Any Excuse For A Book

So the reason I've been delayed in finalizing the insect species from my recent trip is that all of my books are for eastern North America or the Great Lakes region… not terribly useful when trying to figure out species from the Northwest Territories.

Clearly what I needed to do was buy more books. Obviously.

The dragonfly book is the western equivalent of my beloved eastern go-to guide - the one with the excellent species comparisons - so it was an easy sell. I'll just have to take more western vacations and get my money's worth out of it. The butterfly book I'm going to have to sit with for a while and see if it's what I wanted it to be… it's an older book but came highly rated, I feel like it won't go astray.

Stay tuned!

On The Photosynthetic Side Of Things….

Just to prove that there were indeed some plants on the tundra:

Wooly Lousewort (Pedicularis lanata)

Alpine Bearberry (Arctous alpina)

Alpine Sorrel (Oxyria digyna), with a bit of Arctic Bell-Heather (Cassiope 
tetragona) on the left side, not yet blooming 

Blackish Crazy-weed (Oxytropis nigrescens) and no I am not kidding with that name

Entireleaf Mountain-Avens (Dryas integrifolia)

Flat-top Whitlow-Grass (Draba corymbosa)

Edward's Eutrema (Eutrema edwardsii)… I think

Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia)

Arctic Willow (Salix arctica)

Net-leaved Willow (Salix reticulata)

Summer Adventuring

This year's big adventure was a birding vacation that started in Edmonton, hopped up to Yellowknife, and ended in Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island. It's been fun being able to say that I went to the arctic to escape the southern Ontario heat wave… that may have been coincidence but it was a nice side-effect nonetheless.

The far north is a very interesting place; we tend to take trees for granted here in the south so it's a bit unsettling to suddenly be somewhere there are none. Spring was about two weeks late this year, apparently, which meant when we arrived there was still a lot of ice on the water and the ground was still brown and barren. If I have one disappointment about the trip, it's that I didn't get to see the carpet of colour that the tundra apparently turns into in the height of summer… but even in the four full days of sunshine that we had there (and I do mean full days, there was no night) it's amazing how much started to grow and bloom, so that was its own fascinating experience. And the very big benefit to the situation was that there were no biting bugs to worry about, so as disappointments go this one is definitely not a dealbreaker.

There were a lot of very memorable moments, and a lot of very memorable birds. But the single moment that stands out more than any other came at the end of an hour+ long hike across the tundra, when we stopped near an isolated bay and had four Yellow-billed Loons start singing to each other in an eerie call-and-echo chorus that echoed off the water. That's definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences you never forget.

My life list got a huge boost, too, of course. I wouldn't say I'm a Lister, but I do list, if you can appreciate the difference. Highlights include:

• Greater White-fronted Goose (I chase this one every year when they migrate through, and have never managed to catch one)
• Brant
• King Eider
• Surf Scoter
• Pacific Loon
• Yellow-billed Loon
• American White Pelican
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Sabine's Gull
• Arctic Tern
• Long-tailed Jaeger
• Western Tanager
• Harris' Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird

…among others. Seriously, there were so many birds. Red Phalarope is the one that got away, but that just means I'll have to go back sometime, right?

American White Pelican

Surf Scoter

Bald Eagle

King Eider

American Golden-plover

Greater White-fronted Goose

Snow Bunting

Stilt Sandpiper

Field Season Is Upon Us

Your nature moment for the day: this is the Wavy-Lined Emerald Moth, also known as the Camouflaged Looper for obvious reasons. According to my guide, "our only widespread caterpillar that adorns its body with plant fragments". So stylish!

2017 Recap

In 2017 I participated in several bioblitzes, hiked some lovely trails, and travelled eastward to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The lattermost item in that list was obviously the most exciting in terms of new opportunities to see stuff, though all adventures are exciting in their own way.

My trip was intended to take me to Machias Seal Island to see Atlantic Puffins up close and personal, but nasty weather that day meant the trip didn’t happen. Luckily, I had a second chance in the form of the Bird Islands Important Bird Area (link), which didn’t get me quite as close a view but certainly didn’t disappoint. It was a beautiful day to be out and a very pleasant boat trip out of Englishtown, highly recommended to anyone who plans to be in that area.

I mean. Puffins.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park was also stunningly gorgeous, and I would definitely go back to hike more of the trails there. The Bog Boardwalk trail was short but jam-packed with interesting plants. And the views from the Skyline Trail couldn't be beat.

Bog Boardwalk Trail

Dragon's Mouth

I saw a grand total of 11 new bird species in 2017 (and a whole lot of the 'old' species, too). Lark Sparrow and Dickcissel were locals - the Lark Sparrow was a famous visitor to downtown Toronto (for some reason it really liked hanging around a tiny patch of scrub along a rail line), and there were Dickcissels all over the place in southern Ontario this past summer. The trip east got me Nelson's Sparrow, Ring-necked Pheasant, Common Eider, Common Murre, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Atlantic Puffin, and Black-legged Kittiwake. Finally, I saw my first Bonaparte's Gull on a Nature Guelph group trip down to Hawk Cliff this fall - not a rare bird by any means, just one of those ones that has somehow eluded me until now.

And of course I'm already plotting my next big adventure, to take place end of June - beginning of July 2018. Stay tuned!

Savannah Sparrow

Cobra Clubtail

British Soldier Lichen (and others)

Bald Eagle

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I owe some longer posts on things that have happened this summer, but in the meantime at least have some photos of cool bugs I've found.

Calico Pennant

Banded Hairstreak

American Copper

Large Lace Border

Little Wood Satyr

Great Spangled Fritillary

Unicorn Clubtail

Monarch

Eastern Giant Swallowtail

Northern Blue

Silvery Blue

Least Skipper

Take A (50km) Hike

Somehow I've gotten myself involved in two fundraisers over the next couple of months.

One is the Great Canadian Birdathon... which I admit I only signed up for because I want the tshirt. As far as I can tell the requirement is simply to go birding in the month of May, which I was going to do anyway so it's not a hardship. But it seems gauche to beg money for two things at once, so I made a decent donation to my own 'campaign' to overpay for my 'free' tshirt, and will probably call it even.

The second thing is the Bruce Trail 50 km challenge as per my team page. That one, I'm actively fundraising for. And I really hope the weather is nice on June 25th because otherwise that ~30km of walking is going to be pretty miserable (since there are two of us, we'll be trading off the various legs of the total 50km trek). It'll be a long day, but the last one of these I did was a lot of fun so I have high hopes for this one too.

Making more donations is one of my goals for 2017 (and beyond). There seems to be so much nasty in the world right now, and I know that throwing money at things is not going to make that go away, but maybe it can help in some small way to make some good things to counteract it. Conservation is definitely a cause near and dear to my heart, and the BTC does Good Work towards allowing the preservation and appreciation of some truly beautiful landscapes.

And, I mean. Shiny limited-edition challenge badge. How can I resist?