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

Fauna/flora surveying at Gatineau Park (2015) - Part 3 & Sawmill Creek Wetland

On April 28th, I helped out at Gatineau Park for the last time this year.

Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

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!

One of the more fulfilling wildlife-watching days this year

It took me awhile to realize that today is a holiday and that the school semester had ended two days ago. It sure is easy to lose track of days when you focus on something 24/7.

Saw a male Goldfinch on my way to school.

First flowers and bees of the year!

On the way to school today, I stopped at the bird feeders to see if there were any birds around. Like the last time, there was nothing except flies.

New place to bird-watch at Trent

I just found a neat spot to relax just behind our DNA building. There's an abandoned barn, a garden, and a field with plenty of birds to see and photograph.


Unfortunately I didn't bring my telephoto lens today. So I will have to try to take bird photos next time. The top left photo was a Turkey Vulture flying over me, thinking I am dead or something. Nope, still alive.

Also, I signed up for owl banding on this (and the next) Monday but it was drizzling in the afternoon so it was cancelled. And now the weather forecast predicts good weather throughout the long weekend. Argh!

Animals from Trent's drumlin

Well, I have been busy with school. What more can I say?

Actually, I can talk about the alternating rainy-sunny days that have been going on this week. Or that I went to a M.Sc student thesis defense about her project on Chimney Swifts on Tuesday. Or that I led my first ever lab in Plant Ecology to a drumlin next to the campus to teach students how to conduct plant sampling.

Yesterday was pretty fun too, when the AAA club had a meeting and then some of us hiked up to the drumlin to look for birds. There wasn't many birds in the afternoon, but we did saw a few interesting animals.

Such as this handsome garter snake.

Fourth Annual Richmond Raptor Festival

Today was the 4th Richmond Raptor Festival. August is a great time to be back in B.C. - lots of sunshine and happening events.

Held at Terra Nova Community Garden

Quick post from Edmonton

Hello from Edmonton. I arrived at Edmonton about a hour ago and now waiting for another graduate student from Trent to arrive. We are planning to go to Elk Island National Park and then we will travel to Inuvik, NWT tomorrow morning.

Now, here are the photos from yesterday where I went to do a Grassland Bird Survey (GBS) with my supervisor's husband in the morning (woke up around 5:20am), then came back to their home and got ready to go to their cottage. Overall, it was a fulfilling but tiring day, considering I woke up early than usual and kayaked and canoed (not activities I do everyday).

In the morning.

Birding at Finn Slough - Bird of the day: TUVU

Another bike ride to Finn Slough to get the much-needed exercise/birding.

Along the way, I saw lots of Mew Gulls and other gulls circling around in the sky.

Many Golden-crowned Sparrow feeding.

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: