Mud Lake and Petrie Islands (Post #1,000)

Knowing that I will be very busy this coming school semester - teaching, taking one class, and working on my own research project, I doubt I will be spending a lot of time outside and enjoying nature.  So for the past few days, I have been going out and taking advantage of the last free days before school begins next Tuesday.  The places I went to were Mud Lake and Petrie Island, and I went to each place twice because there are so many things to see.

Mud Lake

A lot of Water lilies (Nymphaea odorata) floating on the lake.

August's Photographic Update

Sorry for not posting anything since my return from Windy Pine.  I have been working on my project either from home or school, plus I do not have a student bus pass so my destinations are limited to places I can walk and/or bike to.  I still went out a few times, and here are photos from most of those outings.

August 6 - Went for a walk to Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland, and I was surprised at how much vegetation have grown compared to the first time I was there.

There weren't many bird species that I saw - mostly just Mallards (and one heron in this image).

Gentians, Turtlehead, Apples, and Thesis defense

I successfully defended my thesis yesterday, and now I need to make some minor revisions and then I will be done.  Well, sort of, aside from transforming the thesis into manuscript format and submitting it for publication (and then I am certain there will be a lot of reviews and re-edits afterwards).

Anyways, I didn't take any photos during the week except for last Sunday when I came to school to do some work.

Went back to the Bottle gentians (Gentiana andrewsii) next to the river to get better photos.

Things I saw when I moved at a slower pace...

I missed the bus a few times today, so I ended up walking to and from school today.  I had not done that in a while, and I missed the things I can come across with when I am moving at a slower pace.

Found these small egg shells on the trail.  The parent bird probably took them away from the nest.  I wonder what kind of bird laid these eggs.

Flowers of Ivvavik

Celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday with people in my lab and had dinner at Tim Horton's.  Nothing super interesting in my life at the moment - working on my thesis, teaching, and thinking about what I should do with my future.

I have to teach a lab this Friday that requires me to identify tree species on one of the surrounding drumlins here at Trent.  I spent some time last Saturday identifying the trees from a guide, but I still wasn't too comfortable with my skills.  So yesterday, the lab coordinator took us teaching assistants to the drumlin again to identify the trees together.  Hopefully, everything will work out fine on Friday.

Speaking on trees and plants, I have been wanting to share my flower photos from this past field season for some time now.  Here they are.

Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium)

Birding in Presqu'ile Provincial Park

Sorry for the delay, but here are the photos from last Sunday when I was birding at Presqu'ile Provincial Park with Trent's ornithology class.

Waking up early and waiting for the school bus just after 6am.

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.