Update for the week

I bought a bike at a garage sale on Sunday, so on Monday (12th), I attempted to bike to school.  There isn't a straight-forward path from where I live to the university, but there is a path along the canal that gets me to school in about 45 minutes (by biking through some neighbourhoods and parks first), which is not bad, especially when the weather is nice.

Biking past Hog's Back Falls - man-made waterfalls.

Dow's Lake.

Biking along the Rideau Canal Eastern Pathway.

On Tuesday, I walked to McCarthy Woods to look at the flowers.  A strange incident happened where an older woman with her dog were startled by me (and vice versa) at a bend in the trails where we couldn't see each other until the last moment.  She started yelling at me and taking out her phone to record the whole thing, as if I was going to harm her or something.  And she wanted me to turn back the way I came from, so that her and her dog can continue along the path.  I visit nature to escape silly and strange humans, and yet it's still impossible to avoid all of them.  Anyways, I feel better now that's off my chest.

Shortly after, I saw two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) of the year.


Pretty much all of the White trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) were flowering then.

The trout lily flowers, on the other hand, had either wilted or started to form fruits.

Then I saw two new flowering species of the year.

Yellow violet (Viola pubescens), and

Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).  There is also the related woodland strawberry (F. vesca), but its leaflets have a terminal tooth longer than the adjacent teeth, which this one does not have

Flowering sedges, which I know little about.

On Wednesday (14th), I biked to Sawmill Creek to do some birding.  It was late in the afternoon and quite hot, so I didn't take many photos.

First Great Blue Heron of the year.


Singing Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)

Another first -  White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

Saw an ant visiting this small blossoming plant.

Red-winged Blackbird with a feather out of place.

Other interesting wildlife I saw that day were: Eastern kingbirds, swallows, a Black swallowtail butterfly, waxwings, dragonflies, and grackles.

My road trip to my field site (Colorado) begins one week from today.