Spring is here because of flowers and pollinators

Last night, I was planning where to go today and considered taking the bus to Stony Swamp, a natural area southwest of Ottawa where photos of interesting animals are frequently shared on Facebook, such as Black-backed Woodpecker during the winter, porcupines, frogs, etc.  But the thought of the trip taking almost two hours, while it is located 15.6 km west of where I live, is kind of ridiculous (Ottawa transit system is quite poor compare to the Metro Vancouver transit system).  Anyways, I decided to walk to the bus station (via Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland) and visit the Arboretum in the end.

Little did I know I would see several interesting things today.

First was this pair of Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) - first of the year!

Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa

I traveled to the (Dominion) Arboretum this afternoon to see what the recent warm Spring weather has brought to us in terms of wild fauna and flora.  It was my first time traveling by O-Train and to the Arboretum, and I must say I am quite impressed by train, especially since it only took me about 25 minutes from where I live to the Arboretum.

Map of the Arboretum

Holiday update #3

I just returned back to Ottawa around midnight today, after spending a couple of hours driving from Peterborough and "mudpuppying".  I will post about it shortly, but here are three of the photos I took on Christmas and Boxing Day.

Morning snowy shadows

Snowy walk to school

Found another dead honey bee on the snow.  Rest in peace.  [Note: I just found this YouTube video and blog explaining that living bees perform cleansing flights in the winter to remove dead bees (from both natural and unnatural causes) from the hive.  All part of the nature's ingenious design to keep everything in balance.]

Holiday season update #2 from Peterborough

Hope everyone had a spectacular Christmas day.  This is another photographic update from the past few days.  I was busy cooking a turkey (for the first time) yesterday so I didn't get any chance to sort through yesterday's photos.

December 22nd (Sunday) - I shoveled snow in the driveway and was exhausted in the end to walk to school just for using internet.  I took the dog out for few short walks and that was about it.

Kami the cat.

No fall colours yet in Peterborough

I spent all morning and most of the afternoon yesterday at home working on data analyses.  Afterwards, I biked to Jackson Park to see if the fall colours have arrived or not, and then got some groceries on the way home.

Not yet, I'd say, compare to 2011 and 2012.

Critters behind DNA building

Just some photos I took behind the DNA building this afternoon when I came outside to eat my lunch.

First woolly bear I saw this season crossing the parking lot.  I saw a (squished) one while I was biking home later in the day.

BEE-tiful Saturday

Once again, I came to school to do some work.  One thing I found quite inconvenient about coming to Trent on the weekend is that all the buildings would be locked (that I have no access to), so there is no direct route from the bus stop to my office.  I guess the silver lining is that I can walk around the buildings and take some time to appreciate the nature around me.

Close-up on the lichens on the rock.

Bridgenorth Trail & Miller Creek Cons. Area revisited

Last year, I biked to a nearby conservation area called Miller Creek.  However, the biking was not as safe I preferred since I was basically biking on a busy country road.  However, near where I live now, there is a close trail that takes me there and through the countryside.  I biked through it today and like the trail quite a lot - quiet, safe, easy, etc.

Saw a dead frog on the hot gravel road.

Photographic Post - Flowers at London Heritage Farm

Out at the London Heritage Farm on this hot afternoon looking for wildlife and photographing flowers.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Drone Honey Bee

Found a dead honey bee on the sidewalk yesterday when I was heading out to city centre to get a haircut.  However, it was not the more common female workers, but a male drone honey bee.  I am not sure why it died - maybe it was too hot or maybe he had done his part of passing his genes onto the future.

After the haircut, I brought the honeybee back home to pin it and take some photos.

Interesting specimen

From this photo, you can see the drone has extremely large compound eyes, relative to the female workers, and his feeding proboscis is inconspicuous and small.  Not seen from this photo, but drones also lack the stinger because their sole function in the society is to mate.

Five more sleeps in Richmond before flying back to Ontario...

Birds, insects, and flowers of the community garden

I tried to look for the hummingbird again this afternoon at the community garden.  It might had been too hot because very few things were active, except for insects and a few birds.  Here are some of them.

Young unknown sparrow.

Hummingbird at GCCG

A warm and sunny Saturday - good day to be outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Bald Eagle perched on Shady Island, not very shady at all.

Riding the fixed bike to Finn Slough; Seeing snakes

Took my newly repaired bike to the dyke this afternoon.  Let's hope the inner tube is indeed puncture-resistant as it says on the package.

There was one Western Tiger Swallowtail flying around the trees at the end of the trail and defending its territory from other fliers.

Fast-forwarding the days

After the somewhat relaxing day-off on Saturday, the remainder of the week became incredibly busy in carrying out our field projects and staying late in labs to get results.

2012/4/23

Another student's project - use staining techniques to stain scent glands on different parts of flowers, as well as using SEM to look at the structural differences between the parts.

Bees and birds and a wedding

Yesterday (20th), we learned about pollinator foraging behaviours and the techniques they used when visiting different type of flowers and inflorescence in order to maximize their gain and minimize the loss.  We also began brainstorming about our field projects, and another student and I were thinking of teaming up to study what are the effects of ants on stigma receptivity and pollen germination.

This morning was a lecture on abiotic pollination - wind and water.  In the afternoon, we were off to the botanical garden to bag some flowers and start on our project.

Carpenter bee stealing nectar from the columbines.

Quick post about past week - mostly pollinators

Long story short, I am heading to St. Louis this weekend to participate in a pollination field course in Missouri Botanical Garden. Before I leave, I had many many things to do. Most of the more important tasks are done now, and now onto posting photos and blog writing about what I did since last Friday.

2012/04/07

I biked to Jackson Park hoping it would be nice and pretty by now.

Unfortunately not. The lake/pond is still really low and the trees are just producing buds.

Quick update on my life & First AAA trip.

As expected, school is just too busy for me to spare times for photography. Sometimes I do like to stop and relax and look at the Otonabee River, but I rarely have the time to take my camera out and take pictures. Also, time goes by so fast when in school that I rarely have time to record what I did each day. Am I continuing to seize my days? Let's see, I remembered attending the Avian Appreciation Association (AAA) meeting on Thursday, and we introduced ourselves and planned on where we would like to go for birding. On Friday, I was suppose to discuss my project with one of my supervisors, attend a seminar talk by Dr. Locke Rowe from U of T. There was also a Pow Wow at Curve Lake on Saturday, but I was so tired from the past few days that I decided to stay home and not go. Plus, my roommate and I got a couch for our living room. It looks much better now.

Now, onto today! Today I went on the first field trip with the AAA club to a town north of Peterborough called Lakefield. We went to a sewage pond and tried to spot some ducks. We didn't see many ducks (Mallards and American Black Duck - a lifer that I probably would identify as a Mallard without help), but did saw other birds too, including another lifer, the Chestnut-sided Warbler!

Lakefield's sewage lagoon

Insects at London Farm & Goldfinch

I visited London Farm for the first time since coming back. All the tulips are gone, replaced by other brightly-coloured flowers.

There were different kinds of insects in the garden as well.

Bees and Grasshoppers and Some Birds

I went out for a quick jog this morning as soon as I got off bed - the only time that makes sense for me to go running - not too hot and with an empty stomach. Then in the afternoon, I biked to South Dyke Trail. First stop, the community garden. It was cloudy and windy today so not many insects were spotted.

Saw this honey bee cleaning its tongue and wiping pollen off its body - quite neat to be close-up and see this beautiful creature doing its things without it flying away.

Insects in Richmond

I went out for a bike ride this afternoon. Such a nice day. Can't believe it is only summer here, whereas autumn is changing the colours of the leaves in the Arctic Circle. There are many things different here down South, such as the large trees, people, lifestyle, inexpensive food, and biodiversity.

I stopped at Gilbert Road Community Garden and spent a great amount of time photographing the insects that came my way.

Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) sticking out its long tongue.