What’s going on out on the land?
A Story Of Stones At Old Baldy
I recognize that these are epic cataclysmic histories, but the stories held in the stones at Old Baldy have brought about a deep sense of peace for me when it seems so lacking in the world right now. Maybe it’s the disconnect of me not being present for the upheaval and torrent of glacial meltwaters and crushing sheets of ice, but doing the research, piecing together clues, and imagining the magnitude does create a profound sense of wonder and awe, a stupefying amazement in the unveiling of a billion years of mystery written on the body of the hill. I deeply appreciate the work and practice of listening to the stones and tracking the beauty of the land.
Tracking at Saugeen Shores, 2024.09.28
Another beautiful, exciting and overwhelming trip with the tracking apprenticeship to Saugeen Shores. Bird tracks, invert sign, reptiles, and more met us on the sandy shores of Lake Huron.
How To Age A White-tailed Deer by Looking At The Teeth pt. 2 : Older Deer
At the end of April I was attending a Track and Sign Evaluation. On the second day of the two day eval we came across a female White-tailed Deer carcass and were asked the question of how old the dead Deer was when she died. We were given three options to choose from based on what we could see. The three options were: A) 1-3 years, B) 4-7 years, or C) 7 and up.
Well, when I got home I started I realized I had a lot more research to do.
Invert Sign at Dunby Rd.
Learning more about invertebrates and the signs they leave behind is such a valuable part of wildlife tracking to me. I feel like when I teach or share about the inverts, most people are kind of “cool, but where are the mammals?” about it, but I hope to keep learning more so that I can inspire some deeper respect and awe about a couple whole other phylums! There is so much life out there, that doesn’t look like us, move like us, eat, excrete, breed or breathe like us and every time I learn something new I get stoked. I am grateful to get to share some of that excitement in this post.
Three Common Silk Moth Cocoons
Throughout the past few years I have come across a few different large cocoons belonging to Silk Moths, who are large moths in the family Saturniidae, in the order Lepidoptera. As I encounter the cocoons I tend to look them up and try to learn something about them but eventually the individual identifications of each unique species is lost, except maybe the Cecropia. I wanted to write a short blog post, starting with the main three cocoons I encounter, helping to remember who makes which cocoons so I can better remember in the field.
Two Coracoid Bones
Last weekend I was in Grey County helping with a mock tracking evaluation. At the beginning of our second day of the mock eval, I found a small bone near the edge of an old plantation. It was short, “hooked” at one end with a sharp chisel like edge at the other end. There appeared to be a couple of points where the bone could articulate (connect) with other bones in whoever’s body this bone belonged to. Along a flat surface of the bone there were small thin ridges which I ran my finger along, over and over as I wondered as to which animal the bone may be from? I knew I would have to look into it more.
Spruce Pineapple Galls
For a few years I have come across a gall on Spruces all over the Eramosa River Valley. Most of the Spruces are Norway Spruces , but I have also found them on White Spruce. They were mysterious to me so I looked them up a couple of years ago and learned that they were called the Pineapple Spruce Gall, or Spruce Pineapple Gall, or Eastern Spruce Gall depending on who you’re asking, but that was where my knowledge ended. Recently, after coming across them again, I decided I needed to learn a little bit more about them.
Deeper Questions of Common Sign : Tracking at Kinghurst
This past Saturday was another outing with the Earth Tracks Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship. We went out to the Kinghurst forest in Grey County, Ontario to see what we could find together. It was a small group of six of us, but that made it a little bit sweeter as we could really dig in to all of the things we were seeing.
Sign of Birds in Algonquin Park
While in Algonquin Park this past week with the Earth Tracks Winter Wildlife Tracking Trip I tried to pay more attention to some of the bird sign throughout our days, though I didn’t always get some good photos, and I missed recording some beautiful songs and calls. I will share however what I did find in the park and what I have been able to learn thus far.
Atlas Bone of White-tailed Deer
On one of my tracking study calls a photo was presented and everyone was asked to identify the bone that was shown. Somehow a few people were able to identify it rather quickly. I had never heard of the bone before but took note. I love learning about the skeletal structures of animals and spend a lot of time on it, but how did I miss a bone that so is so important to an animal, and that so many others knew? I needed to learn more about this bone.
Trailing a Fisher at Old Baldy
We had just crossed over from the thick White Cedar forest into a little more spacious deciduous forest, when, in a very unassuming tone, a friend called us over to check out some tracks. I don’t know if he realized at first how cool the trail he had just found was, but as we stepped off of the path and looked down at the tracks everyone leaned in a little closer, and our voices started to ring with a little more excitement. Our colleague had found a Fisher trail.
White-tailed Deer Sternum
I went for a walk by myself the other day to scope out an area I was going to be going with some students. I wanted to see which areas would be worth investigating and get a sense of how long it would take to get to different landmarks I thought might be worthwhile to go with them. While I was out in a part of the forest I didn’t even consider would be that interesting, I came across a bone, or a series of bones rather, which I wasn’t familiar with. I had to take some photos and knew I would be looking it up when I got home.
Metacarpal or Metatarsal?
I have been thinking a lot about bones lately.. I guess I think a lot about bones all the time, but lately I have been trying to consider them more completely, in relation to one another, and to better be able to identify which bones are which, where they come from on the body, and which bodies the particular bones I find make up? There are so many questions that come wrapped in bone that it’s kind of fun to take the time to consider some of them.
How To Age A White-tailed Deer by Looking At The Teeth, pt. 1 : Younger Deer
A lot has been studied and written about on the topic of White-tailed Deer. But despite reading a ton of it, I still find it trying to find all the various pieces of information and put it all together, unless I write it up myself. Here is my attempt to consolidate and better understand how we can come to know a deer’s age at the time of their death by looking at the teeth which remain.
Common Galls of Southern Ontario
I wanted to compile a list of some of the common galls one might encounter here in Guelph, Ontario. I have been spotting a few lately and wanted to build a little database for myself and for others who may encounter them and want to know a little more. The galls are named by the inducer, and what I mean by that is the insect as all galls below induced by insects. I hope to make a series of posts over time.
Poplar Vagabond Gall Aphid
I have been keeping a Question Book for years. It’s the greatest textbook I have ever owned. Each loving volume has been authored in partnership between the land and my own geysering, never-settling, curiosity. There have been many questions answered through research in my own library, the local university library, and online. For as many questions which have been answered, there are pages of unanswered mysteries. This is not for lack of searching, but perhaps the research has not come out yet, or I just don’t know where to look. Luckily today will be an indepth answer as to what the hell I have seen growing on the Poplar trees.
Wolf Trees, Stink Horns and Carrion Beetles
As I looked down at the leaf litter, I noticed quick movement and a small flash of orange and my heart began to sing. My hand shot so fast into the gooey death stenched Cedar leaves faster than anyone could see. Before anyone registered what I had done I was cradling a critter in my closed palm and I felt them defecate their lunch of corpse into my palm. Again kids, never do as I do.
Field Botanists of Ontario Trip Report for Main Tract Mushroom I.D. workshop
Pulling in to the parking area at Main Tract, the biggest of the tracts of the Dufferin County Forest (coming in at 607 hectares or 1,501 acres), my first thought was that I was way too early.
We were supposed to meet for 9:50am, and I was arriving early for 9:30. It was going to be my first outing with the FBO and I really wanted to arrive on time. Luckily I did arrive early as the parking lot was sandy which meant some good time looking for bird and invertibrate tracks while waiting for my fellow fungal nerds.
Towards A Better Understanding of Scat
Ok, so the title might be a bit provocative, but it is the best I have come up with the truly explain what I am getting at. Recently, while the tracking apprenticeship was staying at the Wildlife Research Station in Algonquin Park, we encountered some scat from a few different mammals. The questions kept coming as to the contents, the diets, and the bodies which formed and shaped the scat. I want to explore some mammalian scat a little bit more with this blog post and try and understand what clues the poop might hold to the different physiologies of a few of the species whose scat we encountered.
White-tailed Deer consuming Water Hemlock
White-tailed Deer consume a lot of different things. It seems everytime I see some Deer browse, it appears to be a new forb, shrub, or tree which I hadn’t seen a Deer browse before. I wanted to look into the foods which Deer browse more generally, but also focus on a new discovery of Deer browse on the aerial parts of Water Hemlock.