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What was happening at the FWG in April 2008
25 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan  Back row L to R: Nanette Whitman, David Hobden, Frank Pope, Mary Ann Dugal, Albert Dugal, Ken Allison; front row, L to R: Martha Camfield and Elizabeth Rooney (Eileen's daughter). On a warm, sunny afternoon, approximately 30 friends and family of Eileen Evans gathered to celebrate her life and to remember her fondly as friend, fellow dog-walker, hiking partner, mother, and one of the original volunteers at FWG. Thanks to the generosity of the Evans Family, the FWG was able to finally achieve its goal of having a pergola at the entrance to our Interpretive Centre. Many thanks to Elizabeth and to all who showed up for the upbeat and cheerful dedication of the FWG pergola. |
24 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan  This morning, American toads were very active at the pond - mating pairs in many locations, calling males, and lots and lots of toad eggs. In fact, there were so many toad eggs that many of the mating pairs were entangled in them. The egg masses look like black-beaded necklaces, which may reach a metre in length. In the photos here, you can see freshly laid egg "strings" (above) and others which may be a few hours or a few days old (below). The older ones look like they are encased in a cloudy jelly. Both new and older eggs are in a protective casing, but silt from the pond quickly adheres to the egg strings along with other debris giving them that cloudy appearance.  Also note the size and colour difference between male and female toads. The colour difference is not always present or apparent and, in fact, toads can vary greatly in colouration, but in breeding season you can sometimes pick up the differences. Anyway, it was wonderful to see this sign of life in the pond. Also in the pond, green frog tadpoles and a few wood frogs. Certainly not the numbers I recall from the last few years. However, in other locations around the city and outside the city, wood frogs are abundant. Speaking of herps, there was a large snapping turtle in the stream just below the FWG yesterday afternoon. I really like these prehistoric looking animals, although snappers have always had a bad rep, which is sad.  For butterfly enthusiasts, you might be interested in knowing a spring azure was seen. Unfortunately, I saw only the one, but I expect that in the next few weeks, unless the weather changes, we'll see more. Yesterday afternoon, I had a lone cabbage white butterfly in the BYG. No new bird species to add to the list I sent the other day. However, there is lots of activity. The chickadee pair continues to excavate their cavity, and some of the other resident species, which always get a head start on nesting, are also busy. I watched a female cardinal carefully pulling long strands of fibre from one of last year's DSV (dog-strangling vine) plants, and carry to a nest (and speaking of DSV, in the nice warm sun of an exposed site, the plants are already several inches high!).  Yesterday, a pileated woodpecker looked like he was going to attempt excavation on the BYG post, but thought better of it! Meanwhile, white-throated sparrows are still not abundant in the garden, but those that are there are in brilliantly fresh plumage. I also caught sight of one of the less brilliantly plumaged colour morphs of the white-throat. 
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On the insect front, other than butterflies that is, each day brings
more bumblebees, including today, a red-banded bumblebee. The other
evening I was happy to re-locate the nomada bees (photo) in much the same
location as last spring.22 April, Earth Day at the FWG — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan It was a hot, sunny, mid-summer like day, almost, dare I say, too hot? I hope we have some real spring weather because so far we've jumped from winter into summer. However, not to complain. A number of interesting observations today and also a few from Friday evening. First of all, the green herons are back! They are quite skittish at this point and flush easily. Photographers should stay back and not try to chase them around the pond. Also in the pond was a muskrat! Don't ask if it spent the winter - I don't know. It could also have just arrived because this is the time of year when animals go wandering, looking for new territory.
Still at the pond, it was very, very nice to hear the wood frogs and toads calling. Not a lot at the moment, but hopefully that will change in the next few days. I also heard two brief trills from the Ravine that I could have sworn was a treefrog, but it seems early. Although I think the same thing happened last year... I heard them in late April, thought it was too early, but there they were. As well, the green frog tadpoles are pretty active these days.
Bloodroot is in glorious flower in both the Ash Woods and the BYG. And yes indeed, ants are busy around the plant. Also visiting this plant was a beefly, Bombylius major. I wasn't able to get a photo, but am attaching one from roughly the same time last year so you can see what it looks like. In that photo, it is visiting coltsfoot.
Also, increasing numbers of bumblebees, a few hoverflies, and a whole host of other flies I haven't been able to put a name to yet. Speaking of flies, while in Larose Forest yesterday, I saw more than a few mosquitoes! Back to birds again! New arrivals today were house wren, green heron, and white-throated sparrows. On Friday evening, after sending the last email to y'all, I went back to FWG and saw a few more newbies: brown-headed cowbird and a pair of wood ducks, which landed briefly in the pond.
On Friday, I heard a kestrel calling and spotted it on the southern edge of FWG. So far, the kestrels have shown no inclination to nest at the garden. I wasn't at FWG on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, but combining the birds from Friday and today shows a lot of activity around the garden.
And for mammals: raccoon, muskrat, red squirrel, grey squirrel, chipmunk, groundhog, fox, meadow vole, Peromyscus mice (probably white-footed). |
21 April — photos and notes from Sandy Garland
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The activity at the FWG is increasing daily as the weather warms up and more and more creatures realize it's spring. The willow tree at the west end of our Amphibian Pond (photo below) was literally humming on Saturday. Hundreds and hundreds of bees were collecting pollen from willow flowers (catkins). The bee at the right is dusted with pollen and it looks like it's wearing fuzzy yellow leg warmers.
19 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Spring is really galloping along now - although we could get more cold weather yet. Anyway, it seems all living creatures are taking advantage of this warm spell. Spring is busting out all over and so much is happening - in some cases, for only a brief time. I continue to be amazed at how much variety of living creatures, not to mention plants, the FWG holds. I think it is important to chronicle this from season to season, and from year to year. This small urban natural area is quite a treasure. This was reinforced today when I bumped into someone, taking photos - but carefully and respectfully! He said when he recently reviewed all the photos he'd taken over the last few years, a great proportion were taken at FWG. He said it was astonishing the variety of birds and animals he'd seen, and that is why, although he lives in Orleans, he visits FWG. More new arrivals from the last couple of days to add to the list I sent on April 16: a female belted kingfisher made a brief stop over at the pond this morning, which was quite a treat! Savannah sparrows, chipping sparrows, and ruby-crowned kinglets. I saw several mourning cloak butterflies yesterday and today around the FWG. One was perched on the willow with a number of Andrenid bees. These solitary bees are one of the first to emerge in spring. They seem to time this emergence to the pollen production on willows, and can be seen gathering great quantities of the stuff right now.
In one photo, you can just about make out the pollen sacs on the legs. You can usually find good numbers of these bees nesting close to each other, but not in the same nest chamber as social bees would do. Instead, each builds an individual nest, albeit in close proximity to each other. These Andrenid bees like bare soil on sunny slopes for nesting. This group, which consists of dozens and dozens of species, is considered important for pollination of many different plants. Some Andrenid species specialize in one plant species only, others will visit several different types of flowers. If you read anything about creating a garden for pollinators, you'll notice that one of the best things you can do is leave a large patch of bare soil in a sunny location, for use by many different native bees. I was wandering around looking up into trees when I suddenly became aware of a face peering down at me, looking more startled than I was. A raccoon, high up in a pine, clearly awoken by my blundering past.  Yesterday, I watched a busy pair of chickadees excavating a cavity in a broken off birch tree. They would fly in, one at a time, gather a beak-full of the soft rotting wood, fly a short distance, deposit it carefully, and return to do it all over again. Meanwhile, in the BYG, a chipmunk was gathering dried leaves and taking them into a burrow in one of the beds by the Woodland Walk (so, beware of this little guy's home). In this photo, he has just popped his head out of his burrow before leaving on another leaf-gathering expedition :-)
Hepatica and scilla are in flower, red-berried elder (or red elderberry) is leafing out almost as I watch, and all sorts of seedlings are emerging. |
16 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
However, did see my first FWG butterfly of the year, a very worn and torn Compton tortoiseshell. I can tell you, it was a pleasure to see it. It was hanging around the same location for at least a couple of hours (just west of the Butterfly Meadow).
While removing swallow boxes, prior to putting up new ones, this morning, I found a cluster of well-preserved but quite dead, asian lady beetles and polistes wasps, between the birdbox and its post (see photo). Chipmunks are out in force! They are probably the most numerous squirrel at FWG at the moment. A pair of groundhogs is bravely attempting to set up home at the garden again. I say 'bravely' because these poor guys usually fall prey to dogs. Another sign of spring, Carleton University students :-) A group of five young guys had proudly laid out a huge orange banner on which they were working. Right underneath the Ash Woods bird feeder. I went over to see what they were doing, but didn't have the heart to scold them! They looked sooooo happy, and the day was soooo nice! So I just reminded them that they were in the FWG and that we would appreciate it if they did that kind of thing closer to Hartwell Locks and not at FWG. Not that they were doing any damage, just preventing the birds from using the feeder - although to be honest, there are fewer birds at the feeder when it is this warm (but don't get me wrong, the feeders are still very important for birds until the weather warms up stays warm).
Between last Wednesday and today, these are the birds that have been found at FWG: |
Not as much bird activity as one would expect on such a good day, but
then, on such a day, many migrants are probably making up for lost time
and pushing through.
Lots more insects around today (saw several species of flies, some
micro-moths, a few moth caterpillars, and another wasp). More tree
swallows around too.
8 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Sorry.... but it is SPRING and I can't help letting you know about the neat stuff that keeps appearing at FWG!! I went back to FWG at 4:30, just couldn't stay away. Actually, I was hoping to find a fox sparrow there. Well, I didn't, but minutes after arriving I saw a northern shrike in the Old Field. Unfortunately, it was moving around a lot, and the last I saw of it, it was heading over to the farm fields.
Many more juncos had arrived since this morning, and were they singing!! The Ash Woods were alive with their song. Lots of chipmunks too, including two in the BYG. One of them sat on the rock wall by the ravine and watched the other one stuffing its cheek pouch with food. At first I thought he was eating the many sumac seeds on the ground, but then I saw he was digging up seeds, peeling and eating them.
Also, a red-winged blackbird with a deformed leg (take a look at the photo). Didn't seem to impede it in any way from walking or landing. Not sure what the problem is.
It is a great time to be out!! |
But I did get good looks at a couple more new arrivals that I hadn't
seen this morning: a beautifully fresh yellow-rumped warbler, and a
golden-crowned kinglet, showing its yellow "crown." So, they and the
shrike can be added to the list I sent you earlier.
8 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan New arrivals: tree swallow - 5, eastern phoebe - 1, fox sparrow - 1.
The farm fields are flooding, and as they do, they are filling up with gulls, geese, and ducks. Where grassy patches have been exposed, and not yet flooded, a few killdeer can be seen.
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Other birds of interest: northern shrike - looking
at this very bad shot, I think it's a first-year bird - golden-crowned
kinglet, and three turkey vultures together flying over the garden.
Fewer song sparrows than yesterday, but many more juncos. No
yellow-rumped warbler and no tree sparrows, but they are probably there,
I just wasn't lucky enough to see or hear them.
8 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Today, the new arrivals were tree sparrows, killdeer, and yellow-bellied sapsucker. Yesterday, in the warm sun, the garden was alive with song. After the relative silence of winter it was especially noticeable, and at times almost wonderfully deafening! Today, there was less song, but more activity. Song sparrows are passing through the garden (and the Arboretum) in good numbers, as are robins, grackles, and red-winged blackbirds. Some will be remaining to nest, but others are on their way!
I was relieved to see that the little chipmunk I photographed at the Ash Woods the other day was still around (if you look at the photo I sent, you'll see he/she has a notched ear, so a good identifier), after watching a crow eating a chipmunk yesterday. There is no guarantee the crow caught the little animal, although it could have done, but equally, the chipmunk could have been killed by a dog and left. After all, crows are great scavengers. Other miscellaneous notes: a pair of starlings investigating a tree cavity; crows with nest material; no ducks on the pond this morning and only four yesterday (a pair each of mallards and black ducks), in contrast to the 150+ of the last few months. Downy woodpecker pecking away at sumac seeds and trunk. Lots of chipmunks now out, including a few quite high up in trees. A pair of white-breasted nuthatches following each other from tree to tree (photo, below left). Goldfinches increasingly being seen, and singing constantly. A juvenile cooper's hawk in the ravine being mobbed by crows. Four bohemian waxwings, landed for a short period and then flew off across the Arboretum.
A few flies were out and about yesterday but I couldn't get much of a look at any of them. Still not enough to feed any of the insect eaters. Buds on red elderberry are getting fatter by the day, and the viburnum lantana is actually sprouting tiny little leaves. Speaking of plants, now that the snow is receding, I noticed a lot of trees have been girdled by voles.
Birds observed the last two days: |
Good news about the road. This morning road work was being done. Already
many of the potholes have been smoothed out, although there were still
muddy patches. I expect when it is all done it will be drivable again.
Hooray. However, I expect that with rain forecast, with all the soft mud
and with all those cars going up and down the road, it will be
potholed again in no time, but hopefully nowhere near as bad as it was.4 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Four pine grosbeaks today, in what used to be their usual spot, by Building 72 in the Arboretum. They were feeding on the few remaining crabapples. Like the bohemian waxwings, they too are heading north, which makes any observation of them now, doubly pleasurable. It was a fantastic winter for both bohemian waxwings and pine grosbeaks and it may be a few more winters before we see such numbers again.
Also today, at FWG, two male goldfinches in their lovely spring plumage, very bright and fresh. Haven't seen this species at FWG since about mid-January. More chipmunks emerging, more red-winged blackbirds at the garden, a raven soaring overhead.... great time to be out! |
2 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
A small patch of exposed earth under a spruce tree, was being investigated by two robins, a song sparrow and a couple of juncos. One of the robins caught either a small worm or a dark grub of some sort. It was swallowed almost as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, I also came across a bonfire at FWG. I didn't see it yesterday (although I may have missed it) and I suppose it could have been revealed by melting snow, but somehow I think the warm temperatures of yesterday encouraged some 'kids' to party. As well, an old pine in the Ash woods came down, probably in the strong winds overnight. Hope this doesn't serve as fuel for more fires.
Birds observed (seen and/or heard) over the last two days at FWG: And... numbers of grey and red squirrels. |
Every day seems to bring something new at the garden. This morning a
little chipmunk was extremely busy searching for seeds under the Ash
Woods feeder and stuffing any he found into his cheek pouch. First
sighting, for me, of a chipmunk at FWG this year (but saw one earlier on
the farm). Just before I saw the chipmunk, a lone turkey vulture circled
over the garden, did a few loops and then flew northward.
1 April — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan First day of April, and the weather was mild, even warm. Birds were not much at feeders, but they were certainly vocal in thickets, in trees, by the pond, in the woods, etc.
I guess the highlight was watching crows actively breaking off twigs and fly away with them to various potential nest sites. At one point, I watched three individual crows in one maple, and one in a birch, all breaking off twigs at the same time. One bird cleverly grabbed two rather thick sticks in his bill before flying away. There were actually crows lined up waiting to grab a spot in a tree in order to gather twigs, or so I'd like to think! And the other highlight was the number of song sparrows now around. I counted 4 at FWG, and several more in the Arboretum. Poor guys! But at least they are seed eaters, so they'll find food, if only at our feeders (which as I noted above, were not particularly busy while I was there). Robins are continuing to feed on sumac fruit.
In the field by the red barn, three Canada geese were resting, but when I popped my head above the snow bank, they reacted in horror, as you can see from the photo :-) And if you are interested, there was a good sized flock of about 150 bohemian waxwings around FWG today. |
