Tag: Whitemud Ravine

Project 366 – Post No. 173 – Red Squirrel at the creek

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 around. A diet that predominantly is based on seeds is sometimes referred to as seed predation or granivory. The Red Squirrels are opportunistic and will incorporate a range of food items into their diet such as fruit , berries and fungi. This fella that we encountered along the trail was to busy munching on sunflower seeds to really care about our presence. The light in the picture allows one to clearly see the typical dark band across the bushy tail.

Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) at Whitemud Ravine. September 15, 2019. Nikon P1000, 470mm @ 35mm, 1/60, f/5, ISO 800

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 172 – Common Mergansers

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 creek harvesting rose hips we came across half a dozen Common Mergansers hanging out on the banks for the creek. I am not sure what brought them there, but it was a welcomed sight. After a while sitting on the shoreline they went into the creek and started going back and forth, sort-of aimlessly. As mergansers migrate south in the fall, one possibility is that they are starting to get together to prepare for their migration to their overwintering habitats.

Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser) at Whitemud Creek. September 15, 2019. Nikon P1000, 935mm @ 35mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 140

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 171 – Fireweed seed fuzz

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 the wind. When all the pods have opened the top of the plant looks like a fuzzy mess. A single fireweed can produce up to 80000 seeds. The fuzz was used by native peoples as fibre for weaving and for padding. For example, Salish people wove fireweed with the down of mountain goat wool for making blankets. The seed are also an excellent fire starter.

Fireweed seed fuzz at Whitemud Ravine. September 15, 2019. Nikon P1000,
347mm @ 35mm, 1/1000, f/4.5, ISO 100

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 170 – Rose hip bounty

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 first frost as they are supposedly sweeter that way. They appear ripe, however, with some of them starting to turn to soft and mush so we decided to try out both versions; harvest some before the first frost and then compare these to rose hips harvested after the first frost. There is certainly no shortage of rose hips along the trails so I think there will be plenty left to harvest later in the season. We ended up with about two cups of rose hips. We washed them, pinched off the old rose petals and now have them out to dry. Once they have dried up a bit we will try making rose hip tea.

Rose Hip bounty at Whitemud Ravine. September 15, 2019. Nikon P1000, 67
84mm @ 35mm, 1/800, f/3.5, ISO 100

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 169 – Lichen fungal tree-some

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 the woods) has found that this relationship is more complex than previously thought. Researchers found that a lichen may be made up of up to three different fungi and that no two lichens necessarily have the same mix of fungal partners. Most lichens are rather plain looking, not particularly flashy and are easily overlooked. What this research shows is how little we know and understand about nature that is right under our noses. One could easily spend an entire lifetime understanding and studying nature that is right outside ones doorstep without needing to go to any more exotic locations.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 168 – Perennial Sow Thistle

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 family. It has yellow, dandelion-like flowers that are grouped in loose clusters at the ends of stem. Like most invasive species in Alberta it was introduced to North America from Europe and Asia. It reproduces prolifically through underground rhizomes and wind dispersed seeds. Apparently a single plant can produce up to 13000 seeds and each seed can remain viable for 3-6 years. Along the Whitemud Creek there are still large stands of flowering Perennial Sow Thistle

Perennial Sow Thistle (Sonchus arvensis) at Whitemud Ravine. September 9, 2019. Nikon P1000, 67mm @ 35mm, 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 100

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 167 – Shield lichen

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 inability to move and sometimes a plant-like shape, they are not plants. A mutualistic relationship is characterized by two different organisms coexisting and working together, each benefiting from the relationship. It’s sort of reminiscent of a marriage. Lichen s can be tricky to identify, but this one appears to be a species of shield lichen, possibly a Common Greenshield Lichen (Flavoparmelia caperata).

Shield lichen at Whitemud Ravine. September 9, 2019. Nikon P1000, 158mm @ 35mm, 1/40, f/4, ISO 400

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 165 – Smooth Blue Aster

What is Project 366? Read more here!

I have seen the pretty violet and yellow flowers in the Whitemud Ravine all summer long, but have somehow not stopped to try to identify them yet. Since they are likely to going to be astound for much longer + because most other flowers are gone by now I figured I better do something about this omission before it is too late. Identifying these flowers was not hard. They are Smooth Blue Asters (Symphyotrichum laeve) and is found throughout North America in fields, open woods and along roadsides. They have composite flower heads where each flower actually is made up of smaller flowers consisting of ray flowers (petals) surrounding disk flowers (the yellow centre). The asters are often one of the latest plants flowering after all other species are past their flowering stage.

Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum leave) at Whitemud Ravine. September 9, 2019. Nikon P1000, 258mm @ 35mm, 1/125, f/4.5, ISO 160

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 164 – The color of fall

What is Project 366? Read more here!

Summer is not even over yet but the fall colours are impatient and the Prickly Wild Roses are already turning red. The process of leaves changing color in the fall is surprisingly complex. Perhaps the most common explanation for color change in leaves is the withdrawal of chlorophyll. This appears, however, to only be true for leaves that turn yellow. The yellow seen in some autumn leaves result from the loss of chlorophyl unmasking the yellow carotenoids that were there all along. Red leaves, on the other hand, come from stopping the production of chlorophyll and starting the production of anthocyanin, which also gives raspberries their red colour. The Prickly Wild Roses along the trails have rapidly turned red over the last week while most other plants still are green.

Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa aciculares) in fall colours at Whitemud Ravine. September 9, 2019. Nikon P1000, 258mm @ 35mm, 1/125, f/4.5, ISO 400

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

Project 366 – Post No. 154 – Friendly neighbourhood orb weaver

What is Project 366? Read more here!

The orb weavers are one of the more magnificent arachnids in these neck of the woods and this time of the year we have plenty of them looking for a quick meal in our back yard. There are more than a dozen different species of orb weavers in Alberta and they are often found in back yards along the sides of houses and garages. They like to build their webs hear light sources that are left on overnight. If you are a spider tending to a web hoping for some juicy insects to get entangled building your web near a nocturnal light source makes of course a lot of sense. We all know how lights at night attract insects so clearly and clearly the orb weavers have figured this out as well. I came across this plump female, because it is likely to be a female as they are the ones that get the largest this time of year, in a nook by the front light of my house. She had quite a few tangled up flies and mosquitos in her web so it looks like she is doing quite well.

Orb weaver taking a nap in Edmonton. August 28, 2019. Nikon P1000, 24mm @ 35mm, 1/30s, f/2.8, ISO 320

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.