Frontenac Park: 2nd Expedition 2006

Ribbon Snake

Note the brown band below the yellow and
the white on the face that differentiates it
from the Garter Snake

Hover Bee

Fungi growing in the moss

Fiddleheads in the bog

Unidentified Flower

Flowering Tree

Unidentified Flower

Trout Lily
(There were leaves everywhere but very few flowers)

Frontenac Park: The Wildflowers

Unidentified

Unidentified

Dutchman's Breeches
(Dicentra Cucullaria)

Spring Beauty
(Claytonia Virginica)

My identifications of plants and wildflowers are tentative. I couldn't find anything in my guides that looked like the top two but I think the bottom two are correct. They're both listed as very early Spring wildflowers. It is still too early for Mushrooms and it is quite dry, which is not good for fungi.

St. John's Wort

Lemoine Point, Kingston, Ontario

I took this picture at the beginning of August this year. I found this plant growing in a sunny, open field. I have yet to find anything like it on the internet or in my guides. The search continues. I plan to keep posting and trying to identify pictures of plants that I took throughout the year last year. I also intend to post more current pictures but between work and being sick I haven't been out for a while. I'm hoping for an opportunity this weekend.
Thanks to Nathan for identifying this as St. John's Wort. I found a good resource at the Plants Database of the USDA (I'll put a link in my links section).

Bur Marigold

Picture taken September, 2005
Lemoine Point, Kingston, Ontario

I have a lot of yellow flowered plants, most of which I have been unable to identify even with the help of three guide books. I believe this is the Nodding Bur Marigold (Bidens cernua). It is a member of the Aster family. I found it growing in a swampy area next to the boardwalk.

New England Aster

Aster novae-angliae

September 19, 2005

Picture taken in the dragonfly field at Lemoine Point, Kingston, Ontario.

Bunchberry

Cornus canadensis L.

Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
August 10, 2005

If you come to Algonquin in June you'll find this common plant in beautiful white flower but by summer the flower is gone and these red berries take their place. The booklet "Wildflowers of Algonquin Park" explains that this plant is a member of the dogwood family. Many of these plants are connected by roots that are parts of one larger plant that may cover many square metres.

Fireweed

Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
August 10, 2005

This colourful weed occurs throughout North America and Asia and is the national flower of Russia (One person's weed is another person's flower). It grows prolifically in areas that have been disturbed either by people or by nature. I found this one (in the company of many others) along Highway 60 in Algonquin Park.

Pitcher Plant

Spruce Bog Trail, Algonquin Park, Ontario
11 August, 2005

Richard Dawkins has a wonderful description of how this plant works in "Climbing Mount Improbable." This is an insect eating plant. The plant produces a perfume attractive to insects, the sides of the cups are slippery, there are downward facing hairs that impede a climb to safety, and a little pool of water in which to drown. The plant can't chew them up so it gets a little help from some other life forms. Maggots and other creatures find a home in this liquid which is unusually rich in oxygen to provide a good environment for them. The maggots consume the drowned insects and turn them into a form that can be absorbed through the lining of the pitcher. Dawkins is at his best describing the science behind the diversity of biological life around us, he also shows considerable creativity in developing a scientific mythology of the origin of life.

The sun still shines at Lemoine Point

Golden Crowned Kinglet

Weaving Sunshine into Silk

I couldn't resist the obligatory Fall milkweed shot. It was cool but bright and sunny over at the Point today. Lots of Robins, Starlings, Chickadees, and Blue Jays. I found this lone Golden Crowned Kinglet in a playful mood. I couldn't scope him because he was moving quickly from branch to branch, always low down, always just on the edge of some good cover. He seemed curious and kept coming in close and I was able to get a few shots with the camera before I scared him off by infringing on his personal space.

The last sweet nectar of summer

Lemoine Point, Kingston, Ontario

Summer still holding on at the Point. Many creatures, small and large, making final preparations for tougher days ahead.