Bringing Colour into Winter

Do you know the Flower Fairy books

by Cicely Mary Barker?

I opened the page on the Primrose Fairy.

Isn't she lovely?

There's a poem to match each fairy too!

I really appreciate the fact that we can find beautiful potted flowers

during these winter months.

I picked three of my primroses to put on the Primrose Fairy page!

Of course, we're getting light snowfalls here in town and it looks so pretty

when it settles on the trees and bushes and in the gardens.

I just love this garden gate. Don't you?

The red berries got a good covering of fluffy snow.

and the evergreens in the nearby park looked beautiful.

It's the perfect weather for Cheese Raclette!

It's a combination of small potatoes in their jackets

and a special kind of raclette cheese which is tasty and melts easily.

I used two types of cheese:

Bagnes and Alpages.

A nice crunchy carrot salad on the side and a turn of the pepper mill on the cheese.

You can read more about raclette when I did an evening cruise on the lake:

Raclette Cruise

More colour to bring into the home in the form of a beautiful bouquet of tulips.

They are still in bud and will bring me great joy as they open up.

I chose this photo for my new blog header. The frame is bright and cheerful

to bring you some happy colour in these winter months!

There's always something on my crochet hook.

I'm going to make a garland with these hearts and I'll be posting the finished decoration

in a future blog post.

This lovely pattern comes is called Sunburst Granny Hearts and comes from

Bunny Mummy

Northern Hawk Owl

Rare Winter Owl

Northern Hawk Owl

 The Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) is a rare migrant and winter resident to New Brunswick.

'Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List' says that it is so rare that the sighting of half a dozen of them in one season constitutes a flight year.  Most reports are in December and January.  There have been a few breeding reports from the province over the years, from Tabusintac, Grand Manan, Point Lepreau, and near Fundy National Park.  

The Northern Hawk Owl is a circumpolar species.  It is diurnal which is common for most northern species.  Its pointed wings and long tail make it very hawk-like, hence its name.  Its flight is swift and it often hovers.  It can be seen perched on top of a conifer or other structure from which it watches for voles or other rodents.  

Being a northern species, Northern Hawk Owls have learned to catch all available food when it can.  Since owls do not have crops (an enlargement of the esophagus) they have to store excess food elsewhere.  Northern Hawk Owls store their extra food in snow drifts, woodpecker holes in trees, in decaying stumps or they just tuck it into the boughs of coniferous trees.  

Northern Hawk Owl

The normal range of this species is from Newfoundland and Labrador across northern Canada to Yukon and Northwest Territories with occasional incursions to the south.  It is a medium-sized (41 cm/ 16 in long) slender owl with brown upper parts spotted with white and with brown horizontal stripes on a light gray breast.  Its eyes are yellow.  The long tail is very noticeable.  The only species an amateur birder might confuse with the Northern Hawk Owl is the Boreal Owl which is much smaller and also rare here.  It is only 25 cm (10 in) long.  

Male owls court females by circling and gliding on stiff wings. The nest is normally built in a woodpecker hole, a hollow stump or an abandoned raptor nest.  Three to thirteen white eggs are laid and incubated by the female for 25-30 days.  The young fledge after 25-35 days.  

The Northern Hawk Owl vocalizes mainly at night.  Females and juveniles make a screeching sound or a whistle.  Courtship sounds are a series of rising 'popopopo' sounds lasting about 6 seconds.  This sounds much like the Boreal Owl call which most birders are familiar with.  The female sometimes sings along with the male.  

The Northern Hawk Owl is also known as the Canadian Owl or the Hudsonian Hawk Owl.  It  has the unusual feature (for an owl) of stiff feathers which are not silent in flight like the soft feathers of most owls.  Apparently this is not an important feature for a diurnal northern owl.  The population size for this species is healthy and is listed as 'least concern'.  

Northern harrier, hunting voles

A long abandoned farmstead haunts the Pickaway Plains, a former swath of prairie that covered parts of Pickaway and Ross counties in central Ohio. A meeting today took me to southern Ohio's Adams County, which meant driving right by this place. I couldn't resist a stop in the early morning light for photos. And a quick drive through of the adjoining 1,000 acre conservation reserve program grassland. Didn't see much in the morning due to limited time, but I'd stop by here again on my way home, in late afternoon.

The afternoon visit was much more productive for birds. At least four northern harriers, like the male above, were hunting the grasslands. Harriers are often quite wary of people, and will veer off before getting into effective camera range. This one gave me one pass and I tried to make the most of it.

An immature bald eagle flew overhead, and a lone light-morph rough-legged hawk worked the grasslands. It was later harassed by a peregrine falcon that seemingly materialized out of nowhere. Am American kestrel or two perched on wires, and I saw at least thirty ring-necked pheasants. They reproduce well at this site and are quite wary. It was a productive hour or so, but by the time I left at dusk the mercury was plunging into the high teens.

A reminder: If you want to take lots of birds photos and learn lots of techniques, Debbie DiCarlo and I are leading a trip to a MUCH warmer place: South Florida in late February. A good time to escape frigid northern climes. All the details are RIGHT HERE.

Country cemetery, in fog and rain

A meeting took me to The Wilds in Muskingum County, Ohio, the other day, a landscape that I always enjoy spending time in. After the work was over, I set out on a photographic expedition, naturally. It was rainy with leaden skies, and towards mid-afternoon an eerie fog set in. This led to many excellent photo ops, and perhaps I will share some of my other works from that day later.

As I was leaving the area at dusk, I passed by Mt. Zion Cemetery, a small rural burial ground that caps a rounded knob. Between the gray skies, snowy ground, and eerie mist, the scene stopped me in my tracks. In I went, umbrella overhead in an attempt to keep the camera gear dry. Working my way over to the oldest part of the cemetery, this composition eventually presented itself. Rendering the scene in black and white seemed to be appropriate. This was shot with the Canon 5DSR and Canon's excellent 16-35mm f/4 lens, at 16mm. Settings: f/16, ISO 200. Five successive shots were made, altering shutter speed to change exposure, with the longest exposure 3.2 seconds. The images were merged using Photoshop's HDR program.

Bobcats at Winter Bird Feeders

Bobcats Come Close in Winter

Bobcat [C Melanson Photo]

As mid-winter approaches bobcats start being seen around human habitation.  This year has been no exception.  As winter deepens food gets scarcer and bobcats are hungry.  The photo above shows a bobcat taken in New Brunswick in 2016.  

North America has three Felidae members, the mountain lion (cougar), the lynx and the bobcat.  New Brunswick has the lynx and the bobcat.  The Bobcat (Lynx rufus) is more numerous in the province with lynx numbers increasing, according to our biologists.  The bobcat traditionally prefers coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests.  Our biologists tell us that as the lynx population increases and with its preference for heavy forest, the bobcat has moved in closer to cities and towns. The bobcat is a very adaptable species which is better at surviving in suburban and semi-rural environments.  

How do you tell a lynx from a bobcat?  Admittedly, they do look a lot alike.  The bobcat is smaller, the adult male on average weighing 9.6 kg (21 lb) and being 82 cm (32 in) long.  It stands about 45 cm (18 in) at the shoulder and its tail is about 14 cm (6 in) long.  The lynx is bigger: males are about 88 cm (35 in) long, 8.6 kg (19 lb) and their tails are about 11 cm (4 in) long.  Many observers have stated that the bobcat and the lynx are similar in size in their bodies but the lynx has longer legs.  

But all these statistics don't help much in the field.  How do you tell them apart if you see one in your yard or on a walk in the woods?  Well, both species are very wary and you are unlikely to see one when you are outside.  They will hear you coming and will quietly disappear.  If you do get a good look or a photo, the lynx will show its longer legs and it has very noticeably longer ear tufts.  The bobcat also has ear tufts but they are much shorter.  Both are tan to greyish-brown with black streaks on the body and bars on the forelegs.  This makes very good camouflage.  The bobcat has a longer tail than the lynx.  The tail of the bobcat has a white tip and broad black distal bands.  The tip of the tail of the lynx is black and there are no black bands.  The ears are also significant.  The dorsal surface of the bobcat ear is black with a large white spot.  The lynx has gray ears with black margins.

Bobcats are solitary animals with a home range of about 20 square kilometres (8 sq. mi) although this varies greatly.  Home ranges are probably much smaller in suburban environments.  In their home range they have well-travelled paths and they mark their territory with urine posts, fecal mounds and scratchings on tree trunks.  They are generally nocturnal but become diurnal in hard times, such as winter when they need to come to bird feeder areas to find food in daylight when their prey is active.  

Bobcats build their nests of dry leaves and moss sheltered in hollow logs, rock crevices and thickets or under a stump or fallen tree.  Breeding season for bobcats is in late winter.  Females appear to have a prolonged breeding season and most litters are born in mid-April or early May.  Sometimes there is a second litter in the fall.  Gestation is about 60-70 days and 2 to 4 kittens are born.  The female does most of the care of the young.  After the young are weaned the male brings food for the offspring.

The bobcat lifespan is from 7 to 10 years.  In the wild the oldest animal was measured at 16 years.  One individual lived in captivity to be 32 years old.

Bobcat [Internet Photo]

The bobcat turns out the young of the year often in January, leaving these young, relatively inexperienced felines to fend for themselves at the most difficult time of year.  That is why we see them around our houses and bird feeders in winter.  They are starving and willing to come close to human habitation out of necessity.  Any photos we see taken around houses show emaciated, desperate individuals as shown in the photo above.  This individual was so desperate it even braved coming up on a deck.  

The bobcat diet is traditionally rabbits and hares.  It also eats small rodents such as rats, mice and squirrels, birds, fish, insects and even porcupines and skunks.  They hunt by either stalking their prey or waiting in ambush.  

Winter is a good time to study animal tracks.  The bobcat track is unique and shows 4 toes and no claw marks.  Tracks average about 4.5 cm (2 in) wide and are in a straight line and about 20 to 46 cm apart (8 to 18 in).  When running they can make strides up to 2 m (6 ft) apart.  For a good visualization look at a house cat track in the snow and then imagine it much bigger.  

The bobcat population is healthy and stable in New Brunswick.  Threats to population numbers include humans with trapping and road kills.  Kittens endure significant mortality from coyotes, foxes, bears and great horned owls.  Starvation and disease are the big killers here.  Rodenticides can be a problem when foraging for rodents in areas where they are being used.  This is a good point for birders to remember when trying to exterminate any rats that might be hanging around their feeders. Another threat is fragmentation of home ranges.  This is a continued problem for all wildlife which is only minimally being studied and addressed at present. 

After the next snowstorm, look closely for bobcat tracks around your feeders.  You just might be having a special visitor!

January Wanderings

Ile de Peilz

is a very small island, originally a simple rock which was reinforced

in 1797 with a little wall to make it a bit taller.

The tree is a big plane tree.

It looks very impressive in the summer with all the leaves which hide the tiny island.

This is the far east end of the Léman Lake

and the adjacent town is called Villeneuve.

Mountains and port in Villeneuve.

I'd taken a train to get here with a friend.

On the way back to Lausanne we stopped in another lakeside town of Vevey.

The cloud formations were beautiful

The snowy peak to the left is a mountain called Dent de Morcles.

It overlooks the Rhone Valley and is 2.969 metres high (9.744 feet).

A closer view which includes a strip of lake.

Another lovely mountain view on the Dent de Jaman on the left

and the Rochers de Naye range on the right.

The views from up there are spectacular.

I loved the structure of this almost bare tree against the blue of the sky.

Quite a few autumn leaves are still clinging to the branches.

Another day and a new train ride.

This sleek and very long train was on its way to Milan in Italy.

My smaller train came a little later.

It was a cold wait on the Lausanne station platform!

This is the lakeside in the small town of Cully.

There was a misty, mysterious ambience at the start of my walk

with just a few sparkles on the lake from a pale, hazy sun.

There were silvery tones in the lake

and I like how this scene tells a story.

We can even invent a story of our own!

I had to include this capture because we can see how the lighting changed

an hour later when I was walking back towards the station again.

The pale sun had pierced a layer of mist and the sky was turning blue which reflected in the water.

Back home again

and here is the last bloom on my Amaryllis.

The petals through a macro lens are so dainty and lovely.

After lunch, a small espresso coffee and a square of very dark chocolate.

The embroidered cloth is a lovely memento from three days spent in the mountains in Zermatt.

You can see them below if you would like to:

A Weekend in Zermatt

It's half-past pink!

There is always something new on my crochet hook.

This is my latest creation.

I received this clock from a very kind blogging friend, Astri from

Apple Blossom Dreams

It was time to refresh the flowers with new colours and I really enjoyed

crocheting the tiny roses in bright and cheerful colours.

This clock is on the wall in my bedroom.

Colour is so important during the cold winter months, don't you think?

I hope that you are finding lovely ways to bring colour into your life.

Nature: Sycamore tree is a towering presence in nature

A gargantuan sycamore arches over the Olentangy River at Highbanks Metro Park/Jim McCormac

Columbus Dispatch

January 20, 2019

NATURE

Jim McCormac

... just as we came to the hills, we met with a sycamore ... of a most extraordinary size, it measuring ... forty-five feet round …

George Washington described an enormous sycamore tree that he encountered on his 1770 expedition to the Ohio River Valley. Such gargantuan trees were commonplace in those days. Hollow specimens were sometimes used as temporary dwellings. A particularly notable tree was along the Scioto River in Pike County. Its hollowed base was long used as a blacksmith shop.

Although a few sylvan colossi (giant trees) can still be found, there are far fewer than in Washington’s day. The largest known extant Ohio sycamore is in Ashland County, and it’s a whopper: 36 feet in girth, 124 feet in height and a crown spread of 88 feet.

The sycamore is a classic riparian tree, lining the banks of streams. Pale-white trunks, spackled with a patchwork of flaky brown bark, makes identification easy. The trees stand out especially well in winter when there are no leaves to mask the ghostly trunks.

The sycamore is a classic riparian tree, lining the banks of streams. Pale-white trunks, spackled with a patchwork of flaky brown bark, makes identification easy. The trees stand out especially well in winter when there are no leaves to mask the ghostly trunks.

Central Ohioans are fortunate to live in proximity to many exceptional streams, and sycamores are common along all of them. An especially noteworthy sycamore conservatory is a stretch of the Olentangy River from Interstate 270 north through Highbanks Metro Park. This watery avenue of the giants boasts scores of big trees.

I made the accompanying image at Highbanks, and walking the Scenic River Trail or hiking the Overlook Trail to the observation deck will offer views of many impressive sycamores. Bald eagles have built a magnificent nest in a huge sycamore, and it can be seen from the deck.

As wildlife trees go, it’s hard to top a sycamore. Barred and great horned owls nest in their cavities. Myriad songbirds forage among the branches. One of them, the yellow-throated warbler, is so tightly wedded to this tree that it was formerly named the sycamore warbler.

Scores of vegetarian insects feast on sycamore foliage. A number of them are obligate specialists — they can feed only on sycamores. Two such moths, the drab prominent and sycamore tussock moth, have especially striking caterpillars.

Because of the bounty of valuable bugs produced by sycamores, migrant birds flock to the trees. It is possible that the huge tree in the photo has graced nearly 100 species of birds in its boughs, attracted by food, shelter or its utility as a perch.

As if to reinforce the tree’s avian value, a giant pileated woodpecker landed on a snag high in the tree’s crown while I took the photo.

Sycamores lord over a host of riverside trees: our namesake Ohio buckeye, silver maple, cottonwood, box elder and others. Their collective root systems form a subterranean snarl that holds soil in place and prevents erosion. Overarching branches shade and cool water, creating a healthier environment for fish and other aquatic life.

Trees help protect our waterways from terrestrial pollution, filtering contaminants out before they reach the water. Many streams in heavily agricultural regions have been transformed into treeless ditches that shunt pesticides and fertilizers downstream with great rapidity. Decimating riparian forests is a major contributor to the ongoing plague of toxic algae in Lake Erie and other waterbodies.

Protecting bottomland forests and the sycamores that come with them is one of the greatest boons to conservation and human health that we can do.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.

"Winter Wonderland" photo workshop produces some wonders!

Debbie DiCarlo and I just concluded our 2nd annual "Winter Wonderland" photo workshop (more on our workshops RIGHT HERE) in southeastern Ohio's gorgeous Hocking Hills. Last year's event was more springlike than wintry, with no snow and scarcely an icicle to be found. But, the water levels in streams were high and the myriad waterfalls looked as photogenic as I've ever seen them.

This workshop just past lived up to its name. Snow and ice was everywhere, and cliff faces were draped with icicles and various fantastic ice formations. Tree branches and limbs were dusted with snow, and hemlock boughs were capped in the fluffy white stuff. Our group was great, and we saw many interesting sites and everyone made lots of nice images. By the way, if you seek a fantastic bird-filled WARM photo workshop, take a look at our February "Birds of Florida" trip RIGHT HERE.

While scouting the day prior to the workshop, we came across this trio of fine horses in a snowy field and couldn't resist stopping for a few photos. At least one of them is heavy with foal.

A scene along the gorge at Old Man's Cave. Landscapes like this were everywhere, and it was hard to leave this place, one of the most scenic areas anywhere in the Midwest. This shot shows a big hemlock tree that recently crashed into the gorge from its perch on the rim above. Hemlocks are shallowly rooted, and when weighted by snow and ice, very vulnerable to blow-downs.

Invigorated by snow meltwaters, a carpet of common polypody ferns, Polypodium vulgare, cloaks the upper reaches of a sandstone cliff.

Conkles Hollow is always a sensational place to visit, and especially so in winter. Added bonus: far fewer people. Here, a fantastic series of icicle formations cascades down a tall cliff face.

A perk, and something absolutely new to all our attendees, was the supra-nivean (supra = above; nivean = snow) insects. Above is a winter stonefly. The larvae live in streams, and come the dead of winter, the adults emerge and head out onto the snow's surface to seek mates. It was about 30 F when I made this image, and the stoneflies were numerous and even flying about.

Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count

Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count 2018

Northern Cardinal

The Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, January 5.   Fourteen participants logged in over 35 hours and 443 km to cover the area from Keswick to Granite Hill and Upper Kingsclear to French Village.  We counted 2033 individual birds of 37 different species, an average amount for the circle.  It was an enjoyable undertaking this year with good weather and a fair number of birds.  Temperatures were around 0ºC with very little wind, making the birds active.

Wild Turkey

Highlights are interesting.  We added Wild Turkeys for the first time, with 4 seen on Keswick Ridge Road.  At the dam an Iceland Gull, a Glaucous Gull, and a Barrow's Goldeneye were seen.  A Song Sparrow was seen at Bear Island.  A Tufted Titmouse was at Kingsclear and a Belted Kingfisher was at the hatchery.  Our only raptor (other than eagles) was an immature Red-tailed Hawk.  Of interest were the 11 American Robins and the 11 Northern Cardinals.  This is a 'finch winter' and it was evident in this count.  We had 95 Bohemian Waxwings, and 4 Pine Grosbeaks along with 50 Common Redpolls, 52 Evening Grosbeaks and a few American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Tufted Titmouse

Christmas bird counts represent a major effort in citizen science each year.  Thousands of counts are done throughout North America from December 14 to January 5.  Over 50 are done in New Brunswick alone.  We have been doing them here every year for about 50 years.  One of the first count ever done in North America was done right here in NB in the early 1900s.  

American Robin

The Mactaquac Christmas Count can always use more volunteers.  We need more people to count the birds at their feeders on that day.  Why not get involved?   It is rewarding to participate and contribute to bird censuses and environmental health.  Shown below is a detailed list of birds counted that day.

Am. Black Duck 67

Mallard 6

Hooded Merganser 14

Common Goldeneye 29

Barrow’s Goldeneye 1

Common Merganser 20

Bald Eagle 5

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Wild Turkey 4

Herring Gull 71

Iceland Gull 1

Glaucous Gull 1

Great BB Gull 122

Rock Pigeon 335

Mourning Dove 48

Belted Kingfisher 1

Downy Woodpecker 13

Hairy Woodpecker 17

Pileated Woodpecker 7

Blue Jay 131

American Crow 97

Common Raven 29

Tufted Titmouse 1

Black-capped Chickadee 322

Red-breasted Nuthatch 20

White-breasted Nuthatch 14

American Robin 11

European Starling 298

Bohemian Waxwing 95

American Tree Sparrow 6

Song Sparrow 1

Dark-eyed Junco 8

Northern Cardinal 11

Pine Grosbeak 46

Common Redpoll 50

American Goldfinch 78

Evening Grosbeak 52

Finch sp. 80

Giant sycamore

A gargantuan sycamore arches over the black waters of the Olentangy River, its gnarled boughs scraping the sky. This section of the river is a watery avenue of the giants, lined with many massive sycamores, one of which hosts a bald eagle nest. I made this image yesterday, along the Scenic River Trail in Highbanks Metro Park, Delaware County, Ohio.

Snow Flurries and Life at Home

Despite the winter months, cold winds and snow flurries,

tiny viola flowers still bloom in a sheltered spot on my balcony near the kitchen.

I occasionally pick a few to enjoy within my home.

I did go out for a walk one day after a light snowfall and loved the powdering of snow

on the leaves.

A short burst of swirling flakes looked so pretty.

I took this photo from my balcony.

One shopper walked home briskly with her red umbrella.

To see a real snowstorm, go back to 2016

when we had an amazing amount of snow

HERE

The blue fairy didn't get put away with the other Christmas decorations.

She's a graceful presence on my little round table.

Potted plants bloom in my living room.

This lovely hyacinth which is still part of the New Year's arrangement that

I showed in my first blog post of the year.

Yesterday,

a new Amaryllis bud started to open

... and today all the petals have unfolded.

I've been inventing new and delicious salads

This one is a mixture of lamb's lettuce (rampon in French).

avocado, crunchy Topaz apples, Cheddar cheese and red bell pepper.

Sprinkled on the top are a mixture of ground seeds:

flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, chia and sesame seeds.

I like my dressing simple: Rapeseed or olive oil, a little mustard and lemon juice.

This is also the perfect time of the year to enjoy colourful crochet patterns,

like these popcorn flowers in happy colours.

In these winter months, there are plenty of lovely things to enjoy.

Colour is very important when it's grey outside

and trying out new, healthy recipes.

I hope that you're also finding some joyful colour in your life!