30-OCT-2014
Chipmunk
In this photo by Barry, the 'cheeky chipmunk' has cheek pouches stuffed to bursting, as he ferries food to his den. Chipmunks are clever little animals, and in their winter den they maintain not only sleeping quarters, but a larder in which they store food to see them through the winter. This is because they are not true hibernators like groundhogs who sleep the winter away. Chipmunks awake periodically and head over to their larder to have a bite to eat.
30-OCT-2014
Red squirrel
The next photo shows a huge cache of food, and I am guessing that this squirrel, photographed by Barry, is looking a tad anxious, wondering if Barry might be about to nosh on his carefully stored food!
30-OCT-2014
Red squirrel cone cache
This is a familiar sight at FWG, in particular around the old woods and the wooded boundary of the old field. Red squirrels create huge caches of cones, of walnuts, and sometimes other bits of foraged food can be found amongst them. Usually, however, the caches are of a single food type. Each of our squirrel species stores food in a different way. The reds create these large caches, grey squirrels scatter hoard, and chipmunks stock their underground larder. Groundhogs don't store anything, they just beef up (like bears do) before hibernating for the winter.
30-OCT-2014
Downy woodpecker, male
These small woodpeckers become far more noticeable as winter approaches, attracted to the feeders at the garden.
30-OCT-2014
Tamaracks
Unusual for a conifer, tamaracks shed their needles in autumn, but before they do, they turn this gorgeous golden colour, which Barry caught in this photo of the row of tamaracks near the old woods.
30-OCT-2014
American robin
Robins are still present in large flocks, not only at the FWG and Arboretum, but throughout the area. Barry photographed this robin in the old woods. THere was a time when robins rarely overwintered here, but in the last decade or more, they have become an increasingly familiar sight all winter long, often in flocks, very occasionally alone.
30-OCT-2014
White-breasted nuthatch
Barry, who photographed this nuthatch, said it made many forays from the feeder in the Backyard Garden to this shrub. Nuthatches often store seeds, as well as flying off to crack them open away from the feeder.
30-OCT-2014
Cardinal, male
We are lucky that cardinals have adapted to our climate and are now a familar sight around Ottawa. Their vivid colour is particularly welcome during the long winter months.
24-OCT-2014
Western conifer seed bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)
This is a quite large member of the Leaf-footed bug family (Coreidae), although not nearly as big as the truly gigantic (for a Coreidae) Acanthocephala, which we haven't recorded yet from FWG I think. That must be an oversight, for they are very common. This Coreidae, in Barry's photo, has a rather confusing common name, making one think they are in the seed bug family. And yet, the name is also apt, for they do feed on seeds and 'seedy' fruit. The western conifer seed bug is most often found in late summer through autumn, and often on the sides of buildings as they soak up the sun's rays, or look for a crevice in which to spend the winter.
27-OCT-2014
Autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum)
Autumn meadowhawks are another insect that can be found until quite late in the season. November reports for this species are not uncommon. This was photographed by Barry on the 'insect hotel' south of the old woods.
24-OCT-2014
Split gill mushrooms (Schizophyllum commune)
These small mushrooms shrivel up to a hard little kernel on dead trees, but after some rain they rehydrate and a close inspection reveals a very attractive colour and pattern. To see what they look like when plumped up by rain:
http://www.pbase.com/fwg/image/158018062
24-OCT-2014
Blue-green stropharia (Stropharia aeruginosa)
These are one of the prettiest mushrooms around, I think. We see them in small numbers at FWG, but not every year. Barry found this one recently and got a good photo of it, showing its size, shape and pale colouration.
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.
06-OCT-2014
Virginia ctenucha caterpillar (Ctenucha virginica)
Barry photographed this ctenucha caterpillar at the garden recently. This species, along with the much more familiar woolly bear caterpillar, can be seen until quite late in the year. It can also be found in early spring, often when there is still snow on the ground.
06-OCT-2014
Bumble bee on knapweed
THe non-native and somewhat invasive (but not yet so at FWG) knapweed, blooms late and offers sustenance to many insects such as this busy bumble bee.
06-OCT-2014
Hover fly, probaby Syrphus sp.
Late summer is a good time to see a wide variety of hover flies (Syrphidae). Barry, who photographed this one, commented that he saw quite a few in the old woods in early October on a sunny day. Others have reported seeing many hover flies in their garden, and I too have found large numbers on any flowering plant, when the day is sunny and the temperature mild.