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| Fletcher Wildlife Garden | profile | all galleries >> Previous FWG blogs >> 2008 Blogs >> FWG blog: November 2008 | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
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Now is the time to look for bird nests at FWG, exposed as the leaves fall. This baltimore oriole nest was constructed in a Manitoba maple, unusually low for a species that typically suspends their nest from a higher vantage point. In this nest, you can see the strips of birch bark that the birds have woven into it.
Chipmunks sometimes use the cup nests of birds, such as this robin nest, to temporarily store seeds. And mice will sometimes renovate a bird's nest with lots of grass and plant fibres to create a cosy home for themselves.
In the last posting, I mentioned that we're finding more and more of the exotic Euonymus trees in our garden. One quite large one is in the Ravine, near the Interpretive Centre. These trees, native to E. Asia and the Himalayas, have spectacularly beautiful seed pods as these photos show. There are several species in the Arboretum, with differently coloured pods. Whether they will become invasive, is unclear at the moment.
Another photo of the seedpods.
Another tree popping up in different parts of the garden, the amur corktree, is also an exotic from the Himalayas, and it is considered by those in the know, to be a tree to watch as it has the potential to spread aggressively. Here is a photo of the fruit which is very visible at present. I have seen squirrels investigating this fruit, but am still not entirely how much it is used. Clearly, some critters eat them as the seeds are being dispersed around the garden.
For many years I've been keeping track of who eats what at the FWG. With the advent of digital cameras, it has been easier to document the various critters and their food source. This grey squirrel (black phase) is clearly enjoying the crabapples as much as the birds and chipmunks do. Notice the soft pink haze behind the squirrel? Those are the seedpods of an exotic Euonymus tree. Many species are grown in the adjacent Arboretum, and over the past few years, I've been finding more of them popping up at FWG. Another exotic appearing more frequently at the garden in recent years is the amur corktree. More about exotics in another posting!
Another rich source of food for many birds and animals is the Manitoba maple, a tree much hated by gardeners and naturalists. The former, because it grows quickly and seeds prolifically, and the latter because it is native to the prairie provinces, not here. However, it does help many animals survive the winter. This little chipmunk was very busily gathering seeds.
Many animals are themselves food for others, and the chipmunk in the previous photo may become prey to the crow in this photo. Crows are omnivores, eating whatever they can find, be it fruit, seeds, garbage or animals. One crow at the garden had recently caught a chipmunk and was being pursued by others for a share of the spoils. Crows are also carrion eaters, which is not a bad thing as they help clean up road-kill, and it also means that the animals that lost their lives, are at least helping another one survive.
There is nothing more remarkable than the great wildlife migrations of the world. Here in Ottawa, one of the most noticeable migrations is that of Canada geese. Today, the geese were pouring over the garden, wave after wave of them, stirring the air with their lonesome calls.
Although the FWG is a beautiful place and most of the blog images showcase that side of it, reality does intrude. The very things that make it a great place for wildlife to live, and for humans to walk and observe nature, are the same things that make it a lure for parties. That dense, flourishing vegetation, with places to hide away, is irresistible. It seems that Friday night there must have been a gathering in the Old Field, as flattened grass, cigarette ends, and this bag full of empty beer cans attests. At least there wasn't a fire!
Hasn't the weather been amazing lately?? This morning was particularly beautiful with mist shrouding the landscape, softening the hard edges, giving an air of mystery to the commonplace. I was rather sorry when it lifted. However, once the sun burned it away, the temperature rose and it was a really perfect day. It certainly made for some moody photos with that wonderful soft lighting as the sun broke through the mist. Naturally, it brought out lots of wildlife as well. There were even insects around, including about 6 grasshoppers, a greenbottle fly, a few yellowjackets, some flies that looked like they could be Tabanids, and a lovely hover fly which looks like it is probably either an Epistrophe sp. or a Syrphus sp. It was on a golden alexander in the new area of the Butterfly Meadow where about half a dozen of these plants are still in bloom. Just below the FWG in the Arboretum, was a clouded sulphur butterfly.
There was a good variety of birds: song sparrow (1), tree sparrow (1), dark-eyed junco (3). chickadee (16), black duck (1), Canada goose (2 on the pond), white-breasted nuthatch (1), American goldfinch (15), cardinal (3), house sparrow (3), robin (1), house finch (2), downy woodpecker (2), red-winged blackbird (3), and cedar waxwings (3+). Down in the Arboretum the Canal was full of birds. Canada geese and mallards as you'd expect, lots of ring-billed gulls, some great black-backed gulls, and 5 or 6 double-crested cormorants, including this banded 2nd year bird.
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