24-OCT-2014
Asian ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis)
Asian ladybeetles overwinter as adults, as anyone who finds them in their house at the onset of winter, will attest. They are an abundant species and right now can be readily found just about anywhere. Sometimes they are seen in large aggregations on the site of a favoured overwintering spot, other times just a few may be found together, huddled under a plant. Barry photographed this in the BYG.
20-OCT-2014
Monarda
One of the still-blooming flowers near the butterfly meadow.
20-OCT-2014
Grey squirrel, black phase
Sitting on a willow in the ravine,this squirrel was so busy eating his walnut that the cacophony of sound from crows around him (at least 40) didn't disturb him at all.
20-OCT-2014
Hermit thrush
Enjoying the mountain ash fruit along with the robins and house finches was this hermit thrush.
20-OCT-2014
House finch
Near the mountain ash are some crabapples that were attracting lots of birds too, including flocks of american goldfinches and several house finches. Robins flitted back and forth between the crabapples and the mountain ash.
Although it was cool today at +7 and cloudy, there was an amazing amount of birdsong and activity. Two hairy woodpeckers and a downy woodpecker working away on a manitoba maple snag, a big flock of starlings filling the air with their twittering, 20+ robins, the same number of goldfinches, smaller numbers of goldfinches, a hermit thrush, crows, geese flying overhead constantly, song sparrows, and juncos all over the place.
20-OCT-2014
The newly created Bill Cody Fern Garden
At the end of the Backyard Garden is a newly created garden dedicated to Bill Cody, a longtime Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club member and a fern expert.
20-OCT-2014
American Robin
The remaining mountain ash berries were attracting flocks of robins, house finches and a hermit thrush.
20-OCT-2014
Hairy woodpecker, male
On the manitoba maple snag were three woodpeckers, this male hairy, a female hairy woodpecker and a downy woodpecker.
20-OCT-2014
Downy woodpecker, female
An old manitoba maple snag was being well worked over by a pair of hairy woodpecker and this little downy woodpecker.
20-OCT-2014
A trail at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden
The last colours of autumn are shown in such shrubs as sumac with its vivid red foliage.
06-OCT-2014
Hover fly (Spilomyia longicornis)
This is one of my favourite hover flies, a large, very impressively wasp-like creature. Barry photographed this in the old woods on a day when, he said, there were a number of hover flies, as well as bees, around.
