What is Project 366? Read more here! The Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis), also known as Alberta Wild Rose, Wild Rose and Nootka Rose is a small deciduous shrub with pink flowers and thick, thorny stems. Once the flowers wither it turns into a small oval shaped seed pod known as a rose hip. It…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Along Simmons trail in Elk Island National Park there is a 4 foot tall tree stump. It looks like the tree snapped like a match during a windstorm. The way the tree broke off left a piece of bark jutting up from the broken surface almost like a…
What is Project 366? Read more here! The field surrounding the shallow pond was covered in tall grass with patches of tall stemmed yellow flowers. These were Meadow Buttercups (Ranunculus acris) at home in their perfect habitat, a moist meadow close to water. As pretty as it is, this is not a plant that is…
What is Project 366? Read more here! In the center of the Bison Loop at Elk Island National Park there is a small shallow pond. You can clearly see it from the gravel road as it is no more than 25 meters away. Despite the proximity I have never actually been down to the water’s…
What is Project 366? Read more here! I have been seeing these white flowers on the first floor all over the place. To continue in a state of ignorance is obviously unacceptable when it comes to something you encounter in every forest you visit. Sure enough, they were not difficult to identify. These are Bunchberries…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Mingled in with the many Blue-winged Teals and Northern Shovelers there was this pair of unique looking ducks. Clearly a male and a female, I had to look it up in the Merlin App to positively identify these waterfowl. They were very “Scaup-like”, which obviously only makes sense…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Mallards are one of the most ubiquitous birds in the Northern hemisphere (+ Australia and New Zealand where they have been introduced) and are probably one of the first birds children learn to recognize, although they are more likely to refer to them as ducks, rather than mallard….
What is Project 366? Read more here! Muskrats are medium-sized rodents, almost like a mini-beaver, but with a rat-like tail instead of the big paddle tail of the beaver. They are basically large field mice adapted to life in water. They have a groovy dental adaptation allowing them to chew with their mouths closed. Their…
What is Project 366? Read more here! This is the third day of bison-themed posts. Another post and another bison…, yet, this one is different. All my bison pictures and posts so far have featured Plains Bison (Bison bison bison). Today’s picture, however, is featuring a Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae). Why the trinomial names,…
What is Project 366? Read more here! Bison fur consists of a thin layer of short hair right agains the skin and an outer layer of coarse long hair. In the fall the bison grow the long outer fur to keep them nice and toasty throughout the winter. In the spring they shed their outer…