Two events happened on February 5 – the first a snowshoe, the second our regular meeting.
SNOWSHOE OF COPELAND FOREST
Four hardy souls braved -12C degree temperatures to go for a 3 km snowshoe in the Copeland Forest on Feb. 5, 2025. There had been recent snow, which masked the tracks that were in the forest, but clearly no new tracks had been laid since the snow (except domestic dog). However, we stopped along the way to look at Eastern Hemlock, pointing out the flat arrangement of leaf branches, the short needles, and the alternate branching pattern. This area of the forest was mixed deciduous and conifers, featuring maple, and beech, with some Ironwood, and plenty of Eastern Hemlock. We did hear a woodpecker, and saw what we thought was a hole created by a Pileated Woodpecker. We noted a patch of treebark about 3 feet off the ground that had some long fine black hairs caught on it (?horse tail hair from the summer). There was a shelf fungus – which was “toothed”. Mostly there was a ton of snow, with branches still covered and bowing low. Back at the parking lot Jays were and chickadees were evident (might they be used to being fed?).
Altogether it was a very pleasant outing, even though we couldn’t hone our track-deciphering skills.
Thanks to Carol for leading, and for the write up.
ALGONQUIN PARK RESEARCH WITH SAMANTHA STEPHENS
Over 40 people joined us on Zoom to hear from Samantha Stephens, a biologist turned photographer for science and conservation. She uses visual storytelling to communicate scientific research, especially when that research is relevant to conservation issues.
Samantha Stephens took us on a journey through the bogs and into the trees of Algonquin Provincial Park and the research station. She shared three stories of her work at the station – salamanders and pitcher plants, Canada Jays and FREED Fieldwork. Each story was accompanied by photos taken during these research projects.
A recording of the presentation will be emailed out to our email list, and available for 90 days.
Thanks to Samantha!
