Tag: algonquin provincial park

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Algonquin August 2023

Peck Lake Trail (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 4)

One of my favourite trails within Algonquin Provincial Park is the Peck Lake trail, because it circles a lake, offering a variety of habitats with their various inhabitants. Edge habitat (habitat that is at the edge of habitat types, such as coastlines or riversides) is often more diverse than core habitat (the center of a habitat range, eg. The middle of a forest), for obvious reasons: the edges of a habitat type contain representatives from the habitats surrounding it and species that are unique to the edge itself. So there are ecological reasons that this sort of habitat would be especially diverse in species and I have certainly found a large complement of creatures along this trail on my visits through the years. 2023 was no exception.

Bordering the lake were several patches of flowers, which were visited by many wasps, bees and flies (many of which resembled wasps or bees themselves). Bumblebees were abundant, and there were a few wasp-mimicking flies among them. Both pictured below are members of the Flower Fly family (Syrphidae).

White-spotted Pond Fly (Sericomyia lata).
Bald-faced Hornet Fly (Spilomyia fusca)

Of course, not all flower visitors were wasp mimics, many were the real thing. A crabronid of the genus Ectemnius was seen visiting a flower and another crabronid was seen emerging from its burrow at a different part of the trail. When I was first reviewing my photos I assumed that both members of the family Crabronidae that I observed dug into the ground for their nest burrows. Crabronidae is associated in my mind with “burrowing solitary wasps”. But Ectemnius wasps actually often nest in dead wood or plant stems (Holm 2021).

Ectemnius, a Crabronid wasp visiting a flower.
Crabronid wasp emerging from its burrow.

Another flower-visiting wasp was the intriguingly named “Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket” (Dolichovespula arctica). As you might have guessed, this species is parasitic… and if you know how social parasitism works, then you could have guessed its host: another member of the Dolichovespula genus (Bald-faced hornets, D. arenaria or D. alpicola) (Holm 2021). After a non-parasitic wasp nest is beginning in Spring, a queen of this species will join and start laying her own eggs. She doesn’t produce workers like her hosts, but instead produces female and male reproductives only and through social aggression she forces the host’s workers to rear her young (Holm 2021). After some of her young are reared, she will kill the host queen and the nest will start to collapse (as yellowjacket/hornet nests do every year in the fall), workers will lay their own eggs which will hatch into reproductive male wasps (Holm 2021). After mating, the D. arctica queens will find hibernation sites in order to wait out the winter and start the cycle of revolution all over again next spring.

Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arctica).

One other wasp was observed not on a flower, but on the branch of a tree, its bold coloration catching my eye. The Spotted Cuckoo Spider Wasp (Ceropales maculata) is another wasp which doesn’t create its own nest. Like the Parasitic Aerial Yellowjacket described above, this wasp usurps the nest of another related wasp, this time a non-parasitic Spider Wasp (Pompilidae). C. maculata lays an egg in the host’s captured prey (a spider) before the host buries her prey along with her own egg. Within the host’s burrow, the Cuckoo Spider wasp egg hatches and the hungry larva consumes the host’s egg and the captured spider (Holm 2021).

Spotted Cuckoo Spider Wasp (Ceropales maculata).

The Hymenopteran and Dipteran flower visitors were likely foraging in the flowers themselves for nectar and/or pollen, whereas other larger flower perchers were merely looking for a place to alight. Large and beautiful Dragonflies spread their wings in the morning sunlight while resting on lakeside flowers. The powdery blue bodies of the Slaty Skimmers (Libellula incesta) were particularly common and striking. These dragonflies were most obliging for my photographs, often allowing me to get quite close to their resting forms.

The sharp red of Meadowhawks (Sympetrum sp.) were also common along the lakeshore foliage.

Rounding out the insect observations was a Scorpionfly (Panorpa sp.) which I spotted among the leaf litter.

Within the lake itself, I spotted many frogs, and one was quite interesting in being at the penultimate stage of its ‘tadpole’ life, neither tadpole nor fully frog, this was a transitory creature.

The ‘transitory’ frog, no longer a tadpole, but not quite an adult frog.

Among the branches above, I encountered two more wood-warbler species, not seen at the warbler river in Pog Lake (See Warbler River (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 3)). The Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) is a bird that I associate with the wetlands of Long Point, not the woodlands of Algonquin, but Ron Tozer in Birds of Algonquin Park (2012), states “Probably the most widespread warbler, it is common in wet brushy habitats, weedy fields, and marshes through most of North America.”

Common Yellowthroat female, lacking entirely the black mask of the males.

Another new Warbler for the trip was the Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) darting among the conifer branches.

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens).

Perhaps surprising, given my usual focus on insects and birds, my most striking observation on this trail walk was a plant.

One of the habitats merging with the edge of the lake was a small marshy area* which contained the dragonflies and frogs you might expect. But there was also a bog plant that I have never observed in the wild before and that struck me as particularly exciting: Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).

*I will not get into the sinkhole that is wetland characterization… bog/marsh/swamp and other names in this vein are technically different things but ecologists often disagree what the parameters are for each or how to really define them. Although non-scientists might find it amusing, the controversy/discussion arises out of the importance in science of imposing definitions on the world in order to be able to dissect and discuss discrete entities and the real world often defies such limitations because it is just too complex of a system.

Round-leaved Sundews have highly modified leaves which sprout droplets which glisten in the sun. These droplets are sticky and insects which land on them are slowly entrapped by the folding leaves. Once an insect is trapped, the sundew secretes enzymes to digest its prey. The consumption of insect prey takes about a week or more (Eastman 1995). I was overjoyed to spot this amazing carnivorous plant, flourishing in its habitat within Algonquin Park.

References:

Eastman, John. 1995. The Book of Swamp and Bog. Stackpole Books.

Holm, Heather. 2021. Wasps. Pollination Press.

Tozer, Ron. 2012. Birds of Algonquin Park. The Friends of Algonquin Park.

For Previous Algonquin Observation posts, see:

–Warbler River (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 3)

–Lakeside Lives (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 2)

–Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

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Algonquin August 2023

Lakeside Lives (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 2)

Subsequent days in the park had us spending time at the Pog lake beach and surrounding area. The fog swirling across the calm lake was a wonderful sight to begin our Algonquin days. One morning the shapes of loons speared the fog and then dropped below the still surface of the lake. Loons may be a common sight within the lakes of Algonquin park, but that does not mean that they are a boring sight at all. Their calls and dives are woven into the atmosphere of Algonquin Park.

The charisma of Loons did not prevent my eyes being drawn to the small living denizens of the beach area as well. Resting on a buoy was a Large Orthopteran (grasshopper/cricket/katydid) of some sort. This was a Roesel’s Bush-Cricket (Roeseliana roeselii), an introduced Katydid from Europe. There are two forms to this species, one long-winged, and one short-winged. I believe the one I spotted is of the longer-winged variety.

As the days progressed, more insect activity became apparent. A flower near the lake’s edge was visited by a bumblebee-look-alike: the Orange-legged Drone Fly (Eristalis flavipes). The larvae of this species feed within moist decomposing plant material and are known as “rat-tailed maggots” because of the long thin breathing tube that extends from the larvae. But the adults are beautiful bumblebee-mimics, one of many examples where one stage in an insect’s life is more attractive (to us) than another.

Nearby the flower was a pair of damselflies (Bluets, Enallagma) performing their heart-shaped coupling.

Part 1: The Male has clasped onto the female behind her head.

I’m unsure of the species but there are over 30 species of Bluets in North America (bugguide.net), so called because of the often bright blue colour of the male.

Part 2: Acrobatics incoming…

Damselflies have a strong ovipositor which they use to pierce vegetation in order to lay their eggs inside. Oftentimes, the plants they lay eggs into are partly underwater, causing the damselflies to stretch their abdomens beneath the water surface to cut into a suitable stem.

Part 3: Union.

There were other encounters within the Pog Lake Campground, but the most memorable for me were in a location separated by a walk from our campsite and the beach, a wonderful place I came to call “Warbler River”. That will be the subject of my next post.

For Previous Algonquin Observation posts, see:

–Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

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Algonquin August 2023

Campsite Companions (Algonquin Observations August 2023, Part 1)

In August of 2023, I returned to one of my favourite places: Algonquin Provincial Park. While there, I photographed and encountered varied organisms and I’d like to take the opportunity to explore and describe these nature observations in a series of blogposts, as I often do.

When first arriving at our campsite, I observed not a living thing itself, but rather the mark of a living thing on its environment: I found a bird nest. According to iNaturalist it is likely the creation of a Vireo (genus Vireo, who said Scientific names were hard to remember?). The most common Vireo in Southern Ontario is the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), so this was likely constructed by a member of this species. A description of their nest construction is appropriate here: “The female spends 4 to 5 days constructing a nest of bark strips, grasses, pine needles, wasp-nest paper, twigs, and plant fibers that hangs below the branch. She glues the materials (some of which are provided by the male) together and to the branch fork with spider-web adhesive, occasionally supplemented with spider egg cases and sticky plant fibers.” (Cornell Lab of Ornithology 2019). I love thinking of the time and effort that went into this small nest. Just think of the spiders’ webs and egg cases that went into this architecture.

Small eye-level nest of a songbird, likely a Vireo of some sort.

While exploring our campsite, a very different organism was in the process of creating a nest, a crabronid wasp female. This tiny black-and-yellow wasp was investigating the ground of our campsite for a location to create a  burrow. The wasp landed several times and dug a little bit into the sandy soil then hovered for a while, circling the area before dropping to the ground once more. At one point, it entered the firepit and dug rapidly into the ashes within, crafting itself a very easily constructed but frightfully unwise burrow. It put me in mind of the parable of the man building a house on sand, perhaps there is a Hymenopteran equivalent about “digging one’s burrow in ashes”. In any case, I don’t think the wasp was settled on the firepit as its burrow location because after forming these temporary exploratory burrows, she flew off and wasn’t seen the rest of the day.

“Do not dig your burrow in ash” – ancient Hymenopteran proverb.

A few days later, I spotted her hovering form once more, this time accompanied by a prey item. Dragging below her was a corpse larger than herself, that of a Horse Fly (Tabanidae). I never witnessed the end of her journey, I’m not sure if she found a good spot to bury her large prey to feed her young. But I hope that she did.

Crabronid wasp dragging her larger horse fly prey below herself.

Another Hymenopteran was looking to provision for its young, although its prey was far larger than a horsefly. The creature was a Black-and-red Horntail (Urocerus cressoni) and its prey was a tree. Horntails (Suborder Symphyta) lay their eggs inside the trunks of trees and the larvae feed within. Urocerus cressoni larvae feed inside of Pine trees and their relatives (Marshall 2023).

Black-and-Red Horntail (Urocerus cressoni) resting on the trunk of a tree, likely searching for a place to lay her eggs.

Many other insects were observed on the trees, plants and litter of our campsite and the surrounding areas of the Pog Lake Campground. Some True Flies (Order Diptera) caught my attention. A bright and shiny Dolichopus skittered about in the leaf litter, and an elongate Robber Fly (Genus Machimus) was spotted on fallen pine needles.

Dolichopus Fly.
Robber fly of the genus Machimus.

Some of the most beautiful insects found in the Pog Lake campground were the Dragonflies (Order Odonata). A strikingly large Dragonfly of the genus Aeshna was basking in the sun on the trunks of trees and (when I was able to take its photo) on our dining tent entrance.

A much more easily missed odonate was the Variable Darner (Argis fumipennis), a smoky grey presence among the pine needles and fallen bark.

Resting along a branch was a beautiful Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), in a colour phase that I hadn’t observed before. Males of this species are a bright red with a rusty-red thorax, but females (like the one I encountered) are yellowish. I was able to get very close to this dragonfly and was rewarded with some beautiful photographs.

We didn’t just hang out by our campsite in Pog Lake, but we spent quite a bit of time at the campground beach and that will be the focus of my next blogpost.

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2019. All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-eyed_Vireo/lifehistory#nesting Accessed on [1/24/24].

Marshall, Stephen A. 2023. Hymenoptera

For Previous Algonquin Observation blogposts, see:

–Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

–Algonquin in August

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

–Moose (Alces alces) Family

–Algonquin Observations, Part 5 – Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

–Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 3 – Peck Lake Trail

–Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

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Species Profile Top 20 Photos 2013-2020

5. Robber Fly Hunting Queen Ant

Subject: Underworld Robber Fly (Neoitamus orphne) and New York Carpenter Ant Queen (Camponotus novaeboracensis).

Location: Algonquin Provincial Park.

Date: July 2017.

For an Introduction to this series (my Top 20 Nature Photos of 2013-2020) go here.

The Story Behind the Shot: Every ant colony, each civilization in the soil, has to begin with a single type of individual: an ant queen*. Queens are special individuals, easily separated from the workers by their wings (at this preliminary stage) and their relatively large size. While camping in Algonquin during the summer of 2017, my campsite was in the path of dozens of queen carpenter ants. I watched as several different individuals wandered through the pine needles and discarded their wings. I had also been separately observing a large robber fly that had taken up residence on my camping table, using the surface to survey for potential prey. At some point the robber fly descended upon one of these ant queens and I was lucky enough to spot the unfortunate queen and its fortunate hunter.

*nature never lets me get away with generalizations… I would have liked to say, for the drama, that every colony begins with a single individual, but that isn’t true at all. There are many species of ants that create new colonies with multiple queens as a rule, and many times groups of workers accompany the queen (or queens). One of the most famous of these species is the Southern Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta, but dependent colony founding (that is, colonies that begin with a queen dependent on workers as opposed to independent colony founding) is widespread in ants. As in all things in the natural world, the picture becomes increasingly complicated, the more we know (Peeters and Molet 2010).

The Story Behind the Species:

Part 1: New York Carpenter Ant (Camponotus novaeboracensis):

The ant queens that I saw that day had emerged from a colony in what is termed a mating swarm. Multiple colonies in the area, triggered by the weather conditions must have swarmed at the same time, winged ants filling the air and meeting to mate. The males of these ants die soon after mating, but the queens will live for several years if they can establish a colony. The vast majority of ant queens will also die during this mating flight. Holldobler and Wilson (1990) describe this well: “It follows that the brief interval between leaving the home nest and settling into a newly constructed nest is a period of intense natural selection among queens, a dangerous odyssey that must be precisely timed and executed to succeed.” After mating, the ant queens descend to the earth and never leave it for the air again, removing their wings and absorbing the flight muscles within to provide the nutrients for their first batch of eggs. Camponotus novaeboracensis prefers nesting in dead standing trees or fallen logs or stumps, but they are occasionally found nesting under rocks or cow dung (Ellison et. al. 2012). Contrary to what you may think, carpenter ants (the genus Camponotus) don’t consume wood for food, instead carving into decayed wood in order to create a nesting site. One of their major sources of food is actually honeydew from Homoptera (true bugs such as leafhoppers, treehoppers and aphids), but they also collect sap and hunt insects and will scavenge on dead vertebrates as well (Hansen and Klotz 2005).

Foraging as an ant worker is dangerous, there are many other creatures foraging that would hunt down ant workers, and that’s ok for the colony because each worker is just one small part of a larger whole. Camponotus novaeboracensis colonies can contain almost 9000 workers (Hansen and Klotz 2005), but usually only a single egg-laying queen*. So workers can be lost, and the colony continues, but the queen is important so the colony can begin. If she is lost before she can find a nesting site, as in my observation here, there can be no colony of thousands.

*Akre et. al. 1994 report that C. novaeboracensis colonies rarely have more than one queen, but it does happen.

Part 2: Underworld Robber Fly (Neoitamus orphne):

Robber flies are incredible hunters, swooping out from perches on branches or twigs (or in this case, camping tables) to pounce upon insects and stab them with their powerful piercing mouths. There are over 7000 species of Robber Fly (members of the family Asilidae) worldwide (Marshall 2012). Neoitamus orphne has a specific name, orphne, which refers to a spirit of Greek mythology that lived with Hades in the Underworld, and is sometimes referred to by the name “Styx”. I love the idea of this fly being named after a spirit of the Underworld, as this robber fly must send many souls of insects to Hades on a frequent basis. The individual pictured is a female, which will use that long tubular abdomen to lay eggs inside flower heads or leaf sheaths. The larvae then hatch and drop to the ground, where they will hunt down soil-dwelling invertebrates presumably (Marshall 2012). I say “presumably” because I don’t think anyone knows for certain what this species of robber fly eats as larvae but robber fly larvae are predators and this genus has larvae that live on or in the ground so it makes sense.

My photo captures a battle between two mother insects, one which has the potential to generate a social colony of 9000 worker ants, another which lives a solitary life snatching prey out of the air.

References:

Akre, R. D., L. D. Hansen, and E. A. Myhre. 1994. Colony size and polygyny in carpenter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 67: 1-9, cited in: Hansen, Laurel and Klotz, John. 2005. Carpenter Ants of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.

Ellison, Aaron, Gotell, Nicholas, Farnsworth, Elizabeth, and Alpert, Gary. A Field Guide to the Ants of New England. 2012. Yale University Press.

Hansen, Laurel and Klotz, John. 2005. Carpenter Ants of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.

Holldobler, Bert and Wilson, E. O. 1990. The Ants. Harvard University Press.

Marshall, Stephen. 2012. Flies: the Natural History and Diversity of Diptera. Firefly Books.

Peeters, Christian, and Molet, Mathieu. 2010. “Colonial Reproduction and Life Histories” in: Lach, Lori, Parr, Catherine L., and Abbott, Kirsti L.(eds.) 2010. Ant Ecology. Oxford University Press.

I hope you enjoyed my foray into the lives of these fascinating insects. My next post in the ongoing series of My Top Nature Photos is going to be about a sneaky little amphibian.

For Previous posts in this series, see:

  1. The Pale-Painted Sand Wasp (Bembix pallidipicta)
  2. Moose (Alces alces) Family
  3. Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)
  4. Common Five-Lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus)
Categories
Nature Observations

Algonquin in August

At the beginning of August, I was at Algonquin for a week, and although I didn’t take as many pictures as on previous trips I still managed to spot some fascinating creatures and I’d like to describe my observations here.

Early on a rainy morning I was on a drive down Opeongo road, searching for wildlife beneath the grey skies. Only at the end of the road, which terminates at the store at the edge of Lake Opeongo did I manage to find any photo subjects. Off in the distance was the most iconic bird of northern lakes, the beautiful and sleek Common Loon (Gavia immer). I was surprised that the distant bird drifted closer and closer across the smooth water until I was able to get some very close shots of it dipping its head in and out of the lake. Perhaps it was as curious as I was or perhaps there were some fish that it sought near the dock. Either way, I was able to get a close look at this wonderful bird.

Along the dock, there was another familiar bird, one that has almost the opposite reputation to the Loon. While the Loon is a symbol of wildness and its strange call echoing across lakes evokes mystery
and beauty, Gulls are often symbols of trash-mongering, scavenging, and filth. Loons are revered and Gulls are vilified. If you’ve read any of my blog you may have gathered that I greatly dislike the vilification of animals. Not only does it cause unjustified persecution of animals it also hides their true nature as fascinating creatures in a complex world. Gulls are a great example of this. I saw two species of gulls while at the edge of Lake Opeongo: three Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) perched atop the store roof, and one ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) stood majestically on the dock, before taking to the air and soaring across the water.

Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) at the edge of Lake Opeongo.

The ring-billed gull used to be a rare sight in Algonquin park, but has become more common since the 1970s partly because of the general population growth of this species from a low in the early 1900s due to human persecution and egg-collecting (Tozer 2012). Herring gulls on the other hand, are the only gulls to nest in Algonquin Park and have been a common sight by lakeshores for many years. Some of their nests are in large colonies on rocky islands in lakes such as on Lake Opeongo, but often they nest individually or in small groups. Herring gulls have even been recorded nesting in abandoned bird nests made by large birds in trees (such as Herons, Bald Eagles or Osprey (Tozer 2012)), though this is uncommon.

Herring gulls perched atop the Opeongo store roof.

During our stay at Algonquin I also went on the Spruce Bog Boardwalk trail in the evening to take some photos. My most startling encounter was with a Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) bursting from beside the path
in a flurry of wings and landing in a tree far away. Unfortunately the shocking appearance and subsequent departure was so quick that I was unable to take a photo of the bird. On this same trail, I found a crab spider waiting on a leaf for insects to capture with its long extended legs, and a tricoloured bumblebee (Bombus ternarius) humming from flower to flower.

  • Crab Spider (Thomisidae) waiting for insect prey.
  • Tricolored Bumblebee visiting flowers.

On my final day in Algonquin I saw something in the Pog Lake Campground that caught my eye: a water strider with a striking white abdomen. I couldn’t get very close to it because it was skimming the surface of a river so I had to lean out with the macro lens to try to get a photo. This is all to explain why my photos are not super great, but they do reveal a surprise. My water strider’s white abdomen was in fact another water strider’s underside. What I thought to be a single insect was a mating pair of water striders (Metrobates hesperius).

Water Striders mating on the surface of a river, one upside down beneath the other.

They moved in so coordinated a fashion that it was a fair mistake to believe they were a single insect. Water striders are fascinating insects, which use the water surface the way an orbweaving spider uses its web. They are able to detect vibrations in the surface and hone in on them to locate prey which they dispatch and consume with their piercing mouthparts. Water striders use these vibrations to communicate with each other as well, for purposes such as mate finding.

Despite not taking as many photos as usual, I still managed to find fascinating creatures to observe which I have found to be the case whether in Algonquin Provincial Park or my own backyard.

References:

Tozer, Ron. 2012. Birds of Algonquin Park. The Friends of Algonquin Park.

For Previous Posts about Algonquin Observations, see:

–Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

– Moose (Alces alces) Family

-Algonquin Observations (2021):

–Part 1: Pog Lake Campground

–Part 2: Opeongo Road

–Part 3: Peck Lake Trail

–Part 4: Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Part 5: Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

Categories
Nature Observations Top 20 Photos 2013-2020

2. Moose (Alces alces) Family

Subject: Moose (Alces alces) Mother and Calves.

Location: Algonquin Provincial Park.

Date: July 2016.

For an Introduction to this series (my Top 20 Nature Photos of 2013-2020) go here.

The Story Behind the Shot: For several summers, I have stayed in Algonquin Provincial Park for a week, camping in Pog Lake Campground and exploring various trails and locations along the Highway 60 corridor, attempting to photograph interesting creatures that I encountered. One of the most quintessential Algonquin animals is the Moose, and I didn’t spot one on this trip until we were on our way out of the park, driving down the highway early in the morning. This family group of Moose (a mother and two calves) was an amazing treat to watch as they continued to browse some foliage and walk through the clearing adjacent to the road.

The Story Behind the Species: Moose are large mammals, the largest land mammal that one can encounter in Eastern North America. As such, they have been the subject of plenty of research and interest. For this post I want to focus on their reproductive cycle since the photo I captured features a mother and her two calves. Calves are born in May, after 7 months of growth within the mother. Pregnant Moose will often seek out islands in lakes as the location to give birth as it provides some protection from roaming bears or wolves (Strickland and Rutter 2018). You may be wondering how a mother moose can reach an island that a bear or wolf won’t frequent. Moose are actually quite excellent swimmers, they can feed on underwater plants, can swim to depths of 5.5 m and stay under for more than 30 seconds (Naughton 2012). The two young in my photo are likely twins since they appear to be the same size. Apparently, “twins are not uncommon under good conditions” (Naughton 2012). The young stay with their mother for a full year before they disperse (Strickland and Rutter 2018).

A fascinating animal and one I’m sure I will return to explore further on my blog in the future.

References:

Naughton, Donna. 2012. The Natural History of Canadian Mammals.

Strickland, Dan and Rutter, Russell. 2018. Mammals of Algonquin Provincial Park.

For the previous articles in my Top 20 Nature Photos of 2013-2020 series, see:

–Introduction

-1. Pale-Painted Sand Wasp

For more observations in Algonquin Park, see my Algonquin Observations (August 2021) series:

–Part 1: Pog Lake Campground

–Part 2: Opeongo Road

–Part 3: Peck Lake Trail

–Part 4: Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

–Part 5: Spruce Bog: The Reckoning

Categories
August 2021 Observations Nature Observations

Algonquin Observations, Part 4 – Spruce Bog Speedrun and the Logging Museum Trail

The Spruce Bog Boardwalk is a trail that runs through (and also, over) the fascinating ecosystem of a northern bog. Bog “soil” is composed of decaying plant matter known as peat, and this substrate is extremely acidic, allowing only certain types of plants to grow within these wetlands. The ones that do are hardy species and the most conspicuous is the only species of tree to thrive here: the Black Spruce (Picea mariana). Black Spruce are scraggly trees, but they are trees which live in such a difficult environment that they are truly impressive.

Certain portions of the Spruce Bog trail feature beautiful wildflowers and insects, but on this occasion I rushed through the trail for personal reasons*, only stopping to snap a picture near the very end of the trail. The bird I photographed is related to the Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) that I saw perched near the Opeongo Lake Road, it was an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe). 

*essentially it had to do with a small tired person accompanying me

Small Tyrannid perched in a tree, searching for prey.

Eastern Phoebes are part of the Tyrannidae Family of birds and if you’re thinking that sounds like a Family of Dinosaurs then I’d like to mention briefly that you would be 100% correct. Tyrannidae is a Family of Dinosaurs, because ALL Birds are Dinosaurs that have survived the mass extinction of other branches of the Dinosaur family tree (including the branch called Tyrannosauridae, ie Tyrannosaurus and kin, which is the one you were probably thinking of). Tyrannidae (the Tyrant Flycatchers) is not especially close to the Tyrannosauridae (the Tyrant Dinosaurs) of course, but they are both included within Dinosauria. 

Anyway, another extant (as opposed to extinct) Dinosaur species that I observed was on the Logging Museum Trail, floating swiftly between Water lilies: the Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus). The photographed individual (a female, I believe) isn’t raising its headfeathers into a crest, which is where it’s name of “hooded” merganser comes from. These ducks nest in tree cavities (so not just Wood Ducks do this… huh…) using old Woodpecker nest cavities most of the time (Tozer 2012).

Hooded Merganser sans hood.

Two wildflower species caught my eye on the same trail that day. One was a relative of the Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) (see Peck Lake observations), being part of the same Genus Spiraea. White Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) is more popular with Butterflies than the Steeplebush, as it produces more nectar than the former (Runtz 2020).

White Meadowsweet against a backdrop of green.

The other wildflower was Virgin’s-Bower (Clematis virginiana) and it was being attended to by Blackjacket Wasps (Vespula consobrina).

Virgin’s-Bower with Blackjacket Wasps landing among the flowers.

Let the Blackjacket Wasps serve as a teaser for the final chapter of my Algonquin observations: Spruce Bog: the Reckoning, in which I return to the Spruce Bog trail and take a very long time to walk it, Macro Lens equipped! Move over Birds and Flowers (well, there will be some flowers)! It’s finally time for the Insects to take their usual place in the spotlight of my camera!

References:

Tozer, Ron. 2012. Birds of Algonquin Park.

For previous Algonquin Observations (2021), see:

–Part 1: Pog Lake Campground

–Part 2: Opeongo Road

–Part 3: Peck Lake Trail

For Other Nature Observations in Algonquin Park, see:

-Algonquin Observations (July 2018), Day One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

And if you’re interested in seeing more of my photos and learning some facts about the organisms I’ve observed, follow me on Instagram at norfolknaturalist.

Categories
August 2021 Observations July 2021 Observations Nature Observations

Algonquin Observations, Part 2 – Opeongo Road

During our stay at Algonquin Park, I made a few trips down Opeongo Lake Road watching for wildlife. It’s a good place to see some of the rare creatures of Algonquin Park, as it forces you to go slow and there are wetlands and woodlands on either side of the road, ending in a lake. My sightings along this road were good even if I didn’t see any of the target species: Moose (Alces alces). 

One of the most common species sighted on the trip were Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias). It seemed as though these tall predatory birds were stalking every waterway, and I guess they might have been. Herons’ sinuous and powerful necks and the way they creep around slowly so as not to disturb their prey never ceases to catch my attention. 

Great Blue Heron, stalking among the reeds (or rushes or sedges or something, I’m not a Botanist ok?).

Another common bird spotted in the water was the American Black Duck (Anas rubripes). Two years ago, I had a few of these Ducks visiting my campsite, searching for handouts and I assumed then that they were female or juvenile male Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). When I posted my pictures from October 2019 on iNaturalist, the ducks were instead identified as American Black Ducks. They really do look like female Mallards superficially, the main difference being that female Mallards are “paler and sandier” and the bill is orange/black in the Mallard, whereas the American Black Duck has a greenish bill (Bull and Farrand, 1994). Because of changes in land practices and overhunting in the past, as well as hybridization with Mallards, the American Black Duck is rarer than it used to be. Within Algonquin Park however, the American Black Duck is one of the most common Ducks (Tozer, 2012).

American Black Duck

The other Duck (member of the Family Anatidae) spotted occasionally was the Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). Wood Ducks are remarkable (to me, at least) for nesting within tree-holes, something that seems strange for a Duck to be doing. I photographed a female Wood Duck leading a group of young across the marsh. Interestingly, the adult has something in its bill, I believe it’s the flower of a lily (Nymphaea).

Wood Duck female with a plant part in her mouth (lily flower?), and some young ahead of her.

One of the only Mammals* spotted on my trip was the animal responsible for creating some of the wetlands I observed: the Canadian Beaver (Castor canadensis). These giant Rodents (second in size among Rodents only to the Capybara of South America) engineer their surroundings, turning rivers into ponds where they create lodges. Beavers do not eat fish, unlike their smaller lookalikes, the Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus).

*(the only other Mammals were the ubiquitous Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and Chipmunks (Tamias striatus))

Beaver swimming through its marshland habitat.

Perched high in the trees or on wires was a Bird which I always confuse with Swallows (Hirundinidae): the Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus). This bird also has one of the best Scientific names ever, which is apparently because of its aggressiveness in defending its nest or territory, but also the “Kingbird” is because it has a crown of yellow (or sometimes red) feathers that is only displayed when its head feathers are parted in aggressive displays, which I have never seen (Cornell Lab of Ornithology website). This aggression in defending its nest extends to such formidable foes as crows, ravens, and hawks (Tozer, 2012)! 

Eastern Kingbird perched in a tree.

The rarest sighting on the Opeongo Lake Road tours was a group of foraging Snipes, specifically Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata). I didn’t get amazing pictures, because they were far away and they were really difficult to keep track of. I love the way these birds move, so I also attempted to take a video of them, which isn’t great but it demonstrates the way they start and stop, dipping their long beaks into the marsh to probe for invertebrates.

Wilson’s Snipe(s?) moving through the marshes. At left, one is plunging its sensitive bill into the mud, at right one is stepping off a log with its large foot.

More to come from my Algonquin Observations series!

References:

Bull, John and Farrand, John Jr. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds of North America: Eastern Region. 1994.

Tozer, Ron. Birds of Algonquin Park. 2012.

For Other Nature Observations in Algonquin Park, see:

–Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

-Algonquin Observations (July 2018), Day One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

And if you’re interested in seeing more of my photos and learning some facts about the organisms I’ve observed, follow me on Instagram at norfolknaturalist.

Categories
August 2021 Observations July 2021 Observations Nature Observations

Algonquin Observations, Part 1 – Pog Lake Campground

I love Algonquin Provincial Park. There is a special place in my heart for the vistas of trees, lakes and rock that extend to the horizon. Whenever I stay in the park, I encounter new creatures and make new observations, or if I encounter familiar organisms, I often appreciate them in a new light.

The first observation of my most recent trip (over the July/August Long Weekend) was a familiar bird creating a familiar knocking sound as it chipped away at the outer bark of a pine tree. The bird was a Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus), and its hammering into the edge of a tree is common in Norfolk County as well as Algonquin Park.

Hairy Woodpecker foraging on a Pine tree.

The other species of Woodpecker I encountered on this trip was not so familiar, and certainly not a species I could encounter in the more southern parts of Ontario. The Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) has a range across the Boreal Forests of North America, and Algonquin Provincial Park is at the southern edge of its range. They are a species tied to the disturbance of fire, as they mainly feed on insects (such as bark beetles and wood-boring beetles) which increase in population in fire-killed stands of trees (Backhouse, 2005). I observed the female and male of this species (likely a mated pair) foraging on the trees surrounding our campsite, and I also observed the male digging into what must have been a stump (the stump was obscured by vegetation, but I could see the yellow spot on the male’s head as he knocked away from ground level). As just mentioned, the male and female can be distinguished based on the presence or absence of a yellow patch on the head (the male has the yellow patch, the female does not). Not only did I see this species foraging but within the campground at Pog Lake there was actually a nest! Like most Woodpeckers (maybe all, but I’ve learned not to make rash generalizations), the Black-backed Woodpecker creates a new nest each year, carving a hole into a tree to house its young. I could hear the young inside the nest cavity, producing almost continuous begging calls for food. I saw the male drop by to drop off food he had collected, and I also got some pictures of the male on nest-guarding duty, sticking his head out of the nest entrance which was not too much higher than eye level. 

Black-backed Woodpecker Male, guarding his nest.

The Hairy Woodpecker I first spotted was not the only familiar bird encountered within Algonquin Park. Robins (Turdus migratorius) are a common sight throughout the campground, and the screams of Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) frequently break the solemnity of the sky-stretching Pines. Another vocal bird which is quite common in suburban backyards is the Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula). Grackles patrolled through the campground, searching for any scraps of food left out by unwary campers. They may not be everyone’s favourite bird sighting, but I think their metallic blue heads are quite beautiful, and their overall appearance and movements are striking. 

  • Common Grackles, familiar but beautiful birds.

Two birds very much associated with Algonquin Park in my mind (even though I’ve also seen both on the Lynn Valley Trail in Norfolk County) are common ascenders and descenders of trees. The Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) often swirls around a tree trunk as it descends and then begins to work its way up in leaps and bounds, plucking insects and spiders from their secluded hiding places. I wonder if the rapid spiralling descent is some sort of signal to other members of its species (I’ve seen Brown Creepers foraging in pairs, or more than two) or if it’s a way to locate potential prey for their way up.

Brown Creeper… creeping (more like leaping)… up a tree.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) doesn’t move up and down a tree in the same stereotyped way as the Brown Creeper, and it certainly stands out more from the bark with its attractive white-and-black face, blue back and red breast feathers. Nuthatches are renowned for their ability to walk head-first down a tree rather than up like most other bark-foraging birds (including Woodpeckers, Chickadees and Brown Creepers). 

Red-breasted Nuthatch demonstrating its maneuverability at the end of a broken branch.

Possibly the most beautiful bird observation in the Pog Lake campground was this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). These birds are often migratory through more Southern Ontario, arriving in the coniferous forests of Algonquin in mid-to-late April to breed (Tozer, 2012). According to the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario (Cadman et. al. 1987), they will breed in coniferous or mixed forests across Ontario (though they are more abundant in the more Boreal regions).

  • Yellow-Rumped Warbler Montage (same individual).

Usually Insects are my focus, and part of the reason for that is their abundance, diversity, and accessibility. Because of the rainy and cool weather for most of my visit, there were not as many Arthropods out and about (at least not as noticeable). A few notables made themselves known however. One striking spider was resting on the side of my car.

Spider, on the side door of my car. Not sure of the species, but I believe it’s an Orbweaver (Family Araneidae).

A Northern Pearly-eye Butterfly (Lethe anthedon) was resting on someone else’s car and I had to snap a picture.

Northern Pearly-eye Butterfly spotted on someone else’s car (the car was parked, obviously).

A very impressive Insect sighting in the Pog Lake Campground came on our last day in Algonquin. I found a massive Northeastern Pine Sawyer Beetle (Monochamus notatus). The Sawyer was very cooperatively still on the cool damp morning, allowing me to get some really great closeups. It was also silent, despite being moved to a more convenient location for photos. That may seem like a strange observation to make, but apparently Longhorn Beetles (Family Cerambycidae, of which Monochamus notatus is a part) make a “squeak”, not with their mouth but with parts of their thorax rubbing together (Marshall, 2006).

Northeastern Pine Sawyer Beetle. I hope you can see why members of this Beetle Family (Cerambycidae) are called Longhorn Beetles.

A few points of interest for this particular Sawyer Beetle. As the image above demonstrates, its antennae were almost as long as the rest of the body which marks it as a female. The males are the ones with the really long antennae, often twice the length of the rest of the body. Here’s a male of the same species to show you what I mean. (photo from wikipedia):

Male Monochamus notatus By D. Gordon E. Robertson – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11369161

It may be hard to see in my photo above, but these Beetles (including the female I observed) often have invertebrate hitchhikers. From a different angle it’s a bit clearer that my Beetle had a cluster of red Mites on her thorax.

Closeup of the M. notatus I found in Algonquin Park.

These Mites are presumably hitching a ride to dead/dying trees which the Beetle will be seeking (Monochamus beetle larvae feed inside of dead/dying trees). I’m not sure what the Mites will do once there, as Mites are incredibly diverse and have numerous ecologies and life histories and I don’t know what kind of Mites these are. The other interesting thing to note in my closeup picture above is the eye of the Beetle. Notice how it curves around in a crescent shape around the base of the antennae. Just thought that was sort of a strange arrangement for eyes/antennae. One more closeup shot of this Beetle because it was so cooperative:

Closeup portrait of M. notatus.

As I mentioned above, Insects are often what I notice and focus on. During our trip, I couldn’t help but take note of the wonderful beauty and diversity of some of the plant life in Algonquin Park as well. I suffer from “plant blindness” and I have been trying to rid myself of the condition as much as possible (see my book review of Flora of MiddleEarth for more on this subject). So I will end this post with a plant observation (and there will be more to come as I continue to write up my Algonquin observations). Throughout the Pog Lake Campground, there were some beautiful bright red berries amid ground-level green leaves. I found out that these plants are Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis).

Bunchberry Berries (and leaves).

Bunchberry has white flowers which spread pollen via the wind and insects in order to reach other flowers and reproduce (ie. form fertile berries). Amazingly, Bunchberry flowers are equipped with a mechanism to launch their pollen on an insect that triggers them, unfolding their petals at incredible speed to fling pollen onto the insect and up into the air (for possible wind-dispersal of pollen). This truly impressive feat is accomplished in 0.5 milliseconds. To put this into perspective, the Mantis Shrimp has the fastest movement of all Animals, and its record-holding strike lasts 2.7 milliseconds… five times as long as the Bunchberry flower petals take to open (Runtz, 2020). If that doesn’t make you want to pay more attention to plants, I don’t know what will.

Stay tuned… more to come from my trip to Algonquin, including more Birds, more Plants, and more Insects!

References:

Backhouse, Frances. Woodpeckers of North America. 2005.

Cadman, Michael D., Eagles, Paul F. J. and Helleiner, Frederick M., Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario. 1987.

Marshall, Stephen. Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity. 2006.

Runtz, Michael. Wildflowers of Algonquin Provincial Park. 2020.

Tozer, Ron. Birds of Algonquin Park. 2012.

For Other Nature Observations in Algonquin Park, see:

-Algonquin Observations (July 2018), Day One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

And if you’re interested in seeing more of my photos and learning some facts about the organisms I’ve observed, follow me on Instagram at norfolknaturalist.

Categories
Species Profile

Introduced Pine Sawfly

Diprion similis

Diprion similis larva at Algonquin Provincial Park, September 2019.

Sawflies are a group of insects that many people haven’t even heard of. Part of the reason is because, in appearance and behaviour, they are like a hybrid between two major groups: their larval stages look like caterpillars (larvae of Butterflies and Moths ie. Lepidoptera), and their adult stages look like bees or wasps (Order Hymenoptera). Despite appearances and lifestyle, it is the latter category that they actually fall under: Hymenoptera which also includes the Bees, Wasps, and Ants. The major features that set sawflies apart from their relatives is that they eat plants, and they don’t have the constricted “wasp waist”. You might find this a little confusing, as Bees certainly don’t have an obviously thin waist, but they actually do have a constriction between their thorax and abdomen, it’s just more difficult to see than in many wasp species.

Like many insect Orders, the name Hymenoptera refers to a distinct aspect of the members’ wings (‘ptera’ is derived from the Greek for wing). Hymenoptera doesn’t have an easy translation though, like say Diptera for the True Flies (di = two, ptera = wings). The beginning part of the word is either from the word “hymen” which means membranous, or from the word “hymeno” which refers to the Greek God of Marriage. Hymenopteran wings are membranous, but they also have tiny hooks that link their fore- and hind-wings, meaning that they could be said to be “married” wings as well (Grissell, 2010). Whatever the case, the group is one that includes thousands of species of wasps, bees, ants, and of course, sawflies.

The common name “sawfly” is describing the way the female sawfly lays her eggs. Instead of a stinger or stinger-like ovipositor (egg-layer) at the end of her abdomen (like most of the other Hymenopterans), the female sawfly has a saw-like ovipositor, a cutting tool that she uses to open up plant tissue, and then inserts her eggs within.

This is what the Introduced Pine Sawfly (Diprion similis) does to pine needles. D. similis prefers White Pine (Pinus strobus) as its host plant (in North America), but will lay eggs and successfully grow to maturity on several other pine species. The female lays about 10 tiny eggs inside a pine needle (Cranshaw, 2004). After inserting the eggs, the female seals them in with a secretion that hardens for protection (Wagner and Raffa, 1993). The larvae that hatch from the eggs begin to feed on the pine needles. For the first part of their life, they will remain together but begin to disperse as they grow older. These larvae prefer to feed on needles that are at least 1 year old, probably because the younger needles are full of more toxins (Wagner and Raffa, 1993). As they consume needles, they grow, from 2.5 mm long upon first hatching to almost 3 cm before the larva is said to be “mature”. They don’t grow continuously, but rather have to molt and enter a new size class each time they’ve gained enough nutrients. For female larvae, they have six growth stages between molts and the males have five (CABI, 2020).

During this time, you would be forgiven for thinking they were caterpillars, because they look very similar. The way to tell caterpillars from sawflies is to count the number of legs. Their first set of legs will be six, and jointed for both groups, but they will also have a number of legs behind these called “prolegs”. If the larva you’re looking at has more than 5 pairs of prolegs, it’s a sawfly. Another giveaway is the distinct single eyes of sawfly larvae, as opposed to tiny ocelli (miniature eyes in clusters) in caterpillars.

  • A Macremphytus sawfly larva. The head is to the right, behind it is the first three pairs of true legs, then behind those are a series of lumps that denote the pairs of prolegs, which number at least 8 (so more than 5).
  • A Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) whose head is facing down and to the left. The pairs of true legs are just behind the head. The lumpier prolegs are further back (up in the picture), and number only 5.
The difference between Sawfly larvae and Butterfly (or moth) larvae.

Once they’ve reached their final larval stage, they spin a cocoon around themselves with silk, and transform within. Diprion similis larvae prefer to form their cocoons in the pine trees where they feed, rather than on the ground like many other sawflies.

In Europe and most of North America there are two generations per year, which means that what happens next depends on what time of the year it is. If the larvae have grown enough and created their cocoons in the summer, they will develop within in about 2 weeks into adults, but if they have reached this point near the end of fall, they will enter diapause (essentially insect hibernation) for several weeks before emerging in the spring (CABI, 2020). When they emerge, the adult sawflies are entirely different creatures, just as butterflies and moths are very distinct from their caterpillar young. The adults have wings, and with these they search for mates.

Adult Male D. similis, displaying the feathery antennae used to track down a female (Photo credit: Scott R. Gilmore.)

Males are attracted to females by pheromones (a chemical signal between members of the same species), as one would guess by the male’s elaborate antennae. The males can be attracted to a female across 61 m of open field, which is a great distance for an insect only a matter of centimeters long (Wagner and Raffa, 1993). Once mated, the female lays eggs in pine needles, and we are back at the beginning of their life history.

One note about mating: it isn’t necessary for the female to mate to be able to lay eggs. She shares with the other Hymenoptera a bizarre (to us) chromosome setup known as haplodiploidy. Females have one set of chromosomes (the mother’s) and males have two (mother and father). What this means in practice is that a female sawfly can lay an egg that will develop into a fully functional male offspring without ever going through the trouble of mating. This has implications for the spread of such organisms, as not all members of the population need to pair up to contribute to the next generation.

Which brings me to my final discussion of this species: they are commonly referred to as the Introduced Pine Sawfly because they were accidentally introduced into North America from Europe, likely in plant nursery stock imported in 1914. They have become well established in North America since then. Thankfully, they only very rarely reach a high enough population density to be considered an “outbreak” invasive species, and though they feed on tree leaves (needles), many predators and parasitoids feed on them (Wagner and Raffa, 1993).

The last time we were camping at Algonquin Provincial Park, I encountered quite a few of their larvae likely because they were in the fairly mobile phase before finding a spot to spin a cocoon (it was the end of September, the beginning of October). They may be an introduced species, and they may feed on White Pines, defoliating some of the branches, but as with any organism, they have a story all their own, and I think it’s worth telling.

Diprion similis larva hanging onto the end of a pine needle in Algonquin Provincial Park.

References:

Wagner, Michael R. and Raffa, Kenneth F. Sawfly Life History Adaptations to Woody Plants, 1993.

Cranshaw, Whitney. Garden Insects of North America. 2004.

Marshall, Stephen. Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity. 2006.

Grissell, Eric. Bees, Wasps, and Ants. 2010.

CABI, 2020. Diprion similis. In: Invasive Species Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. www.cabi.org/isc.