Arboretum and UV photography

For the past two days, I attended the annual Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology (OCIB) Symposium at Carleton University.  Yesterday, I went for a walk at the Arboretum after lunch.

Mourning Cloak visiting willow flowers.

Wildlife observed (so far) this week

Now that the weather is getting warmer and sunnier, I went out to a few different spots this week and brought my camera with me.

Strathcona Park (Tuesday)

I went out to Strathcona Park during lunch break.  I had the 40-150 lens on my camera, and I was practicing the continuous auto-focus (with tracking) on the gulls.

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

Wandering around MBG

We learned the different types of floral advertisements that attract pollinators, ranging from vision, olfactory, nectar, texture, chemosensory, thermosensory, and timing.

In the afternoon, we were asked to collect flowers (given permissions) from the botanical garden and learn some techniques back in the lab.

I took some photos as I go along collecting flowers that interest me - mostly small or dioecious flowers, since my project focuses on Shepherdia canadensis.

Green Frog

Riverview Park and Zoo, Peterborough

One of the main attractions of Peterborough is probably Riverview Park and Zoo, operated by the Peterborough Utilities Group. It is quite an interesting place considering that it is completely free and actually has a fair number of animals to make it a good place to visit if you have a couple of hours to spend.

The first animal that I saw was a Monarch butterfly flying beside the playground. I didn't see a whole lot of them the limited number of days that I have been here.

The classic M on Monarch.

Photos from many days ago...

Hi all. Work and life are good here in Ontario. For the past few days, the weather has been very summer-like and I am definitely experiencing the insect annoyance here, but overall, I am having fun and learning a lot.

Here are some of the photos that I took on my off-days on May 6 and 7, and during other working days.

The scenaries:

Update post, inc. trip to Dyer's Bay

Hi all. I am back at the cafe using wireless internet. This might be the only post for the upcoming weeks/month as the birds are arriving next week, and after that everyone will be very busy and has less time for non-work related things.

While driving to the cafe this morning, my colleague and I saw an Eastern Meadowlark and 3 Wild Turkeys - both of which are lifers for me. I will share them next time.

Now, the usual views and creatures from the Fox Den (where we are currently housed). Once again, please click on the photos for more descriptions about each image.