What is Project 366? Read more here! The Heritage Wetlands is noticeably absent of bird life this time of year as most birds have already left for their southerly overwintering grounds. Today was my lucky day, however. A lonesome Belted Kingfisher was putting in substantial effort looking for its next meal. It was so focused…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The fall colors are now coming in with full force. Officially the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere is on Monday September 23, in three days. So the timing of the changing colors of the leaves is pretty good. Last year we were hit with the…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Lots of people harvest what nature has to offer, most often in the form of hunting or fishing. I have, however, not encountered many people that harvest wild plants or parts of wild plants. Recently we met a gentleman down by the creek that was harvesting Chokeberry for…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The American Red Squirrel loves to munch on seeds, particularly sunflower seeds when these are provided by their human subjects. Sunflower seeds do not occur naturally in the Whitemud Ravine but people distribute sunflower seeds by the bags along the trails so there is always plenty to go…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Over the summer the Whitemud Creek has been quiet when it comes to waterfowl. Maybe it is the constant strong current but it seems that most water fowl prefer more still water for their day to day business. The other day, however, as we were down buy the…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) have matured and the flowers have have turned into long thin stalked brown seed pods that have splitting at the tip. The two half’s of the seed pod then curl backwards and releasing numerous small seeds that have long white hairs attached to catch…
What is Project 366? Read more here! It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and we had made our way to Whitemud Ravine south of Snow Valley to Look for some rose hips. I was not sure about the timing as some online resources claim one should wait with harvesting rose hips until after the…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The prevailing view of lichens for the last 150 years or so has been that they a composite organism resulting from a mutually beneficial relationship between a fungus and an algae. It turns out that recent research from the University of Alberta (which is in my neck of…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The Identification Guide for Alberta Invasive Plants has nearly 90 species listed. Twenty one of the species have yellow flowers. The other flower colours include white, purple, pink, red, green, blue and orange. Today’s invasive plant is the Perennial Sow Thistle (Sonchus arvensis), a member of the sunflower…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Lichens are cool critters. They are a composite organism consisting of an algae or bacteria living in a mutualistic relationship with a fungus. The resulting lichen has properties different from those of its component organisms. While lichens share features with plants, e.g. growing in a specific location, the…