Wildlife at Mud Lake

Before checking out the blossoms at Lincoln Fields today, I was at Mud Lake watching birds.  One of the first birds I saw was this singing Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), which I think is a lifer for me.

"Botanizing" for the last few days - Part 2

Part 1 here.

Tuesday morning, we went to Trent Nature Areas, as a potential new site for the class, and then we went to Mark S. Burnham Provincial Park (which I never been before) in the afternoon.

Dame's-rocket (Hesperis matronalis) in the Mustard (Brassicaceae) family.  The fragrance of the flowers is most evident at nighttime, where the origin of the genus name hesperos comes from, i.e. 'evening'.

Herping at Oliver Centre

There are many Flatheaded Mayflies (Heptageniidae) flying around lately.  One was seen outside my office window today with its old exoskeleton nearby.

Leucrocuta sp.

In the afternoon, I was helping out with the herpetology class with their salamander surveys at the Oliver Ecological Centre.  The students were comparing different methods of surveying for salamanders (i.e., transects, quadrats, random walks, and cover-boards).