ERS 346 Field Outing #4 December 4th, 2019
Duration: 60 Minutes
Location: Ayr, Outskirts
Weather: Cold, around 0 degrees,
Habitat: Forest, Fields, Pond, River
Species ID'd:
-Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica)
-Common Raven (Corvus corax)
-Raibow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
-Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu)
-Great Blue Haron (Ardea herodias)
-White-tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
-Ringneck Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
For my final excursion, I took advantage of my grandparents' farm located on the outskirts of Ayr, Ontario. The farm is 97 acres, and contains an abundance of wildlife and diverse ecosystems as it is purely recreational, and does not house any loud equipment that would otherwise be impactful.
Before I began, I used the outlook platform that overlooks the field to discover a female white tailed deer. It seemed to be alone, and eventually scampered off into the brush.
I proceeded around the front-end perimeter of the property, which runs parallel to Reidsville Road. I wanted to get a good grasp of the edge effects that roads can usually cause. Some observations included litter, with multiple cars driving way over the speed limit. The closer I was to the road, the less wildlife I encountered, which was to be expected.
As I approached the field, I saw a group of black figures at the other end. As I continued to approach it turned out to be a flock of ring-neck pheasants! My grandfather and I have released 3 groups pheasants into the farm's ecosystem, (although we had to re-release the first group as our lab returned them all to the barn, alive). The flock seemed unbothered by my presence, as slowly scampered into the brush.
I crossed a nearby bridge connecting to a nearby cornfield, that is quite barren this time of year. I identified a murder of crows who seemed to feasting on the withered remains of the annual harvest.
I tried to get a better glimpse of aquatic life in the nearby river that boarders the field, however the water here was quite shallow most likely containing chemical runoff from the crop field. This however sparked my interest into heading to some of the more inland ponds, otherwise known as the ponds that are named after my aunt and mom.
"Joni Cove" and "Jenny Trout" are two very different bodies of water. On one hand, Jenny Trout is connected to the Nith River, and has a constant flow of fresh water. Due to the undisturbed habitat, the water is quite clear, making it easy to see the aquatic residents that reside there. I was able to identify 2 rainbow trout swimming about. Overhanging the pond were a few weeping willow trees.
Joni Cove on the other hand is completely isolated from the Nith River, and consists of the ground water the property uses on for well water. This pond is much deeper than Jenny Trout, with the water being dark and murky. While I know there are small mouth bass inhabiting the pond, I was unable to identify any. My best guess was that they are deep in the pond in order to stay warmer. As I was trying to find bass, I was startled when a Great Blue Heron took off from the reeds.
My general findings of this expedition were substantially higher (and more interesting) than what I had seen over the semester in Waterloo sites; the absence of humans has allowed for many different species to thrive with minimal interference, aside from the habitats edge effects.
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