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Cherry Blossom Update #1
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Category Archives: field notes
10 Reasons We Love Snow
Here at the High Park Nature Centre, we love snow. Here are 10 good reasons that we eagerly check the weather forecasts and cheer like children at the hint of a coming snowstorm.
1. Good Looking
The woodlands are especially beautiful with freshly fallen snow.
All the seasons are beautiful (especially in High Park), but when snow falls on branches or creates graceful drifts, winter becomes awe-inspiring. Go for a snowshoe hike after a snowfall to enjoy how snow transforms the natural landscape.
2. Snowflake Watching
Enjoy the beauty of snow crystals. There are many types of snow to identify. Hexagonal crystals, stellar crystals, column crystals, needle crystals, graupel, powder, bullet crystals, spatial dendrites are just some of the snowflake types.
How to watch snowflakes:
1. Cool a piece of black paper in the freezer or outside.
2. Hold the black paper outside to catch some snowflakes.
3. Use a magnifying glass to check out those crystals up close.
David W. Stokes’ “A Guide to Nature in Winter” has an excellent description of each of the different types of crystals.
3. Fun to play in
Snowshoeing is a great way to walk through snow. Katie and an "At Home in High Park" participant snowshoe through the High Park woodlands.
Slide! Make a giant snow ball! Make a snow person or a snow animal! Make snow angels! Catch snowflakes on your tongue! Throw a snowball! Make an awesome snow fort! Your only limit is your imagination (and the amount of snow).
4. No Two Snowflakes are the Same
Although they may look very, very similar every single snowflake is slightly different. According to scientist Kenneth Libbrecht, snow crystals are made of billions of billions of frozen water molecules. The number of different ways to make a snow crystal is larger than the number of total atoms in the universe. Libbrecht, who authored The Snowflake – Winter’s Secret Beauty, “It could snow day and night until the sun dies before two snow crystals would be exactly, precisely alike.” AMAZING!
5. It Insulates
Believe it or not, snow is like a blanket that protects plants, mammals and dormant insects from the cold temperatures and winds. Space between the ground and snow is called a “subnivean layer” and is warmer than above the snow. Once snow reaches a depth of 15 cm or more, the subnivean layer stays around 0 degrees celsius.
Amazingly, sunlight radiates through snow. Some plants like wintergreen will photosynthesize even under the snow!
An entry/exit hole to a mouse's subnivean tunnels. Not only are these tunnels safer and easier than above the snow, they are also warmer.
6. It Protects
Snow is like an invisibility cloak for mice and voles who might otherwise be caught be hawks or owls. The “subnivean layer” is a life-saving winter space for mice and voles who create vast networks of tunnels beneath the snow.
Also, dormant insects can sleep peacefully with fewer predators able to get them while green plants go un-munched in the early spring.
7. Helps Seeds Travel
Snow can help birch tree seeds (and others as well) move from one place to another. When birch seeds fall onto snow that has a hard crust they can be blown by breezes far and wide. By travelling wider, they have a better chance of growing in a suitable spot. Without crusty snow, these seeds would be stopped by mushy snow, logs, leaves or grasses.
8. Talk About It!
Stuck for conversation? Everybody has something to talk about when it is snowing outside!
A Red Fox track let us know that it had been on the hunt, travelling along a snow-covered fallen log.
9. Tracking
A Red Fox track let us know that it had been on the hunt, travelling along a snow-covered fallen log.
Snow helps us learn animals’ stories. By studying tracks, we can learn where animals have been and what they have been up to. This morning we followed a squirrel’s tracks to where it had dug up its stashed acorn through the snow and scampered off to a tree. In High Park, you might see the tracks of Red Foxes, Squirrels, Coyotes, Mice, Raccoons or Beavers.
10. Waters for Spring
Spring is muddy, wet and ideal for seeds to germinate and begin growing. Much spring moisture is compliments of melting snow! Snow is holding water in a frozen state until it is really needed. Waking trees get a big drink of water while toads and frogs have more water for breeding territories.
So, those are just some of the many, many reasons to love snow. Leave a comment with your own reasons you love snow.
Red Fox
A fox den entrance. Foxes like to make their dens on south-facing slopes near forest edges. They also prefer dry, sandy soil and High Park has lots of sandy soil near forest edges!
This weekend the Ramblers Hiking Club saw a fox den! We noticed 2 entrances about 25 cm wide and a large pile of excavated sand was outside one of them. One of the Ramblers decided this was the “porch”. Red Fox’s underground burrows can be up to 25 m long but judging by the amount of sand, this one isn’t that long. Dens are often on a south-facing slope to maximize warm sunlight and have a good view of the surrounding area.
Elusive, secretive and shy, Foxes live in High Park and stay active all winter long. Foxes thick tails can be wrapped around their feet and face to keep warm in the coldest conditions. And they manage to find enough food to survive. In the winter foxes eat mostly meat: meadow voles, mice and squirrels. Remains of a fox’s meal can often be found just outside their dens.
With difficult winter hunting conditions, foxes rely heavily on these senses to catch enough food for survival. Foxes have excellent sight, smell and hearing. Amazingly, foxes can locate mice beneath deep snow through use of their hearing. This video shows the fox’s unbelievable winter hunting skills: BBC clip of Red Fox hunting in the snow
A fox track has 4 toes, is about 4.5 cm wide and 5-6 cm long.
We also found some fox tracks! Fox tracks look very similar to domestic dog tracks. However, there are some differences. Dogs tend to explore their surroundings somewhat randomly. Foxes don’t have this luxury and hunt very purposefully. Their tracks reflect this: a dog’s seem random while a fox’s are often straight and careful. We noticed the fox tracks by the den and went along the fallen trees and branches wherever possible.
Foxes often walk along landforms like a ridge, a forest edge or in this case, along a fallen branch. What balance!
For more reading on the wildlife of High Park visit: High Park Nature
For more reading on foxes visit: Hinterland Who’s Who – Red Fox
Leaf Galls
Although many leaves have already changed colour and fallen, our fascination with them continues. If you take a minute to look closely at fallen leaves you can see all sorts of intriguing evidence. Holes munched by bugs and assorted moulds, mildews and fungi. Bring along a magnifying glass to appreciate the strange beauty up-close.
This White Oak leaf is host to a number of galls. Each of those galls houses a tiny insect larvae!
If you are really observant, you may even find a “leaf gall”. Galls are small ball-like deformities of a plant caused by an insect. The insect uses this deformity for shelter as well as food throughout the summer and fall. Some insect species will stay inside the gall all winter long. Galls can grow on branches, trunks, fruits, flowers, roots, twigs, or in this case: leaves.
Some galls are fuzzy, some are smooth and some even resemble hedgehogs! Different species of insects make different galls on different species of plants. This one was found on a Red Oak.
Here in High Park we have been noticing plenty of different galls especially on Oak leaves. Inside of these little shelters live tiny larvae! Most oak galls are formed by insects called “gall wasps” (or Cynipids).
Next time you come out to High Park, look for galls. You might be surprised how many you discover.
Indian Pipe
Some Indian Pipe (Monotropa Uniflora) flowers in the shady woodlands of High ParkThese leafless white wonders are commonly called “Indian Pipe” due to their pipe-like shape. Other names include “Ghost flower” and “Ice plant”. They almost look like fungi but they are truly plants! They have no leaves. The shoots grow between 10 and 30 cm and each has a flower atop. The flowers start off nodding and do a full rotation. Once fertilized, the flower points straight upward.
Why are these plants white?
Because they have no chlorophyll! Most plants are green because they contain chlorophyll, which turns sunlight into sugar. Indian Pipe is different. It has no chlorophyll or leaves and doesn’t need the sunlight to make food. Because these plants don’t need the sun, they can grow in very dark areas.
How do they get energy?
Indian Pipe roots have a special relationship with a fungus that breaks down the nutrients in the organic matter of the soil. This fungus also takes sugars from the roots of other plants and provides them to the Indian Pipe roots. The Indian Pipe uses the fungus to get sugar from other plant roots. They are kind of parasitic.
Pines and Oaks
Dark woodlands with rich humus are ideal habitats for Indian Pipe. They are often found growing among Pine and Oak trees. Perhaps they have a special relationship with the roots of these trees. Luckily High Park has some great White Pines and Oak trees.
Respect
Since these plants are so awe-inspiring, please enjoy them respectfully and remember to let them live so that they can spread their seeds!
Wild Lupine
"Spring Breezes, High Park" by J.E.H. MacDonald in 1912. Notice the blue of the Wild Lupine among the tall grasses of the Savannah. http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/
Upon a walk through the Savannah yesterday, we quickly noticed that the Wild Lupines are blooming!
These wild flowers were once abundant in the sandy soils of High Park’s Black Oak Savannahs before they almost disappeared.
Plantings and great care by groups such as the Volunteer Stewardship Program, along with prescribed burning of the Savannah have helped the Wild Lupines start to regenerate.
- Wild Lupines grow excellent in the sandy soil of the Black Oak Savannah
Not a Soil Wolf After All
The name for Lupines is all mixed up! People noticed that Wild Lupines grow on sandy, nutrient-poor soil and thought that the plants were hungrily eating up all of the soil’s nutrients similar to wolves eating. This idea lead people to name the plant Lupine, from the latin word for wolf: “lupus”. The funny part is that Lupines actually do the opposite of “wolfing” the nutrients from the soil; they improve the soil by adding nitrogen. Bacteria form nodules on the roots of Lupines and capture nitrogen from the air, and allow the plant and nearby plants to use it.
Karner Blue Butterfly The Karner Blue butterfly no longer exists in the wild in Canada. It is considered “extripated”. These tiny blue butterflies were last seen in High Park in 1926. They lay their eggs only on Wild Lupine and
The Karner Blue Butterfly is considered extripated in Canada, meaning it no longer exists in the wild here.
the caterpillars feed only on Wild Lupine leaves. When the Wild Lupine of Ontario disappeared, so did the Karner Blue Butterflies. This is why it is important to be mindful of our footsteps among the lupins that have been planted in the Savannah and not to pick them.
Sundial
If you feel like flower watching, Wild Lupines are an excellent choice. Aside from the throwing of seeds and the visiting pollinators, you can watch the leaves to help you tell time. Another name for this plant is “Sundial Lupine” because the leaves follow the sun throughout the day.
A bee checks for nectar while pollinating the flower. Bees and butterflies are the pollinators of Wild Lupine
Seeds
Once the flowers are pollinated, often by bees and butterflies, the seed pod develops. The mature seed pod will dry on its sunny side first. This creates a tension and and the pod will…..EXPLODE! The seeds fly as far as 1 meter from the plant. Although it seems like a far throw for a plant, the seeds do not travel much further so the Wild Lupines tend to grow in groups called colonies.
For more information check out:
Rare Plants of the Endangered High Park Black Oak Savannah guidebook by the VSP of High Park.
Pollination Canada’s Article about the Karner Blue Butterfly
Wikipedia Article about Wild Lupine
Wild Geranium
5 rounded petals of the wild geranium flower.
As you walk through the woodlands this week, take notice of these delicate purple-pink flowers. These are wild geraniums! Most people associate the word “geranium” with house and garden plants. Those types of geraniums are distant relatives in the same family, but in a different genus from wild geraniums.
Tough Stuff
Although a very delicate flower, it is also quite tough. A woody, resilient system of rhizomes allows the wild geraniums to grow in colonies in the same spot each year. This is because of the spreading rhizomes that survive the winter underground. These rhizomes have been used medicinally by humans to treat diarrhea and to stop external bleeding among other ailments.
Notice how the "nectar guide" lines can be transparent. These help guide the insects to the nectar.
Flowers
If you take a close look at the flower, you will notice that there are light-purple lines leading to the centre. In the right light, the lines are transparent. These lines are easily noticed by insects and help guide them to where the nectar is stored. The lines are appropriately called “nectar guides”. Once guided to the nectar, hungry insects pollinate the flowers.
Exploding Seed Pods
Keep watching these wildflowers. After they are pollinated and the seed pod elongates until it looks like a crane’s bill, it distributes its seeds through propulsion! The seeds at the base of the seed pod sit in tiny little cups. The cups are attatched to bands that slowly tighten until the little cups are pulled from the base and send the seeds flying through the air! The seeds land a couple of feet from the plant.
Another Name
Some people call the wild geranium “Cranesbill” because of the seed pod’s resemblance to the bill of a crane. In fact, the word “geranium” comes from the Greek word ” geranos”, meaning crane.
Enjoy!
Because of their beauty and important role in the ecology of the woodlands, remember not to pick the wildflowers in the park. By staying on the path and keeping dogs on leash in the on-leash areas, these wild geraniums will continue to grow wild in High Park for generations.