What’s going on out on the land?
Parasitic Zombie Fungus Infecting Cyanide Secreting Milipedes
I went out with the tracking club on the weekend and while out we kept coming across these yellow and dark brown/black millipedes hanging out on the top of narrow stumps about a meter (~3 feet) off the ground.
Who’s this flying bug? Late Spring 2021
I know it’s past the Summer Solstice, but I found most of these bugs before the Solstice so I am counting them as such. Here are some species I am seeing out on the land that I want to learn more about.
Tracking journal for June 13, 2021. Orangeville Sandpits
The first popsicle sticks were going in and I was coming up from behind everyone. A couple of people mentioned some details about some possible tracks, and others noted that they could see sand. I circled around trying to get a better view myself, but I couldn’t see much at all. Then the sun came out from behind the clouds, and the tracks appeared, with the popsicle sticks placed carefully behind the imprint of the heels. Two things clicked in that moment. I recognized the gait pattern in the popsicle sticks, and once that happened, I started to see the tracks.
Who’s This Plant?
A few questions about a plant unknown to me from a recent walk. Some of the answers were much harder to source than others. Hopefully more resources can emerge that might help other folks like me who’ve got a ton of questions about all the fun stuff we’re finding.
Predated Mallard nest
Returned to a Mallard nest only to find that someone had come along and eaten the eggs. Thus began the search for clues to sort out who was the predator? An old fashioned whodunnit, tracker style.
Osprey and headless fish at Bishop Mac
I went out to Bishop Mac with my pal Tamara to practice trailing Deer and Coyotes but when we got there we watched an adult Osprey fly in with a Goldfish and land atop a nest. We watched as the adult leaned over the brim and two small Osprey heads emerged. Almost as soon as the Osprey had arrived they took off again with the Goldfish still in their talons. We both thought this was strange…
Whose Nests Are These? (Ground Nests)
Three small descriptions of finding different ground nests. I offer them as a game. I do not name the birds in the three accounts but offer images of the nests themselves and some features of the eggs and the nest sites. See if you can use the clues I leave to figure out whose nest is whose?
To Know The Land Means To Support Those Whose Land It Is We Are On.
Earth Day Reflections : What do settler facilitators of interspecies communications, instructors of landbased skills, and “ancestral practices” think when confronted by the notion that these skills and teachings do not directly contribute to the decolonial projects of indigenous peoples? How can we work towards supporting struggles for #landback and indigenous sovereignty on their ancestral homes?
Violets and the Telling of the Bees
What happens to the world when we stop to watch and listen? What new things do we notice? What old things do we see in new angles and shades or light? What happens to us when we stop to watch and listen? What happens to us when the world stops to watch and listen to us? Can we feel a sense of being heard and understood when we speak with pets, plants, or planet?
The First Flutterby/Butterfly of the Year.
Looking into the life cycle and natural history of the first lepidopteran of the spring, the Mourning Cloak.
Another Question Book Post
I was talking with a colleague about howling at their farm and I got to wondering if Coyotes howl while hunting? It seems a little counter intuitive for me as I am always trying to get quiet when I am out tracking with folks. We are trying our best to sneak up on animals and avoid giving away our positions. Perhaps because our eyes are our dominant sense we don’t need to rely too heavily on sound to navigate with others, but what about Coyotes?
More from Star Carr
Star Carr is a Mesolithic/middle stone age archeological site found in what is now North Yorkshire in England. The site was likely inhabited a few centuries after the end of the last major ice age of the Pleistocene, at the beginning of the warmer, post-glacial Holocene 11,500 yrs ago, around 9300-8500 BCE (about 800 years of occupation at the site), when Britain still attached to rest Europe by a landbridge (folks would have been able to walk from Star Carr to Denmark, or Northern Germany until about 6,200 BCE).
I wrote previously a short piece about the skull and antler pieces found at Star Carr and since have been so intrigued I wanted to learn more. So I am writing this post just to help organize what I know so far.
Tracking through the Poplars
I was out at the University of Guelph Arboretum tracking, looking high and low along the edges of small area bordered by White Pines, Eastern White Cedars, and within a small Poplar grove. Around the periphery of the grove, there were human and domestic dog trails boxing in the Poplars with only a little traffic weaving between them.
I skirted along the edges, ducking under the Pines looking for signs of whomever might be living in the space, or at least passing through looking for food.
Rock Dove Kill site?
I was on my morning walk along the riverside when up the path I came across a large pile of feathers.
I love how a simple walk in the morning, just to get out of the house can turn into a chance to really look at the details of a killsite and study the gaits of the possible predators, and look at the structure of a feather. What amazing teachers these wild neighbours are.
Tracking along the Eramosa River, Jan 17, 2021
Today I went out to find Beaver sign which a friend had told me about yesterday evening. He had seen what looked like a trail emerging from the river, heading up the bank and into the scrubby wooded edge on the far side of the river from a trail by his house and was thinking it was a Beaver. I had previously seen Beaver signs further up the river when I was out trailing an Opossum a few weeks ago and it would be likely that the Beavers up there would come down to his neck of the woods. I thought I would go and check it out.
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit killsite on the way to work
The blood was still bright and vibrant when I took the photo. That's what first caught my eye while walking by, the living red against the white. Tufts of brindly hair strewn about the edge of the Staghorn Sumac grove, with lots of Rabbit pellets punctuating the bounding tracks through the snow.
I couldn't make it all out with the short time I had but I have a feeling the Coyotes were coming from the Southeast, making their way Northwest. More wild spaces Eastwise, and the city was behind me to the West. The Coyote tracks are often headed Westwise, flowing with the river.
Who are you? Trentepohlia Algae
A couple of days ago, I found sign of orange growth spreading across some tree bark. I didn’t know what it was but had seen it many times before and had never figured it out. Finally I did. I wanted a place to deposit everything I am learning about Trentepohlia so I figured I would make a blog post and update as I learn more. Here’s what I have so far.
Question book 4 : What do the mating habits of a Grey Squirrel look like?
When I was out I came across some Grey Squirrel tracks with blood beside them. I first thought this might be the same sort of preestrous cycle for the Squirrel…
It got me wondering about the reproductive cycles of one of the most common conspicuous mammal species in my area. When do Grey Squirrels mate? How many partners do they have? Do they mate in the trees, on the ground? How many little Squirrelings do they have? Are they pups, kits, kittens?
So I figured I would look some of this up and try and write it out.
Tracking Journal Jan 01, 2021
There were familiarities and mysteries while out tracking with Carolyn. She asked if I wanted to go check out a some Hemlocks she knew and I, as per usual, was down. She picked me up and on route she asked if we should go look at the Beavers she’d been visiting with her family. Again, I was down.
Tracking Journal, Dec 30, 2020
I went back to the spot along the river trail where I encountered the Opossum trail a few weeks ago hoping that I may find the sign of something or someone out in the newly fallen snow. I did find something…