A Solitary Sanderling

Earlier this week, while walking out at Goose Spit I came upon a single Sanderling (Calidris alba). Sanderlings are regularly seen throughout the winter at Goose Spit. Because beaches on Vancouver Island are popular places to walk, shorebirds have a challenging time of it. The strip of beach is quite narrow at high tide and walkers regularly flush birds on …

350

In case you missed it, today was an international day of action spearheaded by 350.org focusing attention on climate change. 350ppm is the safe upper limit of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere – above this limit the planet will continue to face significant climate change. Currently, the level of CO2 is 390ppm. October 24th was designated as a day to …

Banded Woolly Bear Predicts Mild Winter

Is it going to be a mild winter this year in British Columbia? You be the judge. According to some, if the orange band in the middle of a banded woolly bear (Pyrrharctia isabella) is wider than the black bands on the ends of the caterpillar it will be a mild winter. The opposite is the case if the orange …

Fragile Oaks

It’s that time of year when leaves are falling to the ground and trees are doing their best to set their progeny up for the spring. I was poking around some Garry Oaks (Quercus garryana) looking for invertebrates and discovered several acorns in the leaf litter. Garry Oak | Quercus garryana Garry oak are the only native oak trees west …

Blog Action Day: At the Edge of the Sea

Today is Blog Action Day 2009 and this year’s theme is climate change. Blog Action Day is an annual event to raise awareness and create a global discussion on a single issue through blog posts. I thought that it would be fitting to share some images of things that I’ve noticed at the edge of the sea which make me …

Tansy Ragwort

Tansy Rawort (Senecio jacobaea) Early in September I wrote about two tansies that occur in British Columbia. Last weekend while at East Sooke Regional Park looking for turkey vultures I found a species of Senecio growing in an old farm field. Tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), like the common tansy, is an introduced plant from Eurasia. It does well in fields, …

Ephemeral

While walking along the Tsolum River this week I took the time to turn a few stones in a fast flowing riffle. Under one of the rocks was a pair of mayfly nymphs (Order Ephemeroptera from Ephemeros – short lived and Pteron – wings). While the nymph part of the life cycle can be anywhere from three weeks to two …

Gray Jay

Gray Jay | Perisoreus canadensis One of the more common and frequently seen birds in the sub-alpine is the whiskey jack or gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis). In Paradise Meadows these social birds gather at places where hikers stop for lunch and commence aggressively begging for food. Unfortunately, many people give in to the begging either to “help” the bird out …