Algonquin Park, Ontario

Despite being called crazy by many people I know I went with the University of Guelph Wildlife Club and stayed at the Wildlife Research Station in Algonquin Park for a weekend of somewhat camping.

On the way to the WRS on Friday Jan 27th, we saw many Red-tailed hawks and some snow buntings near Fergus. I very much regret not getting pictures of them now but we were just too excited to get to Algonquin.

In Algonquin the first wildlife we encountered were a Red fox that I almost hit on the road and wolves calling back to our howls from the WRS near Lake Saskegewan. Two packs were calling back and forth with us and between themselves. I don't mind losing face as a writer here because >it sounded so incredibly cool< and I can't find any good words to describe it right now.

Day 1
The next morning a group of us get up with the sun and drive west of the Hwy 60 corridor to find: Goldfinches, Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, Black-Capped Chickadees, a Raven, Pine Siskins, Red-breasted Nuthatches and Repolls.

Pine siskins

Bad angle of a red breasted nuthatch

Between Mew Lake Campground and the airfield we saw Bluejays and Evening Grosbeaks.

I realize there are very few not great  pictures of this morning... I forgot to change my camera. I am kicking myself.

 

On Opeongo Road we saw Grey Jays and a Leucistic Black-Capped Chickadee.

Leucistic chickadee

Grey jay

After going to Opeongo we went to the visitor centre where I changed my camera. We added hairy woodpecker to our count and saw many more evening grosbeaks. During our stay at the visitor centre I actually saw a group of what I think were scouts throwing snowballs at birds in the feeders. I think everyone with me was a little bit enraged by this and I actually went out and told the kids off. Immediately the birds came back and I was able to snag a picture of a few birds with my partially charged camera.

Male and female evening grosbeaks

Our group went to Whitney in search for Bohemian Waxwings. They were unfortunately not around probably due to the fact it had started snowing and even the mouring doves were hiding.

We met up with other wildlife club members and hiked the Spruce Bog Trail. On this trail we didn't see many birds but did find a pine marten in a tree. 

Pine Marten

 And then cars got stuck in the parking lot... and there was some snowball fights etc. 

 

 
After warming up and goofing around for a while back in the cabins and around a fire we tried another wolf howl. This time with more people and no success.

Watching Attenborough in the cabin

Cards

Fire that took a while to start but kept going for a long time once it did.

Day 2
We woke up early but there wasn't anything new to see this morning. We hiked from the WRS around Bat Lake trail. Natasha did find a brown creeper nest near the lookout. A group saw a Boreal chickadee but I unfortunately missed it. We got a good look are red crossbills again. I was hoping to see a black-backed woodpecker but no such luck.

The girls in my car

 Breaking in the trail....

Taking a break

Group photo!

We made it to the top

Bat Lake

WRS and my little car :)

 We tried to get into Mizzy Lake for a second walk but the road was too bad and we couldn't get it. I have to say I am proud of my little car for being able to turn around and get out of there without getting stuck.  On our way out of the park we stopped at Whiskey Rapids trail for another short hike. We saw a group of chickadees but no Boreals showed up. This was a gorgeous walk despite no success with birds.

Whiskey rapids trail

Leaving late and the spastic storms on the way back to Guelph meant no wildlife was seen on the ride home.

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 12

White admirals and mourning cloaks greeted me as the admirals were seen flying around the road to the cookhouse and Mourning cloaks were sunning on the road and drinking water from the puddles.

Walk to the waterfall

We went to the waterfall again and spent a few hours enjoying the sun and our last full day in Algonquin.

I checked my carrion beetle trap one last time and found three species of Necraphorus and a rove beetle.

Before leaving the park I went for a walk on the lookout trail. There was a lot of interesting plants in a mix of coniferous and deciduous forest. False and true solomons seal were common understory plants.

Eryn and Karl

We celebrated the end of a great field course and gave gifts to those at the WRS.

Booze run

 There was a lot more dancing, salsa and a fire.

Only occasionally did things get out of hand

 Before leaving the park the next day I went for a walk along Lookout Trail. There were many wildflowers with berries including false and true solomons seal. The forest was mostly deciduous but then became gradually more conifers as you got higher up into the more rocky areas.

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 11

The day was rainy and not much was active.

While walking down the Mizzy Lake Trail we saw a large tree gal on a black walnut or ash tree.  The tree appeared healthy despite this large gal.

Gall on black walnut tree

There were many different species of mushrooms along the trail.There are little bright orange ones that live in sphagnum and larger ones that live on wood.

I really liked seeing all of the species of ferns:
Northern beach fern
Ostrich fern
Woosdia sp.


Darners were seen flying along the roads as American toads and catterpillars crawl across them.

We got salsa lessons that night from our prof and watched movies on the projector. 

Salsa

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 10

 Today is the last day of collections for our research project.  It was quite cloudy and not much was seen in terms of insect life. We did see a spotted salamander at Bat Lake.  The bog atBat lake is thick sphagnum with leather leaf, cranberry, tamarak, spruce and bog rosemary. It is a small area of bog that is surrounded by forest.

When driving down Hwy 60 to Kettle bog we had our largest moos jam. A female and her calf were walking very close to the side of the road. The tracks went up to the ditch however they were getting farther away when we arrived. They seamed to care very little about the large crowds of people nearby. 

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 9

Today we went to the waterfall past the airfield. There were dragonflies patrolling up and down the river as we sat in the cold pools of water.

Above the falls

Bellow the falls there is a nice little pool to sit in

Growing on a dead fallen down tree

There were variable darners, canada darners, damselflies and water striders out near canoe beach today.

There were more necrophorus found in the carrion beetles trap today. I walked the Chit Lake Trail but it was still quite damp and there were no insects around by flipping logs and other things.  There was a lot of life on these dead trees and many mushrooms and other things were growing out from the bark

That night the group of us went out for a wolf howl. We didn't get to hear any wolves but I caught two crane flies that were attracted to the lights in the cars.

A light trap set up at the WRS caught a black beetle and two moth species.

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 8

Robber fly collected on the road to the WRS. These flies are predators of other insects.

Two tiger beetles collected in the airfield on the sandy bikepath. They are brownish with a metallic underside. A firefly larvae captured in a pitfall trap in the airfield. This firefly larvae is well armored and looks almost like a streamlined tank.

Wood frog seen in the forest.

Wood frog (Rana sylvatica)

American toads were quite common around the WRS. I saw many small ones near the beach during the day. But only saw the larger ones come out at night.This big male was quite vocal telling us that he was in fact male and didn't want to be held.

American toad (Bufo americana)

Field Course Algonquin Park - Day 7

Today I saw a mixed flock of warblers and chickadees in the bushes by the road:
Chickadees
Canada warbler
Black and white warbler
Kinglet with dull yellow breast
and others

Darner dragonfly female against a tree

  A polyphemus catterpillar was found on the side of the road near the pumphouse bog at WRS and a darner was seen quite well camouflaged against a tree.

Who wouldn't love that face with that nice mandible smile

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 6

View from the visitor center

 I found a fall field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) in the airfield.

Today we finished setting up our experiment at our last two sites at Dizzy bog. There were more garter snakes. Again very brown/greenish instead of black.

Two moose in spruce bog

Two moose (m/f) were seen in the spruce bog wading in the marsh and feeding.

Dragonhunter

This dragonhunter was caught by the dam at WRS. He was very quick and agile but my net was quicker. These dragonflies are very large and will eat other dragonflies.

Sunset over lake saskegewan