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.

Squirreled Away

No one is home - go away!

Great home for a red squirrel.  Roll'n was not impressed that he could chew his way into the home of the little creature.

I picked up the dog so the dog could take a better look.  He wanted in so bad, but he was a little too big.

map where the house was found.

Birds enjoy when you are creative with cones

Cones Grow On Trees

The white pine cone comes from the tree that is our arboreal emblem. It has the largest cone of any conifer in Ontario. Timmins Honour of Trees.

The red pine has a smaller cone, when open it makes a perfect ball for many different crafts and activities. The red pine cone is a favorite for wreaths and other crafts.

Lynn, of the Porcupine Photography Club, recently got a bag of cones from me. Cones available here. She took them up to Hersey Lake and added peanut butter and seed before hanging them up. The birds and squirrels found them quickly. map

Side note: while adding the link to the Photography Club I got side tracked and had to look at all the pictures. There are some great pictures there. Thought I would be able to pick a favorite, but I could not.

Lynn captured a red squirrel, a black capped chickadee and a whiskey jack

Fox in the Forest

Fox den in the forest under an erratic. Now that is something to write home about, or blog anyway.

I have driven by this hole in the wall of a sand edge. I just had to take a closer look. I asked Roll'n to stick his nose in the hole and tell me what he thought. He was not interested at all. I expect the hole has not been used for awhile.

I think it is a red fox den for a number of reasons, the biggest reason is the feathers at the entrance. Little while feathers of a bird, I am thinking ruffed grouse. Fox like bush chickens.

Den den is in a well drained spot with a very large erratic sitting on the top. I looking in the hole and took a picture of the roots pushing into the hole. . . . uuummm I wonder what lies just beyond.

To find out I reach in as far as I can and take a picture. Turns out it is empty as far as the camera can see. Good for me. Maybe I have seen too many movies, but it is never a good idea to stick your whole arm into an unknown tunnel.

White Cedar Strip Down to Show All

What is going on here?

I have been seeing this in young cedar over the last couple of years. Maybe I just never noticed before , but now I seem to see it a lot. Seemingly healthy young cedar are shedding their bark in strips.

In many cases the bark has been striping around the entire tree. I always thought that if the bark was removed from around the entire tree - it would die. It seems these guys are all doing pretty well.

So what makes this happen?

Will they survive?

I hope someone will be able to help.

I will continue to search for the answer when I find it I will post.

What else did I see today? Just a little snow, but most of the shallow still water if frozen. I Roll'n chase a red squirrel that I was sure was in his mouth at one point. Those little critters are fast!! He loves the chase and sure would like to do more catching.

The Red Squirrels look really healthy. Big bushy tails and lots of fur. Big and bushy I think more then normal. I wonder if this means more cold then normal?


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Little creatures prepare for winter - Cone Cache

I was not out to collect cones today, lucky for some little creature
of the woods. I suspect it is a red squirrel that made this little cache of black spruce cones.

The squirrel will climb up a tree and bite off all the branches that have cones on them. It is a smart way of getting the maximum number of cones to the ground with the least amount of energy.

The clumps of cones are then removed one at a time and put into a neat little pile. Much like a beaver that will store food under water for winter a red squirrel will store cones that will be under the snow to be retrieved later.

Each cone can contain between 15 to 30 tiny seeds.

At the bottom of the trees in the area are many little chopped off branches with the cones removed.

While I was taking the picture of the cone cache another creature let me know they were getting ready for winter. I could hear a flock of Sandhill cranes overhead. They are starting to fly together as they prepare to fly south. Their chevron flight may look like Canada geese when they are far away, but the low croaking sounds give them away.

A small creek I walked beside was frozen over with very thin ice.