FWG blog

What was happening at the FWG in December 2006

December 15 - Notes and photos from Sandy Garland
The weather is so incredibly mild, you can't help wanting to be outside all the time. After reading Christine's notes from yesterday, I wanted to check on a Red Squirrel midden that I noticed in late September (photo at right) while looking at mushrooms.

The squirrel collected these cones from nearby Norway Spruce (Picea abies) and stored them next to and under the edge of a pile of buckthorn branches.

Today, I was astonished to see how large the pile had grown (below).

And it's become rather a work of art! It still consists mainly of spruce cones, but the squirrel has decorated it with bit of crumpled newspaper, small clumps of dry grass, moss, twigs, and oak leaves. He obviously has a sense of humour as well, as he's balanced a couple of spruce cones on nearby branches (lower right) - maybe that's in case we get 5 feet of snow and everything else is covered up.

December 14 - Notes and photos from Christine Hanrahan

I slipped and slid my way around the FWG today. The trails are very muddy except where they are more protected and then they are icy. But it was a lovely day, mild and soft.

The first thing I saw this morning was a flock of 21 Cedar Waxwings (photo below) just north of the Pond, occasionally feeding on a nearby Mountain Ash (Sorbus sp.)

A female Mallard was in the pond. The pond water is high and much less muddy than in previous days.

A lone woolly bear was slowly crawling across the trail, so I removed him to a safer spot where he promptly curled up in defensive mode (photo at right).

About half a dozen unidentified midges were flying around.

Red squirrels were much in evidence, as always, and there were at least 10 in all their usual haunts: by the pond, in two different sections of the New Woods, the Old Field thickets, the Ash Woods and the BYG-Ravine. I picked up some walnuts that they had chewed to see if I could compare tooth marks to those on the goldenrod galls scattered around the garden.

Sandy mentioned that she had found some galls scattered on the ground in the Old Field and wondered what critter might have done that. Woodpeckers, both Downy and Hairy, will perch vertically on the stems and peck holes in the galls, much as they would on a tree, to remove the grubs. But rodents will feed in other ways. When I took a look at the area in the Old Field I immediately saw that the stems below the galls had been very cleanly chewed off allowing the galls to fall to the ground. This would suggest White-footed Mouse. However, where the goldenrod stems have fallen over, red squirrels will have easy access to them. Mice sometimes sit on the stems and gnaw at the galls, but in this case the galls had been cut off. Breaking off the stems gives a very different effect. The galls were chewed open (in contrast to the single hole made by a woodpecker) and in many cases, had been chewed to bits to reach the grub inside.

One Cottontail Rabbit was in the New Woods. I'm seeing fewer of these creatures than earlier in the summer. They may be on the down side of their cycle right now. Meadow Voles, on the other hand, are more abundant than ever. Their tunnels can be seen everywhere. Here are a couple of shots comparing a red squirrel tunnel (below left) and a vole tunnel (right).

Voles tunnel through the grass (and you can see those tunnels everywhere at FWG) while red squirrels make very limited use of short underground tunnels where they store some of their food supplies.

I finally got around to snapping a few shots of a pretty and quite intact little Yellow Warbler nest (below) in a Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo) standing amidst a small Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea).

Other birds noted in the short time I was at the garden today were Black-capped Chickadees (12), Crows (8), American Robins (2), House Finches (5), Downy Woodpecker (1).

On Tuesday, there was a small flock of American Goldfinches around the Ash Woods feeder, along with 4 Mourning Doves, 14 House Finches, and a couple of Cardinals.

2 December 2006 - Our annual Christmas Party for FWG volunteers was a big success this year. In a departure from tradition, Diane (centre in the photo) cooked up a pot of delicious chili - 2 pots, in fact, one vegetarian and one regular - with baguettes, cheese and fruit plates. Sandy (left) contributed hors d'oeuvres (from Loblaws freezer) and festive decorations. David (right), chair of the FWG management committee, was very pleased to be able to enjoy the party and chat with friends instead of fetching bagel sandwiches from the caterer. As you can see from Charlie's photos, a good time was had by all.

Frost on these Nightshade berries near our Amphibian Pond is a reminder that winter is on its way.

Our red squirrels have built themselves several shelters for the winter; we're seeing piles of food supplies under trees or walnuts and apples stuck into forks in branches.

November 24 — Notes and photos from Christine Hanrahan

I found this toad in the window well of the Insectarium. I don't know how long he'd been there, but he looked fairly healthy. Also in the window wells were a few less fortunate creatures, three dead meadow voles.

This chipmunk was stuffing its face with the seeds of a crabapple on the edge of the ravine. It would quickly remove the pulp and spit it out, then store the seed in its cheek pouch. In the space of a few minutes it went through about 8 crabapples.
I also came across this red squirrel feast - a stack of discarded walnut shells and this one, still being worked on until I came by and disrupted the feast!
This little potter wasp nest was quite likely made by Eumenes verticalis, as their nests are usually on exposed rock surfaces. Normally, the Eumenes hide their nests under something, often vegetation.

New club member Gillian Mastromatteo sent us these photos of House Finches and a Mourning Dove at the OFNC feeder at the FWG.