A Walk in the East Don River Valley

The other afternoon I went for a walk down in the valley.


I came across some tracks that reminded me of raccoon prints, but they looked too small, but too large for rodents.


It was a nice day - spring had finally arrived. A Mallard paddled about slowly looking for a bite to eat.


Its companion, a Bufflehead (I think), paddled about too. I've never seen two different sorts of ducks pairing up. But we're in multi-ethnic world now.


A loud shriek drew my attention to a tree at the bend of the river - a Kingfisher was calling out, and looking for its next meal of a fish.


You can see the green beginning to appear on the riverbanks.


Not all the trees are verdant - that will take another few weeks until the leaves have replaced the buds.


It was a great day for a hike. I stood on stones in the middle of the river to get this shot.


On a sandy and stony bank, a story that had already happened unfolded in the spoor of a deer. Several firm steps led up to the river's edge, where the deer had apparently tapped about for footing, and stooped down for a drink of water. These prints were still actively filling with moisture, so I assume I had missed it by minutes at most.


Deer live all over these valleys in Toronto.


About 60 years ago, this area was an orchard, and a farm. There is an upturned vehicle in the creek here, but because of the woods about, there is no way a car could have recently entered the waters. I'm guessing it is at least half a century old.


A peculiar shape in the underbrush drew my eye. I thought at first it was a tire.


But as I crept closer through the scratchy brush, I saw it was an iron cover, laid on a brick tunnel, with galvanised rebar ladder bars leading down. I was excited, thinking this might lead into an old room of some sort. Clearly unused, as there are no trails leading to it.


But alas, it was only some sort of access port to a sewage main.


At a bend in the river, a fallen tree had started off the creation of a sieve. Muck, and garbage, and branches all collected there. I stepped across the fallen tree, so I could get across the river.


And landed on this beach. There's the tree from the other side.


Later on I sat on the beach higher up the river and took a few potshots with my slingshot at the mud-covered valley walls. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a red hued Fisher (a kind of weasel) hopped along the river bank and stopped to look at me.


Then it ran on, up and now, snaking in and out of the grasses. It took off higher up the river, and vanished for a time.


It was swift, and it was all that I could do to keep my camera trained on it as it ran.


The river made a wonderful sound rushing by, on its way to merge with the West Don river, and then out into Lake Ontario.


Apple blossoms were beginning to appear from the old, gnarled apple trees that once comprised this old orchard. Most of the trees have since died off.


These are lovely woods. Mostly untouched.


A great place for a walk, and a great place to bring a dog along.


A swift movement in the trees drew my eye to a woodpecker. He was feasting on grubs and insects that decided to make a decaying tree their home.


Woodpeckers don't ever seem to relax. They tap and tap, and eat and eat and scurry up and down trees.


Maybe they go somewhere else to relax. I mean, I wolf my own food down often, and were someone to generalize my overall behaviour on the basis of lunchtime, I'd be well misunderstood.


These river walls have been a long time in the making. Muddy, clay walls.


Not sure what this little flower is. Anyone?


Those tracks again, beside those of a dog. I suspect these are Fisher tracks.


As I stood and listened to some rapids, I noticed more movement across the river.


The Fisher was back. And it appeared to be fishing.


It gazed intently into the waters.


It leaped in, submerged, and seconds later pulled a long, silvery fish onto the bank. It ate it while I watched.


When it was done, it swam across the river for some well deserved rest. I headed home, having been gone for an hour. It was rather nice.

Cheers,

Mungo

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Big HDR Panorama of the Park

I created a panoramic image of the park where I often sit with the baby and read on the weekends. This park leads into the forested valley about which I often post.

The view is really nice, but hard to capture in a regular photograph, so I decided to play around a little. I took 9 shots in total, and combined them into 1: I tone-mapped 3 sets of bracketed f-stops (+0.7, 0.0, -0.7) for each of the 3 perspectives used to create the panorama. I then cropped it to remove the wonky edges that the combining creates, and voilà! 9 images combined into 1:


(Click on the image to see a large version)

Cheers,

Mungo

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Stinkhorn Mushroom

In my last post, I described an odd looking fungus that I'd come across:

"This fungus is one I don't recognize.

I have opened the casing somewhat and there is a gooey material surrounding it. I am leaving it alone. I am afraid it might attack me."

The next day I went back to see if the fungus had grown at all. It had elongated, but the top and some of the shaft had been nibbled away by some evidently hungry creatures. It was swarming with ants too, apparently feeding on something from the mushroom.

I wondered what the enticing smell would be to draw the ants - something sweet and nectary?


I picked up some of the remaining cap and smelled.

The smell of rotting meat, of a dead mouse, of animal scat. And it was all over my fingers.

In a flash, I knew what this mushroom was - it was a Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus).

"The spore mass typically smells of carrion or dung, and attracts flies and other insects to help disperse the spores. Although there is a great diversity of body structure shape amongst the various genera, all species in the Phallaceae begin their development as oval or round structures known as eggs.

Species in the Phallaceae are gasteroid—having spores that are produced internally. Fruiting bodies originate as a gelatinous, spherical or egg-shaped structure that may be completely or partially buried underground. The peridium, the outer layer of the egg, is white, or purple/red, with 2 or 3 layers. The outer layer is thin, membranous and elastic, while the inner layer is thicker, gelatinous and continuous. At maturity the peridium opens up and remains as a volva at the base of the receptaculum."

Hmm. Stinky stinkhorn.

Cheers,

Mungo

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Weekend Bunnies, Achlorophyllous Plants and a Polypore.

On the weekend I went for a long walk with the little one.


As we were slowly wandering through the neighbourhood some rabbits started hopping around nearby.


They were snacking on dandelions and other treats.


They were small, and not very shy.


I think it would take a couple of them to make a hearty meal.


An older fellow who said he'd been walking on that same street on weekend mornings for decades told me that one morning he came across a deer standing in the middle of the road. I think I'd need to be out very early to see that. Maybe this coming weekend. A deer would make a very hearty meal.


At one point I detoured through a section of the valley, and in short order came across two incredible plants. Both of them are achlorophyllous (i.e. without cholorphyll) and so cannot photosynthesize to make their own nutrients.

Monotropa uniflora, also known as the Ghost Plant, Indian Pipe, or Corpse Plant derives its nutrients and carbon from parasitizing on fungi, and thus is known as a myco-heterotroph (i.e. 'gets its nourishment from another, in this case, myco or fungi'). I freaked out a little when I saw this one, because it is quite rare. Finding it was a real treat.


I saw it out of the corner of my eye as I was navigating the baby buggy over some rough ground - it was probably only 3 centimeters in height. What immediately struck me was its resemblance to fungus - which of course it is not.


And then I came across another achlorophyllous beastie: Conopholis americana, American cancer-root, squawroot or bear corn parasitizes nutrients from the roots of oaks or beech trees - it doesn't need to photosynthesize and so not surprisingly lacks leaves.


This was a weird one - the more I looked, the more I saw of them. They grew in lines that traced the presence of shallow tree roots under the soil.


They were like little white berries on pine-cones. They reminded me of the early growth stage of ferns also.


I also came across this unusual polyporus. I've never seen it before - fairly small (about 5 centimeters in diameter) - with a rigid black stem. I believe it is Polyporus elegans, but can't find any reference to it at all in my Roger Philips Mushrooms book or any online source - if anyone can help me identify it, I would really appreciate it. I'm afraid this is the only photo I took, so trust me that it is a polypore. It almost appears to have an iodine staining to it.

Cheers,

Mungo

A Walk in the Valley at the End of May

This weekend I went for a walk in the valley, for the first time in a long time.







I had about an hour before I needed to get to work on some things around the house, so I figured it was now or never... grabbed my camera, and headed out through the park into the valley entrance.








A few weeks ago we had terrific wind storms and a report or two of a tornado in the Toronto region. Entering the valley, I could see the outcome of these high winds. Trees had fallen across the path all over the place - mostly older, unhealthy trees. Someone had put up a wikiup shelter in the woods - a large elaborate structure.








This gave me a chance to take some pictures of Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus).

"The mushroom's shape and lateral stem make it look suitable for woodland spirits, the dryads of Greek mythology, to ride."

The young polypore (note the pores comprising the yellowish-white underside of the fruiting body) fungus is soft and white on the inside, not unlike a puffball. It is edible, and you can fry it up in butter for a nice snack or bake it and add to a casserole or lasagna. As it gets older (and bigger of course), they get bitter and tough.








I suppose this applies to some people as well... Hopefully I'm immune to this condition.








In some of these photos, you'll see both the older and the younger forms. The younger ones have a more tubular shape, some bifurcating into wonderful looking structures. The older ones are more plate-like. Polypores excrete enzymes that break down the lignin in trees, causing a white rot that slowly releases the tree's nutrients out to other organisms.








Small flowers I saw belonged to Garlic Mustard, Soapwort (I think), Violets, and Johnny Jump Ups.








The river is bounded by banks covered in Horsetail (Equisetum).

"Equisetum is a living fossil, as it is the only known genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was very diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 m[verification needed] tall; the genus Calamites of family Calamitaceae for example is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period."

As I was walking out of they valley, I interrupted an America Robin having a bath. He flew away briefly, but then returned, and generally ignored me crouched on the ground 5 feet away with my camera.








I was out for a walk later on and watched Robins hunting earthworms. They hop about and stop and start and I've always assumed they were listening with cocked heads to the sound of scurrying worms under the soil. But apparently they hunt visually, and not by hearing. Go figure. But then again, if you think about it most worms wouldn't exactly make a whole lot of noise.








Hope you had a nice weekend - I did.








Cheers,








Mungo