sábado, 07 de diciembre de 2019

ERS 346 Outing #4

19/11/29
1030-1100
30 minutes
Waterloo Park
Cloudy and slight wind, -3C
Woody area/Lawn

There was some snow on the ground from the recent snowfall. I went in through the trail in the Westmount Road sign, away from the more popular part of the park. As I walked, I could somewhat hear the water of the creek flow and some birds singing. As of late, I have been seeing a lot of cardinals around campus, and I saw a few around the trees and on their branches, feeding on some berries. Like all other outings, brown and black squirrels, as well as chipmunk were the stars of the nature walk. That entrance of the park has quite a contrast, with the left side being denser forest, and the right side all lawn. Some of the trees I saw were maple, some pines, birch, and trembling aspen but it is hard to tell without their leaves on for proper IDing. As well, there were a ton of bushes along the trail. It was quite a nice walk as it was pretty empty because of the time of the day. As I got closer to the parking lots and the lawn area, I saw what the remains of most likely goldenrod were. In that side of the park, I saw some crows which I constantly also see from my bus stop.

Publicado el sábado, 07 de diciembre de 2019 a las 09:32 PM por salazarm salazarm | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #3

19/11/21
1130-1200
30 min
Clair Lake Park
Overcast and a little windy, 0C.
Lawn park with woody edges

Compared to the other outings, and due to the time of year, location and weather, very few living things were seen. The park is surrounded by urban development so only small mammals and birds have easy access to it. The fragmentation of the habitat is too much for larger mammals to make their way to the park without walking in roads and people’s property. Some black squirrel and chipmunks were seen, probably looking for some food. Some of the trees were a few willows by the pond, as well as some maple, pine, and birch. There was a lot of bird singing, but since the trees were pretty tall, I could not make them out. The squirrels and chipmunks were likely collecting food or hiding it for the winter as they hibernate and occasionally leave their homes to look for food that they have hid the fall previous. There were a few birds at, but they were in seen but could be heard. Because of the time of the year, there were no flowers in sights. As well, I was expecting to see some geese in the pond but surprisingly there was none.

Publicado el sábado, 07 de diciembre de 2019 a las 09:15 PM por salazarm salazarm | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #2

19/10/30
0930-1030
60 minutes
Becthel Park
Cloudy and Windy, 7C
Boreal Forest/Wetland

Becthel Park is a popular park in Waterloo due to its proximity as well as there is an adjacent dog park to it. Most of the trees were leaf-less and the forest floor was blanketed in bright yellow leaves. Based on the leaves some maple was present, and specifically sugar maple (my best IDing species), pines, I think some of the other tree species were beech and iron wood. Although not 100%, sure I also think there was some white birch (I googled some pictures to compare, but just used the bark as reference). Maybe it was due to the weather since it was pretty cold and windy, but the only animals I saw were two black squirrels and a brown one, as well as a few chipmunks running fast across the forest floor. As well, we passed by a lady walking her two labs (they were really cute). There were some warnings throughout the park as there is a few giant hogweeds, so we made sure to stay clear of them. Not too far into the trail you can see the creek (Laurel Creek) that feeds into the wetland, we went down into the a very small area in front of the stream and saw some very small fish. The water was flowing pretty quick. The park signs advice against going into the wetland so I compromised and just took a peek, it was your typical wetland, but I saw no animals and just a lot of what I think were remains of goldenrod. On our way back it started to drizzle a little bit. Since we stayed on the path (for most of the time) we did not see a lot of animals, I am sure there was probably more within the more concentrated forest area or hiding under the leaf cover.

Publicado el sábado, 07 de diciembre de 2019 a las 08:50 PM por salazarm salazarm | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

ERS 346 Outing #1

19/09/20
1345-1445
60 minutes
Huron Natural Area
Sunny and Humid, 27 celsius
Wetland/Boreal Forest/Meadow

The beginning of the trail of this area was beautiful, the right side of the trail opened into a meadow, full of goldenrod. There were some dragonflies, as well as some butterflies (either monarch or, I could not tell for sure because they were not too close by). Walking further down the path, it went through a mature forest of what I could tell some maple and beech trees, along with some pines. Surrounded by forest was a pond. There was more goldenrod as well as another type of rod growing in the pond banks. As well, there were a few willow trees growing by the pond. I saw some turtles sunbathing, since it was a very hot and humid day, they must have been using the sun to warm up. As well, I saw some frogs closer to the bank of the pond in the shade. Much of the trail was either planted forest, or old growth forest. I heard a lot of birds but did not get a direct look of them. There was a lot of yellow, white, and purple flowers growing out from what I recognized from other classes as some invasive species. Throughout the forested area, a lot of brown squirrels were hurrying and climbing trees, possibly harvesting food for their hibernation as the weather gets cooler. Further into the path it opened into the other side of the meadow trail, full of goldenrods and butterflies, as well as some fennels. We passed some kettle wetlands on the way to a woodland trail as the map said but turned back as the weather was very hot and we had been walking for almost an hour. What i found the most interesting of this walk was that Huron Natural Area had some protected archeological sites. Maybe due to the hot day, the only other people we saw on our way back was a couple walking their puppy.

Publicado el sábado, 07 de diciembre de 2019 a las 08:32 PM por salazarm salazarm | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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