Archivos de diario de diciembre 2019

02 de diciembre de 2019

ERS 346 Outing #1

Time and Date 2019/09/16; 1500
Duration 62 minutes
Location Columbia Lake

Weather 20͒ C, light breeze, no-precipitation, full cloud cover
Habitat/Vegetation type Lake, Wetland, Forested Area

Narrative: Coming out of the car we heard bluejays chirping in the trees by the shore of Columbia Lake. Walking down to the lake we moved under some willow trees and through thick patches of goldenrod. We spotter two birds of prey soring at a high altitude, they were too far off to get a positive ID. When we got to the water there were two blue dragonflies mating. Across the lake, we could see a Blue Heron who was standing still feeling some vibes by the shore. Sadly it flew away when we tried to get a closer look. There was a group of Honey Bees collecting pollen and nectar from some daisies. As we walked along the lake, we saw some small mammal prints in the mud, these were likely from a Raccoon. We simultaneously saw four Gulls and heard a Killdeer call. Across the lake, from our new location, there was a large flock of gulls(around 150) and amongst them was one Great Egret. Swimming in the opposite direction from them were three Double-crested Cormorants. We kept moving along the bank and entered a wooded area where we passed a large active anthill and a fuzzy white caterpillar later identified as a Hickory Tussock Moth. There was small to medium mammal poop with seeds in it under a white pine tree. Deeper in the wooded area we found some hallow bird bones later identified as some kind of gull. The bones were somewhat scattered and we only found a handful of them including part of the beak. On the way back to the car we spotted two more herons on the lake, one was preening himself and looking for snacks. Right before ending our hike our path was quickly crossed by a half foot long Guarder Snake who hid when he saw us coming.

Observations:
The observation links are found on Kayla Caruso's page from her journal entry dated the same day.
Bluejays: Kayla had the previous knowledge of this call for the ID
Goldenrod: This is a plant we both recognized
Blue Heron: This is a bird we both recognized
Honey Bees: I worked with honey bees over the summer and was able to positively ID them on sight
Racoon Foot Print: We looked up tracks to get an estimation, it fit the size and shape.
Gulls: This is a species we were both familiar with
Killdeer: Kayla recognized this species from her work bird banding this past summer
Great Egret: I thought this was a swan from far away, but Kayla recognized it as a Great Egret
Double-Crested Cormorants: Kayla also knew this species from her summer work
Hickory Tusick Moth: This was identified on I-Naturalist after the observation was posted
Guarder Snake: This is a species we both recognized

Publicado el diciembre 2, 2019 09:38 TARDE por mears mears | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #2

Time and Date 2019/09/23; 15:20 PM
Duration 40 minutes
Location Clair Lake
Weather 22°C, slightly windy, heavy precipitation at the end, 50% cloud cover

Habitat/Vegetation type Stormwater management pond

We took a trail to get to the lake through some suburbs. Along the way, we spotted a squirrel climbing in one of the trees. As we were about to go down to the lake a single mallard duck came up to the path posed for some pictures and then waddled off. We walked down the little path the duck had just exited and went down to the shore of the lake. There was a Honey Bee who was taking advantage of the fall Goldenrods and Asters. There were many more mallard ducks on the small lake. More than 30 were swimming in the lake. They were clearly somewhat socialized to humans. When we came to the shore many of them swam up to us hoping for some food. The males and females were all still brown, the men had not yet molted into colorful breeding plumage. Along the edge of the lake were very aesthetically pleasing willow trees. After a while of watching the ducks, it started to downpour. We ran back to the car very quickly and did not take note of any wildlife on the way back.

The observations are for this post are posted by Kayla Caruso. They can be found in her journal on the same day.

Squirrel: Id from memory (we did not get a picture to look up the sub-species)
Mallard Duck: ID from memory
Honey Bee: ID from memory
Golden Rods: ID from memory
Asters: ID from memory

Publicado el diciembre 2, 2019 09:44 TARDE por mears mears | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #3

Time and Date 2019/10/28; 16:10 PM
Duration 70 minutes
Location Gorba Trails Guelph ON
Weather 15°C, clear skies/light wind, no precipitation

Habitat/Vegetation type Cedar Grove/Riverside

Walking onto the trail, I spotted a Red Squirrel chasing a Black Squirrel around a tree. The Red Squirrel was making an angry high chirping noise. Two birds flashed through some trees too quickly to ID. There were around 15 Mallard Ducks on the river diving for food and swimming. The mating plumage of the males had come in at this point. Some of the ducks were making calling noises, it sounded like strange laughter. One of these ducks was sitting on a rock in the sun preening its feathers. After walking a little way further down the trail I looked up into a tree and there was an angry squirrel looking back at me who chirped loudly at the disturbance. In the water I could see a large group of Minnows, each was shorter than a pinky finger in length. There was a bird chirping in the trees that I could not see, it had 1 regular chirp about every 10 seconds. Walking back I spotted some orange mushrooms. I didn’t know what they were so I used a mushroom identification app. It Identified them as Velvet Shank Mushrooms. All along the trail were dead Wild Cucumbers and their vines. Next, I saw a fat Chipmunk sitting on a stump and rubbing its face. Past him there was another stump, on this one there were red down feathers in what looked like a kill sight. I believe that are feathers from a Cardinal because of the color. At the end of the trail, I spotted the Red Squirrel chasing away the black one again. I think the little bugger may have been trying to steal some of his winter stash.

Red Squirrel: ID from memory
Black Squirrel: ID from memory
Mallard Ducks: ID from memory
Minnows: ID from memory
Velvet Shank mushrooms: ID from mushroom Identifiicator App
Wild Cucumber: ID from memory
Chipmonk: ID from memory
Cardinal Feathers: found ID after looking up cardinal down feathers

Publicado el diciembre 2, 2019 10:37 TARDE por mears mears | 5 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #4

Time and Date 2019/11/19; 16:20 PM
Duration 39 minutes
Location Laurel Creek
Weather 3°C, 90% cloud cover, a slight breeze

Habitat/Vegetation type Riparian Zone

Kayla and I were walking outside of EV 3, on our way to the creek. We saw a large flock of around 27 Crows flying out of formation towards the school library. In the trees, we spotted 4 Squirrel nests and 2 squirrels. One was fat with a white fluffy belly and a nut in his mouth. On the creek, we spotted 50 or so Mallard ducks. They were swimming, walking on ice, diving for food and yelling loudly. The males had their shiny green mating plumage, and the females were a soft brown color. Swimming around the ducks were 12 or so Canadian Geese. On the banks of the creek, there were many dead goldenrod plants and some buckthorn. In a tree, we spotted a female Cardinal hopping around from branch to branch. Flying into and amongst some tall cedars were two Chickadees. Although the weather had warmed up a bit, there was still enough snow to see a few tracks. We spotted duck and goose tracks on the creek bed. On a log by the water, we found Raccoon tracks. In a thorny plant, we spotted a dead ladybug looking very out of place, it possibly got stuck in the thorns and died.

The Observations were posted by Kayle Caruso. All pictures can be found in her journal entry from the same day.

Crow: ID from memory
Squirrel: ID from memory
Mallard Ducks: ID from memory
Canadian Geese: ID from memory
Golden Rod: ID from memory
Buck Thorn: ID from memory
Cardinal: ID from memory
Goose Tracks: we looked up bird tracks and they fit the size and shape
Duck Tracks: we looked up bird tracks and they fit the size and shape
Racoon Tracks: We knew what they looked like from a previous outing
Lady Bug: ID from memory

Publicado el diciembre 2, 2019 11:18 TARDE por mears mears | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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