Study Trees and more (Nov. 19, 2016)
Our Study-Tree Woods is only 10 acres in extent, yet after 25 years of choosing trees, new Macoun members can still find ash trees and ironwoods that no one else has ever studied before. We spent the morning hours touring all those that current members are following (and picking new ones). One very large White Ash had split wide open and fallen in big pieces. Niccolo took it as his own and counted the exposed annual rings: the tree appeared [...]
The Story of Stuff (Nov. 12, 2016)
We began by reviewing last week's field experiments, in which we measured the speed of sound by timing three repeat echoes off an isolated house (getting a result of 1010 feet per second). Rob explained how we can use that figure to tell how far away lightning is striking as a storm approaches. We had also heard echoes from the forests on either side of the field, at a higher pitch than those from the flat wall of the house. [...]
Up the creek without a paddle (Nov. 5, 2016)
Indian River is a minor watercourse that runs slow and deep out into the farmland of Lanark County, but has its origins in springs and lakes in hilly country. We settled down for lunch in woods beside the last stretch of rushing water above miles and miles of marshy meanders. The steep valley sides seem to have protected the place from human disturbance. Big Sugar Maples and White Cedars stood close along the banks, and like the boulders, were green [...]
Birds of the Galapagos
Blue-footed Booby showing those namesake feet! Photo by Justin Peter by Marissa Carroll Justin Peter, director of programs and senior naturalist for Quest Nature Tours and vice-president of the Toronto Ornithological Club, brought his extensive knowledge of fascinating Galapagos birds to the Ottawa Field-Naturalist Club’s monthly meeting this past Tuesday. Host to unique and interesting species, the Galapagos Islands are home to the swallow-tailed gull, the albatross, the Galapagos hawk, a variety of Boobies, and Darwin’s finches. Although [...]
Getting a handle on our place in space (Oct. 29, 2016)
What's out there as night falls? Not down here, where owls hoot and mice scurry, but up there where first one faint light and then another appears. People have been wondering in a serious way about the sun and the moon and the stars for thousands of years. Today Rob guided an exploration of the cosmos by probing and expanding our collective knowledge. The ancient Greeks took some significant steps forward, and some back. Anaxagoris calculated the distance to the [...]
Pakenham in the late autumn rain (Oct. 22, 2016)
Late autumn on a cold, rainy day: what is there to see in the woods? We dragged a small sheet over the ground but collected no ticks at all. Apart from a solitary Raven circling high overhead when we walked away from the cars, there were no birds. Two types of mushrooms were seen several times: Destroying Angel and Jellied False Coral. Three individual wildflowers were in bloom: Heart-leaved Aster, Bunchberry, and Sweet White Clover. But at lunchtime on a [...]
Mushrooms of MacSkimming
By Julia Cipriani Mushrooms collected in the forest, photographed by the MacSkimming Centre team On Saturday, October 1, well over 110 people met at MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre to participate in the MacSkimming open trails event. There were members of the general public, of OFNC, and of les Mycologues amateurs de l’Outaouais (MAO). The enthusiasm was palpable. Participants lay out their mushrooms at MacSkimming. Photo by Andrée Juneau Yolande Dalpé and Brett Stevens led the foray. After [...]
Silicate minerals in our world (Oct. 15, 2016)
Quartz, olivine, garnet, pyroxene, hornblende, the micas and the feldspars – what unites them? There is an underlying order in their composition. They are all share chemically identical molecular silicate skeletons. It is said that if you get to know the minerals just named and recognize them when they appear in more complex rocks, you should be able to identify most of the rocks on the face of the earth. As a start, from his own collections Rob handed out [...]
Peary Caribou: an iconic High Arctic species
OFNC monthly meeting, 13 September 2016 By Marissa Carroll Dr. Micheline Manseau, an associate professor at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba and an ecosystem scientist for Parks Canada, was the featured speaker at the OFNC meeting this September. She lectured on the iconic High Arctic Peary Caribou. Understanding the species’ origins and unique characteristics is key to the management and conservation of this fascinating animal. Dr. Micheline Manseau (second from the left) posing with club [...]