Relearning the wildlife of Gothic

Yesterday I showed my labmate some of the common plants and insects (and birds) that she will likely encounter during her own research, which provided a good refresher lesson for me as well.

Gothic Mountain

Updates & Visiting Mud Lake

This week is reading week at University of Ottawa, so there are no classes for undergraduate students, which also means a less hectic week for me.  One thing I was planning on doing this week was looking for Snowy Owls.  The approximate location of the Snowy Owls is not very close to where I live and public transportation does not even come close to the area, so I have been waiting for some free time and good weather in order to make this thing happen.  And today is finally the day!

Another thing that happened this week was that I came across an ad of someone selling one of the lenses that I have been waiting for a while now - the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens.  After some online negotiation and postponing the transaction because of Tuesday's record-breaking snowfall, I finally received this lens yesterday, and it is beautiful!  Because of the two above things, I set some goals for myself today - find Snowy Owls and test the lens.

Long story short, the first goal was unsuccessful because the road where I thought the owls may be found was not the right one and walking along a busy rural road (during wintertime) without sidewalks does not make me feel very safe (just like the time when I tried to bike to Bridgenorth).  After feeling a bit bummed and tired out, I decided to visit Mud Lake and photograph some birds (and macro shots too) instead.

Mud Lake is completely snow-covered now.  I took this photo with my new lens.  It is so much fun shooting with a sharp prime lens (not really the case for my OM 50mm f/1.8 lens).

Broken and slowly melting away

Life is a bit hectic at the moment.  Sometimes the only constant in my life is my love for nature, anything else will eventually fade away or break down.  Here are some photos taken during the past two weeks.

I bought a new camera lens during the holiday break - the M.Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II R.  It is a kit lens that usually comes with entry-level cameras, but now I can attach it to my camera without needing an adapter, which makes my camera less bulky and much lighter.

Winter bird-watching at Fletcher Wildlife Garden

I went to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden today hoping to see some birds (especially this one recorded from two weeks ago).  I did not see the owl but ended up seeing many regular wintering species, and most of them were hanging around feeders or trees with fruits.

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

July update - Hiking to Treasure Mountain (4,103 m)

Last Saturday (July 11th), everyone in my lab took a half-day off to hike Treasure Mountain.  To get to the trailhead, we drove from Gothic to Paradise Divide and then hike to Yule Creek Trail.

Paradise Divide.

July update - Research-related photos

This month I planned three road-trips measuring vegetative and reproductive traits of several Mertensia species in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah.  These road-trips brought me to many interesting places that I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to go to.

July 1st to 3rd (M. ciliata and M. bakeri)

Blue Mesa Lake, the largest lake in Colorado.

May update - assorted topics

We are having several consecutive days of relatively nice weather throughout the day so I have been quite busy working (and taking photos) but not posting them.  Here are a lot of photos from the last week of May.

Snow day (May 25th, 2015)

Before the weather got better, it got worse on the 25th when it snowed and we lost power overnight and in the morning after (so no heat and no internet). I couldn't do any work except walking around Gothic and taking pictures.

Life working under an unpredictable weather

I was able to put in one-and-half days (17th and 18th) worth of fieldwork before today's weather turned unpredictable again and forced me to work inside most of the day.

I discovered that there are (at least) two Gray Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) that hang out near my study site because I saw them there for two consecutive days.

May update #2 - From Colorado

Since my last post, the weather has been a roller coaster ride.  It can be snowing in the morning, the snow melting and sky clearing up by mid-day, but then back to snowing in the afternoon.

Anyways, while it is snowing really hard outside right now, I have entered the data I collected yesterday, sorted my photos taken the past few days, and then decided to write this post.

May 9th

My labmate was examining cocoons and saw these spirally frass inside a cocoon.  Based on the orange colour, we suspect it is one of the composite-specialist bees - either Osmia montana or O. coloradensis.

On the way to work (i.e., from Ottawa to Colorado) and gettng there too early

I was planning to blog much later into the field season than this, but poor weather conditions (with winter snowstorm warnings in effect) here in Gothic, Colorado have halted what I originally planned.

My research/driving partner and I left Ottawa on the morning of the 6th, and we rested overnight at Kalamazoo and Grand Island, just like last year.  I didn't take many photos until we entered Colorado.

Can't remember if this was taken in Nebraska or Colorado.  Landscape in the northeast corner of Colorado is similar to the bordering states.

Winter Uplands

I went out for two short walks around my neighbourhood this past weekend.  I didn't see much of anything, but I did come across this poem that perfectly described the feeling during my strolls.  The poem is titled Winter Uplands by Archibald Lampman.

Rideau Canal, birds, and full moon

The school semester is finally over, but work (i.e., preparing for qualifying exam) still continues no matter what.  I took some photos the past two weekends just walking along the canal and hiking in the Arboretum hoping to see some wildlife.

Preparation for Winterlude has begun even though the ice is not thick enough yet.

Hiking to my 2nd tallest mountain so far - Gothic Mountain (3,850 m)

Today, my labmate and I hiked to the top of the mountain that towers over our cabin (and Gothic) - Gothic Mountain. Its height is 3,850 m, which is just four metres short of Avery Peak that I climbed last week.

Quick picture of Gothic Mountain before we left.  To get to the top, we followed the trail descriptions in this website, which we found to be accurate and useful.

Daily life in Colorado - Part 2

Images since the last post.

Scenery

Mount Crested Butte

Daily life in Colorado - Part 1

I am certain I will have many posts like this which are just random assortment of photos that I take on a daily basis.

Research

Collecting Mertensia fusiformis flowers.

Beautiful sceneries in Colorado

Quick update on some of the photos I had taken in Colorado.

A map of the general area I am staying at.

Visiting Canadian Museum of Nature's Natural Heritage Campus

For a part of my PhD research, I will visit several herbariums and examine specimens in the genus Mertensia spp.  I will be studying at the relationship between morphological (reproductive and vegetative) and phenological (timing of flowering) traits in genus Mertensia.  Today, I took the bus to Canadian Museum of Nature's Natural Heritage Campus in Gatineau and spent most of the day looking at herbarium specimens.

The collection room.

March Update

Sorry for not posting anything in March until the very last day.  Life is just too hectic at the moment.  I sometimes still bring my camera with me and take photos whenever opportunities arise, but it's hard to dedicate time solely just to go out searching for wildlife and taking photos.  Plus, the freezing temperature dampens my enthusiasm when I stay outside for too long and start to lose feelings in my face and hands.  The weather is getting warmer now though, so hopefully I will get back out photographing again in April.

Here are some of the photos I took this month.

March 3rd - walked along the canal on a nice but cold day (I think).

Final holiday update - Mudppy Night in Oxford Mills

One of the several reasons I came back to Peterborough this holiday season was to go to Mudpuppy Night (happening every Friday at 8 PM starting with the first Friday after Thanksgiving) with friends from Peterborough.  I don't remember exactly how I come across information about this event (probably from reading someone's blog post, such as this), but it is something I want to do for a while now. 

On Friday afternoon, we started our journey from Peterborough, and we couldn't had asked for a better weather with just a few degrees below zero.

View from the farm where we dropped Bronte off for the night.

We arrived at Kemptville Creek (near the intersection of Water and Bridge Streets) just around 8 PM and was greeted by the starry sky.  If you Google" mudpuppy" and "Oxford Mills", you'd be certain to come across a lot of information about Mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus), so I won't really go into it here (e.g., this and this).  But if I have describe this place in one word, I'd say it is special (or two words - very special).  There are a lot of places with similar conditions (shallow, rocky, clean, and relatively slow-flowing water), but to have tens of wild salamanders right in front of you, I doubt there is another place like it in Canada (or perhaps even North America).  Plus, Dr. Fred Scheuler is a very knowledge expert on Mudpuppies, so coming here, seeing the Mudpuppies in-person, and talking with Fred is the only reasonable way to learn about Mudpuppies.

[Photo series] Black dog in a white landscape

As mentioned before, I took care of my friend's pets during my time in Peterborough.  Since I took the dog (Bronte) out walking everyday and couldn't see anything (exciting) to photograph, I ended up taking a lot of photos of Bronte playing and just being a dog in the snow.  There were a lot of photos, so I compiled them all into this one post.

Sticks.  Bronte just love sticks.