Big Sky Ranch & Sarsaparilla Trail

This week is reading week at the university, so there are no classes for the undergrads and more free time for us grad students.  Today, I visited a place I have been hearing a lot about from my friend - the Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Kemptville.  Big Sky Ranch is a place where animals (abandoned or unable to care for by their previous humans) are able to be adopted by new humans or to live permanently at this no-kill sanctuary.  The sanctuary is open to visitors most times of the year and is free of charge, but donation is definitely appreciated especially during the colder months when there are little to no visitors.  While my friend and I were walking around the sanctuary and enjoying the presence of all the animals, I cannot help but feel sad and angry at the people who would abandon their care for these animals.  But I am glad places like Big Sky Ranch exist and there are nice people who invest their time and money to improve the lives of these animals.  During our visit, all of the animals seemed to be well-cared for and their living conditions were clean and comfortable.

Here were some of the interesting animals we saw:

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

2015 Winter Celebration at Rideau Hall

The one-day Winter Celebration at Rideau Hall is to celebrate winter traditions, sports, and foods from various Nordic countries and Inuit groups.  I heard about this event last year and have yet visited Rideau Hall since I moved to Ottawa, so I thought today is a great opportunity to do both things.

Entrance sign.

Bug Day at Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

There was a free event today at Canada Agriculture and Food Museum called "Bug Day", which consisted of various activities introducing insects to the public, e.g. insect zoo, cockroach races, insect collecting, etc.  I went there mainly for the free admission into the museum, a place that I haven't visited yet here in Ottawa.

Ornamental Gardens at the Experimental Farm

Daily life in Colorado - Part 4

Research

My field season is slowly winding down with the flowers setting seeds (a.k.a. nutlets).  However, the nutlets contain elaiosomes that are removed by ants (and the plants are also eaten by deers), thus I have to be extra diligent in nutlet-collecting before other creatures get to them first.

Ants also steal nectar from flowers.  Here is one removing the flower.

New Orleans, the Crescent City

This is going to be my first post from the New Orleans trip and it will a lengthy post with a lot of photos.

My accommodation during my stay was at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in downtown, so aside from attending to various talks during the Botany Conference, I had a lot of opportunities to explore the downtown area, especially the infamous Bourbon Street and French Quarter.  Therefore, this first post is a photographic collection of downtown New Orleans during my 5-day stay there.

Canal Street with palm trees and streetcar tracks.  Can't imagine being here when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Snow Day in Bethany Hills

After last night's snowstorm, today was absolutely gorgeous with blue sky and no clouds at all.  Perfect day to attend the Snow Day in Bethany Hills, an event hosted by Kawartha Heritage Conservancy and its sponsors.

Waiting for carpooling.

Upon arriving at South Pond Farms, we were greeted by friendly volunteers where we registered for the event, received a brief introduction, and borrowed ski and snowshoe equipments.  It has been a while since I skied and I did not go very far (although I fell a lot) with the cross-country.  In the end, I opted for the easier snowshoeing and began my hike through the land.  After yesterday's snow, the land was pristine and gorgeous.  Everyone I meet were extremely cheerful and appreciative for the event and the beauty of nature in general.  Unfortunately, not much wildlife was heard or seen today, except for some tracks and sparrows that I saw and the chickadees that I heard.

Here are some photos taken along the trail.

Revisiting Iona Beach and seeing Yellow-headed Blackbird

I didn't go biking by the dyke again today. The weather was gorgeous, so I drove out to Sea Island and to Iona Beach instead. There was too many people and dogs last month when I was there on a weekend. So today was nice with fewer people.

Beautiful sky-watch day.

I came across many snakes sunning today along the trails. My first reptiles of the year! I believe this is a Northwestern Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides) - also seen by Wanderin' Weeta when she was there last week.

On the west end of Sea Island, it was completely covered by Scotch Brooms, an invasive pea shrub, and on each shrub, there were at least two or more snails on it. Wanderin' Weeta wrote an interesting post on Scotch Brooms here.

A beautiful Scotch Broom flower.

Another Northwestern Garter Snake observed. A closer-shot this time.

Then it was time to head to Iona Beach.

Iona Beach is at a corner of Sea Island that it shares with the Vancouver International Airport and the Wastewater Treatment Plant. There are also field for horses and horseback riders. Seeing no cars in both direction, I stopped and took a quick photo of this beautiful animal.

During this time of the year, Blackbirds are one of the most common birds on Iona Beach. This is a female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and it is quite different from the showy males.

Another resident of the beach is the Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus), the bird species that I was mainly after today.

It is definitely a beautiful bird. I think they are prettier than Red-winged Blackbirds, but that may be because I see Red-winged more often and yellow is my favorite color. To me, their call sounds like a mix between a cow mooing and a cat meowing, which is quite unusual itself.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are mainly found on the plains of central North America, so this colony here is the only coastal colony found in our province. They were locally rare once when the Wastewater Treatment Plant was being built and their habitat (marsh) was destroyed. But a restoration project took place a few years later and now these birds have returned. What a good story.

Before going home, I just had to take a shot of the beach at low-tide.
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