25-NOV-2016
Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
Gnawing on a black walnut. Walnut trees flourish at the garden, almost all of them planted by squirrels, mostly the grey squirrels who bury the nuts, forget where all of them are, and pretty soon, another walnut tree emerges. Given that the squirrels planted all but a couple of walnut trees, they could really be considered the owners of these trees!
25-NOV-2016
Mountain ash fruit (Sorbus)
More fruit still hanging on. Sometimes these mountain ash berries are eaten quickly by birds, other times, they remain on the trees for some time, occasionally even rotting there, ignored by birds.
25-NOV-2016
crabapple fruit (Malus)
Many crabapples in both the FWG and the Arboretum next door, have a lot of fruit left. Once the colder weather comes, much of this will vanish as squirrels and birds feed on the apples. But not all crabapples are eaten, some varieties have been bred to be unappealing to birds so that the fruit will stay on all winter.
25-NOV-2016
Fungus (Schizophyllum commune)
A small mushroom that can be especially attractive when it is fresh, or when it has been revived by moisture. This one was on a buckthorn, as are so many of the Schizophyllum I see.
25-NOV-2016
Amphibian pond
Surrounded by snow, a thin layer of mushy ice on the surface, the pond looks ready for winter. Hopefully, once spring comes, some vegetation will begin growing around the edges, both in and out of the water, to provide shelter and nesting sites. At present, it is not very attractive to wildlife.
25-NOV-2016
American robin
This was actually photographed in the Arboretum, just below the Fletcher Wildlife garden. There must have been about 25 robins, mostly in the small stream pecking away at things in the water. Nearby was a flock of cedar waxwings and a larger flock of starlings, also converging on this small stream.
21 November 2016
Red-tailed Hawk
Gordon photographed this Red-tailed Hawk near the red barn on 21 November. Earlier, he watched it fly through the FWG "accompanied by about 200 Crows that were flying in and around the forest by the barn."
15 November 2016
Tiny caterpillar
The other day, I was going to remove the plastic wraps from a couple of trees that no longer needed them, but stopped when I was reminded that some of our resident creatures use these for shelter. This little caterpillar - one a bit more than 1 cm long - was "sleeping" on the trunk of a small ash tree, under the wrap.
15 November 2016
Spider "nest" - we think
This fluffy pink mass was attached to the inside of another tree wrap - likely a spider's egg sac.
19 November 2016
Jelly fungus
This common orange jelly fungus (likely Dacrymyces sp.) recently appeared on a downed tree trunk in our Old Woodlot.
09-NOV-2016
House finch, pair
Enjoying the seeds at the Backyard Garden feeder. Both this feeder, and the other one by the Old Woods, are busy now, and attracting a fairly steady stream of birds. On the day I was there, mostly chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches and as here, house finches.