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:

White Admiral butterfly on Western Snowberry

Dragonfly. I'm thinking maybe a Four-Spotted Skimmer, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The things you see on the trail

I was going to crop these before posting them, but then I figured that we may as well go with hot-off-the-camera. If you happen to be walking on the Wishart Trail and notice a cross-path with very obvious drag marks (it's more or less midway between the south viewing deck and the bridge), make sure you listen for noises in the brush. Our resident beavers apparently aren't too shy about working during the day. Click on the photos to enlarge them:

Seen in the Sanctuary

Thin-legged Wolf Spider carrying egg sac

Fleabane flowering beside the Dr George Trail

Moth. Sort of.

I was taking a stroll on the Dr George Trail this morning when I noticed this moth. It was fairly nondescript as moths go, but what caught my eye was that it wasn't moving. Now, I realise that for most people a non-moving moth would be nothing to write home about, but for me it usually means one thing: look for the spider.

Sure enough, the moth wasn't moving because it was in the process of being breakfast. Here's a cropped version of the above photograph. See if you can find the small, white ball on the top right side of the moth:

The white ball is the abdomen of the spider that's eating the moth. I'm not sure what species of spider this is (it was pretty tiny) but I'm assuming that it's a member of the Crab Spider family (Thomisidae). These spiders are ambush hunters rather than web builders. They hide in amongst flowers or leaves and wait for their prey to come to them. Crab spiders are often fairly well camouflaged since they have to be more or less invisible to the prey that they're hunting.

So how do you find crab spiders, then?

You look for the moth (or bee, or wasp, or fly...) that's not moving.

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:

Mating Damselflies

Wood Frog hiding among fallen poplar leaves

Click on either photo to enlarge it.

Update to bird sightings

Over the last few days, these following species have been seen:

• Ruddy ducks
• Coots
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Western Wood-Pewee
• Vesper Sparrow
• Common Grackle - heard
• Red-necked Grebes and American Coots on nests
• Red-breasted Nuthatch nest with young
• Two Red-winged Blackbird nests with young
• Phoebe nesting under one of the viewing decks
• Pileated woodpecker continues to visit the suet log outside of the bookstore windows

Let us know what birds, butterflies, blooms, and beasts you seen in and around the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary.

Construction zone

It may not look like much at the moment, but this pile of mud and sticks next to the boardwalk on the Dr George Trail might be worth watching if we get more rain. It seems that our beavers are tired of the water overflowing into the forest on the other side of the boardwalk and have decided to dam things up a bit.

I wouldn't expect this to become a very elaborate dam -- beavers generally do only as much work as is necessary to maintain the pond -- but if the water should rise you might notice that they start to reinforce their mud push-ups with sticks and cattail leaves.

It's also worth keeping your eyes open for the beavers themselves and not just their handiwork. Todd was out with a school group the other day and they were lucky enough to get a good look at a large beaver munching away on a branch, seemingly unconcerned about the excited Grade Ones standing nearby.

Jason Rogers, a local birder, reports the following species in/near the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary:
- Common Goldeneyes with broods.
- Alder Flycatchers and Red-eyed Vireos have returned since my last report.
- Possible Philadelphia Vireo along the paved loop trail near the Kerry Wood Nature Centre.
- Tennessee Warbler at the nature centre.
- Ovenbird and Mourning Warbler at old Woodlea ski hill just south of sanctuary.

Feeder visitor

This Pileated Woodpecker has become a regular visitor to our suet feeder in the past couple of weeks. The lack of a red "moustache" shows that she's a female. I haven't noticed a male coming to feed at all, but that could just be because I don't keep a constant watch on the suet.

The Pileated Woodpecker is Alberta's largest, and it's pretty obvious when you see one come to a feeder that is usually frequented by the (much) smaller Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.

The suet feeder is located right outside our bookstore. Be sure to have a look for our woodpeckers the next time you come shopping.

Seen at Fort Fest:

Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe

Our New Neighbour

On Thursday last week Diane and I were out taking pictures of the building for new banners, web-images and other uses. I've got the camera nicely mounted to the tripod and totally locked into a position that, while great for taking slightly upwards-facing images of the building, was totally useless for what came next.

From behind me I heard Diane exclaim "That's the oddest looking Ground Squirrel I've ever... wait a minute... that's a weasel!"

I turned around and sure enough, there, sitting up like the world's skinniest-looking Richardson's Ground Squirrel, was a Long-Tailed Weasel.

We are trying to get a picture of it but it's a quick little critter. The best either of us has so far is a black-tipped tail & rear-end zipping off through the bush.

You can find more information about Long-Tailed Weasels here.

We'll do our best to get a decent photo posted. Watch this space.


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In other news.

Our thanks go out to Community Savings Credit Union and Sobey's Eastview for sponsoring Fort Fest at Fort Normandeau this past weekend.

The Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe and the Waskasoo Bluegrass Society both put on great shows. The Red Deer Archery Club taught dozens of kids how to safely shoot a bow & arrows. The 65th Mount Royal Rifles and the Firestick Living History Society recreated their annual "Battle that never actually ever happened but it's fun to shoot at each other skirmish". The employees and volunteers at the Fort cranked and served gallons of ice-cream and the 78th Field Artillery Unit from Red Deer gave folks a chance to meet the new army and send messages to our troops overseas. Add to that an antiques show and sale and you've got a very full weekend.

If you happen to be at the Fort over the next few days, forgive them their exhausted looks. They all put in a huge effort.

Red-winged Blackbirds

If you look carefully at this tangle of last year's cattails you should be able to spot a small nest hiding in amongst them. It's the nest of a Red-winged Blackbird, and it's right next to the bird blind on the West Gaetz Lake.


Like many other birds, the male of this species (left) is much showier than the female (right). Males depend on their bright plumage to help attract mates, but females need to be more camouflaged so that they can safely sit on the nest.

Here's another look at the male:


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

This time of year it's very important to be quiet while using the viewing decks, and this year it's even more important than usual. The high water levels in the lakes has led to many more nests close to the decks. Noise on the decks may discourage the birds from using these nests, and the extra energy needed to rebuild elsewhere can sometimes lead to nest failure.

Enjoy visiting our birds, but please remember to visit responsibly.

Bat Homes

The bats are here. They will reduce the number of unwelcome insects around your yard such as mosquitoes. In order to survive a bat needs to eats almost its weight in insects per day. Bat houses are available at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre Bookstore. They are very well constructed and follow the directions as per the book, Naturescape , by Myrna Pearman. You may purchase a painted one for $42.95(black) or an unpainted one for $38.95. Instructions for the successful erection of the homes accompany each bat house. For more information call Bob at KWNC Bookstore 346 2010

Bird report May 24, 2008

Jason Rogers reports:
Canada Goose - 8
Gadwall - 1
American Wigeon - 2
Mallard - 10
Blue-winged Teal - 7
Northern Shoveler - 2
Canvasback - 10
Redhead - 6
Ring-necked Duck - 1
Lesser Scaup - 14
Common Goldeneye - 5
Ruddy Duck - 8
Common Loon - 1
Pied-billed Grebe - 2
Red-necked Grebe - 7
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Sora - 5
American Coot - 10
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Franklin's Gull - heard
California Gull - heard
Rock Pigeon - 2
Mourning Dove - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Least Flycatcher - 8
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Black-billed Magpie - 1
American Crow - 2
Common Raven - 1
Tree Swallow - 2
Bank Swallow - 3
Black-capped Chickadee - 9
Boreal Chickadee - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 6
House Wren - 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1-2
Swainson's Thrush - 1
American Robin - 6
Gray Catbird - 2
Yellow Warbler - 18
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 4
Ovenbird - 1 just south of the Sanctuary
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 17
Clay-colored Sparrow - 13
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Le Conte's Sparrow - 4
Song Sparrow - 2
Lincoln's Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 6
Dark-eyed Junco - 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 19
Brown-headed Cowbird - 8
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Purple Finch - 2
House Finch - 2
Red Crossbill - 3
White-winged Crossbill - 30
Pine Siskin - 8
American Goldfinch - 3
House Sparrow - 2

Spring on the lake

Although this photo doesn't really show it, things are starting to look like spring around here. It only takes a few steps out the back door to hear the songs of territory-setting birds (and frogs. Our Boreal Chorus Frogs are singing up a storm right now), and if you keep your eyes open you may even see signs of the start of nesting season.

The Canada Goose in the photo above has chosen an old muskrat mound as a nesting site. This particular mound is fairly close to one of the viewing decks on the West Lake, and that's already given a couple of youth groups a chance to see nest care up close.

Please remember that there may be other, more hidden nests around our viewing decks this time of year, and help us help the birds by using the decks as quietly as possible.

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Project Porchlight recently posted a feature on Kathryn on their blog. For more information on Project Porchlight, check out their site here.

We've got bats

Not in our belfry, no, but we do have bats on the building.

For the past few years a small colony of what are probably Little Brown Bats (I haven't managed to get close enough to do a proper identification, so that's an educated guess) has made its home in a "secret" location on the Nature Centre.

As of last week, our bats have returned from their winter hibernaculum and are again hanging out (literally) at their summer home.

I put "secret" in quotation marks because the location that our bats have chosen probably is a secret to most of our visitors. If you're interested in the bats, though, our staff knows where to find them and would be happy to show you.

You might be surprised to learn how close you can be to wildlife without even realising it.

Recent bird sightings

Jason Rogers, a Red Deer birder, walked around the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary on Sunday April 27th. Here is what Jason reported. (He didn't bring his scope, so there are no totals for most of the waterbirds.)

Greater White-fronted Goose - 20
Canada Goose
Gadwall - 1
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail - 1
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback - 2
Ring-necked Duck
[Lesser Scaup?]
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-necked Grebe - 1
Osprey - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Coot - 20
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
[Herring Gull?]
Rock Pigeon - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 4
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Black-billed Magpie - 1
American Crow - 1
Common Raven - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 9
Boreal Chickadee - 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 13
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
American Robin - 6
American Pipit - 3
Bohemian Waxwing - 40
Song Sparrow - 1 along river
Red-winged Blackbird - 1
[Brown-headed Cowbird?] - 1
Purple Finch - 4
House Finch - 2
White-winged Crossbill - 2
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch - 1

While you might not see all of these yourself, you get the idea: this is an interesting time to be out in the Sanctuary!