The Worm Turns - April 18th, 2012 - Copeland Forest

The goal today was to gather edible plant life and to study pond life. There was a slight problem with the goal in that the weather has been extremely dry. For a definition and discussion of drought in Canada click here: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/drought

Since the weather has been dry, things are finding it extremely difficult to grow this spring and that includes the edible plants. Pond life is trucking along normally enough but anything that needs rainfall or snow melt in order to thrive is not doing to well. 

Amanda is a very resourceful person. Since she knew that the lack of rain pretty much meant a lack of plant life, she taught us how to make an earthworm farm. Worms like moist soil and they like darkness since they are nocturnal. To find the worms we had to look under the trees where the earth still had some wetness to it left over from the melting snow. 


A quick google on the www shows that there is much information about worms. Some starting links are here:

 http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/earthworms/

 http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/

http://www.biologyjunction.com/earthworm%20facts.htm 

 http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/wormwatch/

The last link has links also to Plantwatch, Icewatch and Frogwatch.

All in all, earthworms get a lot of press and so they should. They are more than just bait. They're integral to the decomposition of matter and the health of the plant life around us.

After lunch we put the worms to rest and went to examine the pond. Unlike the land based life, which relies on rain and snow melt, the pond life is trucking along more or less as it should.

We noted quite a bit of beaver activity along the stream. Beaver seem to be quite artistic and also very persistent. They're also patient. A beaver can fell a tree with a circumference of 35cm or so, presumably to get at the branches on the top, although, as you can see from the treescaping below, they also know how to chop up the trunk.

For beaver info:
http://www.couplesresort.ca/Attractions/Articles/Animals/beaver.htm

For a cool song about beaver:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWX8uWf2LhQ

Hey, they may be a nuisance, but we kind of like beaver.

Right, so there were beaver around somewhere, likely sleeping since beaver are  nocturnal - something they hold in common with earthworms.

There was also evidence of the activity of the Husquavarna Beaver.


In the stream, which the kids helped us ford by way of a makeshift bridge, they discovered frogspawn. Amanda told us that it takes 28 days for tadpoles to hatch. The strength of life and the abundance of it is quite amazing. Nature does things in excess, especially births because the survival rate for life is not as high as one might think. Look up sea turtles for instance.

In fact, some of the eggs we found were in danger of dying because the water level was so low. This afforded a great look at the egg sack but did not bode well for the tadpoles. We tucked them back in to the stream before continuing.

In the pond one of the kids caught a newt or possibly a salamander. Deciding what it is will take a bit of research. Either way, it counts as pretty nifty.

Here we have the link to newt info: http://www.ontarionature.org/protect/species/reptiles_and_amphibians/eastern_newt.php
This to salamanders: http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/AboutAmphibians.asp?am=6

While we were at the pond the kids renovated the Fairy Hotel. The included a salad bar, a front foyer and some upper level housing. They also decided that the numerous sapsucker holes in the tree could count as rooms. The Fairy Hotel has more going it for it than even the Ritz.

Also, Amanda identified a new twig for us. This is Basswood and the buds are edible. You can tell Basswood from Black Ash because the buds on the Basswood alternate whereas those of the ash are opposite one another. basswood is the tree that leafs out with the enormous green leaves and is largely a ground hugger.

All in all, it was a great day to be out and discovering stuff up to an including small green striped garter snakes, so new n'all.

As the afternoon warmed up and the sun hit the pond we saw it come to life. The water boatmen below were not in evidence when we arrived and were there in abundance when we left. The spring is dry but it's determined to get there.

Twiggy - Copeland Forest - April 2012

Lately we have been out in the woods in less than ideal conditions. We have been pushing the boundaries into the snowy season and the rainy season.This is on a different project than the Young Naturalist. It's an end-to-end hike on the Bruce Trail but is has made us notice that 1) the woods are lovely in all seasons and that 2) the perfect day can come unexpectedly.

Today we went out to our study area in order to learn to identify trees by their twigs. This is a handy skill to have if you're into free range landscaping. It is always better to transplant in early spring or late fall but both seasons tend to leave us leaf-less. Already we know about bark, but the bark in young trees does not always resemble that of the older ones.

Above you see watercress. The Copeland Forest serves as the headwaters for hte Surgeon river and is also a watershed between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Watercress likes clear running water. Rumour has it that it makes good sandwiches.

This twig is that of a hard maple.  If you look at the twigs you can sometimes see last year's growth. The bark is a different colour than that of the old growth and more delicate.

Maple does flower. Then it leafs out. Here you see tiny new maple leaves, not yet masked by the green of chlorophyll. Remember, leaves are not actually green. When we see them as green it is because they are busy actively making food for the tree.

The two twigs below are those of the Tamarack. This is the confused coniferous tree. It drops its needles in the late fall, turning an attractive yellow and then needles out again the spring. Tamarack likes wet earth. If you plant one of these make sure you're on a wetland.

Here we have apple leaves. The Copeland Forest was once farmed. There is quite a bit of apple out there. Apple is one of those trees easily recognizable by its shape. Whenever we found a young tree, Amanda looked for the mother tree. This is a handy trick to help you confirm your twig-sleuthing prowess. If there is no mother growing near then you probably have the wrong tree.

                              For instance, the next two pics are of Ironwood and Black Cherry.A defining feature of Black Cherry is that the twig looks like a pretzel (and the bark like a popular breakfast cereal). However, we could not see  nay mother tress. What we saw was a lot of Ironwood mothers. Ironwood twigs also look like pretzels. Ironwood buds tend to lie at 45 degrees to the twig whereas Black Cherry buds tuck closer in to the twig. Once it leafs out, the Black Cherry has a distinctive red cast to its leaves.

This is Black Ash. The leaf bud sits right at the top of the stem, sort of like an orb on a fairy wand.

To the right it is Birch. The bud of the Birch looks a bit like the leg of a chicken or the eye of a reptile. It is whorled and looks as though it could collapse back in on itself in case of hard frost. Young birch bark does not look at all like the adult product but birch buds are very distinctive.

Next up, Oak. What you look for in Oak is many small blobs. Again, here you can see last year's growth. It began down near the edge of the picture. That is where the buds would have formed last spring.

To the right is Balsam Poplar. The scent of this one is quite nice.

Last up, the Mighty Beech. Since the winter was mild, many of the Beech still have their leaves clinging to them. You will recall that if the Tamarack is confused then so also is the Beech. However, the new leaves are long, pointed and furled, like pieces of parchment or banners ready to fly for Midsummer.

In addition to the trees, the understory is also poking up through the forest floor. To the right is the speckled foliage of the Trout Lily. This will send out yellow flowers more or less at the same time that the trillium blooms but the leaves do indeed look like fish.

http://eattheseasons.co.uk/Archive/watercress.htm
Is a link for info about watercress.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/smarty-plants-uncovering-the-secret-world-of-plant-behaviour.html
This is a link to a Nature of Things episode called "Smarty Plants" which talks about some pretty cool things science is learning about plant behaviour.

So, about that snow load, eh? - Copeland Forest, January 18 2012

It has not been a very wet winter, or even a very cold winter. The local ski hill is hanging on by dint of ski hill life support; namely, snow machines. One can hear their operating budget straining more often than one hears trees cracking int he cold. Snow is on the ground, but there isn't much of it.

There is enough to capture animal prints. On the top left are squirrel prints. In the middle you can see where a bird came down, moved around and then flew off. On the right are human tracks but to the right of those you can see mouse prints. Judging from the spacing of them, the mouse was really hoofing it. One wonders if the bird was doing a victory dance or a frustration dance.

Today was cold. It was about -8 out there as we wandered out to look at the shelter we'd built back in November. The idea was to check if it had held up under the crushing snow load. Given the lack of same, we were pretty confident that it had.

 We were right! Not only had it held up but it could still support the weight of an 8 year old with ease. In the bottom picture you can see the lower side of the shelter, the one we roofed with balsam and fern. Very little snow fell through. That was pretty good roofing job. The winter has been so mild that the fern was still green.

The other side, the one which was more Eeyore-house like had let more snow through. If one were to start a fire in the shelter this would be the best place to do it. Smoke and heat would go up through the sticks and not light the whole shelter on fire. Of course one would have to be mindful of too many sparks, though I would think that most sparks would not have much of a chance in -8 degree weather.

We build quite a cozy little shelter. It looked much more inviting to spend the night back in November than it did today, but I could still see surviving a night in it if I had to. Interestingly, the deer did not share this opinion. There were no animal tracks at all around the shelter until we showed up.

If you are building a shelter in the woods in the snow, remember to keep moving. If you do not then your toes will freeze. At the same time, remember not to move too much. If you do then your perspiration will freeze and raise your risk of hypothermia. Also, note that -8 is the sort of cold that sucks up moisture. You want to have a water source nearby in -8 temps. Eating snow is fun but not a good survival tactic. If you eat snow then you get too little moisture relative to how much body heat you loose. Imagine sucking on ice cubes on a hot day and you'll get the idea.

 It was a lovely day though. We spent about 2 hours outside. The walk to the shelter did not take long and we played there for a while. Then, on the walk back to the cars, we did some penguin style tobogganing.

This should probably be a layman's Winter Olympic sport, right along with rushing to catch a bus in sleet whilst wearing high heels. I mean ski jumping is economy, grace and motion but there are things we do in everyday living in the winter that are also truly athletic - though not always graceful.

One of the penguin run featured trees, open water and a roll of abandoned fencing. The water stays open pretty much year round because it is fast flowing. Amanda fell into a stream last winter and assured us that it is not fun at all.

In the foreground of the top picture on the right is one of our trees. Do you remember which one? It is differnt from the one pictured directly to the right.

Another note about trees, do you remember how similar balsam and hemlock looked? Balsam needles had stems, teeny tiny ones, and hemlock had blisters but they looked very similar. Interestingly enough, they carry snow load differently.

The Bruce Trail is running a heritage tree scavenger hunt. Each tee you find has a code word. The one for Hemlock is HAVEN because in the winter deer often fins shelter under hemlock trees. On the right is a balsam and a hemlock. Supposing you could not build a winter survival shelter if you got lost in the woods, which one looks like safe haven?

Yup. it was a good day and really nice to see our shelter just where we'd left it.If ever we do get a good snowfall I can see it changing into a very cool snow cave.

Just for fun, here's a puzzle picture. Can you identify one tree, or two? Which one (s)?

Oh, and the winter is not very snowy, but is sure is a good one for snow crystals! Me, I'll take it on faith that no two ever repeat.



Here is a link to various snow shelters:

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/shelter/snow/index.html