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.

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.

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.

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.