Rambling with Clyde
By Janet Alred, 10 March 2011. 

On Thursday, six people dripped their way around the Lang Bay Fish Hatchery where there were no dippers to be seen as they have all gone up to the mountains to breed in the fast water.  We crossed the road to look at the mouth of Lang Creek and on the way saw a killdeer pretending it had a nest, but it was too early.

There were very few birds in the estuary so we drove over to Michael Stewart’s place and hiked her back lanes.  En route we saw and heard an eagle on its nest.  Down on the beach we saw black oyster catchers, mew gulls and glaucous-winged gulls and an Anna’s hummingbird greeted us in Michael’s backyard.

Wendy Cocksedge tells all

Forest Greens
by Janet Alred, 5 February 2011.

On Saturday Wendy Cocksedge, who spoke to us last year about the forest greens used in the floristry industry, escorted four of us along the Willingdon Trail where we identified Scouring rush, Salal, Trailing blackberry, an early Skunk cabbage, small leaves of Sweet Cecily (we think), new Salmonberry shoots, Oregon-beaked moss, Red huckleberry, Sword ferns, Lady ferns, Deer ferns and Frog-pelt lichen.

On the way back, Wendy told us about how tapping Big-Leaf maples for their syrup is becoming a big industry on Vancouver Island.  We also saw some magnificent Harlequin ducks and Red-breasted mergansers in full breeding plumage.  Douglas squirrels chattered at us and one took a peanut almost out of Elizabeth’s hand.

Shirley Cole

Winter twigs with Shirley Cole

On a surprisingly sunny Sunday morning, Nov. 7th, 2010, nine of us met Shirley Cole in the North mall parking lot. While waiting for departure time she showed us and explained various twigs, some with leaves still attached, as well as a beautiful collection of pressed leaves of shrubs we were going to look for. We carpooled along Duck Lake Road and hiked to Squirrel Crossing, at the Northern end of Duck Lake.

Under the bridge and along the easy hiking trail we found: red huckleberry, saskatoon, Pacific ninebark with its shedding bark, salmonberry, hardhack (also known as steeplebush), red-osier dogwood which has attractive red stems, and silver-grey barked cascara. Shirley almost ended up in pool of standing water reaching for a branch of Pacific crab apple. Finally, on the way back to the bridge, we were happy to see a false azalea bush.

This was a fun outing and, thanks to Shirley, a very informative one. It will be interesting to find these shrubs in the other seasons when they have foliage and berries.

Mushroom workshop
by Janet Alred, 16 October 2010. 

Thirty-three people turned out for the mushroom workshop with Brigid Weiler of Cortes Island.  Brigid’s picture appears on page 145 of David Arora’s All that the Rain Promises and More… This eclectically illustrated handbook is available locally from Breakwater Books along with his larger reference book Mushrooms Demystified.

Brigid brought a few representative species which she talked about briefly before dividing us into groups which were each led by an experienced mushroomer who came with her. We fanned out into the Penticton woods mainly, where we picked for an hour and then returned to the United Church hall. We then spread our collections out on the tables in categories and Brigid talked about them while the group leaders cooked up some of our catches for us to sample. Most were much tastier than store bought mushrooms.

In addition to discussing which were edible and which not, Brigid also showed us several samples of wool died with mushrooms. There were some lovely red, purple and gold colours.  She is a dynamic speaker who would be willing to come again next year.

Vanessa Kilburn points something of interest – H. Harbord photo

Technician collecting a turtle – H. Harbord photo

Western painted turtle – H. Harbord photo

Learning about turtles – H. Harbord photo

Painted turtle egg – H. Harbord photo

Turtles of Turtle Lake
by Heather Harbord, 22 June 2010.

Nine of us gathered at the Lucky Dollar Store in Van Anda on Tuesday to meet with Vanessa Kilburn, South Coast Western Painted Turtle Recovery Project Leader.  She led us along the mossy trail to Emily Lake, also known as Turtle Lake.  There we watched as one of her assistants snorkelled over to some unsuspecting Western Painted Turtles basking on a log on the other side of the lake and caught a female to show us.  We admired her pretty red plastron and wondered if the dark brown patterns on it had inspired First Nations art work.  Vanessa and Aimee Mitchell, Provincial Government biologist, then produced a Slider and showed us the differences between the two species.

As the Painted Turtle had already been through their process they released her back into the water and we watched her swim right back to where she had been caught.  Then they weighed, measured, and notched identification marks on the slider which had a distinctive red mark behind the ear and a yellow plastron.  After examining a leathery turtle egg, we walked round the lake to where the nests were right in the middle of a swimming area.  Tim Atwood, Coordinator of the Texada Stickleback Group, joined us and pointed out benthic sticklebacks swimming close to shore.  We did not see any of the smaller limnetics.  After lunch we drove over to Shelter Point and sat on the logs to enjoy the sunshine before catching the 3pm ferry home.

Pierre listens intently

A Barred owl that Elizabeth spotted

Audubon’s warbler

Birding by ear Part II
by Heather Harbord, 10 April 2010.

Ten of us stalked the old golf course at the Townsite with Pierre listening for birds.  It was “briskly cold” but warmed up later. Many of the migrants had flown north after the storm three days ago but there were enough singing for our purposes. The most conspicuous were Song Sparrows, Purple Finches, Spotted Towhees, Varied Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets who actually showed off their ruby crowns.  Several sea lions also serenaded us.

As we entered the forest part of the walk, a tiny Winter Wren was carrying some mossy nesting material in its bill and entered in a cavity about 25 feet of the ground in a cedar tree. We watched it poke its head out of the nest and then challenge us with a lively song. A little further along, a Varied thrush and a Robin sounding their alarm notes prompted Elizabeth to look up to see a roosting Barred Owl that we all saw. We ended up with a list of 32 birds which is pretty good. We saw no Rufous Hummingbirds or Turkey Vultures.

White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum) – H. Harbord photo

A field of lilies – H. Harbord photo

Rod Innes and Shirley Cole photographing the lilies – H. Harbord photo

Chickweed Monkey flower – H. Harbord photo

Blue-eyed Mary – H. Harbord photo

Wildflowers
by Heather Harbord, 3 April 2010.

Led by Shirley Cole and Clyde Burton, six people enjoyed the sunshine after the previous day’s big storm.

Rod Innes took us to see the white fawn lilies at Sliammon and we then proceeded on to Dinner Rock where we picked up Walter Kubany and looked at shooting stars, blue-eyed Mary, two kinds of monkey flower, pink sea blush, parsley and liquorice ferns and other floral beauties.  The chocolate lilies will be out in another ten days.  Up Malaspina Road we found calypso orchids still in bud and estimated that another week or so would see them in bloom.

Scanning for goats

The mightly Eldred River

Lunch is served

Goats, rushing river and a portage
by Heather Harbord, 28 March 2010.

Twenty-two people travelled up the Goat Main as far as Mile 34. Through spotting scopes, we had a clear view of five mountain goats on the bluffs on the other side of Goat Lake.  We continued on to Eldred Falls which was just beginning to flood from spring runoff.  A pair of Dippers exhibited their courtship rituals for us.  Lunch by a fire at the climbers’ camp helped rejuvenate us before we headed back to the Ireland Lake – Nanton Lake portage.

 Clyde Burton continually showed us the signs of early spring. Juncos and a dozen or so golden-crowned kinglets flitted in and out of the shrubs along the portage and a tree full of pine siskins delighted us with their serenade. Out of sight but within earshot were varied thrush, a flicker and a couple of unidentified flycatchers.

Leaders: Owen Gaskell and Elizabeth Tenhoeve.

Elizabeth Tenhoeve and Clyde Burton

White-winged scoters

Swans of Comox
by Heather Harbord, 20 February 2010

Three of us attended this birding field trip.  On the ferry to Comox, numerous long-tailed ducks and murres were sighted. At Little River, we stopped to see the shorebirds just outside the terminal. A large flock of dunlin were interspersed with black-bellied plover, mew gulls and glaucous-winged gulls. By the airport, we saw whistling swans swimming in a slough with some mallards.

At Goose Spit, several pintails were enjoying a muddy meal with more mallards. We got close enough to a small group of white-winged scoters to see the red tips on the ends of their beaks. Usually they are too far away for us to see this handsome detail. Clyde explained that when they dive, they swallow mussels whole and their digestive juices then open the shells which are afterwards regurgitated empty.

At the nature observation point on the dyke road, we saw about 5-6 European widgeon along with a few of their American cousins.  Usually we expect to see about one European to 100 American but this was more like a 1:10 ratio.  We drove as far as Oyster Bay where we saw more dunlin and other shore birds.  On the ferry ride back, we saw several common loons and more long-tail ducks.

Sherri Wretham supervises the viewing of a good lichen rock – H. Harbord photo

Ann Clements and Gillian Andrews examine a lichen – H. Harbord photo

Lichens revisited
by Heather Harbord, 30 January 2010

The Lichen trip was so popular that those who couldn’t attend asked for it to be repeated.  This we did at Ann and Paul Clements’ house, followed by a field trip to Haslam Lake. Five people attended.

Dust Lichen (Lepraria sp.) – P. Clements photo

Cladina lichens and various mosses – P. Clements photo

Usnea lichen – P. Clements photo

Lichens
by Ann and Paul Clements, 9 January 2010.

Seven members attended.  The trip started at Community Living Place at 10am with a review of the biology of Lichens.   As a framework for identification in the field, we then reviewed the seven Lichen classifications described in Pojar and MacKinnon’s Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

The group viewed examples of lichens in each of the seven groups and examples of lichen features such as apothecia, soredia and isidia. We then carpooled to Haslam Lake and viewed many varieties of lichens found at the site.   The trip was led by ourselves and concluded at 12:00 noon.

Salmon, Eagles and Waterfowl
by Heather Harbord, 14 November 2009.

On Saturday, nine members carpooled from the Liquor Store parking lot and drove out to the Sliammon Hatchery, picking up a north-of-town member on the way.  The person Clyde had arranged to show us around wasn’t there. Instead, he and Susan did the honors assisted later by a gentleman who was helping to dry some fish. The latter opened a tank full of coho and we admired their colours and saw some of their eggs.

Down at the viewing area, we went nose to nose with a chum salmon. With permission from the lady drying the fish, who also let us taste some samples, we proceeded down to the end of the road where the creek comes out. Three immature eagles posed on three posts while Clyde explained that females are 1/3 larger than the males. Other immature eagles on the rocks brought the total up to about 10. After a short discussion on gulls, we left before we froze.

Watching fish in the creek
– H. Harbord

Twelve members met at the Lang Creek Hatchery and enjoyed a tour given by Salmon Society staff member, Phil Nakatsu.

He showed us the facility and how the fish enter the tanks and are sorted and counted. Then he showed us the salmon in the spawning channel and explained further what the goals of the Salmon Society are and how they are carried out. There were signs of bears but none present for the tour.