Eco-Diary: Day 46

Here's how the creek looked on October 15:

It's pretty amazing how far upstream I can see now that the leaves have dropped.

The water level doesn't seem to be fluctuating much (but, admittedly, I'm not being very scientific about how I measure this). 

And just when I didn't think there was much of anything new to take into account, I noticed this little wildflower:

I think this is wood avens (Geum urbanum), a non-native plant that is highly invasive. It looks remarkably similar to yellow avens (Geum aleppicum), its native cousin, but the leaves are different. I'm surprised at how late its flowering — even most of the asters are done by now.

Its sort of interesting that wood avens' species name is "urbanum" when its common name places it in the forest. Then again, it was growing right by my feet at the edge of the path:

A parting shot of my trusty steed!

Eco-Diary: Day 42

Here's what the creek looked like on October 11:

A lot more leaves have fallen from the trees, opening up the view upstream.

The cattail area is looking more and more trampled. Is it unreasonable to think something must be sleeping there at night?

I noticed this shrub at the very beginning of this eco-diary, but I'm still not sure what it is:

And there's this juvenile tree. I'm guessing it's some kind of ash?:

There are still some asters hanging on in the background if this photo, but the goldenrod is totally spent:

Eco-Diary: Day 39

Here's what the creek looked like on October 8:

It's starting to get really colourful, but it's still surprisingly green compared to the rest of the trail, which is festooned with scarlet sumacs dancing all along its length like a burlesque carnival of wanton shrubs. 

Compared to their showiness, the subtle colours of the creek leave room to catch one's breath. 

Here's the colour change beginning in the mystery tree on the north side of the creek:

This is, or was, the turtlehead:

It seems that it has become deer browse after all.

Eco-Diary: Day 34

Here's what the creek looked like on October 3:

The branches on the right are already nearly completely free of leaves:

They're landing in the creek below and getting stuck:

Water levels  look a little lower than usual:

Eco-Diary: Day 30

Here's what the creek looked like on September 29:

Water levels aren't changing much:

Here's a view of the cattail area on the north side of the creek. You can see how tamped down it's getting.

Eco-Diary: Day 27

Here's what the creek looked like on September 26:

The water level is holding steady:

The first thing I noticed today is that the fall colours are starting to appear:

The asters are still blooming, but the leaves around them are starting to turn. It makes for some striking contrasts:

The turtlehead (Chelone glabra) is still blooming. This is a member of the snapdragon family and is said to have been used as a laxative, purgative and even birth control by Native peoples.

Turtlehead is apparently a popular plant for deer (along with asters and jewelweed), and measuring damage to these plants can be a way of finding out the level of deer browsing in the area. I've noticed that the area on the north side of the creek, next to the cattails, has been looking pretty tamped down  — like something's been lying in it. This area contains turtlehead, jewelweed and asters within a coupe of square metres, so could be an ideal spot for deer to browse. I haven't seen any hoofprints in the area (I haven't exactly been looking), but this could explain why the area has starting looking so rough lately.

This was the first time I'd gone down to creek-level in a while, so I came across far more fauna than usual, and spent several minutes photographing this snail. If you think of the tentacles or antennae as eyes, it looks like a strange, ghostly gnome face:

(According to my Pond Life Golden Guide, snails actually do have eyes at the base of each tentacle.)

Once I started noticing the small stuff, I came across this spider. At first I thought it was a crab spider, but it's clearly spinning itself a (sort of pathetic looking) orb web: 

It's a lot thinner than the bridge spider I saw a few days ago, but the markings on its back are quite similar. Since male spiders tend to be considerably slimmer than females, my guess is that it's a male bridge spider.

While I was taking photos of the snails and spiders, a couple of women came along and asked me what I was doing. (I'm surprised, actually, that I haven't had more conversations with trail users until now.) We had a friendly chat, and they proceeded to tell me that the cattails haven't always been there — it's only in the last two or three years that they've moved in. Interesting.

They also pointed out that this plant is watercress (Nasturtium officinale or its virtually indistinguishable and equally edible cousin, Nasturtium microphyllum):  

Turns out it's the same watercress that's cultivated and shipped to supermarkets.

I also got up close and personal with the pond grass that left me with those cuts on my leg at the beginning of the month. Turns out it's Leersia lenticularis, or rice cut grass. Aptly named: all those little barbs cling to clothes and are surprisingly efficient at tearing human flesh.

Eco-Diary: Day 26

Here's what the creek looked like on September 25:

The cattails on the north shore are starting to yellow around the base. The flowers disappeared a while ago. I think someone came and picked them — I've never heard of deer eating them (although I suppose it's possible), and I don't know what other animal would be large enough to make a whole flower disappear overnight.

Eco-Diary: Day 23

Here's what the creek looked like on September 22:

I noticed for the first time the difference in bottom composition in the creek. Along the edge of the north shore, there's a clear line of darker, richer soil next to lighter, sandier soil in the creek bed. The darker soil is presumably enriched by decomposing vegetation growing along the shoreline. Since the vegetation both anchors the soil and slows down the water as it passes next to the shore, the soil near shore stays put while the creek carries soil away once it extends beyond the protection of the vegetation. Or at least, that's my theory.

I'm curious about what causes this white foam (visible floating along the stick) to accumulate on the surface of water bodies from time to time: 

It wasn't there last time I visited. I've searched online but can't find anything that isn't specific to garden water features and backyard fish ponds. In the case of these, the foam is said to be caused by an excess of organic compounds in the water, notably phosphates. Since a backyard pond is an imitation of a natural ecosystem, things sh/could work in a somewhat similar fashion.

We know that phosphates occur naturally in living and decaying plant and animal remains, in soil, rocks, and sediments. I hypothesize that in a pond or stream, phosphate mainly comes from decomposing organic matter, mostly in the form of vegetation. A few days ago I noticed that the weeds on the bottom of the creek bed had started to die back. I haven't surveyed the entire creek, but based on the volume of weeds on the bottom just in my little bend in the creek, I suspect there is a pretty high volume of weeds throughout the creek — all of which I expect to be dying off at roughly the same rate. If that's the case, I think their death and decomposition would create conditions just right for surface foam.

I also took note of some of the trees around the creek. This one is growing on the north shore, just behind the cattails. It has quite large leaves:

And fairly smooth bark, like a beech tree:

But the leaves are double-toothed, and the veins are paired. The leaves of the beech are smooth and the veins are alternate. According to the key in my copy of Native Trees of Canada, it's either witch hazel or an alder. But the veins in witch hazel are alternate, and it doesn't match any of the alders, either. Of course, it could be an introduced species...

In searching for a link to R. C. Hosie's Native Trees of Canada, I came across another version: Leanne Shapton's Native Trees of Canada. Hers is an artist's rendering of the species described in Hosie's Canadian Forestry Service guidebook, which she came across in a used bookstore. It's not very useful for any scientific pursuits, but it's a great jumping off point for what could be a great visual art extension to any study of trees in a general science, ecology or botany unit. 

Eco-Diary: Day 21

Here's what the creek looked like on September 20:

It was raining a little, so there wasn't much to see. The water level didn't seem to have changed much:

The weeds in the creek bed have started to die back, though:

And the raindrops are always pretty in the water: