Splendid Weather for Thanksgiving Weekend

On first appearance the Strathroy sewage lagoons looked almost empty.  All I could see was a few geese and mallards.  With the sun shining and magnificent clouds, I decided to walk the circumference of the north cell, anyways.   Waterfowl appeared in groups: 40 or so ruddy ducks, pied-billed grebes, northern shovelers, american coot, ring-billed, horned grebes, and scaups.

South cell of Stathroy Sewage Lagoons looking east

Strathroy Sewage Lagoons, south cell looking south

With purple knapweed, goldenrod, new england aster still in bloom there were still active pollinators.  Most prevalent were bee mimic flies, followed by asian lady beetles, bombus, sulphurs and cabbage white butterflies.  As well, I spied a single darner dragonfly, a crescent (?) butterfly and a solitary ambush bug. 

The Strathroy wetlands were quite. Good weather made for an enjoyable walk, but there wasn't any visible/audible wildlife to investigate, so my time spent there was brief.

Strathroy Wetlands (Victoria Ave. and Metcalfe Street). 

I also made a kayak trip up the Thames River, starting at the boat launch at Fanshawe and paddling up to the Thorndale Bridge.  It was a spectacular paddle which reminded me of much more remote areas.  The water in the lake was glassy.  Up river the current was strong, making for great exercise.

Eagles carrying branches, basking cormorants, and egrets shared the river with us.  The warmth encouraged peepers to call. And flocks of vocal red-winged blackbirds flew along reedy banks. 

Ever since the trip I have been thinking about how awesome if was. I can't wait to go again.

Thames River, north of  Fanshawe CA - photo taken from my kayak. 

Face-to-Face with a Black Saddlebags Dragonfly

Black Saddlebags is one of the migratory species of dragonflies found in our area.  Yesterday at Hawk Cliff near Port Stanley  numerous Saddlebags and Green Darners went through.  

It is interesting to note that the face of this species is blue. Something I wound't have know until I zoomed right in. 

Fall wildflowers - Gentian/Gentiana

The camera can't quite capture the brilliance of fringed and bottle gentian which seem to glow.  Many gentians are difficult to grow outside their wild habitat, so they can be relatively rare.  It is always a good surprise to find them in a new location.

 The are late bloomers. Some of these photos were taken a late as last Saturday. As my last two posts show there is lots of interesting wildlife to see this time of year.

Bottle Gentian ( G. clausa) from St. Clair Township

Fringed Gentian (G. crinita)  from St. Thomas area

Amazing Mushrooms

As I brush up on mushrooms, anticipating the fungal foray at the end of this month, I have gone on a few self-guided and one group mushroom walk in the last week.  I have seen some pretty interesting mushrooms around, but nothing as spectacular as the grove I found at Clark Wright Conservation Area in Strathroy today.

The rain over the last couple days made for excellent growing conditions.  Get out there and see them while you can!

Large (caps up to 20 cm diameter) Amanitas

This one is for scale... you can see that these Amanitas are enormous. 

Here's another (slightly out of focus) so you can see the scale. 

Here is a map to the location, in case you would like to check them out yourself:
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zNgYPr2eoQfI.kOXqHRAHEVls

Announcing: Fungus Bio-Blitz at Newport Forest

Sunday, October  27, 1:00pm—4:00PM

Rain Date:  Sunday, November 3

Newport Forest is at 22130 Fleming Line near Wardsville, ON

Please bring any of the following items to share with the group:

¨ Mushroom field guides

¨ Hand lens

¨ Specimen containers

fun·gus  (n. pl. fun·gi or fun·gus·es): Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue and range in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies. The kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

The Fungus Bio-blitz is all about learning more about this under-appreciated kingdom.  Activities will be led by Dr. Greg Thorn,  expert mycologist from Western University and three amateur fungophiles: Kee Dewdney, Bruce Parker and Erin Carroll. 

If conditions look unfavourable for October 27, an email will be sent Saturday October 26 at about 8pm letting all registrants know about change of date to November 3.

Please register with Erin Carroll: erin.carroll@gmail.com
Registration is limited, please sign-up early to reserve your spot.Directions will be provided with registration confirmation.