2009
Toads thrashing around in the water
Toads were very active in the streams in the Arboretum, in the ravine, and especially in the pond where they were causing the water to roil and churn with their exertions! Unfortunately, for taking photos, they were all in the middle of the pond, not close to shore as they have been in some years. However, that may yet happen. You'll have to take my word that the "action" in the water here is from toads!
27-APR-2009
Grey squirrel in the Ash woods
This squirrel was sitting on an oak tree eating, what else, an acorn he'd probably stashed last fall.
27-APR-2009
Hermit thrush
Birds were singing away. A flock of about 12 pine siskins, several hermit thrushes, lots of robins, chickadees, goldfinches, tree swallows, and red-winged blackbirds. There was one golden-crowned kinglet (the one that has been around for several weeks?), several brown-headed cowbirds, cardinals, many song sparrows, white-throated sparrows, and juncos. A northern flicker and a downy woodpecker were also seen. Yesterday, I had a great-crested flycatcher, my first of the season.
27-APR-2009
Tree Swallows
Several pairs of tree swallows were checking out nest boxes. The female inspecting while the male stood guard.
27-APR-2009
Green frog (Rana clamitans), in the BYG pond
Down in the pond and the ravine this morning, toads were trilling away. This will continue for some time yet as mating frenzy heats up, and then... silence as the toads leave the water and retreat back to the upland areas. Also in the pond, a smallish painted turtle completely ignoring our newly-made turtle raft!
There were four of these frogs in the BYG pond, as there were last year, so I'm assuming that they overwintered safely and these are the same four we last saw in the fall. We saw this one and the other three at the end of the guided walk.
27-APR-2009
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadense) in Ash woods
In the Ash woods large patches of bloodroot in full flower, red trilliums just beginning to open, and solomon's seal, and barren-ground strawberry ready to bloom soon.
24-APR-2009
Bee fly (Bombylius major)
It was a sunny afternoon, warm out of the wind, and after a morning spent shovelling manure onto a fire site at the garden, I spent a few hours in the afternoon looking for insects. There were dozens of bee flies around, along with several honey bees, some paper wasps, a few large bumblebee queens, hundreds of Andrenids, and many nomada bees. As well, there was a mourning cloak, a spotted lady-beetle, lots of flies, etc. The garden was buzzing!
24-APR-2009
Paper wasp, (Polistes dominulus)
These wasps are just beginning to be seen.
24-APR-2009
Spotted lady-beetle (Coleomagilla maculata)
This tiny native lady-beetle is often one of the first beetles seen at FWG. Once the dandelions bloom, they'll be all over the place!
24-APR-2009
Andrenid bee on willow
A common species in early spring.
24-APR-2009
Red-winged blackbird, female
So far, only one female has been seen at the garden, but I'm sure there are others on the way! Tree swallows were back again, and an eastern phoebe was calling and calling along the trail to the centre. There were also some fox sparrows searching the leaves for food, and pine siskins in the woods. A raven flew calling overhead. Flickers, robins, chickadees, song sparrows, juncos, white-throated sparrow, cardinals, house finches, goldfinches, were all common today.
23-APR-2009
Yellow dung fly (Scathophaga stercoraria sp.)
Not far from the starlings were several red maples in full flower. While checking for insects on them I saw this beautiful golden fly, with the unfortunate name of yellow dung fly!
23-APR-2009
Yellow dung fly (Scathophaga sp.)
Another shot of this pretty fly. These predacious flies are typically found around fresh dung.
23-APR-2009
Yellow dung fly (Scathophaga stercoraria sp.)
These flies are very bee-like with their fuzzy bodies. There were no butterflies to be seen today, too windy. But scores of Andrenid bees, lots of flies, and several woolly bear and ctenucha moth caterpillars were around.
23-APR-2009
Green frog (Rana clamitans)
Meanwhile, over in the BYG pond a large green frog was floating in the water, no doubt glad to be out of the leafy, muddy depths for another few months!
23-APR-2009
Eastern cottontail rabbit
Here is one that has survived the predations of dogs and foxes. I hope he lives a long life.
23-APR-2009
Diane building raft
Diane and I decided that today was the day to build the much talked about turtle raft. It was quite a chore hammering the very big, very long nails into the cedar posts, but eventually we were finished.
23-APR-2009
Turtle raft
After about an hour and a half, we were ready to launch the thing. It now sits awaiting turtles, frogs, herons, dragonflies, any critter that wants to use it.
23-APR-2009
Turtle raft
And here's a close-up of the raft.
19 April 2009
Scilla
Diane was at the FWG Sunday afternoon and spied these little blue scilla in the Butterfly Meadow. These non-native plants are common in gardens and along with crocuses, bloom early.
19 April 2009
Spring flowers
More of Diane's lovely photos.
19 April 2009
Cardinal, male
This beautiful male cardinal was photographed by Diane at the FWG. Cardinals are pairing up and will soon be nesting, if not already started.
19 April 2009
Vandalism at the Interpretive Centre
This damage was apparently caused Friday evening as people arriving at the centre on Saturday morning saw it then. While not a huge amount of damage in and of itself, the scorched area on the bulletin board is not a happy sign. I suppose we should be happy that only that got scorched and not our lovely pergola. We've had a lot of damage and vandalism at FWG this spring, and we're asking visitors to keep their eyes open and report damage to farm Security and to us (our contact info is at the top of the blog).
17 April 2009
Beefly (Bomblylius major)
Sandy photographed this beefly feeding on willows. You can see where its name comes from: It is a fly (Diptera), but looks like a bee!
17 April 2009
Volunteers at work
This morning began with the removal of firewood from "the" party site at the garden, and carried on with helping volunteers remove buckthorn. Here we're having a lesson in how to use the Weed Wrench, which is a dandy device for pulling up small trees by the root. The volunteers are removing the very invasive buckthorn (Rhamnus) from a thicket around our Old Field habitat.
17 April 2009
Removing buckthorn
As one volunteer pulls back on the Weed Wrench (the orange contraption), the other clips around the roots to ease removal of the root ball. With a bigger tree, an axe is needed to hack through the roots.
17 April 2009
More buckthorns to pull
Fortunately, it was a nice, sunny morning to be working.
17 April 2009
Mourning cloak
Sandy and I walked around the garden to look at several of the fire sites. I picked up some lengths of cut grape vine nearby and threw them off the path...and almost on to a Mourning cloak butterfly. First of the season for FWG. A few seconds later a second one flew up. Later, after Sandy returned to the BYG, I went back to the semi-circle of the Ash woods and found the two Mourning cloaks flying together in that location. A short while later I saw two at the other side of the Old Field, and not long after that, one more near the Ravine. There were at least five today, but in fact, there might have been more as they seemed, for awhile to be everywhere, but I didn't want to double-count.
17 April 2009
Eastern comma
In the Ash woods an Eastern comma finally sat still long enough for a few shots.
17 April 2009
Crocus with ant
Things have really "exploded" over the last day or two in terms of plants leafing out and flowering. A yellow crocus by the Butterfly meadow was beautiful in the sun.
17 April 2009
Bloodroot
In the Ash woods, a lone Bloodroot flower had appeared (and from now on there will be lots more coming up) and was being visited by a small wasp.
17 April 2009
Manitoba maple buds
Many trees and shrubs are getting ready to burst into flower and leaf. Here are a couple of shots of Manitoba maple...
17 April 2009
Red elderberry
...and Red elderberry (you can see the flower in the centre, not yet quite ready to bloom).
17 April 2009
Garlic mustard
Also now very visible is Garlic mustard. I've attached a shot of the basal rosettes, along with one of Geum or Yellow avens, a native plant. Because the latter also remains green throughout the winter, the leaves of both are now quite noticeable, and it is easy to confuse these plants if you are not very familiar with either. The Geum and the Garlic mustard grow in the same locations.
15 April 2009
Wood frog (Rana sylvatica)
The last few warm, sunny days have definitely brought out all sorts of things at the garden (and elsewhere).
This afternoon, wood frogs were calling from the pond, not many, and not vigorously, but calling nonetheless. These are the frogs that sound like quacking ducks! I'm attaching a photo I took today at another location, as I wasn't able to get one at FWG. Around the Ottawa area, chorus frogs (sound like someone running a thumb over a comb), spring peepers (as the name suggests, the make a "peeping" sound), wood frogs, and the occasional, and very early, leopard frog (sounds like someone snoring), can all be heard. I first heard chorus frogs two weeks ago in the west end of Ottawa. They were calling from a pond still largely covered in ice.
15 April 2009
Andrenid bee (Andrena dunningi)
An andrenid bee collecting willow pollen
15 April 2009
Horsetail (Equisetum sp.) emerging
One of the most primitive of plants, horsetails look as if they belong in a Jurassic Park movie, albeit of a much greater size than we now see them. This one is just beginning to emerge from the soil.
All sorts of things to see and to look forward to! The nomada bees should be out any day, and of course, butterflies! I've seen lots of mourning cloaks, compton tortoiseshells, and eastern commas, but none thus far at FWG, though I know they must be there.
13 April 2009
Tree Swallow
Diane Lepage visited the FWG early this morning, when it was still very cool out with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark. However, it was sunny and she saw quite a few birds, including.... our first tree swallows of the year!
13 April 2009
Song sparrow
Diane also saw a song sparrow and this lovely photo shows the bird quite well. These sparrows are not dependent on insects, the way swallows are, and can find seeds to eat.
13 April 2009
Red-winged blackbird
Diane photographed this red-winged blackbird in a spruce tree at the garden.
7 April 2009
Hedgerow in spring snow
Just when we thought spring was here, we got snow! It probably won't last more than a day or so, but for those of us (that is most of us, I assume!) waiting for spring to finally settle in, this is hard to take.
7 April 2009
Spring snow -the old field
Although I would have preferred sun and dry weather, the light dusting of snow was certainly pretty!
7 April 2009
Chipmunk in the snow
This poor little guy was soaking wet, but seemingly oblivious. Wildlife around here has evolved to cope with these minor setbacks and probably cope much better than we do. It is the freaks of nature, the summer snowstorms, the unusual and extreme cold in late spring, the torrential rains in the dry season, and so on, that cause real problems for wildlife. This light snow and temperatures hovering at freezing are entirely within their coping mechanism!
7 April 2009
Waiting for spring
The bench looks lonely as it sits there half snow-covered, waiting for warmer days.
3 April 2009
American goldfinch
Fortunately, I got to FWG before the heavy rains came and dampened the bird activity.
And birds were active! A pair of cardinals was engaged in courtship, or at least the male was trying to engage, but the female was having nothing to do with him! On the other hand, a pair of crows were contentedly sitting and doing a bit of bill-rubbing, so things were going along nicely with these two! House finches continue to pair up, robins continue to battle each other :-) , and red-winged blackbirds are busy staking out sites for the imminent arrival of the females.
In addition to the usual birds, I had a brief glimpse of a northern flicker (first I've seen at FWG this spring), and a golden-crowned kinglet, also a first for this spring (for me, anyway). I spent a fruitless 20 minutes hovering around the birch grove and the old field hoping to get a photo of the kinglet which never sat still for more than a nano-second. I did get one shot which is barely OK and is not attached! Most of my other kinglet shots were either of branches where he'd been a second earlier, or of a very blurry bird about to take flight. Oh, well... It appeared that there was only one, or at least, that is all I saw, but it was nice to hear that high-pitched call again.
Juncos and goldfinches were present in greater numbers than they have been for awhile, and the distinctive song of the juncos could be heard all over the FWG. In fact, there was a wonderful melange of bird song. Here is a list of the birds found this morning.
House finch 12
Black-capped chickadee 15
American goldfinch 17
Starling 60+
Song sparrow 6
American robin 8
Northern flicker 1
Dark-eyed junco 15
American crow 7
Sharp-shinned hawk 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy woodpecker 1
Pine siskin 2
Golden-crowned kinglet 1
Mallard 2
House sparrow 3
Red-winged blackbird 12
3 April 2009
Deer track
No insects to speak of, other than some micro-moths fluttering around and some Muscid flies. The most interesting find today was a series of deer tracks in one of few remaining snow patches at FWG. They appeared to be fairly fresh as they hadn't lost their shape and were quite crisp. I wasn't as surprised as I might have been a decade or so ago when I saw my first deer at the garden. Since then, they've been noticed occasionally, but more so recently. During the winter a couple of dogwalkers told me they had several times seen two deer in the 35 acre field just south of the FWG, and one was noticed in late fall in that same area. I took a walk down there but didn't see any deer.
Coyote
I did, however, see some coyote scat. During the winter I saw a coyote on the farm (photo attached), an occurrence which also seems to happen sporadically when, I would guess, they come down the frozen Rideau River (where I've seen them on various occasions) to the canal and from there to the Farm.
3 April 2009
Red gathering nest material
Chipmunks are certainly abundant, as they often are at this time of year, and their tunnels are all over the place. The red and the grey squirrels are actively refurbishing, or building new, nests, as was this little red who was gathering grass, and in the space of a few minutes made 8 trips to the nest.
3 April 2009
Red with nest material
Another shot of this little guy.
1 April 2009
Starling on sumac
Happy April all. April showers bring forth May flowers, so "they" say, in which case, let's hope for a May display! I was out just before the rain began today and it was a cool but nice day. The first thing I noticed was a large flock of starlings, perhaps 65+, some of which were feeding on the sumac by the pond.
1 April 2009
Starling on sumac
The sumac shrubs around the FWG have really been a saviour for so many birds and animals.
1 April 2009
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)
Near the pond, these comfrey leaves were beginning to appear.
1 April 2009
Chipmunk
Chipmunks are very active these days and signs of their activity are all over the place. I never tire of watching them (or the red squirrels) and seemingly I have an endless capacity for taking photos of them all. I would hate to count all the photos of reds and chipmunks I have, but it is probably far too many. Add in the grey squirrels and I have quite a few gigabytes worth of squirrel shots. Obsession?? If you do like squirrels as much as I do, you might want to look at the selection of photos I have on my Larose forest PBase galleries. I change them around, add and delete, quite often.
Groundhog
Speaking of squirrels, our big fat ground squirrel, the groundhog, is out and about, and has been in various locations around the city for several weeks. This cinnamon coloured guy was on the farm a few days ago.