Anomaly! Earl Plato
“White is white,” but according to Thom Gravelle, who lives on the Niagara Parkway near Townline Road, “Black is black.” Another anomaly this time reported through Thom’s e-mail with great photos included. Anomaly is a word I often use in reporting. To me it means something different, a deviation from the normal. What does a chipmunk look like? You can picture it with reddish brown back with white stripes and a dark band down its centre with an upright tail as it heads toward a feeder. Thom Gravelled gave me four photos of his resident chipmunk. It’s totally black! I quote his message. “This black chipmunk has been living under our deck with a pair of friendly skunks for the past year. He started to reappear two weeks ago and now visits our bird feeders several times a day. We used to have two regular chipmunks visit us but we have not seen then since this little fellow made an appearance.”
Thom adds that anybody they have spoken to has never heard of a “black” occurrence in the chipmunk species. He ends that most claim that it is a baby black squirrel but it hasn’t changed in more than a year. The excellent photos are prove enough for me.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Orchids Next Year
Orchids Next Year Earl Plato
Orchids! Yes, orchids are the attraction. No I’m not going to contact local great garden expert Theresa Forte. Yes, I know she would help.
However, our plan is to visit The west coast of Newfoundland this summer. Why? This is where the late Dave Marr of Fort Erie took his world class shots of area orchids. I watched Dave one morning when he took a half hour to photograph just one Marcy Woods trillium. Exposure, lighting, wind velocity and other factors had to be considered in taking the best shot possible. A perfectionist for sure.
Dave and Joy Marr made a life time hobby of nature photography, Their skills grew and many of us appreciated their efforts.
We have never been to Newfoundland but we have friends who grew up on the island and we know several Ontarians who have been there. All
have the same viewpoint - “Some of the friendliest people in the world.”
Come summer what shall we see? - hopefully whales, icebergs, Viking ruins, sea bird habitats and yes, orchids.
***
At the latest Bert Miller Nature Club Meeting we learned from Mike Cadman, Songbird Biologist, that Wild turkeys have greatly increased in number in Ontario. Elaine and I have seen 50 plus in old Humberstone Towmship off Second Concession and at least 20 plus in Fort Erie near the Jewson farm off Nigh Road. How large a flock have you seen in Niagara this winter? Call me at 905-894-2417 or E-mail - plato1@vaxxine.com and share your observation.
****
This Monday morning about 9:30 a.m. I made a quick drive to Point Abino Hills. Gate closed so I checked in for permission to go to end of Brown’s Road. At the Cudney feeders at the gate Joane reported seeing a Spotted towhee. Great! A big snow plow hill at the end of Brown’s Road but still room for me to park. Two sets of human tracks headed west along the Bert Miller Nature Trail. My hiking boots disappeared in the deep snow and again I needed my knee boots! Plato, think ahead. No return of human tracks - where did they go?
***
Anyone see wild cougar tracks in Niagara lately? Bob Chambers of the Bert Miller Nature Club reported tracks measuring four 3/8 inches wide and 4 1/8 inches long. That’s an imprint in mud. Wow! MNR reported at least five of these large cats living in the Niagara Peninsula! Those are big cats. Ridgeway and Stevensville areas have had sightings of such an animal in recent years. Remember the video clips? Bob’s reported sighting was near Townline Road and Ridgemount near the Niagara Falls city line. Call Bob at 905-382-2626 if you’ve discovered any large cat tracks,
Orchids! Yes, orchids are the attraction. No I’m not going to contact local great garden expert Theresa Forte. Yes, I know she would help.
However, our plan is to visit The west coast of Newfoundland this summer. Why? This is where the late Dave Marr of Fort Erie took his world class shots of area orchids. I watched Dave one morning when he took a half hour to photograph just one Marcy Woods trillium. Exposure, lighting, wind velocity and other factors had to be considered in taking the best shot possible. A perfectionist for sure.
Dave and Joy Marr made a life time hobby of nature photography, Their skills grew and many of us appreciated their efforts.
We have never been to Newfoundland but we have friends who grew up on the island and we know several Ontarians who have been there. All
have the same viewpoint - “Some of the friendliest people in the world.”
Come summer what shall we see? - hopefully whales, icebergs, Viking ruins, sea bird habitats and yes, orchids.
***
At the latest Bert Miller Nature Club Meeting we learned from Mike Cadman, Songbird Biologist, that Wild turkeys have greatly increased in number in Ontario. Elaine and I have seen 50 plus in old Humberstone Towmship off Second Concession and at least 20 plus in Fort Erie near the Jewson farm off Nigh Road. How large a flock have you seen in Niagara this winter? Call me at 905-894-2417 or E-mail - plato1@vaxxine.com and share your observation.
****
This Monday morning about 9:30 a.m. I made a quick drive to Point Abino Hills. Gate closed so I checked in for permission to go to end of Brown’s Road. At the Cudney feeders at the gate Joane reported seeing a Spotted towhee. Great! A big snow plow hill at the end of Brown’s Road but still room for me to park. Two sets of human tracks headed west along the Bert Miller Nature Trail. My hiking boots disappeared in the deep snow and again I needed my knee boots! Plato, think ahead. No return of human tracks - where did they go?
***
Anyone see wild cougar tracks in Niagara lately? Bob Chambers of the Bert Miller Nature Club reported tracks measuring four 3/8 inches wide and 4 1/8 inches long. That’s an imprint in mud. Wow! MNR reported at least five of these large cats living in the Niagara Peninsula! Those are big cats. Ridgeway and Stevensville areas have had sightings of such an animal in recent years. Remember the video clips? Bob’s reported sighting was near Townline Road and Ridgemount near the Niagara Falls city line. Call Bob at 905-382-2626 if you’ve discovered any large cat tracks,
Monday, November 24, 2008
Up the Steps
The Steps-MARCY Woods, fort Erie, Ontario Earl Plato
New steps at Marcy Woods! Over fifty or so leading
steeply up the ridge. A secure railing supports us. Thanks to the DiCienzo family efforts for the complete restoration. I have slipped falling both up and down these steep steps. We have helped repair parts at time. After Dr. Marcy‘s death good maintenance was lost.. No longer now. My photo below shows the new steps that are greatly improved.
Where are you climbing to? You are on the Upper Trail. Turn left and you are heading east. There are secure railings all along. The deep holes that you had to climb in and out are all filled now. You walk on a much more level walkway. Soon you come to a path leading south to the old Marcy cabin. The DiCienzos have restored and cleared this pathway of fallen trees. Again old steps have been replaced. Great! However, we walk back and are taking the Upper Trail that I have called the Bird Trail. This narrow pathway follows the Lower Trail below in a horseshoe fashion. It too ends at the cabin. It is not an easy walk. You are up hill and dale. You eventually reach a ridge. Once you surmount this forested sand hill you are at the highest point. Below is Marcy pond and to the south you can see and hear Lake Erie. Time for a rest. Here each year we see and hear the Red bellied woodpeckers. On occasion we may hear the loud tapping of he huge Pileated woodpeckers in the wetlands to the north.. In spring you may see a variety of migratory birds, It was here we saw a Wilson’s warbler. Birders take some time to enjoy the Bird Trail. Each spring white trilliums border the walkway as they do on the Lower Trail. One year deep in a vale below we saw a fox vixen and two young pups frolicking. Shiny red coats on them all.
The Upper Trail is not an easy walk. Yet in 2009 armed with my trusty walking staff I will walk up the steps and venture on to the Bird Trail of the Upper Trail at Marcy Woods.
New steps at Marcy Woods! Over fifty or so leading
steeply up the ridge. A secure railing supports us. Thanks to the DiCienzo family efforts for the complete restoration. I have slipped falling both up and down these steep steps. We have helped repair parts at time. After Dr. Marcy‘s death good maintenance was lost.. No longer now. My photo below shows the new steps that are greatly improved.
Where are you climbing to? You are on the Upper Trail. Turn left and you are heading east. There are secure railings all along. The deep holes that you had to climb in and out are all filled now. You walk on a much more level walkway. Soon you come to a path leading south to the old Marcy cabin. The DiCienzos have restored and cleared this pathway of fallen trees. Again old steps have been replaced. Great! However, we walk back and are taking the Upper Trail that I have called the Bird Trail. This narrow pathway follows the Lower Trail below in a horseshoe fashion. It too ends at the cabin. It is not an easy walk. You are up hill and dale. You eventually reach a ridge. Once you surmount this forested sand hill you are at the highest point. Below is Marcy pond and to the south you can see and hear Lake Erie. Time for a rest. Here each year we see and hear the Red bellied woodpeckers. On occasion we may hear the loud tapping of he huge Pileated woodpeckers in the wetlands to the north.. In spring you may see a variety of migratory birds, It was here we saw a Wilson’s warbler. Birders take some time to enjoy the Bird Trail. Each spring white trilliums border the walkway as they do on the Lower Trail. One year deep in a vale below we saw a fox vixen and two young pups frolicking. Shiny red coats on them all.
The Upper Trail is not an easy walk. Yet in 2009 armed with my trusty walking staff I will walk up the steps and venture on to the Bird Trail of the Upper Trail at Marcy Woods.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Leaves
Leaves.08 Earl Plato
With the colouring of leaves in Fall comes the inevitable. They fall off. The sequence of the falling of the leaves is like the sequence of the blooming of our Spring wildflowers. It repeats itself each year. Look around the neighbourhood at the leaf bearing trees. The time of their leaf-fall is a characteristic of the individual tree. Across the way from us a Black maple hangs on to its leaves long after other maples have shed theirs. I walk through many nature settings this time of year. I strolled the Friendship Trail east of Prospect Point Road in early October. What I saw first was the downdrift on that calm day of elongated leaves with delicate tints of yellow, salmon and yes, purple. They were leaves of the white ash. Now in late October we see the descent of the crimson of the red maples, the gold of the hickories, the pale yellow of the beech. From now on the woodland scene is spreading out. Elaine pointed to a black walnut tree almost devoid of leaves, “There’s a squirrel nest we hadn’t seen before.” We will learn progressively something new as we see revealed what the dense foliage of summer has hidden. Take a walk and look around for something uncovered by the falling of leaves. Enjoy the great outdoors.
***
We were at the CN Tower just before the power failure at Skydome in Toronto in late August. We were mulling around Canadiana souvenir displays. There they were - great prints of moose in a Canadian wilderness setting. I already have twelve large and small moose paintings and shots on my one wall. One more? Elaine said, “Do you really need it?” Enough said. I have one more article this year about moose. I learned from the Algonquin Park publication, the Raven, some new things about my favourite big animal. Here’s one: Moose often come out to Ontario’s highways in spring. This past early June Elaine and I saw two of the huge beasts both on the highway or next to it. I am told that contrary to the widespread public myth, this is NOT because they are trying to escape biting insects particularly black and deer flies. What! The waiter back at our lodge had told us so. They come instead
to drink the slightly salty water left in the roadside ditches after winter sanding/salting operations. Of course flies will follow the moose and in our case humans onto highways just as readily as anywhere else.
With the colouring of leaves in Fall comes the inevitable. They fall off. The sequence of the falling of the leaves is like the sequence of the blooming of our Spring wildflowers. It repeats itself each year. Look around the neighbourhood at the leaf bearing trees. The time of their leaf-fall is a characteristic of the individual tree. Across the way from us a Black maple hangs on to its leaves long after other maples have shed theirs. I walk through many nature settings this time of year. I strolled the Friendship Trail east of Prospect Point Road in early October. What I saw first was the downdrift on that calm day of elongated leaves with delicate tints of yellow, salmon and yes, purple. They were leaves of the white ash. Now in late October we see the descent of the crimson of the red maples, the gold of the hickories, the pale yellow of the beech. From now on the woodland scene is spreading out. Elaine pointed to a black walnut tree almost devoid of leaves, “There’s a squirrel nest we hadn’t seen before.” We will learn progressively something new as we see revealed what the dense foliage of summer has hidden. Take a walk and look around for something uncovered by the falling of leaves. Enjoy the great outdoors.
***
We were at the CN Tower just before the power failure at Skydome in Toronto in late August. We were mulling around Canadiana souvenir displays. There they were - great prints of moose in a Canadian wilderness setting. I already have twelve large and small moose paintings and shots on my one wall. One more? Elaine said, “Do you really need it?” Enough said. I have one more article this year about moose. I learned from the Algonquin Park publication, the Raven, some new things about my favourite big animal. Here’s one: Moose often come out to Ontario’s highways in spring. This past early June Elaine and I saw two of the huge beasts both on the highway or next to it. I am told that contrary to the widespread public myth, this is NOT because they are trying to escape biting insects particularly black and deer flies. What! The waiter back at our lodge had told us so. They come instead
to drink the slightly salty water left in the roadside ditches after winter sanding/salting operations. Of course flies will follow the moose and in our case humans onto highways just as readily as anywhere else.
The Purple Plaque
Earl Plato
Calls about chipmunks. One caller said, “Earl, we have a black chipmunk. It’s a chipmunk even though neighbours say it looks like a rat.” Anomalies in nature. Sure. Albino chipmunks why not black chipmunks? Black squirrels abound why not some black chipmunks?
Dianne from Niagara Falls e-mailed me with this comment, “My sister, who lives in Toronto in a house with a ravine lot at the back loves the chipmunks. She lures them up close to her house by offering them peanuts. One day while feeding them a cat lurking in the bushes sprang out, pounced on one of the chipmunks and dragged it into the ravine and there was nothing anyone could do.” Dianne’s viewpoint: “Whether well-intentioned in giving the chipmunls treats or a way of entertaining oneself, feeding wild animals can mean their demise in some form or other.” What do you think?
***
No, I didn’t walk the wetland area west of Gorham Road in Ridgeway this year. For a number of years I paced off and recorded the ever increasing expansion of Purple loosestrife. Again side ditches and complete fields in Greater Fort Erie are filled even more with these alien plants. Yes, many people have told me they admire their lavender-purplish blooms. Herbicides, manual extraction, flooding and recently beetles introduced from Europe have been or are being used to halt the invasion. Still the “purple plague” marches on. Try to pull a plant out and realize that its root structure is unbelievably strong. The plant multiplies quickly and worse of all it crowds out other local beneficial plants such as cattails. So? There is no nourishment from Purple loosestrife for indigenous animals to feed on once Purple loosestrife has been established. The plant has interrupted the food chain of several mammals. That’s a fact.
Calls about chipmunks. One caller said, “Earl, we have a black chipmunk. It’s a chipmunk even though neighbours say it looks like a rat.” Anomalies in nature. Sure. Albino chipmunks why not black chipmunks? Black squirrels abound why not some black chipmunks?
Dianne from Niagara Falls e-mailed me with this comment, “My sister, who lives in Toronto in a house with a ravine lot at the back loves the chipmunks. She lures them up close to her house by offering them peanuts. One day while feeding them a cat lurking in the bushes sprang out, pounced on one of the chipmunks and dragged it into the ravine and there was nothing anyone could do.” Dianne’s viewpoint: “Whether well-intentioned in giving the chipmunls treats or a way of entertaining oneself, feeding wild animals can mean their demise in some form or other.” What do you think?
***
No, I didn’t walk the wetland area west of Gorham Road in Ridgeway this year. For a number of years I paced off and recorded the ever increasing expansion of Purple loosestrife. Again side ditches and complete fields in Greater Fort Erie are filled even more with these alien plants. Yes, many people have told me they admire their lavender-purplish blooms. Herbicides, manual extraction, flooding and recently beetles introduced from Europe have been or are being used to halt the invasion. Still the “purple plague” marches on. Try to pull a plant out and realize that its root structure is unbelievably strong. The plant multiplies quickly and worse of all it crowds out other local beneficial plants such as cattails. So? There is no nourishment from Purple loosestrife for indigenous animals to feed on once Purple loosestrife has been established. The plant has interrupted the food chain of several mammals. That’s a fact.
Moose Time
Moose Time Earl Plato
Think big in Norway. Every 20 kilometres or so on major highway N6 a large sign greets you. On it is the head of a bull moose. Like our Ontario deer crossing signs a warning says, “Beware moose crossing.” I have learned that Norway is filled with these giant animals. “Don’t drive at dawn or dusk unless you have to,” cousin Erik said. “If you do, be alert.” Meeting a moose in a low lying sports car can be fatal. He told us of such an incident where the driver, an old friend, was killed as the antlered head of the bull moose crashed through her windshield.
I have stood next to a mounted moose at the Centre in Algonquin Park. It iowered over me. I experienced the same thing in the Trondheim museum this past May. Big? How big is big? Weight 635 kg. - 1400 lb. and at least 7 1/2 feet tall. What a giant animal! To meet such a bull moose on the highway or in the woods would be a memorable experience. I have been in a canoe close to a moose when she emerged from the lake. That image is still etched in my memory. In my workroom I have the framed print of the head of a bull moose and another less expensive print of a pair of moose entering a lake. I took a photo of a huge original painting in the Trondheim museum of an old Bull moose attacked by a pack of wolves. Yhree more recebt actual photos adorn my wall. Yes, I am hooked on the moose, the largest cervid in the world.
From my moose hunting friends and relatives I have learned that moose can be unpredictable during rutting season and therefore dangerous. It is normally a retiring animal and avoids humans.We drove over 1,000 miles through the heartland of Norway during the day, Alas no moose.
Yes, my Norwegian cousins served us moose. It tasted like beef and was delicious. A week before we arrived a cow moose and her young meandered through our cousin’s backyard in Asker only fifteen minutes from downtown Oslo! A beautiful country but think big when you drive. Big, meaning moose.
Think big in Norway. Every 20 kilometres or so on major highway N6 a large sign greets you. On it is the head of a bull moose. Like our Ontario deer crossing signs a warning says, “Beware moose crossing.” I have learned that Norway is filled with these giant animals. “Don’t drive at dawn or dusk unless you have to,” cousin Erik said. “If you do, be alert.” Meeting a moose in a low lying sports car can be fatal. He told us of such an incident where the driver, an old friend, was killed as the antlered head of the bull moose crashed through her windshield.
I have stood next to a mounted moose at the Centre in Algonquin Park. It iowered over me. I experienced the same thing in the Trondheim museum this past May. Big? How big is big? Weight 635 kg. - 1400 lb. and at least 7 1/2 feet tall. What a giant animal! To meet such a bull moose on the highway or in the woods would be a memorable experience. I have been in a canoe close to a moose when she emerged from the lake. That image is still etched in my memory. In my workroom I have the framed print of the head of a bull moose and another less expensive print of a pair of moose entering a lake. I took a photo of a huge original painting in the Trondheim museum of an old Bull moose attacked by a pack of wolves. Yhree more recebt actual photos adorn my wall. Yes, I am hooked on the moose, the largest cervid in the world.
From my moose hunting friends and relatives I have learned that moose can be unpredictable during rutting season and therefore dangerous. It is normally a retiring animal and avoids humans.We drove over 1,000 miles through the heartland of Norway during the day, Alas no moose.
Yes, my Norwegian cousins served us moose. It tasted like beef and was delicious. A week before we arrived a cow moose and her young meandered through our cousin’s backyard in Asker only fifteen minutes from downtown Oslo! A beautiful country but think big when you drive. Big, meaning moose.
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