ERS 346 Outing #2

TIME & DATE: 29/09/2019 @ 11:46
DURATION: 135 minutes
LOCATION: Laurel Creek Nature Centre, Waterloo, Ontario
WEATHER: 13°C, gentle breeze (3 on Beaufort Scale), 90-100% cloud cover, no precipitation
HABITATS: Mixed woodland; Old coniferous plantation; Marsh/Pond, Savannah/Early successional woodland

Before I had even entered the Nature Centre’s property, I saw three animals that had been killed on a road that divided a wet meadow and a pine plantation. One was a Short-tailed shrew which, according to a quick Google search, is commonly found near pine forests, grassy areas or riverbanks, and another was a Star-nosed mole, also commonly found in moist habitats. The Red Pine plantation didn’t support much else in terms of vegetation (other than European Buckthorn) but a group of around ten small-to-medium-sized birds stayed awhile, feeding on the pinecones high up in the trees. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what species they were, as I couldn’t get a very good view of them.

Following along the road that leads into the Centre was a Canada Goldenrod-dominated meadow. Here, I saw several species of dragonflies and damselflies, taking advantage of the periodic sunshine and light winds. I ended up at a pond, maybe a metre deep, lined with cattails. It was obvious by the footprints and short trails leading to the edge of the pond that this ecosystem experiences a relative amount of human disturbance – likely from the school groups that attend the Centre. Despite the disturbance, however, I saw ten Northern Leopard frogs (all fairly small) and a very active crayfish. The crayfish was on the mud, about 1 m from the pond’s edge. There was no evidence of a nearby burrow, but he continued to crawl around for the fifteen minutes I was there. I image the calm, shallow, warm waters of the pond and the relatively dense cover provided by the cattails is ideal for crayfish habitat.

Down the trail from the pond/marsh was an early successional woodlot, still with strong remnants of its meadow past with asters, goldenrod, and other fall-flowering species dominating. Several butterflies and bumblebees darted around, enjoying their nectar, while two Turkey Vultures soared above. Into the more mature forest were tall Eastern Hemlock, American Beech and Sugar Maples. Parts of the forest were bare, with only the logs of the White Ash remaining. The Emerald Ash Borer had obviously done its damage here. There wasn’t a lot of animal activity within the forest, perhaps because it was so close to an active soy field, though there was a lot of evidence of woodpeckers – Pileated Woodpeckers, in particular – in the boreholes left on the trees.

Posted on October 2, 2019 03:30 PM by