Seen in the Sanctuary

I got a chance to take the camera and go for a walk this afternoon. Here's a little of what's happening on the Dr George Trail in early August:

The chickadees were all very busy. They always seem to be.

Looks like this little guy is getting ready to cocoon.

I seem to take a lot of photos of duck bottoms...

There's lots of nectaring on the goldenrod right now.

That's a meadowhawk. Appropriately, in the meadow.

It's definitely prime saskatoon season.

Can you spot the face made by these woodpecker holes?

The Sanctuary was a very busy place today, both with the resident animals and all the people that came to visit. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me out there, folks. And remember, if you see one of our staffers out on the trails please don't hesitate to say hi. You never know what we might be able to tell you about recent happenings!

About this time every year...

We're into the part of August where the grasshoppers leap out at you as you walk the Dr George Trail, the Purple Asters and Goldenrods are showing off their colours... and people phone us concerned that there's something wrong with the trees because they're turning yellow.

Sorry, everyone, but it's that time of year again.

Here in Alberta we have a number of trees and shrubs that start turning colour fairly early, but probably the most noticeable is the Balsam Poplar. It can start turning in mid-July, and since it's one of the main tree species in the park it's hard not to see the yellow leaves peeking out everywhere.

Hard to believe, but it happens this early every year. It's not a signal of illness or pesticide use; it's just the tree's natural cycle. It's hard for a lot of us (including me) to process the fact that a tree could be getting ready for fall when there's usually still a fair amount of summer, and I think that's why people become concerned when they see the yellow leaves. It is normal, though, even if it's a tiny bit depressing.

On a happier note, here are a few of the things I saw on my walk around the 1 km today:

Grasshopper on the path

Goldenrod peeking through the shrubs. And my shadow...

The Red Squirrels have been leaving lots of piles of peeled cones.

A Mosaic Darner

Mystery feathers all over the bird blind. I wonder if something got eaten.

Bottom's up!

Spring things

After noticing that one of our bats has made it back to his roost on the building (I blogged a photo of the roost last year, so check this post if you'd like to see it), I thought I'd take a quick walk out to the bird blind to see what other spring returnees we have on the West Lake.

Oddly enough, I barely had to get out the back door to see my first lake dweller. The Red-winged Blackbirds are back, and they'll often come over to the feeders to stock up on quick energy. Something to watch for.

Out on the lake itself, it's very obvious from the "complaining" that the Coots are back. There are also Canada Geese, a whole bunch of ducks (a little too far down the lake for me to have much of a go at identifying anything but the Mallards), and Red-necked Grebes.

Elsewhere, you're sure to hear the Black-capped Chickadees' "cheeseburger" calls as they set territory, and I think that I may have heard my first Tree Swallow of the season. Don't quote me on that one, though. I really look forward to the Tree Swallows' return, so it's pretty easy for me to wish myself into hearing it.

As far as plants go, my sinuses can tell you that Poplar pollen season is in full swing. On a more pleasant (for me, at any rate) note, I haven't noticed the Early Blue Violets blooming on the sides of the Sanctuary paths yet, but I have seen them in other places.

Spring's trying hard to happen, if you look for it. What's your personal favourite sign of spring in nature? Leave us a comment here, or tweet it with #reddeerspring. And if you're not already following us on Twitter, look for more of our spring sightings @NatureCentre.

Peeking over

Jim shot this photo of the sunflowers at Fort Normandeau peeping over the palisade. Anyone who's visited the Fort and has seen how tall the palisade is can tell you that the sunflowers were a pretty impressive size this year.

The Fort Normandeau grounds close for the season in October, but we look forward to your visits in May 2012. In the meantime, there's always plenty to see and do here at the Nature Centre. Give us a call at 403-346-2010 for information on our upcoming events for fall and winter.

A quick note about Sunday's edible plant walk

For anyone wondering, my edible plant walk on Sunday, July 24th will be going ahead as planned. As of today the weather forecast for Sunday looks good, so we should have a decent day for walking.

Here comes the "however", though:

However, the recent rains we've had have flooded out a few parts of the trails we'll be using. It's not impassible, but if you're planning to come down I'd recommend wearing suitable shoes for wading.

The walk goes at 2 pm down here at the Nature Centre. Admission is by suggested donation of $3/person or $10/family.

I hope to see you there!

Seen in the Sanctuary

Ducks on West Gaetz Lake

Asters along the Dr George Trail

Mating Damselflies

... and lots of mosquitoes. Please remember to bring insect repellent if you're planning to go for a walk!

In the Wildflower Garden

Visitors to the Nature Centre may have noticed a small green space next to the staff parking lot driveway. This is our wildflower garden, and the members of the Red Deer & District Garden Club put a lot of effort into planning and maintaining it.

The garden is home to many native and wild species of flowering plants, and the colours and scents you find there are constantly changing throughout the growing season. We encourage our visitors to follow the short gravel path through the garden to have a closer look at the flowers and the activity they create. As I noticed today, the garden is a very popular place with many important insect pollinators, a few of which you'll see in the photos below.

These are just a sampling of what's currently flowering in the garden. Why not come down to the Centre and check out the garden for yourself?

As always, click on the photos to see larger versions:

 Columbine

 Fleabane and Harebell

Gaillardia

Goldenrod and Police Car Moth

Monarda (Bergamot) and bee

Prickly Pear Cactus (not technically in the wildflower garden -- closer to the building -- but definitely worth a look when they're in flower)

Sunflower

Yarrow

Seen in the Sanctuary

These High Bush-Cranberry (Viburnum opulus) fruits beside the Wishart Trail show that summer really is winding down. If you're out on the Sanctuary trails in the next while and notice a distinct old-sweatsock smell, those are the ripening fruits of the related Low Bush-Cranberry (Viburnum edule).

Seen in the Sanctuary

Tussock Moth caterpillar on Silverberry. I haven't had a chance to look up an ID yet, but I'm thinking that it might be Orgyia sp. Feel free to leave a comment if you can help me narrow this one down.

Seen in the Sanctuary

A bee harvests nectar from the Shrubby Cinquefoil outside the Nature Centre's back door.

Those little blue butterflies

This time of year we often have people asking us about the little blue butterflies they see nectaring at the milk vetch in the Sanctuary. The good news for a non-specialist like me is that I can honestly tell you that they are Blues.

Blues are members of the subfamily Polyommatinae, which consists of... well, little blue butterflies.


The bad news for a non-specialist like me is that are several different species of little blue butterflies found in our area.


However, based on the time of year, the pattern of spots I see on the ventral (under) side of the wings, and a cruise through my Alberta Butterflies book I'm going to tentatively hazard a guess that these particular little blue butterflies are Silvery Blues (Glaucopsyche lygdamus). This particular Blue was a male. Female Blues are generally much less blue.

If any of you true butterfly people out there can correct my identification, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below.


On the non-butterfly side of things, I noticed that our Bladderworts are in full flower. Excuse the poor photo -- they were sort of hard to get to.

Bladderworts are interesting aquatic plants that float just below the surface most of the time, but hold their flowers up out of the water. They float with the help of little bladders (that's the origin of the unusual name of the plant) which also function as traps for small aquatic invertebrates. Yes, these lovely yellow flowers belong to a carnivore.

The joys of yarrow

I'd like to thank everyone who came out for my edible plant walk this afternoon, even after the sudden change of venue (Fort Normandeau was going to be a busy place so we moved the walk to the Nature Centre).

For those interested in edible plants (or those who would like to know what the post title above means), I have one more scheduled walk coming up in August. This one will be at Fort Normandeau -- really -- on Wednesday, August 6th, at 6:00 pm.

Give us a call at the Nature Centre (403-346-2010) to pre-register.

Seen in the Sanctuary

Thin-legged Wolf Spider carrying egg sac

Fleabane flowering beside the Dr George Trail

Flowering things

If you head toward the back door (staff parking lot end of the building) of the Nature Centre in the next little while, you're in for a treat. Our Prickly Pear Cactus garden is beginning to flower, and it's a real show.

After you've admired the cactus be sure to check out what other things are flowering in the Wildflower Garden. When I looked today the Columbines in particular were showing off nicely.

Out on the trails there are many other things flowering, but sometimes you have to look a little more closely to find them. I noticed these Twinflowers blooming beside the Wishart Trail today. They're a personal favourite of mine, partly because it takes a bit of work to find them, and partly because (according to science folklore, anyway) Twinflower is the only plant that Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, chose to name after himself. There's something kind of neat about the man who was naming everything deciding on such a tiny but beautiful flower for his own.

Here's a look at the underside of the bell-shaped flowers, with my fingers giving a sense of scale. If you want to find Twinflowers the next time you're out for a walk, look for a creeping, oval-leaved plant that likes to grow along the edges of the path in moist coniferous or mixed-wood forest.

Seen in the Sanctuary:

Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) flowers

Male and female Ruddy Ducks on the West Gaetz Lake

Our "abandoned" river channel looking not-quite abandoned

Seen in the Sanctuary:

Chokecherries and turning leaves

Seen in the Sanctuary

The beavers are still busy taking down trees right next to the Dr. George Trail, as you can see.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Western Wood Lily just off the trail the other day. I don't get a chance to see these beautiful flowers in the Sanctuary very often.

Prickly Wild Rose

If you manage to get on the trail sometime in between rainstorms, you might still be able to see some of the wild roses blooming.

Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) is Alberta's provincial flower and was chosen by the schoolchildren of the province back in 1930.

Our other provincial symbols include:

• Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia)
• Rough Fescue (Festuca scabrella)
• Petrified Wood
• Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis)
• Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus)
• and the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

Yellow Lady's-Slippers

While the recent weather may not agree with all of us, it definitely agrees with the orchids in the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary. I took this photo a couple of days ago in the grassland on the Dr. George Trail.


Remember, it's important not to pick this or any other wildflower you see in the Sanctuary. If nothing else, by leaving them alone you're giving other visitors a chance to enjoy them.

Frozen pay offs

Well I got a little lost in Fox Lake so my one hour walk turned into a four hour walk! Although frozen, I got to seem some really neat things... One of them was snow prints! Given the pairs of tracks, their size, and how far north we are, I am guessing it is the tracks of the least or short-tailed weasel - that's my best guess anyways. Sometimes snow can make identification hard because you can't see individual tracks very well. Then I saw a pine grosbeak, you could really see the red when it flew away and such a pretty song. Then I saw the most bizarre thing.. pink/red aspen trees. It looked like a big shaker from the sky had poured red powder on the trees. At closer inspection it was red flecks all over the bark but didn't stick out or anything, really flat lichen, maybe?? I'm really not sure. And it was just the one block of trees. It reminded me of the pink bellies of fish... interesting.. the rest of the aspen trees here as I mentioned before look really white so the red really stands out. Another interesting thing I saw was a fence I saw (there aren't very many of them around here, but this one outlines the airfield and the posts were made of aspen trees, makes sense seeming there are so many aspen trees, just interesting instead of seeing smooth wood posts, seeing chunks of tree with wire in between.. I almost wondered if they were actually rooted trees just cut off at such and such a height.