Hamilton Wetlands and Forest

  A visit to the Forest and Wetlands just three days past the Summer Solstice.  The woods were full of birdsong, but also full of foliage, so the birds were heard more often than seen.   The light in the forest was magical. The cat's tail moss glowed in the summer light. Huckleberries are ripening. Their tiny and sparse fruit remains tart, but refreshing. The red elderberry is also ripening.   They're not really very good as food for humans, although by next week the bird population is likely to have cleared the entire area of them. We hadn't seen the pathfinder in bloom before.   Here is yet another "photo of record," showing the pathfinder flower bearing its odd, tiny fruit.  The water lilies are starting to bloom.   At a guess, by next week they're be quite showy. There were many dragonflies, but they were very active and hard to photograph.  This damselfly settled briefly. From what I could gather from iNaturalist, I think...

  A visit to the Hamilton Forest and Wetlands on a day that started by threatening rain. One of the little pleasures in life has to be reaching shelter before the rain starts.  We did so, this morning, although in fact, the rain never really amounted to much.  Unfortunate, because it is alarmingly dry for this time of year. There was evidence of a bear in search of grubs, bark torn away from this tree stump, and some deep and sizeable claw marks on the path. We have yet to meet the maker of these marks.  We are not at all unhappy about this state of affairs.  Probably the bear is ok with that arrangement, too. Salmon berries are nearing ripeness.  I sampled one, but they're still really tart. The huckleberries are setting on, but have yet to show colour.  There are still small foam flowers emerging from beneath the huckleberry bush. I'm pretty sure this is step moss, with its sporophytes developing towards the back of the log.  As always, correcti...

  The world offers us marvels.  Among them is the effect of light in a summer forest. On the morning of June 11th, Hamilton Forest presented a show of illuminations, aided by the cat-tail mosses that occupy its cedar trees.   Trailing blackberries are ripening.  They, too, glowed in the morning light. There were still abundant thimble berries in bloom, with the fruit forming. Thimble berries are probably the least tasty of the fruits that grow in the Hamilton Forest.  As I understand, they're nutritious, but I know from attempts at eating them that they're very dry and very seedy.  The blossoms, however, are beautiful, and the leaves wonderfully soft.   The salal are in bloom. Salal will yield very nutritious berries--a fine source of vitamin C.  Some people will tell you that they're poisonous, but nope--they're really good, depending on where they're harvested.  People of the First Nations traditionally picked and dried them as a ...

  The forest ringing the Hamilton Marsh is -- yes, --ringing is the right word.  This morning it chimed with bird song.  In deep woods such as these, spotting birds can be tricky, but we were able to identify marsh wrens, black-headed grosbeaks, warbling vireos, and (possibly) red-eyed vireos by their songs,  as well as the inevitable raven. We watched as a hairy woodpecker tended her nest.  One almost fledged youngster emerged, looking for breakfast. The salmonberries are ripening. The light in the forest illuminated this huckleberry, sprouting,  as they do, from a downed log. The bloom on this thimbleberry was visited by a what iNaturalist tells us is a Dasysyrphus intrudens-- a fly, and a pollinator. Pollinating insects abound in the forest and the marsh--good food for the birds and other creatures, and support for the plantlife. A stand of new mica cap mushrooms has emerged, as has a large and robust conk, possibly a northern red belt. A butterfly reste...