Thursday 30 March 2017

Early spring action and a visit to see a very rare species

Earlier this week I went to Rondeau to see what was happening, since I hadn't been for a few days. As I approached the park, it was quite foggy....not what I was hoping for, but eventually it turned out to be a relatively nice day with lots of sun, unlike the kind of weather that awaits Blake on most weekends :-). From the forecast, this coming weekend might actually be fairly nice.

The park was quiet. It was just after 8 a.m. and the deer hadn't ventured back into the more wooded areas yet; more than a dozen were still out in the wide open spaces.

Sparrows are back in good numbers. I noticed lots of Song Sparrows and an occasional Field Sparrow, but any Chipping Sparrows that were seen by others on previous days eluded me.

While photographing this Field Sparrow from the van window, I heard a Pileated Woodpecker call not far away. In a few minutes it appeared, and in fact flew right towards me, just about 5 metres over my head. I wasn't quick enough with the camera out the window, but the sky was very bland and a mostly black bird against a bright gray sky would not have been a great shot anyway. The female flew out just a few minutes later and at least had the decency to land in a tree so I could see a bit of her, and I managed to get this next photo. It has been heavily cropped to eliminate the undesirable background.
As I drove slowly along Lakeshore Road looking for more sparrows and such, I noticed this American Woodcock right at the edge. It bounced and danced on the spot before slowly working its way back into the shrubbery. This next photo is not cropped at all.
There are lots of Killdeer scattered around. This one was hanging out on a parking barrier.

I saw several Turkey Vultures soaring overhead, which isn't surprising since they had arrived in southern Ontario in good numbers over the last week or so. This one was apparently having a picnic in the picnic area, helping park staff clean up some of the carcasses and debris. The carcass looked a little desiccated; I'm not sure how much nutrition the vulture got out of it.
Eastern Phoebes are widely scattered, along the trails, and along the roadsides. I noted about 10, but I expect there were several times that many throughout the park away from the trails and roads. Getting one to stay still for a photograph does not come easy.


As the day wore on, the sun came out and warmed things up nicely. I saw an Eastern Comma along Spicebush Trail, but it was constantly on the move. This photo was from another time.
The sloughs along the trails were quite active with frogs. I heard and saw lots of Wood Frogs and heard the occasional Spring Peeper.
Wood Frog
A dozen or more Wood Ducks were enjoying the quiet of the sloughs as well. Most were males.

This Leopard Frog was a little confused. It was sitting on the white paint at a stop sign. I'm sure the darker pavement would have been slightly warmer since it absorbs the heat from the sun, whereas the white paint reflects it.


Yesterday I went up to Bickford Oak Woods (BOW) in west central Lambton County. It is an intriguing property....a Conservation Reserve managed by MNR&F. There aren't any official trails, just a few very old logging trails, and only a couple of small parking lots. It is about 308 hectares (761 acres) of mixed lowland and upland forest. There is very little topographic relief but being on heavy clayey soils, it holds surface water very well, so any slightly lower area supports lowland vegetation. There are two small prairie plantings for extra diversity, which were planted on the section of former agricultural land between the parking area and the woodland. It makes a nice transition and is a great spot in season for butterflies and dragonflies. 

The goal of my trip this day was to check out the stand of Swamp Cottonwood (Populus heterophylla). BOW is the only location in Canada where this species is known to occur. It was discovered as recently as 2002 by none other than Gerry Waldron, John Ambrose and Lindsay Rodger. While I was with MNR, I contracted them to do a vegetation inventory of this site as it was being promoted as a Conservation Reserve.

The location of the Swamp Cottonwood is not all that hard to find if you know where it is. And that is the challenge. It involves about three kilometres (round-trip) of hiking through the prairie patch, following the edge of the woods, then accessing an old muddy logging trail to get through wet woods, traversing a creek that usually has lots of water in it. And once you get there, you are standing in water, which isn't surprising since after all it is 'Swamp' Cottonwood. The water was about 30 cm deep at the time of this visit, but with the heavy rains in the days since, undoubtedly is much deeper. These next two photos show the Swamp Cottonwood in its preferred habitat, with a dense Buttonbush thicket in the background.


All in all it was a wonderful time, not only because I was amongst a grove of one of the rarest trees in Canada, but due to the time of year and the bright sunshine, there was a very loud chorus of Chorus Frogs along with a few Wood Frogs in this swamp busily calling to attract a mate. In fact it was so loud it drowned out the sounds of truck traffic on Hwy 40, about a kilometre away.

There were a few other things I noted along the way, including at least three Eastern Commas and my first of year Mourning Cloak.
Other wildlife was relatively minimal, with only a few birds (Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Phoebe, Song Sparrow, Am Tree Sparrow, etc) noted, and a couple of White-tailed Deer which acted like they hadn't seen anyone for a long time. Chances are given the relative lack of human visitation to this Conservation Reserve, they hadn't seen any humans since the hunting season of last year.

I did see a couple of Snowy Owls along Winter Line on the way home. Up to 7 or more have been in that area for much of the winter, but I expect these holdouts will be gone soon. As much as I liked this Snowy Owl photo currently on my blog header, I will be changing that pic very soon to something more appropriate for the season.











Saturday 25 March 2017

Spring is trying to arrive...really!

We often get a bit anxious for spring to arrive once the end of March is in sight. But in reality, it can take its time. Of course we were spoiled by warm spring-like weather back in February, so the ever so slow arrival now that spring has officially arrived, at least according to the calendar, makes one impatient.

The presence of Snowy Owls is not an indicator of spring, and only a few days ago I came across 3 birds in more or less the same spots they have been all winter. They weren't in very good places for photos, and the distance, back-lighting and sunlight shimmer made getting any photo at all a challenge.

 The same conditions applied in my attempt to capture a shot of this Northern Harrier that had just pounced on a vole.

As is usual for this time of year, waterfowl are quite plentiful. There are many thousands of ducks scattered across Rondeau Bay, for example, even though it became mostly covered in ice again following the recent cold spell. But as the ice diminishes, the waterfowl become more abundant.
 Species such as Canvasback, Redhead and both scaup species seem to be the most common, but there are good numbers of Gadwall and American Wigeon as well.
Canvasback

Canvasback, with a few Lesser Scaup arriving

Greater Scaup
Northern Shovelers are getting to be more common. When they are feeding, they are quite distinctive as the swim around in a tight flock and appear headless, since their spoon-bills are under the water searching for food.





One of my favourite ducks, the Ring-necked Duck, is showing up in good numbers.....
 
 ...as are Red-breasted Mergansers.

It has been a good year for Greater White-fronted Geese, once considered a rarity in this region. Small groups have been seen in various places, including both the Ridgetown and Blenheim Sewage Lagoons as well as the vicinity of both Rondeau and St. Clair NWA.

Not a species of waterfowl in the strict sense, is the Horned Grebe. Some of them are looking kind of scruffy at this time of year, as they are changing from their winter plumage to their breeding plumage.
 Others are much farther along. Numbers of them are building along the local waterways, with up to a dozen seen recently in the Erieau area.


American Robins have been around all winter it seems. On occasion I've had 12-15 right around our house, but they are fairly common and widespread throughout the area.

Killdeer are also building in numbers, and I expect that I will soon be seeing them laying eggs. Last year I came across a full clutch of 4 eggs in mid April.
Sparrows were noticeable by their absence most of the winter. However Song Sparrows have arrived in large numbers, with several hundred being reported by more than one observer at Rondeau in the last couple of days.
I have yet to see my first Tree Swallow or Eastern Phoebe of the season, but they arrived in southern Ontario in the few days. Purple Martins won't be far behind!







Saturday 18 March 2017

Winter photography

The title might conjure up snowy landscapes and such, but this post will be about a different type of winter photography.

I am involved in a project which in part, involves getting photos of twigs of trees and large shrubs, focusing especially on buds, leaf scars and other characteristics that are helpful in their identification. I must admit before this I had never spent a lot of time using such minute characteristics to identify trees. Instead I would consider the type of habitat the tree was growing in and rely on its overall form, as well as the bark characteristics. So this project was a challenge, especially since it relied on a fairly precise form of macro photography. I've explained a little about my macro technique at the end of this post.

I'm not sure exactly how many I have photographed so far, but well over one hundred species. This has involved a lot of time looking through the camera, as well as countless hours processing the images afterwards. But it has been an eye-opener in some ways.

Lots of the buds and leaf scars are extremely small, and at first glance one doesn't look a whole lot different than another. But a closer look just highlights the tremendous diversity there is. This first one is Black Maple, an uncommon tree in Canada limited primarily to southern Ontario. It has fine gray hairs on the cluster of terminal buds.

This next one is Ohio Buckeye. For all intents and purposes it is an endangered species, although not officially so. It occurs naturally at only one location in all of Canada.
A somewhat similar species, at least in the same genus, is Horse Chestnut. It isn't native to Ontario, but is sometimes planted for ornamental purposes. Even though it is the same genus as the previous one, the bud and leaf scar are quite a bit different.
This next one does not have any legal status, although it is extremely rare in Ontario. It is known as Pawpaw, and at least from the historical data, is more common in Chatham-Kent than any other municipality in Ontario, which is a bit surprising given the overall lack of forest cover in C-K.

Next are a few of the hickories found in Ontario. First up is Bitternut Hickory, fairly common in southern Ontario deciduous woods. It is readily identifiable with its bright yellow buds.
 Next is Red or Pignut Hickory. It is quite rare in Canada, being found only in a small part of Essex County and several municipalities from about Long Point east to the GTA.
 Big Shellbark Hickory is scattered across an even smaller part of extreme southern Ontario than the previous species. A telltale feature is that this time of year, many of the leaf stems remain attached to the outer twigs.
 Much more common across southern Ontario and Quebec is Shagbark Hickory.
 These next few are shrubs. First is Flowering Dogwood, an endangered species in Canada. This first image of it shows the non-flowering buds.
 The flowering buds are quite large by comparison, and in late April or early May will open up into an impressive white 'flower', although what appears to be white flower petals are really sepals, another part of a flower, and the petals themselves are very tiny.
A common shrub especially in damp places is Red-osier Dogwood. In the winter its stems are quite bright red, as shown.
 An uncommon shrub is American Hazel, most often found in shrubby prairie, savanna and even drier rocky habitat. These are the male flowers that will open in the spring.
 Not a native species, but occurring in natural areas from time to time, is Winged Euonymus, which has prominent wings along its stem. Not all are as prominent as what shows in this next photo.
 A related, native Euonymus is Burning Bush, which has somewhat square branches.
Ash trees are on the decline in southern Ontario. For more on that topic, check out this previous blog post. This first image shows the terminal buds and twig characteristics of Black Ash, which occurs in quite wet habitat.

In comparison is Red Ash, with its densely hairy stem. It is, or at least was, one of the most common ash species in southern Ontario.
 A real rarity is Blue Ash, found in a few scattered locations in southern Ontario. It has declined due to the Emerald Ash Borer, and is getting harder and harder to find even where it formerly occurred. It is easily identified by its winged stems.

A cross-section of a Blue Ash stem
Another rare and declining tree is Butternut, legally endangered due to a canker that has killed many individuals.
 Closely related is the much more common Black Walnut.
 Next is English Walnut, not native but occasionally planted in landscape settings. The green twig is clearly distinctive.
The unofficial flagship tree species of the Carolinian Life Zone is the Tuliptree, with its distinctive buds.
 Hop Hornbeam, shown next, is identifiable as its partially developed male flowers are present throughout the winter.
Oaks are plentiful across the Ontario landscape. Their buds and twigs aren't always that distinctive, but in these next two examples I show White Oak, with its reddish, hairless twigs.....
 ....and Swamp White Oak, with its somewhat shaggy twig.

An extremely abundant shrub across southern Ontario, is Staghorn Sumac. Its twigs are densely hairy.

Another shrub is Wayfaring Viburnum, native to Europe but commonly planted  for ornamental purposes and as a food source for birds. The leaf buds are very different from almost every other species I have seen so far.
 Prickly Ash is not something one wants to go charging through at any time of year. The thorns are quite stout. The thorns in combination with the leaf scar bundles almost looks like a face, with arms outstretched.

And last, but not least, is this next one: Cherry Birch. It is native, legally endangered, and limited to one site in all of Canada, in the Niagara peninsula.

These are just a few of the many twigs and buds, etc that I have photographed over the last few months. It is a laborious task, but enjoyable, and I have been able to work with some really keen botantists and horticultural specialists in the process. Many of these photos were taken from specimens from the University of Guelph Arboretum, and I have lots more to do!

All of the above photos were taken with a full frame camera, a 100mm macro lens, and up to 68mm of extension tubes. Even at that, some of the photos were cropped. Almost all are at life size or more, although the photos as shown here are actually much greater than life size. The depth of field at this magnification is extremely shallow, in some cases only a couple of millimetres, so I have had to use flash, as well as a flash diffuser. I have also had the camera set-up on a tripod with a ball head, and a focusing rail which enables me to fine tune the focus to fractions of a millimetre.

So next time you are out hiking or birding during the leafless season, take a moment or two to explore and enjoy the interesting examples of nature's design all around you, including twigs. You might have to reverse your binoculars and use them as a magnifying lens to see some of the features.