Amherst Island, Ontario

Over the Christmas break (December 22nd 2011) I went birding at Amherst Island near Kingston.  This was my first time using my new camera. My dad and I set out to look for owls and a Purple Sandpiper that had been reported there days before by Bruce (http://brucedilabio.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html).
It was a gorgeous winter day on Amherst island after storms the days before. We arrived later than we had wanted to and took the ferry over scrounging up as much change as we could find and barely making it on.

 At the dock in Millhaven we saw Goldeneye (above), Canada geese, Mallard ducks, ring billed gulls, bufflehead, sharp-tailed duck and scaup before even getting to Stella.

 Driving up and down the Stella 40 Foot Road we saw multiple hawk species including Rough-legged hawks, Red-tailed hawks and marsh hawks.  We also saw bluejays, starlings, house sparrows

 The same snowy owl as seen by Bruce was in the same tree on the NE side of the island on Front Road.

 Further down Front Road was another Snowy sitting in a field that I think I took a hundred pictures of.

White breasted nuthatches and black-capped chickadees frequented the feeders in owl woods as I chased a Red-bellied woodpecker around trying to get a decent picture of it (which didn't happen). Also in owl woods there was recent evidence (scat and fresh pellets) but no owls were found despite hours of searching.Tree sparrows were seen close to owl woods.

As the night came and we headed back towards Stella we saw what was likely the short eared owls flying in fields along Front Road but they were to far away for a good picture.

We got 18 species in total and could probably have gotten about 30-40 if we had looked more since we were missing some common birds. The day ended and we drove back to Ottawa disappointed to have not seen the Purple Sandpiper or Saw-whets but satisfied with the day and very hungry.

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

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 5

View bellow the dam at WRS

I keep seeing garter snakes in the bogs. Today I saw them at Bat Lake and Spruce bog. These are somewhat an interesting colour of garter snake though. They dont have the black and yellow but are more variable in colouration.

Spores typical of Northern Beech Ferns

Doing some field work

Three Necrophorus sp. of carrion beetles

I found three carrion beetles (N. tomentosus) on dead rodents near the small mammal lab and set up a trap for carrion beetles nearby.
Today we started our fieldwork on Broadwing Lake, Bat Lake and Spruce bog. Our experiment is testing prey capture by pitcher plants in the middle and on the edge of the bogs.

Patrick with a female painted turtle called stumpy for her injured legs

Field Course Algonquin Park- Day 4

This is the day we start our project. We have decide to study insect capture by pitcher plants and will be working on sites at Broadwing Lake, Spruce Bog, Mizzy Lake and Bat Lake.

Walking the Mizzy Lake trail

I caught a dragonhunter and an emerald dragonfly by the dam today. They were both very nicely coloured.

There were a lot of small American toads but only one large one was seen at the Mizzy Lake trail. Going out at night along the lake I saw a lot of green, leopard and bullfrogs. If you wiggle your finger in front of a bullfrog it will bite you and hold on. 

Many cool ferns were seen along the paths. In particular the northern beech fern was a small fern seen along the trail to Mizzy Lake.

Northern beech fern

 And our wonderful study species... The pitcher plant.

The leaves/ pitchers that capture insects

The flower

 Setting up our experiments didn't take too long and it was nice to be outside.

Mizzy Lake

Cotton grass in Mizzy bog

 The bog was great habitat for sphagnum that made up the mats, pitcher plants, tamarack trees, cotton grass, leatherleaf, sedge and many others.

Bog with many unique plants

Field Course Alsonquin Park- Day 3

Canoe beach was very close to my cabin

I started off my day with a run again but didn't see that much. Bears had been sighted in the airfield but I didn't get to see any. Katherine, Sarah and I spent most of the day working on our project inside. I did see white admirals , grasshoppers, dragonflies and damselflies at canoe beach. There was a grater snake on the road between my cabin and the cookhouse and a Dekay's brown snake in one of the bogs we walked through.