Salamandering!

After arriving back at Peterborough yesterday afternoon, I went grocery shopping and headed home for a quick dinner.  Because shortly afterwards, I went to look for salamanders with some friends!  Since we had no luck last time looking for salamanders in Burlington, we decided to stay close to Peterborough and checked out a couple of hotspots.  The weather condition was quite perfect - warm and rainy!  Miserable for most people, but seeing the salamanders definitely made it worthwhile.

We did not see anything in the first two locations that we checked, but our third location was a success!  Many Yellow-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) and Blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) were found crossing the road, along with Spring peppers (Pseudacris crucifer), Leopard Frogs, and many worms!

As we drove down the road, we did our best to move all of the salamanders and frogs across the road to the direction they were headed to.  Sadly, we also saw a lot of dead salamanders and frogs and worms on the road from being ran over by cars.

Both Yellow-spotted and Blue-spotted Salamanders belong in the family Ambystomitidae (Mole salamanders) and members of this family are stout-bodied with short and rounded heads.

Yellow-spotted Salamanders is a relatively large Ambystoma (15 to 25 cm long) and is found in southern Canada and eastern US.  There is quite a variation in its breeding timing depending on the populations' location.  Populations in southern regions may breed as early as December, while northern regions may not breed until April.  Breeding in northern populations is highly synchronized and restricted to major breeding bouts following periods of rain.

Visiting Ottawa for the second time

During my first time in Ottawa, I was here with my (now deceased) labmate learning how to identify bees and flower flies.  Along the way to Ottawa, I could not help but feel very sad about my labmate and the things we talked about and saw during last year's trip.  Nonetheless, I think me being here in Ottawa will definitely help in terms of moving on and appreciating life even more.

Waiting for the city bus in Peterborough to catch the Greyhound bus to Ottawa.  It takes about four hours from Peterborough to Ottawa.  I think this is a maple tree, and the flowers are showing signs of blossoming now.

Strange nature formations

On Thursday (April 4), we set up stations for tomorrow's lab where students were assigned stations along the Otonabee River and recorded the abundance and diversity of waterfowls on the river, as well as other environmental variables, including water flow, location of waterfowl on the river, and habitat type of the embankment.

We saw some interesting things, such as:

Ice bells?

Lichen growing on a slanted wood surface.

Today, I came to school and checked on our maple sap collection.  Because it was cold last night and warm this morning, all of our buckets were overflowing with sap!  How wonderful!  Unfortunately, we didn't have the big buckets readily available, so I couldn't do anything except wait for the others to collect tomorrow.  I also saw my first flower of 2013.  Hints of spring are starting appear!

I am currently in discussion with a potential PhD supervisor in the University of Ottawa, and tomorrow I will finally meet her in person, as well as meet other professors in the department, and tour the university and city.  Super excited about it!

Slow Down

Reading two different blog posts with the same title must be a sign for something, I believe, especially when they are titled "Slow Down" (posts 1 and 2).  I definitely need to slow my life down a bit and not get overwhelmed with all of the things I have to do and complete.

I am still taking photos, but just can't find the time to upload them onto my computer or blog about them.  Until now, that is.

2013.03.23 - walking to school on a Saturday.  The snow is mostly gone now.

Ivvavik National Park - Views from Above

Some more photos from Ivvavik National Park from a high vantage point.

Quick photographic post from the past week

Life lately has been quite hectic with little time for other activities, such as blogging or photography, because the "official" deadline for thesis submission happened last Friday.  On top of that, I have teaching, marking assignments, doing my tax forms, writing abstracts for presentations/conferences, planning to meeting potential PhD supervisors, reading papers, and writing/editing my thesis.  Therefore, little time for anything else, I am afraid.

I still managed to take some photos here and there though.

Saw this hawk out in the backyard last Saturday.  I think it is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which I have seen around the neighbourhood before.

Ecology lab - week 2

This gorgeous morning was the second section of the ecology lab.  We saw two more interesting trees that I thought was worth photographing.

Blue-Beech (Carpinus caroliniana) - the current existing trees on the drumlin are fairly small, the largest a student measured was 28 cm in circumference.  Some people call them "muscle trees" because of the muscle-like ridges on the trunks.  Even though it's call Blue-Beech, it is actually in the Birch family while the American Beech is a true beech belonging in the Beech family.  Confusing, I know.

Wild birds and captive mammals at the Peterborough Zoo

I unintentionally walked all the way to school today because I kept missing the buses at the stops that I want to get on.  Plus, I detoured a bit and went to the Peterborough Riverview Zoo to photograph the animals.

A Mourning Dove, one of the two "wild" animals that I photographed today.  I have heard many cardinals singing nowadays.  Must be getting closer to Spring.

Walks to school - ice, Mallards, and chickadee

Here are some photos taken yesterday and today while heading to my office at school.

Macro photo of ice formation.

The lack of wildlife seen on my walks to school is quite a let-down.  Seeing anything, even this pair of Mallards, uplifted my spirit immediately.

Ecology Lab - identifying trees

The invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has been making its northward invasion into eastern Canada since 2002.  It affects many tree species, including the ashes (Fraxinus spp.) and the American Beech (Fagus grandifolia).  The latest Advanced Ecology lab asks the students to identify the trees on the South Drumlin at Trent University, and then predict what surrounding tree species will replace the ash and beech trees if EAB arrive at the site and the trees are killed by EAB.

Since it's winter, identifying trees is mainly done based on its bark and buds, and not so much on its leaves.

Beech (Fagus grandifolia) - bark is thin, smooth, and people usually like to carve their names on it.