Field course day 4 - Carden Plains & Clearwing hummingbird moth!

On the fourth day of the field course, we were at Carden Plains showing the students the unique alvar habitats and the flora associated with it.

Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) in the Liliaceae family is the provincial flower of Saskatchewan.

Wildflowers of Carden Plains

Despite me living so close to where I worked in 2010 (i.e., Carden Plains), I did not have the means to revisit the place.  Thanks to the field course I am assisting this month, I am now back to where it all began for me here in Ontario.

View from the Carden Rec Centre looking at Dalrymple Lake.

Wordless Wednesday - American toadlet from 2010

A friend just identified this toadlet for me.  These photos have been in my "Unknown" folder from the 2010 field season for a while now.

American toad (Bufo americanus)

Identified insects from last summer

Aside from all the photos from this past summer that I have not uploaded yet, I also have an unknown folder for some of the insects that I wasn't able to identify from last summer. Well, today I found the ID for few of them and decided to make one post out of it.

Dogbane Beetle (Chrysochus auratus)

Unknown Bug from Ontario solved, sort of.

This summer, in Carden, we had periods when our cabin was shared with lots and lots of flies. A fly swapper was used but its effectiveness was limited, and so was the fly tape. So we basically just learned how to live with them.

Nevertheless, we were amazed when we found this critter below that was hunting the flies! We didn't know what it was but was grateful for it - until we found it upstairs where we sleep. Then the feeling became quite cautious about this dangerous-looking fly-killer.

Well, I just came across this post (by Ben Cruachan) this morning that tells me what I saw was a Robber Fly (Family Asilidae)! Good to have some idea now...but I don't think I will ever find out what species it is.
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[Video] LCBO Enviro Report - Shrike Recovery Project

This video was done a few years ago, but this was my job/home this summer and I miss it very much.

Same species, same care, but still endangered.

The video is from this website: http://www.lcbo.com/socialresponsibility/enviroreport/
More information about the efforts trying to save the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike: http://www.wildlifepreservation.ca/wildlife/shrike.php
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Carden memories come to an end & Niagara Falls

My summer field season concluded yesterday. I am now in my friend's home in Ontario before I fly back to B.C. on Saturday. There are many memories, photos, thoughts, emotions, and experiences from the last 4.5 months that I would like to share, but now they remain unorganized in my head. Hopefully, I will be able to share them as time progresses.

Here are some photos from the last few days on the field site and last boat rides on Lake Dalrymple.

Orange Sulphurs enjoying the salts on the road.

A juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird posing for the camera.

Photos with captions

One day, a juvenile White-throated Sparrow hit our cabin window. We quickly took it off the ground and put it in a small cloth bag (for birds), waited for it to gain conscious, then my co-worker Kat released it back to wherever it belong. It didn't want to fly away right away but did soon afterwards.


It was always strange to see a woodpecker hanging on a Mullein looking for insects.

Shrikes!

Just can't get enough of shrikes!

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Grant's Woods and George Langman Sanctuary

It's been a while since I last posted a post. Between today (my off-day) and the last time I posted, I had two more off-days when I went to Orillia and checked out the city and the surrounding natural areas - Grant's Woods and George Langman Sanctuary, both of which I would definitely recommend for people to visit and enjoy nature.

Grant's Woods

More photos from May and June

Today is the second day of my days-off. Yesterday I went to nearby towns in Fenelon Falls and Beaverton, I quite like Beaverton, especially a cool little shop called "Shirley's Country Clutter" where I found two door hangers with Loggerhead Shrikes on them and I also saw a Blue Jay nestling in the back of the store too.

Anyways, here're more photos from my days-off in May, as well as some photos in the field. A couple weeks ago, our field was covered with beautiful wildflowers, definitely a great place to be.

From my last days-off (May 24 & May 25)

More photos from Carden

Here are more photos that I wanted/needed to share:

Mama robin feeding her nestlings. At this moment, the nestlings had already fledged and the nest is now empty.


I think this is one of the fledglings. Who knows, there are many robin nests around our cabin and in the field site.

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:

Lifers and Sights from Carden and surrounding areas

It has been a while since my last post. Many of good things had happened and work is going well too. And the best things are probably all the new lifers that I am seeing and the beautiful country that I am currently living in.

Lifers:

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)


Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)