Tenacious Tree, Rock On Roll'n

Pictures are worth more 

than the words I could add.

Pictures taken about here.

oxygengrowsontrees

Observations this summer - What did you see?

New birds added to the 

Timmins Checklist of the birds!

Summer is done and this fall I will work on updating the Observations Naturally page and the Timmins Checklist of the Birds.

SNAKES - turns out I am not the only one to notice lots of snakes this year on the roads. It seems there was hardly a week went by that I was not avoiding a snake crossing the road. Many never even moved until I got out of the truck and went back to make sure I missed. They must be loving the heat from the sun this summer.

I was sent an interesting picture of a ruffed grouse with a snake in it's mouth. Guess it was going to work on it as it's meal for the week.

TURTLES - I did not see one this year! I did get some notes on what you saw. Highlight being another sighting of the Blanding turtle at Gillies Lake. I have also had a report of a small snapping turtle at Gillies. I still have not seen photographic evidence of the sightings.

If you see a turtle in the area I would love to know where you saw it, and I would really really like to see the pictures you took of it!

TURKEY VULTURE - Lots of conversation about the turkey vulture. Groups of them seen at the boat launch, one seen on the ground at a moose carcass on Dalton rd. Eagle seen on the carcass another time. Love to see this bird, it is so distinctive in the air.

BALD EAGLE - I know the last 2 years the Bald eagle has stayed all year, at least one at the Deloro landfill. Last week it was reported that there were at least 4 hanging around at the dump. Christmas Bird Count here in Timmins had a pair of Bald eagles reported! I even have video of the pair. see it now

Let me know what you are seeing out there. Always interested in your sightings.

Oxygen Grows On Trees

Kelowna BC, walk in the park.

One Week in Kelowna

They got Nature there too.

Swimming in Lake Okanagan

This is the GPS track file of where we walked and how we got there. The trail takes you through tunnels and over former train trestles.  The camera marker is where the yoga picture of me was taken. 1 meter behind me was a 5o meter drop, Mom was a little freaked out. "What's the worst that could happen??"  http://goo.gl/maps/i9pF0

Many of the trestles were destroyed in the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, which happened 10 years ago. 238 homes were lost and the fire was almost 24,000 hectares. read more

We also went to a new start-up that has constructed suspension bridges and a giant sundial.

The pool has a wave ride. I was able to stand for a minute after the 10th try, I wipe out good, got a few laughs from the young ones watching.

Loved to see all the different trees!  Northern Ontario has so few species compared to the hills of Kelowna.

High Falls Hike a Great Success!!

High Falls Hike

Even my tennagers had fun!!

Follow  for information on more hikes and events to come.

Map of High Falls Hike location is on MapsGoogle

All the pictures I took are here

The video I shot is now on Youtube see it now

The story of the hike in the Timmins Times, with more pictures. Take a look

Please suggest next hike location. Where have you always wanted to go?

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THVS high school turns to Millson to learn about Forestry.

THVS Delta Class

Learning about the forest

at Millson Forestry Service.

We put them all to work removing cones from branches. Most of them even participated. \

One young lad holds a piece of tree stem that came from a plantation that the Twains planted. Written on the bottom is Shania Twain planted this tree. I don't know if she actually planted the tree, but she was there. This tree is part of a display that was available for the Shania Twain fan club, they would tour the facility as part of the week of celebrating the Timmins star.

Follow Millson on Twitter click here

Millson Forestry Service FB album read more

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

Archie's Rock Tour

The Wintergreen Fund for Conservation is organizing a hike to Archie’s Rock this Sunday,
October 21.

We will be meeting in front of the Conservation Authority office at the Gillies Lake Conservation Area at 11 AM.  We will car/truck pool to the site the best we can.  If you prefer, you can meet us at the White Birch Restaurant at the Star Lake Road at 11:45.

Archie’s Rock is located just south of Star Lake west on Highway 101.  The Rock is an unique landscape feature left behind by glaciers 10,000 years ago.

The day will feature a short guided tour to the rock.

On The Rocks Today

Cedar, Snake, Rock!

This little cedar has been doing great the last couple of years, 

even though it is growing in almost no soil.

This little snake was enjoying the sunny warm day, until Roll'n and I disturbed it.

Just a little one soaking up the the warm fall day.

I think someone has been here before.

Looks like advanced exploration has come and cleaned the rock to get a good look at the gold.

I did not see any gold.

I don't know what to look for anyway. Rocks are not my thing, trees are.

This is where I took the pictures see the map

Timmins Honour Roll of Trees

The gofor group 

Oxygen Grows On Trees

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.

Varved Clay today on the road

A Glacier was here, and I saw the art that it left behind. map

Varved clay is an accumulation in proglacial lakes of yearly-couplets of lacustrine beds called varves: during the summer, silt (light gray in color) settles and accumulates and in the winter, when the lake is ice bound (frozen over), clay-sized material (dark gray in color) settles and accumulates.

[The origin of till, outwash, varved clay, and loess]

I was first introduced to varved clay when I was kayaking on the Fredrickhouse Lake map.

There is an eroding shoreline that is stripped with different soil layers and colours. When I got home and did some reading I discovered varved clays.

Later I would work for Ontario Parks and find out the location I had been looking at was actually a non-operating Provincial Park. Fredrick House L. Provincial Nature Reserve March 1985. map

Here is a very interesting paper by the National Research Council Canada. December 1954 some

of our tax money produced a paper called "A Laboratory Study of Varved Clay from Steep Rock Lake". I am guessing it is this lake north of Atikokan, Ontario.

You can see information on the Steep Rock Lake Mining and see a picture of the lake with no water in it here.

Old Rocks and Really Old Rocks in Timmins

I learned a little bit about some rocks near Timmins last week.

Took my son for a tour to look at the interesting formation.

What is the kid looking at?

This is my understanding :

A crack in the billion year old rock, the Canadian Shield, had magma from the mantle of the earth fill that crack.

That crack was filled and the glacier that was more then a kilometer thick here smoothed out the surface. To me it looks like cement has been poured to fill the gap in the rock.

It is young rock, just 100 million years old, between old rock, maybe billion years old.

I do not remember what he called the formation.

I would never have noticed if it was not pointed out to me. I guess I need to look under foot more often. Usually where I am walking the rock is under a rooted mat of material.