(Wild)life back in Ottawa

I have not done a lot of wildlife-watching since I returned from Baltimore - mainly because I do not have a valid bus pass yet and I only try to go to places within walk- and bike-able distances.  Besides where I live, the other places I go to for the past two weeks are: Sawmill Creek Wetland, the Arboretum, McCarthy Woods, and the university.  Here are some interesting things that I photographed.

Sawmill Creek Wetland

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle)







Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)

Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

The Arboretum

Trees along the Rideau Canal slowly changing to their autumn colours.


Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica)


A megachilid bee visiting knapweed flowers.


Unknown sparrow.

A goldfinch fledgling begging for food from its parent.


Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) sleeping on a log.

McCarthy Woods

 Found this dead and dried-up Dog-day cicada (genus Neotibicen) on the sidewalk.  I brought it home and took some photos.
 
Dense canopy cover within McCarthy Woods.

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Unknown wasp, I think it is some kind of a potter wasp in the subfamily Eumeninae.


Bees visiting Tall Rattlesnakeroot (Nabalus altissimus)

Red mushroom.

While walking in the woods, I saw flipped over some rocks that I thought might cover some interesting critters. And I was right!  I flipped over three rocks and found three different Blue-spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma laterale).  This is the most successful (unintentional) rock-flipping and salamander-searching expedition ever!

Adorable.

I will have a valid student bus pass starting tomorrow.  I will try to venture outside my usual locations to see more wildlife before school begins again next Tuesday.