Tenacious Tree, Rock On Roll'n

Pictures are worth more 

than the words I could add.

Pictures taken about here.

oxygengrowsontrees

Success Arbour Day 2013

New Faces

New Tree Planters

Did not see many of the usuals this year. It was great to many new faces, people who want to be tree planters. We provided, with the support of Millson Forestry Service, over 240 White spruce tree seedlings.

Wonderful to hear where you are going to plant your tree!

Picture and story in the Timmins Daily Press read more

All the pictures I took that day are here

See you next year = hey John where were you his year? We can talk about on hiking day this Sunday.

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Arbour Day Timmins 2013

Arbour Day Timmins

White Spruce Tree Seedlings

by donation

Donation support the work of the Wintergreen fund for conservation. Wintergreen must purchase the trees to make them available for Arbour Day, so please give generously.

Every year John Shaw comes and makes a donation and gets a couple of white spruce seedlings. 

The best time to plant a tree, is 100 years ago. The next best time is tomorrow!

I will be at Mountjoy Historic Park for 10am - noon, come visit me. Others will be at Gillies Lake providing the opportunity to get tree seedlings.

Want to read more about past Arbour Days click here

Wintergreen for Conservation read more see them on Facebook

Citizen Scientists plan to meet in Timmins, Ontario.

We are all

Citizen Scientists 

and 

Wildlife Photographers

The Timmins Naturalists are asking for the help of the public in their data collection efforts.

To that end we are having a workshop on 

Sunday May 05, 2013 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

at the Timmins Public Library 

in the Tembec Room.

The entire agenda can be found here

The short agenda is:
Welcome
Sturgeon restoration
Trail systems and Canoe Routes
Duck Boxes
5 minute break
Turtles, Snapping, Painted, Blanding's, Turtle Tally
Bats, and their Future
Citizen Science
Wrap up. Thanks you.

A note on Wildlife Photography. Everyone, well almost everyone, now carries a gizo that will take a digital picture. I carry a flip phone that will take a picture, but I have never used the camera. I also carry a small digital camera with me always and a digital video camera with me most of the time. My first reaction when I see something is to get a camera out.

One exception last fall. The dog and I are walking in the thick bush. I am being careful and watching my step. Suddenly I hear a low grunting sound and look up to almost face to face with a moose. It grunted while it's head swayed back and forth. It took a step towards me, I took a step back. Nose to nose ~5 meters. I was not thinking about my camera. When the dog finally joined me the moose moved off, only then did I think of the camera. Got a shot of the backside in the thick brush.

What we need is all of you photographers to take a picture and send me a note of where you took the picture. When I get a picture or a phone call I put the sighting on the Observations Naturally page and forward the observation to the information keepers. (Turtles to the Turtle  Tally etc.) I have kept this page up since 1994.


Previous Oxygen Grows on Trees entries for Citizen Science

111th Christmas Bird Count Results. read post
You are a Scientist - Citizen Science. read post
Timmins Checklist of the Birds. read post
You are a Scientist. read post
Butterflies in Timmins. read post
What We Do Citizen Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. read post

2013 Successful Winter Hiking Day

Nice Weather

Nice People

Nice Fire

Nice Trails

Another successful hike.

MRCA page read more and they have more pictures on their FB page facebook

Timmins Times read more see more pictures

2012 winter hiking day story, links and pictures. click here


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Growth on Cedar - HELP

What is this? 

What is going on here?

It is huge on this cedar.

I will have the section removed and will bring it to my lab.

And by lab, I mean my office. And when I say office, I mean in the office for a day until it must be removed. I need to measure, but the tree is about 70cm in diameter so the growth is very big.

In this area I did see 2 or 3 more with much smaller similar growths.  How does this happen? what is this?

This is where the tree is  view map

Help me out.

Archie's Rock Pictures and Video

With Archie Chenier

 @ Archie's Rock

Great field trip!

I could tell you more, much more, but you can see pictures and read more from the Timmins Times here

Archie tells his story, at 88 he is going strong. You can see it on  youtube.

All the pictures I took that day you can see here.

We also found a geocache on the trail to the top of the rocks.

Learn more about geocaching, start at the page that describes the
Archie's Rock geocache. learn more

Mully's Musings with Mike Mulryan includes a note about the trip too. read more

This picture to the right, is just another example of the tenacity trees. This tree is growing on rocks 5 meters in the air.

Made a quick google map so you can see exactly where the rock is located and how to get there.

Join this page to keep up to date on Timmins Naturalists events, or send me an email so I can add you to the distribution list.

keep in touch

Timmins Times talks Archies Rock

Archie Chenier 

leads Timmins hikers to Archies' Rock

Len put up some great pictures too.

read more

This Week in the Forest

Between the rain days

Great walking days

This week had a couple of really nice days to be in the bush. These days are the days that blur work and recreation. I just love to be able to walk and talk my day away in the forests.

Talk? Yes. I talk to the birds that fly close chirping me. I talk to the squirrel that screams at me 'cause I am too close to it's trees.

Today a stood still as I could hear an animal trotting on the forest floor, not running, just moving a good pace. It was a rabbit just making it's way along the forest floor. I stood still, soon a martin followed in the tracks. 

He lost the scent, I think the rabbit went past me too close and my scent covered the track. The martin circled a tree next to me. It climb the tree and nattered at me. I did take some pictures, but my little camera did not produce for me.

This week in pictures:

Very big Cedar must have burn years ago

only the very big stumps are left in this young (~90 year old) stand

Where is the martin?
Maybe you can see him, the camera I carry with me everywhere is small and light,
but it is not the greatest wildlife camera.

I got here just after it started to burn. Buddy told me the engine lost power,
started to smoke and within minute the whole motorhome was up in flames.
No one hurt. He did save his guitar!
Turned around and the thing was up in flames.

Roll'n still comes to the bush, but only on days where I do not walk.
He has wore himself out and can not come on the 1km + walks, his legs can't take it.

Road building. My truck is the first on the new bush road.

Class trip to the Millson Complex on Dalton Road.
I am looking fat in my jump suit,
I think it is the jump suit and the way I am standing - ya, ya that's it.

What will next week bring?

It was a good week.

Snow in Timmins - First for 2012

FROSTY FOTOS

I love the first snow falls. Warm snow sticking to everything.

Drive on the way to work 

I cross a bridge on the way there. Point my camera down the creek. 

I like the cold frosty branches in contrast to the warm rocks and water. 

Across the frosty bulrushes you can see the warm water is 

keeping the lower part of the trees melted while the tops are covered in wet snow. 

Branches are heavy with wet snow. 

The line between warm and cold is easy to see in the trees.

Compressed bio-fiber fire log

The next best thing to sliced bread, no no! The next best thing to firewood.

The btu's of a bio-fiber log is almost twice that of well seasoned white birch firewood.

More information here

Black Ash Compound Leaf this Fall

Thinking about the 
Black Ash Compound Leaf.

Just sitting on a log watching the tree leaves falling around me.
I watch a compound leaf of a black ash falling from the top of the crown.
The large leaf with the smaller leaves turns slowly as it spins to the forest floor.

I had never really thought about it, but I always figured each little leaflet would fall, not the entire compound leaf. While I walked I pondered the idea, and yes it makes sense the entire compound leaf would fall. The leaf would disconnect at the branch, just like simple leaves.

Right and Wrong


see where this photo was taken


It would seem that early in the fall the entire compound leaf does fall, but later into the season the small leaflets that make up the compound leaf.  The picture above is the stem of the compound leaf still on the branch. It fact it was a little hard to pull the stem off.

We do not have many trees here in the north with compound leaves. I will have to pay more attention the next time I am walking in the forest in the fall.

What have you seen?  I saw a horsechestnut, what is that? while in Niagara I saw a big one, but it was still a month before the leaves would start to fall.

Ontario trees and shrubs with compound leaves. read more

White Birch Bark Tubes.

The Birch fell in the Forest

No one heard it fall

It did not make a sound

This tree I would think has been laying on the forest floor for at least 20 years.  

The wood on the inside has disintegrated, rotted, just poured it out when I picked up the pieces.

These are very cool. I wish I could come up with some use for these.

They are great for fire starting!

I am sure an artist could make something great.

Thought someone would buy these, but there has been a bunch on the Millson Webstore look now for years and no one has ever bought one. Many have asked me for one, but they are no easy to carry out of the bush when you have your hands full with work. 

map of find

read similar post

Wasp Nest in the Trees

Built into the branches - Great Architecture! 

Paper wasp or is it a yellow jacket wasp?

They are awesome!

Well, at a distance anyway.

Two weeks ago I stepped right into a nest. The same wasps that build nests in the trees also build nests in the ground.

The other day, while I was walking in the bush I stood for a moment, the sting I was getting on my wrist suggested I should look more carefully. Looking down I realized I was standing on a nest, better then that I had actually ripped it open.

Run... Run Away!!!! Only one sting. Good for me.

As it turns out I followed until I came back to where I started. GPS is great, can take you back to the esact same location. Shit I walked  in to the hive twice???! But I ran faster this time, no sting!

Many different types of wasps University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Wasps are beneficial, an essential part of our ecosystem read more

Even the birds are afraid of wasps, U of Guelph

Homeowner Guide to Yellowjackets, Bald-Faced Hornets and Paper Wasps read more

Oxygen Grows On Trees

Art of Fire - Forest Fire Leaves Art

ART

in the eye of the beholder

Walking in the smoke all day, may make my photographic eye a bit foggy.

No, blame the camera, it just could not catch the interesting forms left after the fire moved through the area.

I also did not have time to stand around thinking about the shape, the background, the lighting.

Branch of the birch tree burned well into the truck of the tree.

This stump in the cutover was hollowed out, leaving the burned roots exposed.

This white pine seems to be well protected by the thick bark. This may be the white pines first fire, and it may not be the last one it sees. 

Usually the white cedar swamps do not burn. This fire the wind was high, the temperature was high and the relative humidity was low.  This swamp burned in the trees and the ground remained untouched in some places.

Looks like the fire burned fast over the ground. Some areas were missed and  it did not burn very deep.   Ferns continue grow, some even had the tips burn off and then just re-shoot.

This location was burned maybe a week before  I took this picture.  The little yellow needles on the ground are the dried needles off the tamarack.  When you walk the needles continuous fall.

 Fire a natural part of the forest ecosystem.

Timmins Fire Situation

Where to find the facts

I made a map of
Fire #9 May 24, 2012 2200hr in google maps.

It is rough but you can generally see what the fire effected.

City of Timmins updates twice a day.

OMNR information can be found here.

Ferns and frogs eggs; bridge no more.

Ferns are starting to come up.

go now

Like a ribbon of seeds to be panted in the garden, these seeds produce amphibians.

Looked into this big puddle and my first thought was : that is a huge worm!

Give your head a shake. Reminds me of my first week in Timmins. On our way to the airport, we pass some big houses, big yards too. Around the corner and at first glance I think "someone  has lost a horse". I am glad I realize a moose before I said anything. The northerns in the truck would still be laughing at me.

This is not a huge dead worm in the puddle. No lifting them gently reveals a black ovals inside a gel like tube. I suspect toad eggs. Guess I will go see if I can identify them on some site.

Can you help?

 go now






ex-Bridge
Cultural Heritage or Garbage?

Artifact?

This is on crown land. No one or everyone in Ontario is the owner.

One day it will rust enough to fall into the water. One day it will ave rusted so much there will nothing left.

Until that day, all the metals and chemicals will continue to enter the surface water.

Artifact or garbage, have your say.

Great Honed Owl Release.

The Owl Foundation

asked for 

HELP!

3 owls were coming form Vineland to be release close to where they had been found or injured.
My role was to pick up 2 owls in New Liskeard and release one in Matheson and hand one off to Brian in Timmins to be taken back to Kapaskasing.

 A barred owl was released just north of North Bay.
The Great Grey Owl in the video was released just west of Matheson.
The third was picked up in Timmins to be released in Kapaskasing.

The story of the Matheson owl is that it was young and must have fallen from the nest. It was too young to get back to the nest and certainly would have become a small meal for something.

Where the owl was released was only meters from where it had been found.

Brian tells me he had injured the bird when he hit it, I presume with his car.

The Owl Foundation 

Timmins Naturalists provided support for the transportation

Successful Winter Hiking Day

Winter Hiking Day in Timmins

A great Success!

A long hike and a shorter hike was the option. 

Hot chocolate and juice was available to all after the hike. 

Some got to go home with the checklist of the birds poster and 

others left with the Timmins Honour Roll of Trees flash card 

or the Observations Naturally flash card. 

These are still available at the Wintergreen Fund for Conservation office.

The Daily Press was there to record the event.

You can read the story online at

The Daily Press

Richard Moore was also on hand 

to provide excellent and knowledgeable information 

about birds seen at the feeders and on the rest of the hike. 

Richard can identify well over 150 birds by sound! 

Fresh Air

New Friends

Buzz about the birds

The pines really spruce up the forest

Little critters under the snow, tracks in the snow too.

Edmund Fitzgerald

 Thanks http://janesjewels.blogspot.com

This Day In History

Greetings!

A new feature at Jane's Jewels will be the occasional 'This Day In History'. Today's story takes place on Lake Superior, that huge, treacherous, yet oh so beautiful Great Lake. I lived in Thunder Bay for six years during my late teens/early twenties, and what I remember most about my time there was the wind, which never seemed to stop blowing.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that made headlines after sinking in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew. When launched on June 8, 1958, she was the largest boat on the Great Lakes, and remains the largest boat to have sunk there. Nicknamed the "Mighty Fitz", "Fitz", or "Big Fitz", the ship suffered a series of mishaps during her launch: it took three attempts to break the champagne bottle used to christen her and she collided with a pier when she entered the water. (Wiki)

Gordon Lightfoot immortalized this tragedy in his haunting 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald'. This song quite often comes to mind when I hear or see the word November; in fact that's how I ended up profiling this story.