Mudpuppy Night

The temperature was -14 degrees Celsius. It was a clear and calm night. We drove away from the city to an area where you could clearly see the stars. We were heading to Oxford Mills to meet up with Fred Schueler. Our hopes were to find amphibians. Some might say it was hopeless and silly to try this is the middle of winter but for one certain species it is actually the best time to find them.

We met the fairly large group of people on the bridge bellow the dam in Oxford Mills and started our count right away. Underneath the swirls of foam we found our first Mudpuppy (Necturus). It swam away from the glare of our lights with such ease and everyone was excited to find more. Another spotted from the lower end of the bridge furthered this excitement and we walked down to the water. Those who had rubber boots or waders carefully got into the water from the ice and started to search. we found a few active mud-puppies and one that was hiding under the ice shelf. It was a little nerve wracking to wade into water with ice floating around knowing that if I slipped on the flat rocks or if the water ever reached the top edges of my boots I would be in for a chilling experience.

Mudpuppy (Necturus)

The Mudpuppies were quite active and seamed very at home in the cold water where they had little to fear in terms of predators. These amphibians never loose their gills and are aquatic their entire lives. They look like the aquatic form of juvenile salamanders.

After we were successful in surveying the area we headed over to the Brigadoon for desert and to warm up. The group coming up from Toronto arrived later due to weather and traffic so when they arrived we headed back out for a second search. On this second search we found even more. The Toronto crew which unexpectedly included an old friend waded out into the depths farther than my short rubber boots could reach where they found 8 Mudpuppies in one area along with a few scattered about.


It felt like the temperature was dropping and the night was getting late so we said goodbye to those who were still on the second search and headed home. It was very worth enduring the cold to find these amazing creatures.

More on this at Fred's website:
http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm

A Great Day! No pun intended.

Okay well the pun was intended.. Today we went looking for Great Gray Owls which have been hanging around the Ottawa area for the last few weeks. We had already tried for the one near Constance Bay in the West end and this time hoped that the East side would bring us better luck.

A little perspective on the weather> It is -24 and feels like -36 degrees C. It's a deceivingly bright and sunny day which looks warm and gorgeous.  We are a little crazy and desperate to see this bird and driving about 40 minutes away to try and see it.

We get there and we know the general area but can't see any off the road. So we find a parking lot on the NCC property which they had been seen on and start walking back to the big curve on Rockcliff Parkway.  We walk through the woods and across the bridge at Green Creek. On the other side of the bridge is two men with large backpacks and tripods. Well we found one of the handiest things to find when looking for something > Someone who has already seen it!  They were going back to see the owls for the second time that day and were happy to lead us there with them.

Green creek has forest on either side and the forest borders on a large field. It was here where forest met field that I saw my first Great Gray Owl. A large birch tree across the field was pointed out to me as one of the places they had seen owls perching before. I take a look and say "It's there again" all the way across the field I spot my owl while one of the guys walking the edge closest to us finds two more! We walk to the closer ones that are more out in the open and start taking pictures. The one further away must have been a little curious because it actually flew in closer to us!

Great Gray Owl

 This is the largest owl in the world and despite the fact that each movement I made sent spikes of pain through whatever limb was attempting to move I was captivated. Their head swiveling from side to side. Looking for prey and watching us without a care in the world. I know an owls eyes take up most of the space in their head but I almost wonder what they could possibly think of us. Are they looking down at us from the tree and thinking "Well why would I care about you down there? You can't get me up here."  or "what is that odd creature? Don't see many of those back home."

Great Gray Owl

The facial disks of these owls is actually used to help focus sound. Owls don't have ears evenly placed on either side of their heads like we do, but rather pointed in different directions so that they can pinpoint exactly where a noise is coming from. That is how these nocturnal birds can find small mammals underneath 2 feet of snow when no human eye or ear could locate them. An owl could find a mouse while blindfolded (This has actually been tested). There were a lot of people visiting these owls in the last few days and we were careful to walk on the paths created by others and to keep quite. These birds aren't bothered by our presence as much as others are but it is still important to consider the impacts we can have on them.

Great Gray Owl

The fact we saw three Great Gray Owls at once makes up completely for the time that we struck out in the west end. It made up for the freezing cold and the long drive out here. We had met some very nice people and had found some cool creatures. I imagine I will be back to see them again (on a warmer day) before the season is over.

Search for Barrows Goldeneye

Reports have being going around Ottawa of a lot of unusual birds and today Chris and I were feeling a little stir crazy and decided to check out one of them. A barrows goldeneye had been seen at the Hurdmans bridge. This is a small walking bridge South that crosses the Rideau River South of the 417. We found parking on Donald Street with access to Rivierain Park. This park goes along the river and trails extend towards the bridge.

It was a bitter cold day and we started walking through the park. There was very little open water and we saw a lot of goldeneye and mallards congregating in the patches that were. The park had chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches and even pileated woodpeckers.

Pileated Woodpecker

At the bridge we found so many goldeneye it was hard to count and make sure you've looked at each one to try and see if it had those slight differences. Unfortunately we didn't see anything that we could confidently say was a Barrows Goldeneye but it was a good walk and a nice park with some worthwhile birding.

Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser