Rollers, nibblers, and spit
by Sandy Garland This Red Osier Dogwood is probably over 15 years old. I remember when this Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) shrub was just a tiny thing at the edge of the path. It sent out roots - one of them sticking out so that we'd trip over it every now and then. We almost dug it out, but eventually it got so big we just walked around it and the roots were no longer a problem. [...]
Treasure hunting in the Old Woodlot
by Sandy Garland It may be easy to see this young tree, but can you see the other smaller ones in the background? Stakes help. This Tuesday, we took a break from scything DSV and went on a bit of a treasure hunt. Ted pointed out that as he's been weeding he's coming across all sorts of small trees that we've planted over the past few years. Many are still so small that they are easily overgrown by [...]
More hands, but still heavy work
by Sandy Garland Tuesday afternoon and time to work in the woods again. With all the rain, things have changed considerably since the last blog post 2 weeks ago. Jewelweed is still dominating the whole area, but the trees planted this year and last are doing well and lots of wildflowers are popping up. Despite the threatened thunderstorms, we sharpened the scythes, gathered other tools, loaded up the wagon and wheelbarrow, and Mirko, Ted, Catrina, Evelyn, Jesse, Kate, and I [...]
Birding in Gatineau Park’s Parkway Sector
by Justin Peter Report on an OFNC excursion led by Justin Peter and Carlos Barbery, 13 June 2015 From Gillian Shields: "Great crowd for the bird walk. We've already seen Black-billed Cuckoo!" — with Carlos Barbery and Justin Peter at Gatineau Park. Balmy temperatures and clear skies greeted 40+ OFNC members and friends who joined today’s Birding in Gatineau Park’s Parkway Sector excursion for its third annual installment. As usual, we started by watching birds while still at [...]
Scythes vs. dog-strangling vine
by Sandy Garland Tuesday-in-the-woods day and my trusty crew of Catrina, Mirko, and Kate arrived right on time. Unfortunately, it looked like rain, so we stayed around the centre for a while watering (the plants that don't get rained on) and potting up more seedlings: Gray Goldenrod and Upland White Goldenrod. As the sky cleared a bit, we sharpened the scythes and set off for the field north of the woods to do battle with dog-strangling vine (DSV). This week, [...]
Tuesday afternoons in the woods
by Sandy Garland When our ash trees were taken down last spring, not only did they leave enormous "holes" in the Old Woodlot, but they also caused damage to other trees and plants when they fell and were dragged out of the area. Increased light means the ground vegetation is likely to change. All this prompted us to form a regular work group to restore this habitat and create a mixed woodlot full of a variety of native plants, shrubs, [...]
Nest boxes for mason bees
This very small bee was exploring the various nest holes in this bee box. This tiny bee is in the Tribe Osmiini, and in the genus Heriades (thanks to Bug Guide for identifying the genus). by Sandy Garland Mason bees are named for their use of mud or clay in their nests. They belong in the genus Osmia in the family Megachilidae. At the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, we have found Blue Orchard Mason Bees (Osmia lignaria) as well [...]
OFNC communications: follow up to 2015 member survey
by Linda Burr Education and Publicity Committee Thank you to all of our members who participated in the survey on communications this past January. The electronic version was distributed by email to 658 members and a paper survey was distributed by mail to 115 members. We received an incredible 395 responses (39 on paper, 356 on-line), which is a response rate of 51%! Considering that a 10% return rate is viewed as good for these types of surveys, it shows [...]
Migrants at Parc national de Plaisance
by Rachelle Lapensee with photos by Sandra Dashney and Arlene Harold Virgina Rail photographed by Sandra Dashney This park includes the largest wetlands in the Ottawa area, and the trip was timed to coincide with the end of spring waterfowl migration. What a fantastic and successful birding trip to PARC NATIONAL DE PLAISANCE today [Sunday, 26 April]! I was so happy and honoured to have had the opportunity to co-lead our group with Mark Gawn! We saw a [...]