Field Trip to Maquapit Lake

Bur Oaks and More

Bur Oak

On Friday past a friend and I went on a field trip to see a stand of Bur Oaks near Maquapit Lake.  Bur Oaks are not common in New Brunswick and to see a stand of them was an exciting prospect.  It was a sunny day about 10ºC.  Our fall colours are a bit past their peak but never-the-less are still beautiful.

The habitat was mainly lowland hardwood with a rich understory of ferns, blueberries, and other plants.  The overstory was dominated by water maples, red maples, balsam poplars and oaks.  The oaks were mainly bur oaks with very few red oaks.  We estimated there were at least 50 bur oaks, mostly mature trees.  We measured three of the largest and their diameters were 86, 78, and 66 cm.  Those were big oaks!  Pictured above is a view looking up into one of them.  They still had some of their foliage left although much had fallen off.

Bur Oaks

The Bur Oak's range extends from eastern Canada to the prairies and south through the mid-western states to Texas.  It is a hardy species being able to withstand fire and drought.  Note the thick bark shown below which protects it from fire. 

Bur Oak Bark

Bur Oak Leaf

The Bur Oak was an important source of food for aboriginal peoples.  The acorns are edible and today provide a food source for mammals and birds.  I have searched for bur oak acorns under nearly every tree I have found over the years and I always find a lot of acorn debris but rarely intact acorns.  They are all chewed open or show evidence of worm holes.  I suspect the animals are practically under the trees waiting for them to drop or the squirrels are in the canopy harvesting them before any other creature gets a chance.  It would be fun to harvest a few and boil them up to see what they taste like.  They have been found in archaeological digs going back 5,000 years showing they were an important source of food for our ancestors.  

Bur Oaks

Pictured below is the bark and leaves of the Red Oak.  Note the similarity the red oak bark shows with the Bur Oak.  The leaves are quite different.

Red Oak Bark

Red Oak Leaves

According to "Edible Wild Plants" by Lee Allen Peterson, the acorns of both the white and red oaks are edible although the red oaks are not as desirable as the white oaks.  The Bur Oak is a white oak and the acorns are apparently sweet.  The nuts (acorns) of white oaks can be used for flour, meal, or eaten as nuts or candy.  They are usually shelled and boiled to remove the tannins and then dried and roasted.  Dried nut meats can be dipped in maple sugar and eaten as candy or ground into a meal and used to make breads and muffins.  They are an excellent source of protein and fat.

The habitat we were in was on the shores of a marsh leading into Maquapit Lake.  The scenery there was beautiful as noted in the image below.  

Maquapit Lake Marsh

The waterfowl habitat in the marsh was excellent.  We found wild rice (Zizania) growing and other abundant food for waterfowl.  We happened upon a large flock of about 50 Wood Ducks and 20 Green-winged Teal.  See below.  We also found 5 Great Blue Herons.  

Ducks Feeding and Preening in the Marsh

Wood Ducks with Green-winged Teal in Background

Happy Tail: Havoc

In honor of Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month, we would like to share a wonderful success story of a shelter dogs who found his forever home!  Here is an awesome success story that demonstrates the love and compassion that shelter animals are capable of!

Havoc
Many of us can relate to having a house full of four-legged family members, just like Dawn and Mark Lubbart. They are avid Animal Friends supporters, having adopted from us multiple times. Thirteen years ago they adopted their first dog, Thor, who quickly became the love of their lives. 

Next they added Cyclops, a wonderful puppy who unfortunately developed seizures. Without missing a beat, Dawn and Mark worked with him and bonded closely with their poor baby boy. After many trials and errors, they figured it out and Cyclops has been seizure-free for quite some time!

In May of 2015, a month after having to send their beloved Thor over the Rainbow Bridge, this wonderful couple decided to adopt again. After spending over three hours with Eric, an Animal Friends' Adoption Counselor, Dawn and Mark fell in love with Havoc, then named Elliot, and decided to welcome him into their loving home. 

Havoc was extremely fearful at the shelter but has since made incredible improvements, with the help of this loving parents and furry sibling. We are so grateful for people like Dawn and Mark who give shelter animals the fighting chance they deserve. They have been rewarded with a lifetime of love and we look forward to helping them in the future should they decide to adopt again!

Animal Friends is Providing Treats, Not Tricks, for Residents

In light of the Halloween season, Animal Friends is again providing some not-so-spooky enrichment for its shelter residents based on this ghoulish holiday. Our eerily creative Animal Enrichment Specialist, Suzanne Denk, cooked up a “Halloween Enriched Environment Trail” for our shelter dogs this past weekend!

The first stop on the trail was a pool of leaves, with hidden tasty treats, requiring dogs to use their noses to find them. Another scent game included sealed boxes with holes to tempt canine noses. Fresh hay, herbs and apple cinnamon air fresheners were hidden inside the boxes.

Spooky hanging obstacles (pool noodles) were used as a confidence builder for our shyer shelter residents (you can also stick treats in the hollow end of the pool noodle to entice shy dogs to approach).

Many made a quick stop at the festive Jack-o-Lantern duck pond and then it was on to the final stop of the trail – The Magic Potion Cheese Tree. Treats were stuck to the tree with a bit of cheese for the dog to sniff out and find. 

The goal of enrichment is to provide a daily environment that is varied and stimulating and to allow the animals to engage in natural behaviors. Enrichment activities that engage all of the animals’ senses are beneficial to their physical and behavioral health. The activities provide opportunities to think and to explore space – therefore providing a sense of control to shelter animals. More importantly, stimulating their brains reduces stress and is fun!

Birding Saints Rest Marsh

Lesser Yellowlegs

On a cold, rainy day last week I visited Saints Rest Marsh in Saint John.  It is a little late to look for shorebirds but there were still a few there.  We drove the roads of the marsh and Taylor Island slowly but found nothing interesting.  Being past low tide but not yet high tide, I walked the marsh.  This requires good boots and tenacity because the walking is not easy.  But, it paid off.  There were shorebirds there that were not visible from the road.

Above are two of the several Lesser Yellowlegs present.  One flew in and lit right beside me, obviously not realizing I was there.  There were a few Greater Yellowlegs in scattered ponds as well.  I also found Semipalmated Sandpipers, Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers and a Stilt Sandpiper.  The Stilt is a rather rare shorebird here but a few pass through in the fall.

Lapland Longspur

Walking among the marsh grass sometimes reveals other interesting birds.  This time it was a Lapland Longspur.  I spotted this bird feeding on tidal debris and was able to get a photo before it spotted me and hid in the grass.  This species breeds in the high arctic tundra and winters in the United States where it feeds in grassy fields, airports and beaches.

While I was surveying a group of ducks at the nearby lagoon, a Peregrine Falcon flew over and struck one of the ducks as it was attempting to get fly to safety.  It knocked the duck back into the water but did not kill or capture it.  That was dramatic!  Also seen in the area were the Double-crested Cormorant and Great Black-backed Gull pictured below.  With the gull are Ring-billed Gulls.  The cormorant is a juvenile.

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Black-backed Gull

Below is the list of birds seen (not including waterfowl seen at the lagoon).  The crow is marked with and 'x' to indicate they were not counted.

Green-winged Teal 3

Lesser Yellowlegs 12

Greater Yellowlegs 3

Semipalmated Sandpiper 3

Dunlin 3

Stillt Sandpiper 1

Black-bellied Plover 6

Great Blue Heron 3

American Crow X

Canada Goose 30

Peregrine Falcon 1

Lapland Longspur 1

Savannah Sparrow 2

Black Ducks 20

Animal Friends' Home-to-Home Adoption Program presents: Stubbie!

  
James writes about Stubbie: He is 8 yrs. old but still very young at heart. His name came from him being the runt of the litter, who later grew to actually be bigger than his siblings. 

He loves to play as well as being a lap-cat. With the passing of my mother, I am looking for a good home to send him to. He is house trained for a litter box. I can't keep him due to family allergies.

If you can help Stubbie find a forever home, please contact James at Jguiddy@kaier.net.

White-throated Sparrow

Migrating Sparrows

 White-throated Sparrow

 Last week we had a flock of  20+ White-throated Sparrows around our property.  That is a common occurrence during migration.  Sparrows usually gather into flocks to migrate.  This flock was probably from further north and was feeding and resting on our area.

Pictured above is the White-throated Sparrow in its  non-breeding plumage.  It has lost a bit of its brilliance but is still striking.  Note the conspicuously-outlined white throat, dark bill and crown stripes.  It has a broad yellow to white eyebrow and rusty upperparts.  The underparts are grayish and either clear or slightly streaked as seen above.  Both the male and female are similarly marked.

White-throated Sparrow

The photo above shows the breeding plumage.  Notice the brilliant yellow patch on the anterior aspect of the eyebrow stripe.  Also note the bright throat patch.  

The White-throated Sparrow is a woodland sparrow.  It prefers mixed woods and woodland edges where it feeds on seeds and insects.  It breeds here in our province as well as most of Canada north to but not including the Arctic.  It winters in the southeastern United States.  This sparrow is famous for its song.  We have all heard the 'Old Tom Peabody Peabody Peabody' of the northern forest.  It makes us feel right at home.  A more popular interpretation of the song is 'Pure Sweet Canada Canada Canada'.  I think we can claim this species as ours since it breeds almost exclusively in Canada so the latter interpretation of its song is more appropriate.

Watch for this sparrow feeding on the ground under your feeder where it scratches to find seeds dropped from above.

CSPWC Symposium

Canadian Society of Water Colour Painters Meet

The Canadian Society of Water Colour Painters met in Cornwallis, NS Sept. 28 to Oct. 3.  Forty-Nine participants, 8 instructors and other members met to put on 5 days of classes and to celebrate water colour painting and related events.

Digby Wharf

The Symposium was held at the Annapolis Basic Conference Centre which was a wonderful place to hold the event.  Right on the ocean, it is very large with many places to walk, paint, dine and hold classes.  The living accommodations were wonderful and adjacent to Desmond Piers Memorial Hall where the classes were held.  On the other side was James Horsfall Memorial Hall where meals were served.

The Margaree 

With 8 instructors one could spend one day with each of 5 of them or more than one day with your choice.  Ron Hazell presented classes on ripples in water and on breaking waves.  Bill Rogers and Poppy Balser covered plein air painting and took us out to interesting locations to paint.  Ann Balch presented portrait painting.  Rex Beanland did cityscapes.  Karen Isenburg presented still life painting.  Bianka Guna taught non-objective painting (abstract painting).  Lio Lo's class was flower painting.  What a choice!  I found the instruction excellent.  We were really motivated to paint and had the experts right there at our side to help with problem areas.  

Unfinished Cityscape

Seascape

The 'after school' times were full of social gatherings.  One evening we had an in-depth presentation on Golden products.  We saw 100s of products and were shown their many uses.  Bianka was generous with samples as well.  Another evening we had a session on life drawing with a nude model.  It was interesting to watch the experts sketch and paint the model.  Students were free to sketch or paint as they wished.  A Market was arranged and vendors were present to show and sell us products.  A silent auction was exciting too.  We also had a lobster dinner.  It was well done and delicious.  There they set up a display of paintings by the instructors.  It was interesting to see the range of their expertise.  

Portrait in progress

The week went by quickly and was well worth the time and expense for me.  I met many new artists and had a good time as well as gained a lot of artistic experience in the process.

Digby Scallop Boat

Killer whales, Politics and Animal-Rights.

I am sure that this animal-rights led pantomime will continue to roll on. Unfortunately, I am minded to think that the only people who will profit from this are lawyers and the least likely are going to be the killer whales and their care at SeaWorld. 

Perhaps it should be a given that politicians should be very wary of getting involved in areas of science where they have very little or no specialist knowledge. This is particularly true in the area of animal welfare – which actually can be considered a science that can be objectively studied. This situation has become even more complex since the inception of the philosophical concept of animal-rights which as many have pointed out bears little relationship to issues of animal welfare.

A recent case in point is the continuing controversy regarding the SeaWorld's zoological parks and their care and husbandry of killer whales. This has been exacerbated by the much promoted film Blackfish which those who have regularly read the comments and blogs on this site will be very familiar with. The problems with this particular film have been discussed elsewhere and therefore I will not revisit old ground in this particular article.

The latest developments in the saga of the animal-rights lobby groups particular the organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) is an ongoing campaign to stop the SeaWorld Park developing larger habitats for their killer whales. This recently culminated in this organisation and its supporters lobbying the California Coastal Commission who have jurisdiction on allowing planning permission for SeaWorld's to undertake the new killer whale exhibit in San Diego. The resultant current outcome of the Commission's ruling aptly demonstrates the concerns regarding politics and animal welfare alluded to at the beginning of this article.

First, the California Coastal Commission is there to undertake stewardship of coastal resources in California and is primarily involved in making sure that planning decisions do not negatively impact on the environment. However, they are not there to make moral or other judgements on how organisations or businesses operate beyond that point. For them to give permission for the extension of the killer whale habitat at SeaWorld's but then bind it to issues regarding the husbandry of their animals - the cessation of their killer whale breeding programme and a banning of movements of animals within zoological facilities - is clearly not within their legal remit. For those people who do not understand this position a way to think of it is this: would it be acceptable for this same Commission to grant permission to allow the building of a new carnivore exhibit at San Diego zoo or Wild Animal Park and then turned round to that institution and tell them that they cannot breed these animals or move them to other facilities. This would be particularly pertinent if the animals concerned were also part of an international breeding programme.

Clearly it was the actions of the lobbying of PeTA that seems to have forced the Commissions hand in introducing these Draconian amendments to the planning permission of SeaWorld's new killer whale habitat. Interestingly, the same set of criteria was forcibly imposed on the publicly owned Vancouver Aquarium last year. The board that oversees the aquariums operation tried to initially ban the display cetaceans at the aquarium and when this failed tried to force a ruling that banned animal breeding and movement between other zoological facilities. Again this was a group of local politicians who had been influenced or had sympathies with the animal-rights movement. Fortunately, the animal management team at the Vancouver Aquarium challenge this ruling and it was overturned.

A second point to ponder is that PeTA and their associated protesters – who lobbied at the Commission meeting – have all publicly made declarations they wish to acquire the killer whales at SeaWorld's to be takento a sanctuary (zoo) run by themselves or their associates. Therefore, it would seem that here we may well have a legal conflict of interest insomuch that these animal-rights lobby groups and their supporters are actually taking action against a "business competitor" e.g. SeaWorld's which may well be at the very least legally dubious. This seems to have been something that the Commission has not fully realised.

I am sure that this animal-rights led pantomime will continue to roll on. Unfortunately, I am minded to think that the only people who will profit from this are lawyers and the least likely are going to be the killer whales and their care at SeaWorld. 

As a final thought, because we are now seeing a considerable amount of blurring of lines between a political ideology of animal-rights and the realities of animal welfare – not helped by the involvement of naive politicians – we are going to depressingly see considerably more examples of this nonsense in years to come.


Update: 15 October 2015. SeaWorld announced that it will challenge  ruling that banned the company from breeding captive killer whales at its San Diego park.

Pumpkin Hay Bags for Bunnies: A Spooky Enrichment Treat!

 

By: Suzanne Denk, Animal Enrichment Specialist

Remember paper bag pumpkins from preschool?  A brown lunch bag filled with hay provides an enriching way to provide a rabbit with some of his daily portion of hay.  

 

• Simply fill the lunch bag with hay.  A treat or a few pellets can be added.
• Twist the top of the bag into a pumpkin stem. 
• Wrap raffia around the stem.  Wrap the loose end of the raffia in as you wrap.  Leave loose ends as leafy tendrils!
• A Jack-O-Lantern smiling face is optional!