Montreal Nature (formerly Ottawa Nature

2009-09-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Autumn

It's september now, as the obeservant will already have noted. It feels like summer today, but I can see the season's change coming on. I can see leaves that aren't actually turning yet, but are certainly thinking about it. Sometimes theres a bit of a chill in the air, a bit of a...change in the wind.

I like autumn. Autumn is a season that fills me with hope. The flowers die, it's true, and birds start flying south, but there's nothing like autumn chill to put me in good spirits. Every morning i wake up one day closer to getting my old barn jacket out of the closet and going for a walk through fallen leaves. Every day I'm that much closer to bringing in my plants for the winter, and to wearing my wool socks. Soon there will be pumpkins at the stores...maybe this year I'll buy one or two, boil them up and puree them and make some preserves. I always mean to. Who knows...maybe this will be the year.

2009-07-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Squirrels

It's all squirrels in Montreal. Squirrels appear everywhere. They climb the sides of my building and the tree outside my window. Go to the park and there are squirrels. I once found a squirrel curled up asleep on the mat inside my building's door, and, indeed, squirrels make their way onto my third-floor balcony and make a meal of my tiny garden....my parsley, geraniums and morning-glory sprouts are apparently particularly tasty. And, in the planter that holds my herb garden, I keep finding stashes of the peanuts that my downstairs neighbour (who doesn't do any balcony gardening) feeds them.

I know where the squirrels go, I know that they like to hide peanuts, and that plants grown by Gaelan are particularly delicious. What I can't figure out, however, is what kind of squirrels they actually are. According to the newspaper, they're fox squirrels Sciurus niger. According to my Field Guide, they can't be, and are in point of fact Eastern Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis.

They bloody well LOOK like fox squirrels but so, unfortunately, do grey squirrels. Personally, I think it more likely that they're grey squirrels...the field guide is pretty accurate with it's range maps, the paper probably doesn't keep zoologists on staff for times like this. Unfortunately, I don't keep a zoologist on staff either, and I can't exactly ask the squirrels.

on consideration, though, wouldn't that be fun? I could approach them with peace offerings of my flowers and the herbs that I wouldn't have minded eating for myself, but first I would have to learn the language of the squirrels. I imagine there's alot of chittering. I'm good at chittering.

If that works out for me, I'll be sure to write about it.

2009-07-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Montreal

I'm in Montreal now. So I stopped writing. But there's nature here too....so let's get this show on the road.

2008-01-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

Alot in the news this week about Coyotes. Coyote was hit by a car not far from here. Probably one of mine.

People in Barrhaven were warned to be wary of coyotes. Apparently there have been a number of them sighted there.

Read a story last week about one of the smaller towns in the county. Apparently there have been alot of coyotes there too. One person set out poisoned food for them, and wound up poisoning the neighbour's dog instead.

West of Pembroke a woman killed a wolf that had eaten her beagle. She was in the habit of leaving the beagle chained outside for 12 or more hours a day, coming home from work midday to set out a plate of food. The wolf, it is thought, took to stealing the dog's food, and on the dog's last day, he woke up as it was happening. Three days later, the woman saw a wolf in her yard, and shot it.

There have been trappers hired to reduce the coyote population in carleton county. The news says that people should beware of coyotes. To hell with that. The coyotes should beware.

2008-01-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

On winter walks

As mentioned in my last post, there's been a warm spell lately, which was preceded by a tremendous amount of snow. it's made walking in the woods more difficult than it might otherwise be. This works for me. Nobody wants to walk there now...you have the choice of rough, slippery or water. I spent my formative years walking on tundra. Those options don't frighten me. No birds sing, nobody speaks. All is still and silent around me. In a place like that, a man can think.

2008-01-13T19:31:00.002-08:00

The coyotes have been at it again.

I was out for a walk this afternoon. the sun was setting, and there was a crust of ice and old snow beneath my feet. There's been a warm spell lately. Where there were once drifts over my knees (and I am not a short man), there is now a thin crust that doesn't reach the top of my boot. It isn't easy walking, but it's peaceful. Nobody else goes there when it's like this.

On the main trail, not far from where my path joins it. there was a tremendous mess. blood, fur, feces, and a deer carcass. There are no wolves here, that I know of. there are no vicious dogs. There are, however, coyotes. I've written about coyotes before. My admiration for them. that has't changed. Coyotes are not very big. Unless they crossbreed with dogs, the most they will typically weigh is 46 pounds, though the record is in the mid-70's. In other words, the animals that did this were probably about the size of a border collie. they don't normally prey on animals the size of deer, but they are adaptable, and there are an awful lot of deer in Ottawa these days. I can tell you that the innards, and one and a half legs were completely gone, and the carcass had been dragged some distance, as evidenced by the trail of blood and fur. I'm going to check back in the morning. it's supposed to snow tonight, and if they return to the kill, then maybe there will be some tracks, so I can see where they came from.

My admiration knows no bounds. I love coyotes, I really do. they are masters of their environment, and supremely adaptable.

2007-10-18T14:12:00.001-07:00

"I'm sick, and I'm cold, and I'm bare bones said he, but I ain't quite dead yet so please don't bury me"

It's been a while since I fired my thoughts into the world. I've been riding my bike alot, as a result of which I've been seeing a whole lot of nature in general. So I'm back from the dead.

More to follow

2007-05-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Spring

I rather like spring. it's a season that's filled with promise. Late spring is particularly pleasent, as the lilacs are currently in full bloom, perfuming the air.

It being particularly lovely today, I decided on a walk. The promise of spring was more than fulfilled. The air was filled with birdsong, and with sunblock and a particularly favourite wide-brimmed fedora perched on my head, I was able to avoid sunburn.

There is a particular part of the trail, near where I have, on occasion seen porcupines that tends to become flooded if there is a light dew or somebody looks at them the wrong way. I came upon it, flooded, towards the end of my walk. On the logic that it was a particularly nice day, and that life is for the living, I waded on in, and I am happy that I did. in doing so I startled any number of leopard frogs Lithobates pipiens, all presumably under the impression that I was a new and particularly terrifying variety of heron. These were, previously, becoming a trifle scarce in these parts, and I am always happy to see them, and their relatives. A world without frogs might well not be a world in which I care to exist.

Shortly therafter I happened upon a particularly deceased example of the white tailed deer. The reader should herein offer up humble thanks to whichever deity they so choose that I didn't bring my camera with me. If I HAD, i probably would have taken pictures for further study. As is, I haven't got any, and going back out with my camera seems a trifle morbid. however, it WAS a particularly interesting carcass, as it had quite clearly been caused to become so, rather than dropping to the earth due to age or infirmity. there are, to my knowledge, no wolves in these woods, and I have never heard of any dogs that are allowed to run free. There is, as such, a fairly good chance of it having been coyotes which brought the beast to it's rather abrupt end. this does, on occasion, happen, particularly when there are no larger predators in the vicinity. They have, indeed, been known to hunt cooperatively on occasion. Given my fondness for coyotes, and my profound dislike of people who allow their dogs to terrorize the local wildlife, I suppose I might be a bit biased in my assumptions, but it IS clear that coyotes were at the kill, as there's only about 1/2 of the deer or less left, and many of it's ribs were bitten through. All in all, a very interesting sight.

2007-04-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Wild Turkeys !

I've heard that there are wild turkeys in Ottawa, but I never thought I'd wind up seeing them. This spring, however, Meleagris gallopavo has moved into the neighbourhood. There were five of them in the field out back this evening....oddly graceful, strange looking creatures. I only saw them from the window....it's difficult to get very close to them, and I was content to watch them from afar. However, one was larger than the others. I would assume, from what I've read, that it was male. Male wild turkey's are polygamous. This male has probably chosen that part of the greenbelt as his territory. Males will often have as many as five females in their turf. I wouldn't be at all suprized if we saw alot more turkeys now. They tend to nest in open areas, since they have great vision. nesting in the open lets them take advantage of that. Also, most of their diet is grass. although they're omnivorous. A field is a prime location for them.

For the record, wild turkeys are alot smarter than their domestic counterparts. Which is good, because a species that doesn't have enough sense to avoid drowning in a heavy rain probably has no place in the wild.

2007-02-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Snowshoeing, yet again

So, out I went today. It snowed this morning, so the day was more or less useless for tracking. But I did see some actual animals, a rarity these days.

For the most part, the walk was pretty quiet. No birds sang. Normally you'll hear a crow at the very least, or some chickadees. Today, all was still and silent around. The sky was gray, the wind did not blow. There was not a trace of sun. The world lay dormant, and we walked through it like a peculiar dream.

it is an amusing fact that animals tend to pop up when you aren't looking for them. If I were to set out with the express purpose of seeing a pine marten, I probably wouldn't see one. I remain unconvinced that this does not stem from some kind of telepathy and a perverse sense of humour on the parts of the animals, the universe, and what gods there be. When I am NOT actively seeking animals, however, they occasionally crop up. Such was the case today. I stepped onto the back porch intent on strapping on the snowshoes, and an avian form streaked across my field of vision. Now, it's hard to tell with these things, but it's size, tail (which was squarish) and brown colouration suggests, to me, that it was a young male sharp shinned hawk Accipiter striatus, they look *alot* like Coopers Hawk Accipiter cooperii, both being local Accipiters of similar size and colour. it was really only the tale that tipped me off. They tend to eat small birds and rodents, so i guess i know why we haven't been seeing as many small birds lately as we might otherwise. Nature red, as they say, in too and claw.

I was walking, today, with my grandmother. "Where are the deer today" she wondered.

With the confidence of one who has read his Peterson's Guide to Mammals of North America with great enthusiasm, I told her that they are generally crepuscular, meaning most active during the twilight hours, and, as it was noon, we probably woudn't see any.

I took this photo about a minute after I said that. Deer have a particularly perverse sense of humour, based largely on timing and irony. There were a few more, which I will now share.

And then they got tired of being photographed.

Re-reading my guide, I learn that, in areas where they are not hunted, deer can be seen at any time. The things you learn.

I'm quite pleased with how those photographs turned out, all told.

2007-01-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Snowshoes

I've been doing a fair bit of snowshoeing these days. The snow isn't terribly deep, I admit, but I do get a bit of flotation, and the exercize is good. As an added bonus, snowshoes let me go off the trail a bit. Since other animals tend not to stick the the human trails, the ability to go off trail is invaluable to the amateur naturalist.

I believe I've said before that you're far more likely to seen animal tracks than you are to see the animals themselves. Snowshoeing, I see, maybe a few deer if I'm lucky, and possibly some chickadees. However, I see the tracks of pretty much everything that lives in Ottawa's green belt. I'm starting to love snow for that very reason. I would, of course, prefer to see the animals themselves, but any port in the storm.

Firstoff, I saw coyote tracks aplenty. Now those who know me will know fully well how highly I think I think of canis latrans. I've heard them howling at night, and I always knew they were around academically, but I'd never seen their tracks before

for the record, though I couldn't manage a decent photo of it, those tracks veered off shortly thereafter, in the general direction of some rabbit tracks. Looks like it was a bad day to be a rabbit.

The BIG news, though, wasn't the coyote tracks. i ran across some tracks that were unfamiliar to me...small ones. So I snapped a picture, brought it home and studied it (thanks again for the camera, mom. it makes these things easier. That picture isn't as showy, so I'm not sharing it here, but it was clear enough for me to make an identification. It was an animal I have never seen, one I didn't even know lived in this area. it was a short tailed weasel, also known as an ermine mustela erminea. Apparently they're active all year round, and, as I saw, they often move in bounds. Nice to see, that.

2007-01-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

Why you don't want to take dogs when you're out naturalizing

So there I was, walking along a rather picturesque, snowcovered trail. Ahead of me, I spotted a Red Squirrel, which, befrighted by this large beast approaching it, retreated. In point of fact, it retreated through a hole in the snow, which looked like it had been used frequently....tracks, fallen bark, sunflower seed shells, bits of pinecone. I thought to myelf "how interesting", and pulled my camera out to take a picture. By the time my camera was on, toby the dog had pounced on the hole, and destroyed the entire affair. I think it was a midden, such as is maintained by squirrels. However, since the dog pounced it, I didn't get the chance to study it further, in person or through photos.

Lesson learned: If you study rodents as a hobby, don't expect to get anything interesting done when you're walking your dog. This is also true of small plants, and mustelids.

2007-01-17T10:12:00.001-08:00

Well, winter has finally hit the O-town, as I persist in calling our great city. So, this being me, I went for a walk in the snow the other day. The animals, being, as I have commented so many times before, much saner and probably more intelligent than myself, were not in evidence, but I did spot a few signs and such. morover, due to the generosity of my mother (known to most people as "Gwen" and Stephen, I have pictures to share.

Geordie the dog looking a bit bewildered, as he so often does. Possibly wondering what a very small dog can do to avoid getting snow on the undercarriage.

tracking in the snow....this is why cameras are fun. Near as I can determine, those are the tracks of none other than the red squirrel tamiasciurus husonicus , of which we get many around here. I threw in a mechanical pencil for perspective....I didn't have my swiss army knife on me, more's the pity. Tracking is fun, if a trifle complicated. You very rarely get perfectly formed tracks, so there's a fair bit of guesswork involved. I'll be more certain as I get more practice

Also, I think I need to post one more dog picture

primarily because dogs are cute. They aren't really *nature* as such, but they are IN nature.

2006-12-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

On Human Nature

Apparently I live too far from the peace tower to participate in the Christmas bird count (or census or whatever it's called). I really didn't want to participate until I found out I wasn't allowed to. Now I feel kind of cheated. I see all kinds of birds...are my birds not good enough for them? Are these birds somehow substandard birds?

2006-12-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

On the sheer joy of being outside

I've spent these last three weeks working in a warehouse. As such, I haven't seen much in the way of nature. Well, that job ended yesterday, and today I went for a walk....my first decent walk in quite some time. I saw deer, of course. These days in Ottawa deer have become part of the scenery rather than anything particularly noteworthy, not unlike grass, the sky and people who think that everbody but them should be doing something to prevent climate change. So, in spite of the fact that I saw many a deer, I won't be devoting much time to them.

I was walking through the woods, when I came to a dip in the trail. It's an area with a few dead trees, and a patch that can either be a lowlying, grassy bit, or a knee deep swamp depending on whether or not you've looked at it the wrong way. in the middle of the trail, there was what, at first glance, very much appeared to be lump of earth....one, moreover, with pokey bits. Upon closer inspection, however, it proved to be none other than what I persist in referring to, in my head, as a Porky-pine (I blame Walt Kelly), more correctly called a Porcupine (erithizon dorsatum) . I had heard that there were Porcupines in the woods, but never before had I seen one there. I kept my distance...well, in this case distance means about 2 meters, close enough to make out every quill. Porcupines are pretty inoffensive in general, but I had no particular desire for a shin full of quills, so I opted to not annoy him. he moved rather like a very fat man, and, having notice me, skittered up a nearby tree, making clicking noises as he did so. Porcupines can probably climb quite quickly, but he didn't seem to feel the need to do so, and he was still clicking he way up when I left...the dip having, apparently, been looked at the wrong way, and therefore being completely impassible.

it felt good just to be outdoors for no reason other than feeling like it. it was damp, true, and cold as well, but you feel alive, out of doors

2006-11-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

Contemplation on an early November morning

I was up early today. There was a thick killing frost on the grass, and on the shingles for that matter. The world glittered, white, like somebody had taken it in his head to sprinkle sea salt over everything. I stepped out into the cold (the radio informed me, when my alarm clock went off, that it was -1 this morning. My slippers left indentations in the frozen grass, and the tale end of an orange sunrise on the horizon made the trees in the distance strange, glittering shadows. The migration of geese was going full swing overhead. They flew high over me, flock after flock, honking as if they had something really important to say, and needed to say it quickly. There were even a few seagulls, though nothing like the huge flocks I've seen during the summer monthes. The world was uncharacteristically silent and still around me, and I enjoyed it. under such circumstances, a man can be alone with himself, and with his thoughts.
It seemed to me as though the land, much like the city, was asleep. The garden has more or less been put to bed...where there was a mass of colour, there is now empty, bare dirt. Those few brave flowers and weeds I mentioned earlier have gone, with the exception of some pansies by the driveway, which will probably never die. I know now why, in some cultures, storytelling was reserved for winter.

Then I heard a door open, and barking. Apparently the dogs took offence at my being outside without them. So ended the morning's contemplation...one cannot introspect properly with a West Highland White Terrier sharing his opions on life. Suffice it to say, though, that it was beautiful.

2006-11-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

On the Winter diet of Deer

Once again, I find myself writing about deer. They're everywhere, they really are. Today I went for one of my walks (as an aside, I will be a happy man when the ground freezes. Everytime I go for a walk, I get mud covered hems. I'm out of stain remover), and I said to myself "I will find something to write about aside from Deer." So out I set, and while I saw some deer, I was determined that I would write about something else. It was when I was caming through a stand of Sumac that I realized I had no choice in the matter. you see, there was something odd about these sumac. some bark had been stripped from a number of them, a bit of a way up the trunk. I went in for a closer look, and sure enough, there were deer tracks. Apparently the deer have started eating bark, the weather having turned cold. I knew this would happen, but I expected to be after the snow fell. Ah, well. no use trying to make sense of the actions of ungulates.
Their ways are not our ways

2006-11-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Deer, Again

one of these days I am going to change the title of this blog to "the antics of deer and similar ungulates in Ottawa, with occasional mention of natural history unrelated thereto". I see alot of Deer, you must understand.

Yesterday I went for a walk, as I so often do. I didn't see much of anything, proving once and for all what I have always suspected, to whit that the animals are much more sensible than I am. However, towards the end of the walk, I saw a deer....and then another deer, and then YET ANOTHER deer. Looking around I realized "Oh base vernacular word for sexual intercourse, I am surrounded". There were, in point of fact some 8 does around me. I'm here to tell you that, as beautiful as deer are, it is a bit spooky to have alot of them standing around, looking at you as if you owe them something.

In other news, I've been doing an experiment with some cactus seeds, planting them in various conditions to see how they grow. after two weeks, I'm seeing some seedlings in the two makeshift incubators I set up. the seeds planted without incubators are still dormant. I am proud as a new papa, and wondering what I am going to do with all these cacti.

2006-11-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Is that your own hare, or is it a wig?

So, having been in a particularly foul mood earlier (as certain of my readers will attest), I decided to go for a walk. Perhaps some wayward deities were attempting to show me that things are basically alright, because I saw more wildlife than I normally see on walks such as this. There were some quite interesting birds which I wasn't able to indentify at the time, but I will probably determine their species at some point.

I was most excited to see some Snowshoe Hares Lepus americanus, who are currently midway through changing colours for the winter. Much like Cottontail Rabbits, they spend the winter eating tree bark, as well as leaf an flowerbuds. Around here, they're pretty much unmistakable. They DO look rather like rabbits, but hares are larger, and have longer ears. Also, the Snowshoe hare....well, it lives up to its name. Rabbits have pretty big feet as well, but not that big. also, as previously mentioned, Snowshoe Hares change colour. They seemed pretty happy, all told. In point of fact, this is an excellent opportunity to use the word "gamboling". So that's what they were doing, gamboling. That was deeply satisfying.

The deer were also out in force....a young man's thoughts might turn to love in the spring, but a young buck's turn to love in the fall, and they were all over the place. The bucks have lost the velvet on their antlers, and somehow look more majestic with out it....the velvet makes them look soft, I suppose. The ground being damp, I was able to track some of them, just for the hell of it. When them leap, their tracks become skidded. Males typically have larger hooves, and the tracks of females are more liner....female dear, like female humans, have wider hips than the males, and as consequence their hooves align differently. No skill is useless to the enthusiastic naturalist.

2006-11-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Rabbits

Yesterday, I looked out the window and saw a rabbit. I see alot of rabbits, of course, they are common animals. This one sticks in my mind because it was very very stout. It wasn't an escaped epet rabbit, but rather you average, garden variety wild rabbit, an eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus. You get alot of them in these parts, along with the occasional Snowshoe Hare, although, of course, Rabbits and Hares are seperate and distinct creatures. I imagine my young friend was gearing up for winter, just the same as me. Of course, wheras I go to the store and buy a new pair of longjohns and some wool socks, rabbits fatten themselves up.

They're normally not all that active in the daytime, being nocturnal. this is, therefore, yet another case of the animals not having read the same books as myself. I really must talk to them about that. I suppose he was just enjoying the grass and such while he can...come winter he'll be eating bark, and twigs, which I can't imagine are as tasty. I think he'll probably be anticipating gardening season as eagerly as the gardeners, though for somewhat different reasons. That is, if the hawks, owls and coyotes don't get him....nature red in tooth and claw, as is so often said. However, there are plenty more rabbits in the world, even if a bit of predation takes it's toll. And without it, we wouldn't have half the animals that I love to see and hear. For a world with Owls and Coyotes, I would happily sacrifice any number of rabbits.

This one, though. I kind of hope he lives. Call me a sentimental fool.....I probably am.

2006-11-10T19:16:00.000-08:00

I admit this is only related to Ottawa in the most abstract possible sense, but still

Bird sanctuary drilling permit an 'error': Environment Canada

I ask you "What?"

How does one accidentally issue a permit to drill in a bird sanctuary?

2006-11-10T17:06:00.001-08:00

Change of the Seasons

I've mentioned the season changing before, but I feel like devoting a post to it now. The trees are all but bare. The frogs appear to have left us.....burrowed into the mud for another winter, and hardly any birds are coming around now....in the summer, the feeder is alive, now it's customers are getting fewer and fewer. Cardinals, always cardinals of course, as well as chickadees. I've seen nuthatches, and I imagine there are woodpeckers as well, though I've not seen them. They're always around somewhere. This may sound like a wide variety of birds, but it really isn't, not compared to the whirl of colour you see in the summer. I haven't seen a groundhog in quite some time, for that matter. most of the flowering plants have quit on me too, although there are still some pansies in the garden that are hanging on. The grass in the fields is brown, and the milkweed looks ragged. Thankfully, the poison ivy has gone as well....it is occasionally nice to be able to walk unrestricted. Of course, it's too cold for sandals anyhow.

There is a point to all this. I can't help feeling like the land is going to sleep. this is an old thought, of course, but a true one, I think. Although, now that I consider it, the land isn't really hibernating. It's more like a bear....entering torpor. Sleeping, but possibly waking up long before you expect it.

2006-11-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

2006-11-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

The Bruce Pit

if you've walked a dog in Ottawa, chances are you've been to the Bruce Pit. For those who never have, the Bruce Pit is a bit of Greenbelt in Nepean, named, unsuprisingly, after a pit, at the bottom of which is water. Very good sledding in the winter, apparently. I have no idea where the pit came from, but I doubt it's a natual formation. now, at some point people realized tha the Bruce Pit was a pretty good dog walking area, and more and more people, and dogs, began to flock there. The NCC eventually fenced off part of it as an off leash dog park. I'm pretty sure it's the only place in the city where you're allowed to let your dog run loose, although there *might* be another on the other end. It would make sense for there to be one. Unfortunately, though, alot of the nicer trails at Bruce Pit are on the OTHER side of the fence, which in summer you are allowed to walk your dogs on with a leash, and which in winter must be avoided, because of skiers. There is also a bike trail, which dogs must be kept off. I have no particular objection to these, rules in principle, although they CAN be a bit wearisome. However, there are some problems. '

1) With all the various and sundry people and hounds walking there, the trail is getting badly worn down. I'm told there used to be interesting plants there, but the more delicate species have ceased to grow. There are alot of chokecherry bushes there, but the cherries go uneaten. You don't see alot of birds there now, nor rabbits nor squirrels. The dogs seem to have frightened them off. The woods on the other side of the fence offer good birdwatching possibilities, and usually a nice display of Trilliums in the spring. However, if you want to stay on the right side of the law, you must leash your dogs, which makes for a less enjoyable walk. personally, I say "Fine me and be damned", but not everybody feels that way. In the legal off leash area, there are usually several hundred dogs per day, so there is a permanent and inescapable odour of dog pee.

2) I try to keep my dogs off the bike trail. Cyclists are somewhat less considerate about keeping their bicycles off the dog trail. Ditto skiers in the winter. We get one place in the city where we can walk our dogs off leash legally (barring, of course, my aforementioned "fine me and be damned" policy, and the cyclists and skiers have all the other conservation areas in the city. You get people on bicycles whipping over the trail at breakneck speed, and eventually somebody is going to get hurt. There are people walking there who don't move so quickly, and people walking small dogs that could get crushed, not to mention the carnage that would ensue of somebody crashed in to a great dane.

3) some of us happen to like birdwatching, and other activities near and dear to the heart of the amateur naturalist. We also like walking our dogs, and would rather like to combine the two.

4) With that many dogs one place, you're bound to get dogfights, which in some cases can leave at least one combatant bleeding. There's also a greater chance of diseases, worms and such being passed around. And I'm pretty sure all that dog pee I mentioned can't be healthy.

2006-11-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Coyotes

canis latrans

God's Dog

Prarie Wolf

Coyotes are something like groundhogs, which I wrote about in my last post. They have increased their range since human encroachment began. We have been creating ideal circumstances for them.....where there are no wolves, or bears or what have you, coyotes can live quite happily. Coyotes have been filling the ecological niche of wolves. They also feed, quite happily, on food scraps in garbage. They are small, resourceful and live either alone, or with a mate, rather than large packs, something which gives them a significant edge over wolves when it comes to urban dwelling. They will eat rodents of many kinds, mice, rats, shrews and rabbits, as well as foxes. In a pinch, they will eat fruits, grasses, and vegetables. in some places where Coyotes have completely filled the wolf's niche, they will hunt in packs and bring down larger prey. An animal designed for survival.

I have seen coyotes, though never here. I have, however, heard them at night sometimes, howling at one another. I've read that in rural areas, once they get started, they will respond to human howls, or recordings of coyote howls, though I cannot, as yet, confirm this through personal experience. It's all at once an eery, and a cheering sound, a sound that makes part of me want to run off with my animal brethren....who would, in all likelyhood, bite me if I tried anything untowards, so it's probably all for the best I don't . I would like to see our local coyotes, but even without that, I treasure the times I have seen them. They really are marvelous animals....a lovely sandy colour, and so small.... the average coyote is about 2 feet (60 centimeters) high, and weighs in at some 31 pounds (14 kilograms). There ARE, of course, coyotes larger than that, but anything much larger probably has some red wolf, or dog in it's lineage. They look at you with an expression divided between thinking that you owe them something and humour, with a healthy dose of "what fools this mortals be" mixed in for good measure. It's easy to see how the Coyote became a trickster figure.

That's another thing. they have featured prominently in myths. Most people seem to have heard of Old Man Coyote, for example, and he has worked his way into alot of popular fiction, the novels of Thomas King and Charles de Lint, for example. however, he was not limited to the role of trickster. in some traditions, Coyote was a creator of sorts, either through intent, or by mistake. I recall a myth....I forget from which tradition, though I DO know it's one of the southwestern nations,in which the creator is making people from clay. He asks Coyote to watch the clay people in the kiln, and tell him when they are ready. During one attempt, Coyote removes the people too quickly, thus leaving them pale, so the creator sends them away. Caucasians as one of God's mistakes, thanks to Coyote. I've always rather liked that one, although it does cast a less than flattering light on my ethnic origins. He has also been a culture hero, creating traditions, passing down taboos, and occasionally fooling the white man for the sake of the natives. The Navajo traditionally reffered to the Coyote as God's Dog, though not, of course, in english. There are two books, both of which I would very much like to posses, with that particular name as title. One is a work of natural history, and the other one of fiction.

Many believe that Coyotes are a threat to livestock. Some sources, which I have since lost and thus cannot list with any degree of accuracy, however, claim that the real threat comes not from pure Coyotes, but from Coydogs, Coyote-dog hybrids, and theorem supported by the fact that coyotes very rarely hunt in packs, and are too small to bring down any large prey on their own, though I would not want to leave my chickens running about if i knew there were Coyotes in the neighbourhood. They can, afterall, interbreed with both dogs and wolves.

You can, perhaps, tell that I have a great respect, and even affection for Coyotes. It would be more evident from my possesions, but Coyotes are, i feel, sorely under-represented in art and industry. One can find all manner of things with wolf motifs, but in Canada at least, coyotes are in short supply. I've often tried to find paintings, prints, scultures or stuffed animals with no success. Wile E. Coyote doesn't count, as much as I am fond of Loony Toons.

Sometimes I think that to be a coyote would be a very fine thing indeed.

2006-11-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

Groundhogs

Groundhogs Marmota monax, are quite literally everywhere these days. If you have ever been to Ottawa, you probably will have seen a great number of them, along the roadside, in fields, and in gardens. There was one here this summer that was in great danger of becoming stew when it made a lunch of a favourite plant of my grandmama's. There is, of course, a reason for this. We, as humans, tend to remake the landscape to fit our needs, rather than changing ourselves to fit the landscape. This often has a detrimental effect on the wildlife, but not always. Some things, such as groundhogs, thrive in this environment. They like lots of grass and clover, and as few predators as possible, conditions that Ottawa is able to provide. I've not been seeing many lately.....I imagine they're all hiding until spring, although I have certainly been wrong in the past, and I wouldn;t be suprised to find I was wrong once again...these things happen, afterall.

Interestingly enough, I have discovered that the Groundhog has a number of other names, which are not as commonly used, but are quite charming. everybody, of course, knows about it being called the woodchuck, thanks to the tonguetwister. However, I've never heard it called land beaver, or the whistlepig. I think I will make it my mission to spread the use of the name Whistlepig to refer to groundhogs, as it's a much more entertaining name.

Personally, I would like to see the huge numbers of groundhogs lead to a growing raptor population. You can't have too many hawks or owls, I think. That, of course, is just me.

2006-11-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

On Grouse and similar beasties

I was in hedgerow philosopher mode yesterday, so i forgot to mention this encounter. It only lasted a second in any case. I was, as previously mentioned, walking a long trail, which is intermittently wooded. Quite suddenly, a bird broke, practically under my feet. I was, momentarily, transported back to Eastern New Brunswick, where ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) outnumber people, buildings, and quite probably trees. I wasn't startled....under the circumstances described, you have the choice of learning to not be startled by the sudden appearance of game birds, or dying. I grew to enjoy the experience over the years, and I admit that I've missed it since moving to Ontario. In Nunavut, one sometimes finds flocks of Ptarmigan shooting up from underfoot, and while Ptarmigan are smaller than Pheasants, the experience is not entirely dissimilar.

This, though, was neither a Pheasant or a Ptarmigan. it was a female Spruce Grouse Falcipennis canadensis, a bird that is not particular to the Ottawa valley, but is rather found all over Canada, and quite probably the United States as well. It's pretty common for them to remain hidden until you get close to them....they are very well camouflaged birds, especially the female of the species. In winter, when there's snow on the ground, they get much more skittish. In the winter they typically eat the needles of conifers (hence the name, I guess), which certainly explains their presence in an area rich in spruce trees. As a point of interest, though I have seen many females over the year, I don't think I have ever seen a male. The species, like alot of birds, is sexually dimorphic, and the male of the species is pretty distinctive. I do wonder why that is occasionally, but I suppose it would be folly to try and explain the minds of birds. Birds usually have their own ideas about how things are going to go, and it's no use arguing with them.

2006-11-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

Squirrels

Some would say to me "why are you writing about squirrels? Squirrels are just rats with fluffy tails and good PR." Firstly, no, no they aren't. Secondly, I'm actually quite fond of rats, and if I encountered some in the wild, I would certainly write about them. Of course, i haven't (muskrats don't count), but still.

I rather like squirrels. Often they're the animal you see the most of when walking, though these days I'm pretty sure the deer outnumber them 2:1, at least. We get two varieties of squirrel around here. One is the Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis, which, confusingly enough, can also be black. It's the larger, and I believe more agressive of the two varieties, and has been introduced, detrimentally, to other countries, though it IS, apparently, native to eastern north america. I recall hearing somewhere that it was introduced to this particular region, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.

The other, and in this particular neighbourhood, more common variety is the Red Squirrel, also called the American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. This is not to be confused with the European Red Squirrel, which is near threatened, wheras the American Red Squirrel is not. Now, the red squirrel is kind of a specialist eater. About 50% of it's diet comes from cones....spruce cones and such, though I've seen them eating pine cones with great enthusiasm. Since there are ALOT of conifers around here, it's not suprise that I see alot of red squirrels. They also seem to like birdseed. The combination of one squirrel proof birdfeeder, one hungry squirrel and a bag of sunflower seeds is, quite frankly, better than TV. They have a really high mortality rate....about 22% of red squirrels make it through their first year of life, though afterwards their chance of surviving increases dramatically. They seem to be eaten by absolutely everything. Around here, for example, we get Northern Goshawks, Coyotes, great horned owls and, for a brief and giddy period, Martens, though I myself never got to see one. Red Squirrels, which, confusingly, can also be grey, brown and occasionally black, are alot more vocal that Grey Squirrels. yesterday, for example, I really offended a couple of them, and got a severe scolding. In spite of the fact that they can be coloured similarly to chipmunks, and Grey Squirrels, they are more or less unmistakable....they are larger than the former and smaller than the latter, and have white underbellies, which the Grey squirrel lacks.

I am always happy to see large numbers of squirrels, as that usually heralds an excellent year for coyotes, hawks and owls in the not too distant future.

2006-11-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

On nature, puzzles and the duality of human thought

I went for another walk around that same long trail today....It is really, really long, let me tell you. Incidentally, hiking in cowboy boots is not a particularly bright idea. in my defense, I was only planning on a short walk when I left. My plans expanded without consulting me.

I only have one encounter I want to report, then I'm getting philosophical, I'm afraid. I've mentioned the migrating geese before, and today was no exception. I was passing behind a farm when a flock of them went overhead, honking. Apparently that farm keeps some poultry, because a rooster crowed at them as they did so....a stirring example of interspecies communication if ever there was one.

Now, I went along the same trail as I walked on thursday. This time, though, I went along it in the opposite direction....one of the advantages of taking a trail that is, essentially, a big loop. However, from that angle, it seemed like a completely new, and different trail. I discovered this as I missed a particular turn off that I would almost certainly have seen had I come round the other way. It occured to me that this strongly resembles a problem solving technique that people really ought to use more often.....if you approach a problem from a different angle it seems new, entirely different, and is probably more easily solved. I am now faced with a question....does this count as pathetic fallacy? I just don't know/

2006-11-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

See, I write about Mammals too

Today I went for a very long walk around the Shirley's Bay conservation area.....There's a great deal of it, you know, and I covered several kilometers. I didn't see much in the way of animal life, actually (there was one deer standing by the ruins of an old house. And me without my camera). however, I did see signs of animals. There were, of course, hoofprints aplenty....if I had a recipe for deer track soup, I would never have to go grocery shopping again. There were also dog tracks. Neither of these, however, are what I want to talk about.

Firstoff, the trees are mostly bare now. This allows me to see things I would not normally see. For example, in a swampy bit to the right of the trail that runs nearest carling avenue, i saw a muskrat lodge. Now, Muskrats Ondatra zibethicus are old friends to me. I used to see them all the time in New Brunswick, and while the presence of a common animal is not suprising, it is cheering. Muskrats are, on the whole, pretty amazing little animals. They have, I have learned, a unique nostril, shaped like the number 7, which somehow allows them to breath in oxgen that has been exhaled, while under water. As a consequence, they can stay submerged for some 15 minutes.

I encountered a muskrat while swimming once. I was down in the Ottawa river....not, I am sorry to have to tell you, at a public beach, though I wasn't trespassing either. I was paddling towards the shore in a lazy way, and I saw something there.....a muskrat. So I stopped swimming, and watched it. it came into the water as well, and came within two meters of me. So long as I stayed partially submerged, he had no fear. Quite the experience.

I also saw a classic example of violence in the wild. There were, at one point, a great many very noisy crows, all flocking around one area. Now, it was far too early for them to be returning to their roost, so this could only mean one thing. the crows had found themselves an owl. I don't know why, but crows and Owls, specifically Great Horned Owls seem to loath one another. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the owl itself... the tree was a ways off, and I had no binoculars with me.

I heard frogs as I walked....the Northern Leopard frog, of which I have written before, is giving one last concert before hibernation. It was quite warm today, so I can't say I blame them for being out in force. But the cold is coming on fast, so that might well be the last I see of them for a while.

The Geese decided to make a liar of me today. Instead of flying overhead as I described, a great flock of them decided to paddle about in the river. Clearly they've been reading this. I am honoured.

2006-10-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Not dead, just sleeping.....

It's been a bit busy here lately, so I haven't posted anything. This changes now.

I've seen alot of Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) at the feeder lately. Specifically, there is what I assume to be a breeding pair, since they're always together, and are a male and a female (they could, I suppose, just be very good friends, but the third cardinal
belies that theory). the third, and to my mind, most interesting, is an immature male. For those who have never SEEN a Northern Cardinal, I suggest that you might be spending too much time on the internet, and should perhaps go for more walks outdoors. I also offer a description. The mature male of the species is a brilliant red, with a black face and some greyish wing feathers. The female is more drab... a kind of mottled, ashen colour with orangey patches on the wings and tale. The immature male....this being a male in it's first year of life.... looks rather like an adult male that has, for some obscure reason, decided to wear it's wife's coat. it has the red in patches, peeking out from under the more drab feathers of the female, and of the baby cardinal. Nowhere near as spectacular as his father, but interesting in his own way. He will have started out looking like his mother...okay, that's a lie. like most baby birds, he will have started out looking horrific and parboiled, but that changes quickly. He's just getting his adult feathers now, and that means that pretty soon I won't see him anymore...when he reaches maturity, his father will drive him off, and he'll have to find his own patch, and a mate. Cardinals are year round residents here, so at least I'll get to see his parents still.

Juncos, on the other hand, are not year round residents in Ottawa. So imagine my suprise when I saw a Dark-Eyed Junco (junco hyemalis) in the garden this morning. I saw a great many of them about two weeks ago, and I thought that was the last of them. I guess this little fellow was a straggler. They DO sometimes winter in southern Canada, but so far as I can determine, not in Ottawa, which probably isn't south enough.

The Canada Geese ( branta canadensis) are also leaving. Anybody who has ever been to Ottawa will know they're pretty common here....as they are in alot of places. I've seen hundreds at a time in parks near the river, or at the Nortel building. Thousands in fields that have recently been harvested...the feed on grain that has fallen in the cultivation process. Now I only see them flying far overhead. That, though, is an awe inspiring sight. There's something about a flock of geese overhead that takes the breath away. And to see one in Ottawa....well, that just feels very, very Canadian. About as Canadian as one can feel without a beaver present, and a bottle of maple syrup.

2006-10-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

A walk on the Beaver Trail

I don't think i've ever walked the Beaver Trail myself....Ottawa has alot of nature trails, conservation areas and the like. The beaver trail is a nice one. Apparently it used to be farmland, which I personally can't see. It's a bit swampy, very rocky, and has about three centimeters of topsoil, but you can still see the signs. There's an old, now defunct well, moss clinging to it's sides. There are a few places where you can see the remains of a foundation, and an old fence. What the beaver trail IS good for growing is trees. It's a great place if you're fond of cedar, which I personally am. it's also one of the few places in Ottawa with an abundance of Red Oak, which are beautiful this time of year.

I was suprized to see that even with the cold, and the frost we've had, there are a few flowering plants that are still hanging on quite well. technically, I suppose, they're weeds, but frankly I don't care. I saw a few brave Chicory plants (chicorium intybus). Chicory is, apparently, an introduced species. It's root is a coffee substitute, so it makes sense that there would be some near where pioneers lived. If you've never seen it, it's quite pretty. A tall, slender, bristly plant that stands erect, with blue flowers, and hairy yellowish seeds. As a point of interest, for some odd reason, when photographed using film, chicory flowers show up as a pinkish purple. this isn't a problem with digital photography, as near as I can tell.

I also saw some Asters, though I'm not sure of the specific type. Pretty blue flowers as well, those are.

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) sounds like a used car salesman, but it is infact a small flowering plant. It has pink flowers, about one centimeter across. it's not native to Canada, but it's a hardy plant for gardeners, and as such occasionally pops up where it isn't supposed to be. It doesn't seem to have take over, and it's a nice little thing, so I'm happy to have seen it. Even the leaves are appealing....very fern like.

it was also a good day for birds. Firstoff, I saw more Robins (turdus migratorius) than I have ever seen in one place. Robins, of course, are extraordinarily common, particularly in ottawa, but even so, it's not normal to see that many at once. I suppose they are migrating now, so I won't get to see any more for quite some time. I had the opportunity to observe them nesting this summer. Quite the experience. They built a nest some 1.5 meters up in a cedar bush, and raised two clutches there before moving on to greener pastures. The eggs hatched pretty quickly. ....maybe after two weeks at most, and it took not much longer than that for the hatchlings to get big. They started off naked and hideous, as most of us do, but fledged so quickly you could almost see it happening. Fledgeling robins look alot like their parents, only instead of red breasts, they have white breasts spotted with black. The nest was something pretty special in and of itself. if somebody said to me "Fop, you have to pick a bird to build your house", I'd go for the robins. they do a stick-and-mud nest that looks like it could hold up against a nuclear explosion. the inside is plasterered with mud, to make for a smooth, and presumably comfortable incubator.

Robins aren't the only birds I saw migrating today. There were Juncos (Junco hyemalis) on the trail. You don't often see them in Ottawa. They don't breed here, they just pass through. I only caught a few glimpses of them, but they're easily recognized by their white tail feathers.

Ever present on any Ottawa trail are the Chickadees. These are Black-Capped chickadees ( parus atricapillus) of course. I don't think you get any other species in this neck of the woods. Chickadees are common as muck, but they are such cheerfull looking birds, you can't help but be happy to see them. Most of the birds around here are used to people, and so if you bring seeds, you can quite often feed them from your hand, which is an experience and a half....to have something wild sitting in your hand, i mean. I had no seeds, but they got right close inspecting me, in case I had secreted some about my person and was trying not to share. You've got to watch these nature types...they're tricky.

I met some other people on the trail, who said that they had been looking for birds to feed, and hadn't seen any. I wonder if we were walking in the same woods, because the trees were alive....well, trees are always alive, except for the dead ones, but you know what I mean. we went on our ways quickly enough, which is fine by me. They seemed like nice people, but frankly I think the chickadees are better conversationalists. But I think birds are better conversationalists than alot of people, so it's nothing personal.

as a side note, I saw evidence of a few animals that I didn't actually see in person. There was a tree that had, pretty recently, been chewed halfway through by a beaver.....this in a patch of woods made up predominantly of maple trees. Very Canadian. I almost broke into a rousing chorus of the national anthem. There was also, at one point, a pile of woodchips that absolutely didn't come from a beaver. My guess would be a Pileated Woodpecker, which isn't an uncommon site in the woods around here. I see more evidence of them than I do actual birds. If you should see a rectangular hole pecked in a tree, you know who's to blame. Those holes are favoured by other birds, and some mammals, as nesting places. Amazing how things work out some times, isn't it?

Apparently the beaver trail is a good place for orchids in the spring....so you know where I'll be come the thaw.

2006-10-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

aThe tale of the tree frog.

This happened some monthes ago, but since I've only just started the blog, you're getting it now.

I was up watching some late night television, as I am wont to do on occasion, when I saw something moving in the kitchen. my first thought was "Oh, hell, we have mice", and I went to investigate more closely. Instead of a mouse, I saw a frog. Specifically, a saw a stunning example of the Greater Gray Treefrog (Hyla Versicolor). The greater and lesser gray treefrogs are pretty much indistinguishable, so I only know it was a greater because lessers don't generally get this far northeast. It was, however, far too big to be a Spring Peeper, the other species of treefrog that I know we get here. It was probably a recently metamorphosed adult, because it was green. As they age, they become gray, but as young 'uns they have really quite marvelous green hue. Moreover, the Gray Treefrog has a pretty quick maturation period...their eggs hatch, for example, in a matter of days, so it isn't out of the question to have seen a young one at that time of year. I can't be too sure about it now, but I seem to recall it having a light coloured throat, which indicates it was a female. I decided that the kitchen is no place for a frog, and we had a bit of a merry chase, which, had I been watched, probably would have had my audience in stitches. There I was, bearlike man that I am, trying, and failing, to catch this tiny amphibian. Eventually, she escaped into the philodendron, where her camouflage proved itself once and for all. I did see her, once or twice, after that, but I never managed to catch her. I imagine she's dead now, or possibly she managed to get out again. I hope it was the latter. Frogs need all the help they can get.

if you're interested in them, the wikipedia article has some pretty good pictures, and decent information . personally, my source is the Stokes Nature Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians by Thomas F. Tyning, which is alot more indepth.

on the subject of frogs, it is cold outside. We've had nast weather, with a couple of heavy frosts. However, in spite of this, the Northern Leopard Frog (Rana Pipiens) is still out and active. I nearly stepped on three of them yesterday, and I;ve seen scores along the roadside. They'll be with us another few weeks....usually they go into hibernation in november.

2006-10-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, and welcome to my nature blog.

I'm going to be posting observations, annecdotes and information about plants and animals I encounter in the Ottawa Valley. At some point, I'll throw up some pictures as well. Enjoy.

First story:

A couple of weeks ago, I was moving some firewood for my grandmother. She's getting a gas fireplace installed, so she's sent all her firewood up to my mother's cottage. She had, for some reason or other, a great deal of the stuff, and so it was piled some five or six logs deep. What should I find, four levels in, but a little nest of some kind of cloth, and enough birdseed to fill the feeder. The nest looked to be old, and my grandmother assures me that she hasn't bought that specific type of seed in some years, so I was able to remove it without too much guilt. But what, I asked myself, had decided to make a home in the woodpile? A mouse, I assumed, but mice aren't one species, they're actually a pretty diverse group thereof. Of course, I didn't have the mouse itself handy. Now, my copy of The Mammals of the Eastern United States, is rather old, and probably outdated in terms of range maps, but it DOES go into exhaustive detail. From what I can determine, the most likely candidate is probably a white footed deermouse. It appears, however, to have gone on it's merry way, which is, I suppose, just as well.