What is Project 366? Read more here. Today I managed to squeeze in two nature walks. A morning visit to Centennial Park in Sherwood Park. It was a blistering cold day with temperatures down to -20C, yet the winter hardy birds were out in full force. In the afternoon I visited The Whitemud Ravine. This…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Fungi are the organisms that contribute to the decomposition of dead animals and plants. What we typically think of when we think of fungi are actually the charismatic fruiting bodies. The actual fungus, however, is “invisible” as it is buried underground or inside a decomposing tree trunk in…
What is Project 366? Read more here. It never ceases to amaze me how hardy and resilient the animals in the forest are and how meek and helpless we humans are. Take this unassuming red squirrel as an example. I came across this little fella on a bitterly cold morning sitting in a tree munching…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Now that the leaves are long gone one can easily see the twisted branches of trees. I found the contrast between the gnarly branches of this weathered three, the golden shrubbery and the dark blue visually striking. I don’t know what kind of tree it is. Deciduous trees…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Along a stretch of the Whitemud Creek (south of the Whitemud), along a bend in the creek that is off the beaten trail I came across a long swath of the bank that had recently collapsed due to erosion. This bank is on the outside of the loop…
What is Project 366? Read more here. The two weeks have been an ongoing thaw-freeze cycle with thawing during the day and freezing at night. As a result large parts of the creek are ice free or with just thin sheets of ice covering the parts where the water flows slowly. The trails are icy…
What is Project 366? Read more here. It was a grey, cloudy and breezy day. It was drizzling and the temperature was hovering around the freezing point. Perhaps not an ideal for a nature walk but as I was already down at Snow Valley on other business I decided got for a walk along the…
What is Project 366? Read more here. The snow cover at the Whitemud Ravine is criss-crossed by the distinct tracks of rabbits and hares. Here in Alberta we have three species of native rabbits and hares, the cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare and white-tailed jackrabbit. While I cannot tell the species apart just based on their…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Looks can be deceiving, specially when it comes to ice. After a few days of cold temperatures the creek finally froze over. This was followed by snow covering up the ice. After all of this the creek looked like it was frozen solid and that it may support…
What is Project 366? Read more here. An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris accumulating around it. While epiphytes in the tropics are know to be rather splendid in size and diversity the boreal zone…