Job Re-post

I'm re-posting the Nature Nursery Assistant job. Let's go people, we need this one filled quickly.

It's a 30 hour/week job, working with kids in an indoor/outdoor, nautre-based setting. All you need is a love of children, an appreciation for nature and an ECD Level I certification issued by the Alberta Government Children and Family Services division.

If you have any questions, please email me at programs@waskasoopark.ca you can send your resumes to executive@waskasoopark.ca

Todd

New Stuff on the Blog a Holiday Entertaining Idea and Some Inspiration

The blog has seen a lot of activity this week. Make sure you scroll down in order to keep up with the comings and goings, thoughts and ramblings of the staff.

New to the sidebar (look to the right of the screen) is a link to the World Clock. The default setting for the world clock is "Year" and the scrolling numbers represent accumulations over the past twelve months. If you click the "Now" button at the top, most values will reset to zero. It's a pretty interesting look at the state of the population and the rate at which we produce and consume.

If you are planning your holiday party this year, keep in mind the impact of your dishes and cutlery. Most of us do not own enough plates, glasses, cutlery etc... to stage a house party. Your options for putting your hands on more stuff are kind of limited. Obviously we'd prefer that you not buy foam plates, plastic cups and plastic cutlery. These are single use items that are not recyclable nor are they biodegradable. Foam and plastic will simply sit in a landfill for hundreds of years. Your best option would probably be to rent from somewhere like Parkland Party and Equipment Rentals. Sure, there is an energy cost to washing and sterilizing the dishes after each rental. However, there are no new materials being consumed to produce new items and there is no waste heading to the landfill. It's a trade-off but it's probably the best option in the end. If you must buy disposable, head on over to the Waste Reduction Store. They have disposable biodegradable cutlery, plates and glasses. Their containers are made from potato, corn and sugar cane by-products. They breakdown quickly in a landfill, release no harmful chemicals into the air or ground water and consume very few resources in terms of new, raw materials. We use them here at the Nature Centre for large events and public gatherings.

And finally - for today at least - get inspired to take some local action to help your planet. Here is Al Gore's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Now that winter's here...

...we can ring in the New Year! We have some great events coming up in January here at the Nature Centre!

Join us New Year's day for some family winter fun. From noon til 5 p.m., enjoy a barbeque and winter activities. Call 346-2010 for more details.

Get your mountain culture fix with the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, in Red Deer on January 10 & 11. There are still some tickets available: call 346-2010 or pop in to Valhalla Pure Outfitters, our co-presenter for this event, to reserve yours today!

On January 12 & 13, come to the Red Deer Rock and Gem Show, co-presented with the Red Deer Rock and Gem Society (a great bunch of guys who know practically everything about rocks). This year, we're showcasing Jobs that Rock, a.k.a. jobs that have something to do with rocks or the Earth. Lots of fun activities are planned, so come have a look!

Then, on January 26, we're hosting another Eco-Session, this time on Freecycling and Community Gardening. (In case you're wondering, freecycling is a grassroots movement of people trading their unwanted goods through a web-based group, and community gardening is just that, a garden worked by the community.) This one will be admission by donation, so come on out and support the Nature Centre while you learn more ways you can help the planet.

And that's not all! Public planetariums, singles' night, kid's sessions....winter doesn't slow us down. Remember to call the Nature Centre for more information about our winter schedule, then come out and have some frosty fun!

To the Top of the Wall

Now don't go dashing away just yet. The snow is falling, the temperature is getting downright cold, the lakes and rivers are freezing over and the car-accident rates are going up. It must be getting to be winter in Central Alberta.

Winter in the Sanctuary means getting out on snowshoes and listening to the Red Squirrels cuss you out for daring to be under their tree. Winter in the Sanctuary means tracking the local deer and coyotes through the grass by following their footprints. Winter in the Sanctuary means watching the pre-schoolers lying on their backs in the snow trying to catch the falling flakes; wishing that you had the time to join them.

It's a time to watch the Black-capped Chickadees lose their minds and try to breed every time the temperature rises a few degrees. Chickadees are nothing if not entertaining. It's also the time of year I catch myself staring wistfully out my office window, knowing that it will be dark when I leave work. This winter, I'll be sharing that view with the newly-arrived, previously-mentioned Daring Jumping Spider who has taken up residence on my desk. I'm betting that she is less wistful about the view than I am.

Enjoy the winter folks. It looks like we've set in for a cold one.

Spider sightings

We don't get to see a lot of spiders at the Nature Centre this time of year, since our native species have either laid eggs and died or found places to hide from winter by now. Today, though, we've had a visit from a Jumping Spider who seems to have hitched a ride up to Red Deer from California via some grapes.

After searching the internet, we think we may have identified the hitchhiker. Not too shabby, considering that there's not an arachnologist among us. It looks to be a member of the Phidippus genus; most likely Phidippus aurax, which is commonly known as the Daring (or Bold) Jumping Spider. The spider is widespread through North America and can often be identified by the three white spots on its abdomen. That stumped us for a little while since our spider very definitely has orange spots rather than white ones, but this photo on bugguide.net turned out to be a near-perfect match.

They say you learn something every day, and today I learned that the Daring Jumping Spider has a few colour variations.

I took some photos of our latest office pet (yep, we're going to try to keep her), but since they were taken through a bug box they're not terribly clear. If you look closely at the last one, though, you can see a hint of her iridescent green jaws (chelicerae).




These spiders will bite if provoked, but like most spiders in our area the bite doesn't usually cause anything worse than a bump or slight rash. A small price to pay for something that helps keep the garden pest population at bay.

A New Tree To Me

Hello to all... living now in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, I found a new tree to learn about. In the Gaetz Lake Sanctuary, there are a lot of white spruce, balsam poplar and aspen poplar trees. I took a walk through the Alcott Creek Demonstration Forest here, and while they have many spruce and aspen (not so much balsam), there were also many jack pine trees. In the picture, the jack pine are all the yellowish green trees, and the tall spruce are in the back, and if you look carefully there are some naked aspen trees. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago.. if I took it now, it would look much more white. Yes, we do have snow here, hope Red Deer gets some soon, I'm really enjoying it up here. Anyways, back to the jack pine tree, I'm rather new to it, so if anyone has some stories or facts about it, feel free to post a comment or two :)

Not one but TWO!

This morning I was pulling into the parking lot and out of the corner of my eye happened to spot something in a tree. As I pulled in to park I looked up the tree to see what was there, low and behold there were 2 porcupines. 2 porcupines hanging out in a tree in the island in the parking lot. There is also a fair amount of porcupine droppings on the ground around the tree, so watch your step if you're walking on the paved path across the island. Sadly I left my camera at home today.
Keep your eyes open I'm sure we'll see more as the winter wears on.

Seen in the Sanctuary

Snow-covered squirrel midden on the Dr. George Trail

Track tales

I was out on the Dr. George trail this morning taking some photos of the weekend snow (that in itself seems an odd thing to do. We'll no doubt have enough snow in the coming months that I won't even want to look at it, let alone take its picture) and I found myself doing an informal survey of our local trail-users on the way.

You've probably guessed from the above photo (click the photo for a closer view) that I don't mean the human trail-users.

Many of the animals in the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary make heavy use of the trails when the human visitors aren't around. It's not too surprising. Animals are as likely as humans to want to use the easiest means to get from place to place, and when there's a choice between crashing through the forest or using a pre-made path the path will often win.

Normally we don't even notice our animal trail-users because they tend to be crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk) or nocturnal. After a snowfall, though, the night's activities can leave very clear marks for anyone willing to look down and investigate as they walk.

In case you were wondering about today's findings, I noticed quite a number of deer tracks, one moose trail, one coyote, several squirrels, some mice or voles, and the occasional magpie. Not a bad tally for fifteen minutes of walking.

If you're interested in more information about who's leaving what footprint in the snow, ask us about the tracking resources available in the Kerry Wood Reading Room or check out the bookstore's stock of tracking field guides.

Those little moths

By now you've probably noticed the dozens of small, fairly drab moths clinging to buildings around town in the morning. A little bit of internet searching has me thinking that they're probably Bruce Spanworm (Operophtera bruceata) moths, and believe it or not it's normal for them to be showing up this time of year.

All of the flying Bruce Spanworm moths you see are males, as the females lack developed wings. In October (through to early November, depending on the weather), the males seek out the flightless females which then lay eggs in places like bark crevasses. These eggs overwinter and hatch out in the spring.

The larvae (known as spanworms or inchworms), like all caterpillars, can do some damage to tree leaves but usually don't cause permanent harm to the trees themselves.

As always, click on the photo for a larger version.

Looking out our back door

Technically I suppose it's more of a side door, but I don't think anyone's written any songs about side doors.

This male Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) was using the suet feeder at the bookstore door this morning, and I did my best to take a few photos of it through the window.

We usually get woodpeckers (including the Hairy, Downy, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, and the occasional Pileated) coming to the suet feeder throughout the year, but when the weather starts getting colder they become more frequent visitors.

There are many different commercial suet feeders available in stores, but making your own can be as simple as drilling a few large-bore holes into a length of wood and filling the holes with a homemade suet mix. Recipes for suet mixes can be found online or in books like NatureScape Alberta (available at the Nature Centre). Bob also has some suet recipes on hand, and he'd be happy to tell you what's been working best in our feeder if you drop by the bookstore.

Seen in the Sanctuary:

Chokecherries and turning leaves

Yesterday, it was a beautiful 29 degrees (Celsius) here in Red Deer. The sun was shining, the geese were honking, and me, being the plan-ahead person that I am, was wearing a sweater. (I thought cotton would breathe a little...). Last night, as I wrapped up my day in the same sweater that I started out in, it occurred to me that this occasion called for a blog entry. So here it is:

DON'T BE SILLY LIKE ME AND WEAR A SWEATER (even a thin one) ON A 29 DEGREE DAY!

Actually, the point of this entry is to remind you that we are having very nice fall weather...get out and enjoy it while you can! The geese are flocking, the leaves are turning, the sky is that gorgeous blue (well, not today), and that wonderful, crisp smell is in the air. Get out and enjoy fall for what it is, before the snow comes and we get locked in our houses by 40 below.

(Did I mention you should get out and enjoy the weather?)

And watch out for garter snakes...they're going to be heading to a hibernaculum soon.
Happy trails!

Hello Hello

Hi,
I'm Katherine Blakely and I am the newest interpreter here at the Nature Centre. However since there is already a Kathryn on staff you can call me Kat (though I will respond to my full name as well).

I'm excited to be here and look forward to the crazy Kerry Wood adventures ahead of me.

Paddling, Portaging & Pageantry

This book by author Doreen Guilloux is available at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre Bookstore. It centers on the 1967 Centennial Canoe Pageant-a 3283 mile canoe trip from Rocky Mountain House to Montreal.On Sunday, September 16 at 2:00pm The KWNC bookstore will be hosting Doreen who will make a presentation about the 1967 canoe trip and do a book signing.For more details call Bob at KWNC 346 2010.

YUM

What happens when one hungry dragonfly meets a smaller dragonfly? Call it a very active buffet. Yum.

This scene played itself out in the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary on July 25. I'd never really thought of dragonflies as being cannibalistic before. I've seen video of them catching smaller insects but this was a first for me.

The annual spider link

Yep, judging from the number of search engine hits the blog is getting and the number of questions we're hearing from the public, it's time to talk about Jewel Spiders again.

Jewel spiders are large, harmless orb weavers. Most people ask about them simply because they didn't realise that Red Deer is home to any large spiders.

Rather than repeat already-blogged information I'll direct you to this post from 2005: Natural Selections: 'Tis the season.

If you have any further questions (or any other neat spiders to report) don't hesitate to call us at the Nature Centre (403.346.2010).

Seen in the Sanctuary:

Our muskrats are still very active on the West Lake. Today I noticed a lot of busyness over towards the viewing deck, so I made sure to watch where the harvested cattails were being taken to. Funnily enough, they were being taken right under the deck itself.

Since the water level is still fairly high, at least one family of muskrats has decided to den in the bank under the deck. You can see the den if you stand on the open deck and look back toward the trail-end.

The second photo isn't a great shot, but it was snapped near the den. This guy was taking advantage of a fairly quiet day in the Sanctuary to have a snack right beside the deck.

A visitor

I meant to post this spider photo a couple of weeks ago, but it got put aside until... well, now. I'd been moving chairs in the theatre when I came to one that looked like it had a fair-sized piece of black lint on it. It was quite a surprise when the black lint moved.

I've never seen a jumping spider this big in Alberta. If anyone knows the species or even just the genus name of this lovely not-so-little girl, please give us a call at the nature centre.

If it looks like she was staring at the camera, that's because she was. Jumping spiders have the keenest eyesight of any of the spider groups, and she was definitely keeping an eye on what I was doing.

The green fabric in the background is chair upholstery, if that helps give a sense of scale.

Seen in the Sanctuary:

A flip through Alberta Butterflies has me thinking that the slightly beaten-up looking butterfly that I watched nectaring on goldenrod this afternoon is a Northern Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes cocyta). I freely admit to being no expert when it comes to butterflies, though, so if this is a wrong identification please let me know.

As always, click on the photo to see a larger version.