My Commute

I grew up in the Ottawa Valley, and though I spent little time in the city , I had come to the conclusion that it was kind of lame. 

I went away to Southern Ontario for university, and I fell in love with London - I loved its many parks, and particularly the paths that followed the river.  I even developed an odd affection for Windsor, and I loved its bike paths too.  Then life brought me back to Ottawa.  Now living in the city, I finally got to experience it on two wheels, and it brought me to two important conclusions: First,  that I will fall in love with any city that has good bike paths, and second, that Ottawa has the best bike paths of anywhere I've been so far. 

I think something changes when you get to know a city by bike.  You get to know it more intimately, as though you and the city share some important secret that those driving around in cars will never have the privilege of knowing.  You can go places on bikes you can't go in a car.  You see more of the city from the saddle of a bike.  Most importantly, the best parts of the city are the parts with the bike paths - the canal, the riverbanks, the parks, and the beaches.  Like looking through a person's profile pictures on Facebook, Ottawa only shows you its good side when you're touring the pathways.

Another bonus of biking the city - suddenly your commute changes from a daily annoyance, to a heart-warming daily reminder that life is pretty good.  My commute from work looks a little something like this. 

A tour through the farm (yes, Ottawa has a farm in the middle of the city)

Down a lushly treed, private lane.

Across a fully functional, 200 year old lock.

Along a canal that every winter is transformed into the world's largest skating rink.

Around a bay.

Through a park.

And past a busy, sun-filled beach.

This is one of the many reasons why I love Ottawa, and I get to experience it every day. :)

Gratuitous Tulip Post

It's spring again, and the tulip fest has come and gone - but not before I snapped a few photos of course!  Here are some of my favourite shots from this year (taken May 17th).

It was a perfectly beautiful day at Dow's lake

This pretty, powdery combo was my favourite this year!

Not only are the individual tulip beds lovely, but the combined effect of  multiple tulip beds is always breathtaking!

Waves of tulips - the wind had taken its toll on some of the taller varieties 

Silver Linings

Back in April I was in an accident and totalled my car.  Aside from a slightly busted wrist, I came out of it alright.  I was given a bunch of money for my car, but instead of buying a new one, I decided the time had come for me to invest in a sweet new bike.

  

1st cast ever! Thank goodness I only had it for 8 days!

You see, dear reader, to this point I had been riding around on an old CCM mountain bike that I got from Canadian Tire back in the mid 90s.  Don't get me wrong - it is a sturdy bike with a good heart, but it wasn't exactly built for performance.  More than that, I'm pretty sure the frame is made of solid steel - this thing weighs a ton!  Anyone who knows me knows how much I love biking, especially in Ottawa.  So it was high time that I got myself a bike that suited the avid cyclist I had become.

Sturdy old Cici

Just after my accident I was in a cast for 8 days until they determined my wrist wasn't broken.  At the time I was pretty bummed about this whole accident situation.  Now that the cast is off and I have an amazing new bike (that I love like a third pet), I feel like the accident was one of the best things that happened to me and makes me feel hopeful that this year is going to be a very good year.  If I hadn't been in that accident I'd still be driving around in a car (that I had been talking about getting rid of for over a year) and I'd still be riding around on my beastly old mountain bike.  In all situations, life is what you make of it.  In this situation, I made my life more awesome!

Touring with B'Elanna through the Arboretum

Blacklegged Ticks in Ottawa!

Last weekend I decided to explore the Mer Bleue Conservation Area.  We hit up trail 50/51, starting at P20 and looped around counter-clockwise towards P23.  This section of trail wasn't too challenging, and would be suitable for an easy mountain biking excursion.  Once we crossed over Dolman Ridge rd the trail heads down a steep slope.  A sign warned us that the path ahead could be "seasonally wet", but since we hadn't had much rain in a while it didn't concern me.  Apparently I was wrong.  After decending the slope we found ourselves in serious muck, and there didn't appear to be much of a maintained trail - the area was totally overgrown.  If it weren't for the little trail marker signs I would have believed we had strayed off the path somehow.  With no sign of improved conditions ahead, we decided to return up the hill and doubled back the way we came, in spite of my preference for hiking loops.

We stopped for a snack at P23, at which point I discovered that I had acquired a friend while navigating the long grasses at the bottom of the ridge.  I first learned about deer ticks while I was doing an internship in Missouri.  After hiking in the woods the lady I was staying with insisted that we conduct a tick check.  "Tick check?" I puzzled.  Ticks are arachnids, the same class that spiders belong to.  They have eight legs, and two distinct body sections: a tiny head, and a large, flat, shiny abdomen. Blacklegged Ticks, Ixodes scapularis, are endemic to Eastern North America. They have a limited range in Canada, and are found in only the southern most regions of the country.  Or so I thought.  I had never heard of them until I went to Missouri.  When I started doing field work in the Long Point area of Ontario, I was reacquainted with them, as there are many in that area.  They were abundant in St. Lawrence Islands National Park as well.  Although the Public Health Agency of Canada doesn't list Ottawa as an established tick population, I can assure you, they're here!

So why do I care that blacklegged ticks have found their way to the Ottawa area?  Ticks are parasites, and these ticks in particular carry Lyme disease.  Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borellia burgdorferi.  Not all ticks carry the disease, and not all tick bites will result in transmission if the tick is carrying the bacterium.  The likelihood of disease transmission increases with the length of time the tick remains attached, which is why prompt and thorough tick checks (of yourself and your pets!) are advisable after returning from the field in areas where ticks are known or suspected to occur.  If you do find an attached tick, the safest removal method is to pull it out using tweezers as close to the skin as possible, without twisting or crushing the body of the tick.

Ironically, we chose to explore this trail in particular because the bog trail sounded too buggy.  In addition to my new eight-legged travel companion, this well  shaded trail was full of mosquitoes, so if you're bothered by that sort of thing, bug repellent is advisable if you are headed this way.  In addition to the biting insects, we came across a creek where it was sunny and warm, attracting many dragonflies and a number of six-spotted tiger beetles (Cicindela sexguttata)!

Where there are bugs, there are critters around to eat them.  Check out this little cutie we crossed paths with!  Even baby American Toads (Bufo americanus) look old and disgruntled :)

Opening Weekend Tulips

This weekend was beautiful and sunny, and tons of people flocked to the capital for the opening weekend of the tulip festival.  Most of the tulip beds are in full bloom now!  Here are a few shots from May 6th.

Ottawa in Bloom

This spring has been unseasonably warm in the nation's capital.  On March 20th, the first day of spring, it was 25 degrees Celsius here in Ottawa.  Average monthly temperature for March? Minus 2.5 degrees.  On this glorious summery day, I celebrated by dusting off my bike and taking a tour around my favourite bike paths.  This, naturally, lead me to Dow's Lake, where I decided to check on the progress of the tulips that are the star of the Canadian Tulip Festival.  Sure enough the tulips were getting an early start.

Tulip shoots stretch out towards the sun on the first day of spring 

One month later, on a similarly beautiful day, I again visited the tulips.  There's still two weeks until the start of the festival, but the tulips are well on their way.  Some of the beds of early bloomers are 80% in bloom, while other beds are bursting with buds, waiting for their moment to shine.  I'm sure by the opening weekend, they'll be in full swing.  If you're planning on visiting this year, plan to go sooner rather than later.  As you can see, there are already many beautiful blooms to appreciate.  I find the best way to enjoy the festival, for those who live in the area, is to visit more than once throughout the month so that you catch the early, mid, and late blooming varieties. Here are a few of the early risers:

This bed of soft flamingo pink tulips were in full bloom.

The unique shape and tangerine colour of these tulips made them my favourite of the day

A sea of buttery yellow double daffodils, punctuated by fiery red tulips, overlook Dow's Lake

Tulips and daffodils aren't the only flowers strutting their stuff in April.  The Arboretum is located on the western shore of Dow's lake, and displays a wide variety of trees and shrubs.  It's essentially a tree museum.  It includes a collection of Kobushi (Magnolia kobus) and Star Magnolias (Magnolia stellata), which are native to Japan, but ornamental varieties are grown in North America and Europe.  The flowers bloom before the trees leaf out, making them one of the earliest flowering trees in the area.  Their elegant, creamy, white and pink blooms have a delicate, sweet fragrance that attract humans and insects alike.

The petals of these magnolia blossoms are so thick and creamy, they look like they have been molded out of fondant 

One of the visitors enjoying these blossoms is also enjoying just about every corner of the city.  The mild spring has brought a record high number of migrating Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterflies to the area. Here is a situation where global warming has been beneficial - warmer temperatures mean a successful breeding season, and lower mortality rates during their migration[1].  The result is a city awash in fluttering red and brown wings, and plenty of photo ops for nature enthusiasts like me.

A Red Admiral indulging in the sweetness of the  magnolia blossoms

These are a few of my favourite birds

It's been 3 weeks since the end of the Spring Migration Monitoring program over at the Innes Point Bird Observatory, and I am long overdue for an update.  Over the course of the four weeks I spent there, I learned how to confidently handle birds and extract them from nets, how to band them, and very tentatively measure, age and sex them.  Although I'm about a thousand birds away from feeling confident enough to band birds by myself, my bird knowledge has grown by leaps and bounds.  I still need a lot of work when it comes to birding by ear, but I can visually identify most of the common passerines.

I also developed a great affection for my new feathered friends.  These little guys are full of personality, and this personality varies by species.  For example, chickadees, despite their small size, are the feistiest of the lot, vigorously pecking at your cuticles as you try to wrestle the netting out of their death grip.  Brown Thrashers live up to their name and scream bloody murder as you untangle their flailing bodies from the nets.  Warblers tend to be calm and sweet, cooperatively posing for photos, patiently waiting for you to release them.

This Common Yellowthroat is trying his best to look snooty.

Blue Jays have personality for days, but are surprisingly easy-going in the hand.  Their feet are incredibly strong, and they are quite stubborn when you're trying to get them out of the net, but otherwise, not a challenging bird to work with.  They even pose nicely for the camera!

Hummingbirds (ruby-throated)- beautiful, surreal, weigh less than nothing; bordering on pathetic, they utter pitiful squeaks that sound like a baby mouse crying, and often require a few nudges before they realize they are free to fly away.

Some birds don't like to be photographed.  This Wood Thrush was giving Seabrooke, the bander in charge, a piece of her mind.

I often found flycatchers tricky to identify, as I was often fooled into thinking they were some kind of warbler. They are larger, have bigger heads, and are generally cuter (in my opinion), and have a small hook at the end of their bill for snatching insects out of the air.  This Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher is puffing himself up to look more imposing.  Are you intimidated yet?

Many of the crested birds, like the Blue Jay above, will flatten their crests when you are holding them.  This Eastern Kingbird is breaking the mold and doing his best to look tough, even showing off the rarely visible red streak in his crest.  "You wanna piece of me?!"

Yellow-Shafted Flickers became instant favourites of mine.  These attractive members of the woodpecker crew are sizable birds, as you can see, and they make you work for a photograph.  One of the flickers we banded even resorted to rapidly pecking at the air in an act of defiance, a display which I can assure you looked incredibly silly.  Male Yellow-Shafted Flickers can be easily distinguished from the females by their prominent black mustaches.

Perhaps the smuggest of the birds is the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.  With his dashing black tux and bold red cravat, he has every right to be smug.  His distinguished appearance is enhanced by his powerful beak, capable of cracking large nuts or inflicting painful bites to careless banders.

Another favourite of mine were the American Goldfinches.  Sure they look cute, but it's their gentle, whistling chirps that really melted my heart.  I had a pair get caught side by side in one of the nets, and they chatted back and forth as I extracted them. I like to think that they were reassuring each other that everything was going to be alright.

Is there any bird quite as dashing as the Baltimore Oriole?  This older male's crisp black and orange plumage was almost fluorescent.  He knows he's good looking.

There were many Tree Swallows that called the bird observatory home.  Every day I watched them swoop and dive with ease and grace.  I think it would be a lot of fun to be a tree swallow for a day, and I kept hoping that one of these skilled fliers would eventually get caught in one of the nets.  I got my wish on one of the last days of the season.  Looking sleek and dramatic, it is quite obvious that this bird is built for speed.

Last but certainly not least, my all-time favourite bird is without a doubt the Cedar Waxwing.  The superheroes of the bird world, these truly cool birds sport a badass zorro mask, flashy yellow tips on their tail feathers, and namesake red "wax" droplets on their wings.  Obviously they're not actually wax, but instead modified feather shafts that extend past the feather barbs, and are bright, shiny red.  Go on, I dare you to not love this bird!

As luck would have it, the last bird caught in the last net on the last round of the last day was a Cedar Waxwing.  An excellent way to end a great season!

"In brightest day, in  blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight..."

A Bird In Hand

I consider myself a biologist of creepy-crawlies.  I'm an amphibians-reptiles-insects kind of biologist, with pretty good plant skills.  Birds and I have never really spent a great deal of time together.  I'm not a morning person.  The great thing about working with "cold-blooded" organisms like amphibians, reptiles, and insects, is that they don't get up before the sun does because they need a while to warm up.  With insects and reptiles you can easily start your day at 10am and not really miss anything, the best time for amphibians starts at dusk, and plants are there all the time and will adjust to your schedule (so nice of them, don't you think?).  In the birding world, your day is ending around 10am.  This scheduling conflict has left an enormous gap in my skill set.

Carefully extracting a Black and White Warbler from the mist  net

This spring I decided it was about time to fill in that gap.  Lately my alarm has been going off at 3:30am.  That's right folks - the middle of the night.  This used to be about the time I would be going to bed, not getting up.  So I drag myself out of bed (usually not until 3:45), and get myself down to the Innes Point Bird Observatory for 4:50am.  Every spring, bird observatories across the country (and the world) put up mist nets to catch birds as they pass through during their migration.  They extract the birds from the nets, measure them, weigh them, put a band on their leg, and send them on their way.  The data they collect is used to study population trends, among other things.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler in "photographer's grip"

As an intern at the IPBO, I am learning how to correctly handle birds and extract them from the nets.  Along the way I'm learning how to identify the various birds that we encounter, and I'm trying to learn to identify their songs.  So far I've managed to figure out some of the sparrow songs, but I'm finding the "birding by ear" bit to be pretty tricky.  There are so many birds that I never even knew existed!  For example, I've seen 9 different species of warbler so far, none of which I'd ever seen before.

Oh-so-cute Yellow warbler.  This wee guy weighs about as much as a loonie.

While we're out checking the nets we sometimes encounter other non-avian wildlife, like this adorable BABY PORCUPINE!  About the size of small canteloupe, this little ball of puff was just hanging out near one of the nets.  He was sitting so still I nearly missed him!  I'll bet under all that puff he's only about the size of a chipmunk.  

OMG Porcupine baby!!

You can follow all of my sightings on my Project Noah page!  If you're not already familiar with Project Noah then you should definitely check it out - it's like social networking for nature lovers!  It's a place for you to share all of your nature spottings with fellow nature enthusiasts, earn patches, join missions, and get help identifying things you're not quite sure of.  They have a mobile app for Android and iPhone so you can post your spottings on the fly, or check out what other people have spotted in your area!