Monday, May 22, 2017

Flower Time

The trees and bushes are in flower and I went out with a new (to me) camera to try it out.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Pin Cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)

In Flower

  • Redbud
  • Pin Cherry
  • Trilliums
  • Creeping charlie
  • Violets
  • Daffodils
  • Lilac
  • Honeysuckle
  • Dandelions
  • Forget-me-not
  • Elderberry
  • Common speedwell
  • Yellow archangel
  • Self-heal
  • Crabapple
  • Apple

The trilliums that were planted back in 2009 haven't expanded very much, this year there were 10 blooms.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Turkeys and Turkey Vultures

This past weekend I saw both a turkey and a turkey vulture flying along the berm. I startled the turkey in the field north of the berm; it lumbered into the sky and flew off getting no higher than the rooftops of the bungalows along Kelvin. A couple of days later I saw the turkey vulture in the same spot (well 100 feet higher up) soaring effortlessly. Both turkeys and turkey vultures are relatively recent arrivals to Ottawa. I remember around 2000 hearing reports of turkeys just to the south in Leeds-Grenville and being excited as I hadn't seen one yet in Eastern Ontario. As it happens, this weekend I also got my first taste of wild Eastern Ontario turkey and I'm happy to see them on my plate as well as in the field.

I took advantage of the heavy rain this weekend to transplant a couple of seedlings into the berm area to fill in some gaps. One of them was a seedling of the white spruce I had to take out of my back yard a couple of years ago. The other was a small Manitoba maple that wasn't welcome in the flower bed. I also tried sticking a few willow twigs in the ground to see if they would take. I've heard that is supposed to work but I have my doubts.

It snowed a bit on Sunday but hopefully that is the last of winter for us. I figure the last of the chill left the ground a little over three weeks ago. I snapped this picture of a garter snake three weeks ago as I was picking up garbage in Ben Franklin Wood. I was surprised to see him as it wasn't exactly warm yet, but I guess it was warm enough for him in the strong spring sun.