An Amphibious Chorus

Spring brings so many wonders of new life. The winter – as mild as it was – was long enough for one to appreciate just how magnificent spring is when it does arrive. As I have posted previously, each spring the chorus of northern spring peepers [Pseudacris crucifer] serenades us in the evenings. I could also hear another sound that for the longest time I mistook for a cricket. The peeper makes a fairly shrill peep. This other sound was a much softer and quite pleasant vibrating whistle.

Last summer at one of the meetings or conferences that we attended I picked up a CD entitled: “Natural Sounds of Ontario, Birds, Frogs and Mammals” by Monty Brigham. It is distributed by RMP Biological Ltd. C/o Monty Brigham, P.O. Box 1061, Manotick, ON K4M 1A9, Canada. Sale of the CD supports the activities of the Eastern Ontario Biodiversity Museum in Kemptville ON. See http://www.rmpbiological.pwo.ca/ for more details.

The CD is a compilation of 97 natural sounds. Through this CD I was able to determine that the sound that I thought was a cricket was actually an American Toad [Bufo Americanus]. According to Peterson Field Guide, Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central America, by Roger Conant and Joseph T. Collins, ISBN 0-395-90452-8, this toad is probably the most common in this area and we are located in the midst of its range. For some more local information on the toad see http://www.nature.ca/rideau/b/b3d-e.html. This toad has a voracious appetite for insects and other invertebrates which is great as we have lots.

So now when I go to sleep to the amphibious lullaby I will know who is performing.

Screaming In the Woods, or Another Meso-Predator Bights the Dust.

At four thirty this morning I was wakened by a violent noise a distance away in the woods, that sounded like a small mammal - possibly racoon - in a vicious fight. This reminded me of a topic that was presented at the Ontario Woodlot Association AGM that was held in Peterborough, Ontario on Saturday March 18th last month. The talk was entitled Forest Songbirds in Southern Ontario presented by Erica Nol of Trent University. The presentation was introduced with the following text:

Forest songbirds are an integral part of our forest ecosystems. The range and abundance of songbirds is determined to a large extent by the availability of suitable breeding habitat. Come and learn about some of the common forest songbirds found in southern Ontario woodlots, their habitat requirements and some of the pressures impacting their habitat and populations.

In her talk I recall that she described the impact of meso-predators on forest songbirds. Meso-predators typically include the racoon, skunk, fox, bobcat and opossum. Opossums are not known here but are becoming common in Southern Ontario. These mammals will attack bird nests and prey on the eggs and young. The thrush family is a typical woodland bird that builds its nest low to the ground and thus is suseptible to this predator.

The speaker stated that the absence of major predators such as the wolf and mountain lion has allowed the release – or expansion – of meso-predators since they keep the meso predators in check. I am not sure where the coyote or fisher would fit into the predator ranks, but I am quite sure that what I heard was a coyote or fisher attacking or preying on a racoon. I have heard that racoon sound before when we lived in the suburbs when racoons were fighting either with themselves or another animal. In the suburbs we had many racoons and skunks in our garbage yet around here we have much fewer visits by these meso-predators. I am inclined to believe that the coyote and fisher are doing their part in playing the role of the major predator and keeping the meso-predator numbers down. Domestic cats, though unnatural probably qualify as meso-predators as well.

A brief Report on the OWA AGM 2006 Our Forests our Legacy

Carroll and I attended the 2006 Annual General Meeting of the OWA (Ontario Woodlot Association). This year’s theme title was “Our Forests – Our Legacy” a conference for woodlot owners and managers of Ontario's private forests. It was held on March 18, 2006 in Peterborough, ON.


Some personal observations, I found the talk on “The Value of Natural Capital in Settled Areas of Canada“ particularly interesting. Much of the estimates of the Values were not very rigorously calculated however there were some very good examples given. One is New York City’s dilemma where it has to decide to invest eight billion dollars in a water treatment plant, or invest in protecting green space in the Catskill mountains where the water supply currently originates. The second option examined the cost of encouraging area farms to use natural friendly practices such as natural buffers along watercourses etc. The entire presentation is available on the Internet. If and when I find it I will post the URL here.
There were also many other titbits provided in the other presentations which I will blog post on later.


The Meeting Program as published follows:



Ontario Woodlot Association
13th Annual General Meeting and Woodlot Conference
Our Forests – Our Legacy

You are invited to attend the Ontario Woodlot Association’s annual general meeting and woodlot conference, Our Forests – Our Legacy, to be held on Saturday, March 18, 2006, in Peterborough, Ontario.

Conference Details

This year’s annual general meeting and conference will feature topics that are relevant to woodlot owners and managers from all walks of life. We’ve invited presenters who will capture your imagination and provide you with a range of information about managing your woodlot.

Here are some of the features of this year’s event.

The Value of Natural Capital in Settled Areas of Canada (Jim Anderson, Ducks Unlimited)

Natural areas provide numerous benefits that have economic value, not only for people living near these areas, but also for other communities further away. Natural areas contribute to clean water, clean air, wildlife habitat, recreation, biodiversity, erosion control, aesthetics, cultural pursuits, etc. This presentation will provide some insight into a case study where economic estimates of the values of natural areas -- natural capital -- have been developed.

Woodland Amphibians and Vernal Pools (Janine McLeod, Biologist)

Vernal pools are fascinating ecosystems with unique habitat. Fairy shrimp, wood frogs and mole salamanders are some of the species that would not survive without these small, temporary wetlands. Learn what you can do as a landowner to help conserve these important natural niches in your woodlot.

Agroforestry Opportunities for Landowners (Dr. Andrew Gordon, University of Guelph and Neil Thomas, Landowner)

Dr. Andrew Gordon will discuss some of the agroforestry options available to landowners in Ontario. Agroforestry is a way to enhance already productive agricultural operations by providing farmers with a second commodity to grow and harvest -- trees. The second part of this presentation will feature eastern Ontario landowner Neil Thomas who will tell about his personal experience with agroforestry.

Forest Songbirds in Southern Ontario (Erica Nol, Trent University)

Forest songbirds are an integral part of our forest ecosystems. The range and abundance of songbirds is determined to a large extent by the availability of suitable breeding habitat. Come and learn about some of the common forest songbirds found in southern Ontario woodlots, their habitat requirements and some of the pressures impacting their habitat and populations.

Careful Logging Practices (Martin Streit, Upper Canada Forestry Services)

One of the important steps in managing your woodlot (and in maximizing your future financial returns) is to use logging methods that will minimize the damage to residual trees and the site. This presentation will introduce landowners to a variety of careful logging practices that will help protect their woodlots.

When: Saturday, March 18, 2006

Where: Ervinrude Centre, 911 Monaghan Road, Peterborough, ON

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Registration: We are requesting that you pre-register for the conference. To register or to get more information, please call Rhonda at the Ontario Woodlot Association at 1-888-791-1103 ext. #221 or e-mail us at before March 1, 2006.

Registration fee: OWA members $20.00 and non-members $25.00 (includes lunch).

Supporters of this year’s conference include: Ferguson Forest Centre, Model Forest Network, K.H. Kesso & Sons Ltd., Nelson Paint Company of Canada, and the Peterborough County Stewardship Council.

As always, guests are welcome… so bring a friend!

The Yellow Birch

There are several mature yellow birches [Betula alleghaniensis Britt.] in the Heartwood woodlot. This tree is located to the north of a clearing in Area C of the Woodlot Management Plan. I have always been fond of the weird and different birch tree. Birches are normally white while this birch is a beautiful coppery bronze.

During my high school years in the late '60's, I lived some 4 kilometres (2½ miles) out in the country west of the Island of Montreal in Quebec. During the winter and right after school and just before supper, I used to regularly step into my snowshoes and traipse out to the woods past the fields behind our house. The snow was typically 60 centimetres (2 feet) deep those days. Being mid winter I would head out when the sun was still up but by the time I was heading home it would be dark.

Armed with a small hand axe, pocket-knife and a few matches, once I reached my sheltered favourite spot in the woods, I would lay down a small mat of criss-crossed branches on top of the snow and build a small campfire upon it. Using the same spot all winter, over time the small fireplace would develop into a large hole in the snow about 2 metres (6 feet) wide. The snow inside this circle would be melted down to the earth layer.

I would place a log on the snow at the edge of the hole to sit on where I would frequently sit and gaze silently into the flame and listen to the crackling of the fire, the snapping of the frozen branches and distant sounds. This was one of my ways of dealing with turbulent teenage and high school years. In later years I remember my mother saying that I always came home relaxed from these walks. I have learnt since that indeed the characteristics of the flicker of a fire are known to be natural rhythms and relaxing and therapeutic to the brain and is recognised as a meditation and relaxation exercise.

The yellow birch bark as with all the other birches provided an excellent fire starter. The ribbons of bark would light even when wet. I would always only remove the loose flags of bark but never injured the core bark of the tree. This made fire starting easy and after a while I was able to start fires at any outside temperature and even in rain. In time you learned tricks such as to use the small dead branches at the base of coniferous trees as kindling. These were usually dry even after a heavy rain.

What I recall of that forest was that the yellow birches tended to be isolated trees among other species. This forest was a sugar bush dominated by the sugar maple [Acer Saccharum] and ash with poplar along the clearing edges. The forest must have been tapped for maple sugar at one time, since there were remains of a sugar cabin in the forest. The remains included a damaged 3 metre (10 feet) long maple sap steaming pan or kettle. This rubble must have already been at least 10 years old and thus dated back to the '50s.

After about an hour I would slowly let the fire die out and head home in the dark, striding back on my snowshoes in the blue glistening snow, which often sparkled in the moon light against the backdrop of the black silhouetted trees. That was all part of the experience.

A Second Visit from a not-so-Shy Great Gray

This afternoon, as we drove up our driveway this big staring Owl welcomed us home. It was probably the same Great Gray Owl [Strix Nebulosa] that visited us last weekend. The owl was perched in the tallest Manitoba maple in our back yard. This tree died just this summer but it was for exactly this purpose that I did not take it down. It make a great perch for birds. Anyway, I thought that we would spook the bird as we busily exited the vehicle and entered the house, but instead, I was able to enter the house, return with a camera, take several pictures from up close - about 10 metres (30 ft.) away. We then unloaded the trunk and entered the house. All the while the owl remained unphased and instead attentively inspected all of our activities. Only about 15 minutes later after turning on the dryer – which caused air to blow out of the dryer vent – did the owl disappear. This is the best of the pictures I took.
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All winter, we we been broadcasting cracked corn on the snow at the front of our house for the wild turkeys and I suspect that this is likely also attracted field mice, which in turn is attracting this owl.

A Feather on Crusty Snow

Yesterday was a beautiful day with a bright sun and clear blue sky. The air was cool, hovering around the freezing mark, and the mild west wind made the humid air nippy. The snow is not very deep at about 15 cm (half a foot). There is a thick crust of ice on top of old snow and a light wisp of new snow on top of the ice. The wispy layer is blown off the ice in the windy clearings. When walking one noisily breaks through the crust, so any ideas of startling and sighting some wildlife were out. Indeed I did not flush out any wildlife as they were well forewarned by this noisy operation.

This snow and ice strata allowed for easy observing of animal tracks and the dramas told. Snowshoe hare tracks were plentiful as were those of fisher, coyote and fox. There were also some ruffed grouse tracks. The ice layer must make it hard for the herbivores to forage. The snowshoe hares have completely eaten and stripped all the bark from one branch that broke off of a poplar tree along one of the trails. Poplar is not a tasty food so the supply must be getting scarce. Is that possibly why the hares are moving around so much and all the tracks?

Halfway out I came across a handsome feather that fell on the snow. It is pictured above. From the down at the base of the feather it is likely a breast feather and the colour pattern makes me think that it could be form a ruffed grouse; but there is considerably more brown than is typical of a ruffed grouse and it is quite large so it could also be from a hawk or owl.

Definitively a Great Gray

Late this afternoon I sat down for a break to read up on some research on my inherited wall clock. My mother gave me a wall clock that has been in her family for 80 some years. After some Internet research I found literature that helped me identify the maker and origin of the clock. It led me further to some online bookstores that sold books on this specific clock maker, now identified as Gustav Becker a well know clock maker from Freiburg in what was then Germany and now part of Poland. Gustav Becker died in 1885 but the company remained in existence up to WW2.

Yesterday we received a parcel notice from the post office. Since our mailbox is too small, it had to be picked up in the village. I had ordered the two books about Gustav Becker so I was expecting this parcel to be those two books. So this morning I drove the 6 country kilometres (4 or so miles) through white open fields into the Kars village though a snowstorm to retrieve my anticipated prize. All the while, Carroll has been tentatively watching the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics this morning which interested me too but not as much as this.

So during my break I read up on the clock and found out that it was in fact built or sold in 1926. It was still blowing and snowing outside, and so hard that the snow created horizontal lines in the air against the gray wooded background.

Then out of the corner of my eye I could make out a large bird alighting in a red pine tree very close to the house. At first I automatically assumed that it was a turkey as it was a big black bird. Then after further examination it had a round head with a noticeably flat face that rotated like a turret. It was not a turkey but an owl. The bird was perched in the far side of the tree so it was difficult to identify. After several minutes at that perch it flew to another tree near the front of the house. I was now able to get a few photos of it with our portrait camera which were not the best but better than nothing – I ought to get a better camera some day. The background was gray and the subject was gray, and also it was starting to get dark, all of which colluded to create what amounts to a black and white photograph. As you will see from the above picture it was perched with its back to us, but at times when it swiveled its head to the side I was able to make out the white swipe mark below its eye discs. The owl later moved to a lower perch and faced directly towards us. We were now able to clearly see the mustache shaped white marks below the eye discs. This is a characteristic mark and it confirmed without a doubt that we were looking at a Great Gray Owl [Strix Nebulosa].

Back in February 13th last year, I had reported a sighting of a grey owl but the evidence was not definitive. That post also provides considerably more detail about the owl and the fact that it was not a natural bird in this area and that such sightings are usually accidental. The gray in fact has become a regular in these parts for the last couple of years, during winters.

Closing the Loop on Woodlot Certification

• Closing the Loop on Woodlot Certification

We normally get a bag of flyers in our mailbox Friday night or Saturday mornings. There is the normal bunch of flyers from Home Hardware, Leons Furniture, Home Depot, Sears etc. I always take a minute or two to go through each of the flyers to see if there is anything of remote interest on sale. I admit it that I am a flyer junky. Neighbours at our former home in suburbia did the right thing and reduced pollution by refusing flyers – or more aptly put, junk mail – in their mailboxs. I could never do that.

I came across something interesting in today’s Home Depot flyer. As part of its marketing strategy Home Depot is marketing ECO Options that cater to clients who are “Looking for ways to make better environmental choices when they renovate their home”. On page eight, Home Depot is selling a Maple Veneer Core Panel 4’ x 8’ x ¾”with the FSC trademark or Forestry Stewardship Council A.C.
The ad then includes a descriptive green bar with the following text:

FSC  Certification helps sustain our forests  The Forest Stewardship council is an international non-profit organization that supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.  When you see the FSC symbol, you know that sustainable forest practices have been followed


So how does this close the loop?

You will see from a posting on this blog on Thursday September 1, 2005 that I had Scott Davis, Certification Coordinator of the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF), Forest Certification Program visit and inspect my woodlot. As a result we had our woodlot certified and we now adhere to the certification criteria and entered the woodlot certification program. We also joined the Eastern Ontario Certified Forest Owners (EOCFO) organisation formed by individuals in Eastern Ontario who had been seeking, and in 2003 obtained, FSC group forest certification for their woodlots.
What does this mean?

FSC certification program requires that:

• Wood is not harvested faster than it grows;
• Water, wildlife and forest ecosystems are protected;
• Standards are developed through a stakeholder process, not controlled by industry;
• Standards measure on-the-ground results, not just policies, programs and plans; and
• Standards, performance and recommendations are made public.

See http://eocfo.eomf.on.ca/ for full details.

So now we have come full circle. Our good management practices will now be recognised not only because it is the right thing to do in its own right but also in a more tangible means where the measures are recognised and valued in the marketplace. Also this will now let the non-woodlot owner and client for wood products participate in and promote the program.

I would say it is a good thing.

A Young Butternut Tree in Winter

This picture is of a small butternut tree growing about 300 metres (~1000 ft) from the house. On the ground to the right is a bare patch that I believe is created by the butternut root’s characteristic of transmitting the juglone toxin to neighbouring tree roots thus limiting their growth. Only shallow rooted plants such as grass will grow in this area that do not contact the roots. To the left it is also clear. The branches on the ground are left over from a Manitoba maple that was felled and limbed just before the snow fell.

A visit of a Leaf-Footed Bug

Throughout the winter we are in the company of several persevering insects. These include ladybugs in the highest abundance as well as some cluster-flies and the odd single curious bug such as the one pictured here.

According to Insects by Borror and White it is the leaf-footed bug, Family Coreidae. There is little else provided in the field guide. It may be predaceous or a plant feeder.

According to http://bugguide.net/node/view/3393 it is a Western Conifer Seed bug [Leptoglossus occidentalis].
According to http://www.forestry.ubc.ca/fetch21/FRST308/lab2/leptoglossus_occidentalis/leaf.html it damages douglas fir, ponderosa pine and incense cedar. None of these trees exist on this woodlot that I know of so I wonder what host trees it feeds on around here?

INSECTS, Borror, Donald J. and White, Richard E., Peterson Field Guides, 1970, ISBN 0-395-91171-2 (pbk.).

Only Two Turkeys So Far this Winter

From past postings on this blog, you will note that we have had as many as a dozen or so turkeys on a single visit at our bird feeding station for the last three winters. This year has been disappointing as we have only had these two turkeys pictured here.
I captured this picture this morning just as they started to take flight. The wing breadth and span is quite impressive and they fly very well. This time they flew off over the tree tops out of sight.

Found several Snowshoe Hare Beds

Just before dark this evening, I took a little stroll around the two spruce plantation plots near the house. I found numerous snowshoe hare tracks and several beds. The snowshoe hare must rest right on top of the snow. It is a well used patch with a concentration of rabbit droppings.

I also found ruffed grouse tracks and flushed out two perched high up in the trees.

An Inspection of a Fisher Pelt

A colleague brought a pelt – fully tanned hide with fur intact – of a fisher [martes pennanti] to work, which we proceeded to inspect and hover over during lunch break. He is a certified trapper in the Province of Quebec so he is permitted to trap fur-bearing animals. The pelt was that of a male fisher. It is not as nice and dark as that of a female I am told. What intrigued me about this pelt were the porcupine quil puncture marks that were clearly visible from the inside of the pelt. The head, shoulder and upper body area of the pelt were scared by several dozen quil punctures. Probably not a good skin for making waterproof clothing. I have heard that the fisher is able to resist injury caused by the quils and this pelt obviously proves the point. The fisher was caught because it had become a local nusance and was devouring neighbourhood cats where my colleague lives in Quebec. It was still quite healthy and thus not affected by the quils.

Glistening Ash Trees

With the cooling weather, mother nature is again decorating our trees and just on time for Christmas. This photo is of the tops of a grove of very tall ash trees can be seen from our house. This photo was taken in the morning from our house looking east into the sun. This type of ice coating could be seen on trees throughout the entire area. On that morning we drove through the countryside to Vars where we caught the highway 417 on our way to New Brunswick. We could still see the same decorations for a good 50 kilometres (30 mi.) away from home.

Return of the Snow Buntings

Just this week while driving home I was fortunate to observe several large flocks of snow buntings [Plectrophenax nivalis] out in the open fields near here. They were around last winter too but appear to be more abundant this year that before. Back the 70’s when I was posted in the Arctic I frequently observed them there during the summer. According to the literature in winter they come down to these latitudes almost right across North America. They have a very white patch on their wings which is very visible as they swirl over the fields. I could see them land in areas where the snow layer is thin and usually wind swept, presumably to feed on the seeds exposed on the bare earth. They are quite the site to see.

American Bittersweet

In earlier posts I mentioned finding several occurrences of a vine along the northern woodlot boundary next to the snake fence. The vine is very woody and it spirals clockwise up around tree saplings. The identification of the vine from the ground was difficult up to now because they reached up at least 10 metres (30 feet) and well into the canopy before it produced any leaves or flowers or berries. The leaves were also hidden by tree foliage. There are at least two relatively large vines with a base trunk diameter of nearly 3 cm. (one inch plus). The vine wraps around the trunk of the trees and in many cases the host tree died from mere physical strangulation. The vine trunk has a characteristically grey and relatively smooth bark.

During my walk in the clearing area G at the north-eastern corner of the woodlot I found American Bittersweet [Celastrus scandens L] which I was able to positively identify by its beautiful red berries and orange shells which (according to the various websites), is only produced by the female plant. I would venture to say that the woody trunk of this plant was identical in description to the vines noted above. I feel quite confident that the above vines are also American bittersweet.

Years ago while we were still preteens, my mother would take my bother and me, for walks in the woods. In a forest across what was then the old #2 highway (today it is the 2 and 20), and also across the CN and CP railway tracks which ran parallel to the highway – we found one patch of bushes that had berries just like these. I remember fondly how our mother used them with coniferous boughs to make beautiful Christmas wreaths. I recall though that these plants appeared to grow as bushes and not vines like those above.

Remnants of the BA British American Oil Company in the Woodlot

During my visit to Area G in the woodlot, I found several rusty oil cans. I thought then that if I was able to determine the dates of the oil cans I would be able to establish when much of the logging activity was carried out. It also would help date the age of the new tree growth.

On several of the oil cans I was able to make out the familiar-to-me BA symbol which stood for the British American Oil Company. The symbol was very familiar to me since as a youth we lived right next to a BA Gas Station in the Montreal outskirts. During our hot summer vacation days, my brother and I often washed car windshields and pumped gas there as volunteers anxiously anticipating a 10-cent tip. We usually made enough for an ice cream at the Dairy Queen which was several miles down the highway. So after making enough money for an ice cream my brother and I would bicycle off for our reward of our labours.

In the interest of dating the cans, I web-browsed and found an interesting and pleasantly designed website about BA memorabilia. I particularly liked the historical essay of BA. To cut to the chase, BA was bought out by Gulf Canada and continued under the same name until 1969 when the Gulf Canada name replaced the BA symbol. Gulf Canada later became Petro Canada which still exists today.

So we can now safely estimate that Area G was logged for its cedar trees before 1969.

A Butternut Grove

During my walk today I visited the clearing area at the northeastern corner of the woodlot referred to as Area G in the woodlot management plan. Area G is the only clearing in the whole woodlot which was not intentionally kept open through cultivation or clear cutting. It should in time have grown in with trees and yet there is but a thin and sparse planting of several poplar trees and others. I always wondered why is this so? This area had very old and well rotted cedar tree stumps which were cut some 30 or more years ago. In fact there was evidence that it was cleared at least 45 years ago. The field has remained undisturbed for all these years and yet but few trees took root as well as grass and some small herbaceous vines.

Having become sensitised to the plight of the butternut tree [Juglans cinerea L.] and the fact that in certain parts of North America it is becoming an endangered species due to major die off created by the butternut canker, I have become more experienced at identifying the tree. So during this visit to area G to my amazement I found very many butternut trees in area. Many were dead trunks with the characteristic butternut canker scares, some were alive but in poor condition and a few others seemed still healthy. I counted some 3 dozen trees or remains of trees all together. Now that the trees were bare it was easier to identify and count them all. One butternut tree was much larger than the others and may well have been the parent that provided the seed source for the rest. It had a dbh (diameter at breast height) of 35 cm (14 in.). In forestry, the stem diameter of a tree is measured at breast height or 1.3 metres (approx. 4 feet) above the ground hence the term dbh.

I have long wondered why area G stayed clear and think I may have hit upon the answer. The butternut tree has an interesting characteristic in that it produces Juglone toxin in its roots. Other plants whose roots touch the butternut root will draw this toxin and wilt and even die. This also occurs with black walnut. The article at http://cecommerce.uwex.edu/pdfs/A3182.PDF published by the University of Wisconsin well describes this phenomenon. This provides a plausible explanation for why area G is so lightly treed. One has to wonder then if reforestation of the area will work at all without removing all the roots of the dead butternut trees, a ridiculously arduous and prohibitively expensive job. Buckthorn and the elm also adversely affect or stunt the growth of neighbouring plants near their roots, but I am not sure if these species use the same process, something to investigate for another post.

Flying Turkeys and Rutting Deer

Took a walk in the woodlot today dressed in my protective chain saw gear with the intent of doing some serious bush whacking. The hardhat and screened face shield or visor along with the legging chaps provide much needed protection when bush whacking through dense under brush. The male white-tailed deer [Odocoileus virginianus] or bucks are now entering the rut and becoming quite aroused. During my walk in the bush today I found three patches indicative of the bucks in rut. Bucks will scratch a bare earth patch on the ground about a 30 cm. (a foot) across and nearby one can usually expect to find a small shrub all mangled up often with the bark scratched right off which the buck does by thrashing his antlers. I found these throughout the woodlot and not in any specific area. There were also deer tracks although not more than usual.

On the walk back I came across three wild turkeys [Meleagris gallopavo] who flew off from a perch high up in a tree. When turkeys are perched in trees it usually means that they were already scared or chased up. It may well be that they saw or heard me coming as I was bushwhacking or they may already have been chased up by other predators.

The Vernal Pool

During our trip to St. Catharines Ontario, two weekends ago, we toured several woodlots on Sunday. During one of the tours we were introduced to the concept of the vernal pool a visited a few that were purposely designed as such in a reforested field that used to be farmed. Vernal as in vernal equinox I presume implies seasonal or that it dries out at least once yearly. We learnt that a vernal pool will support a unique habitat. The process of drying will not let certain plant and animal species survive in a vernal pool that would otherwise survive in a continually filled pool for example fish. This means that certain species which cannot cohabit with for example fish can survive in a vernal pool. These species include virtually all amphibians including many frog species and salamanders and bugs.

We have many amphibian here on our property and I know of a couple of pools that dry up each year. There is a swale or shallow ditch that is only full in the springtime. I imagine that these pools must have actually contributed to and provided the ideal conditions for the abundance of frogs in this woodlot.