Merville Woods Mushrooms – Part One
on Nov 21, 2009 in Fungi British Columbia Cortinarius Dotted-stalked Slippery Jack Merville Woods Pungent Cortinarius Vancouver Island Western Red-capped Cortinarius We took advantage of good weather last week to get out to Merville Woods, just north of Courtenay, British Columbia. This is an area that is characterized by sandy soil, mixed pine and other conifer forest and a thick under story of salal. It’s...

Winter Shorebirds
on Nov 20, 2009 in Birds Air Force Beach Black Turnstone British Columbia Comox Dunlin Sanderling Shorebirds As we gear up for the Christmas Bird Counts in December, now is the time to do a little winter shorebird watching. Last week, during a break in the weather, we got out to Air Force Beach in Comox and scoped out some of the shorebirds on the rocks nea...

Sunbathers vs. the Large-headed Sedge
on Nov 19, 2009 in Plants Sedges and Rushes Air Force Beach Beach Comox Large-headed Sedge Some weeks ago there was a letter in a local paper complaining about the “invasion” of Large-headed Sedge (Carex macrocephala) at Air Force Beach in Comox. The complaint was based on the fact that the sedge was taking over the prime sunb...

Cochise Lake Birdwatching – Arizona Skywatch #6
on Nov 19, 2009 in Landscapes Skywatch Friday Arizona Bird Watching Cochise Lake Sky Sunset Wilcox As the rain continues to fall here in British Columbia, I wistfully return to Arizona for this episode of SkyWatch Friday. Last March, I traveled to Arizona with a pair of naturalists for a week of birding and botanizing. One of the locations that we...

Jingle Shells
on Nov 18, 2009 in Marine Air Force Beach British Columbia Comox Green Falsejingle Jingle Shell Shells After Monday’s deluge there was a break in the weather yesterday and we made the most of it, taking the kids to Air Force Beach in Comox to enjoy the sun. Surprisingly, we had never been to Air Force Beach before despite the length of time we&#...

Crinoid Country
on Nov 16, 2009 in Fossils Geology Macro Monday Brachiopods British Columbia Crinoids Karst Creek Marble Meadows Strathcona Provincial Park Vancouver Island Imagine being able to travel back in time million years. What would you see? Our visit to Karst Creek in early November enabled us to do just that, at least in a figurative sense. The limestone, or karst, landscape of the Karst Creek Trail in Strath...

Backyard Birds – November 8-15
on Nov 15, 2009 in Backyard Birds Birds Bird Watching British Columbia Courtenay Feeders Project FeederWatch Vancouver Island As part of Project Feederwatch, I’m keeping an eye on our feeders two days out of the week to help scientists track winter bird activity, abundance and diversity. It’s a great way to spend an hour or two drinking coffee and peering out in...

A Cone that is Not a Cone
on Nov 15, 2009 in Plants Seeds Merville Woods Salal Vancouver Groundcone Vancouver Island During a mushroom hunting walk at Merville Woods yesterday we came upon several Vancouver Groundcone (Boschniakia hookeri). Like the name suggests, this root parasite looks like a fir cone. It is actually a parasite that is connected to the roots of...

Meet a Bolete
on Nov 14, 2009 in Fungi Boletus British Columbia Lake's Boletus Mushroom Vancouver Island Woodhus Slough The boletes are one of the groups of mushrooms that are fairly easy to recognize due to the fact that they have pores instead of gills. Run your finger underneath the cap of a potential boletus. If the texture is smooth it is likely that the mushroom...

Across the Strait – BC Skywatch # 2
on Nov 13, 2009 in Landscapes Skywatch Friday Clouds Sky Strait of Georgia We’ve been blessed with some blue skies this week here on the east coast of Vancouver Island. I captured these photographs of clouds building on the mainland across the Strait of Georgia earlier this week. Enjoy this Skywatch post!