May 26, 2002
BRUCE TRAIL - off of Dunby
Road
Meeting report by Alexis & Nathan Burnett
Photos by Alexis Burnett & Walter Muma
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The hike started out on a cloudy Sunday and we were worried
that it might start to rain. A total of 9 people showed up for the hike.
We left Dunby Road just after 10am. We walked through the meadow and along
a section of the Bruce Trail that Margaret and Bill Vallis had donated to
the Bruce Trail Club in 1998.
We noticed a very large "town" of garlic
mustard and we stopped and talked about how this plant grows everywhere
and takes over...killing off most other plants. It also spreads and grows
very fast. It is a dangerously invasive alien.
For more info on garlic mustard see the Earth Caretaker website,
Alien
Plants section.
After a brief investigation we continued along the
trial, where we noticed some fox or perhaps coyote scat. Walter pointed
out a field sparrow by its beautiful song and he also pointed out what he
thought was a grasshopper sparrow. We noticed many species of birds on
this day, including the eastern kingbird, red-winged blackbird, robin,
chickadee, a few species of warblers, swallows, red-eyed vireo, grey
catbird and the bobolink as well as many others. A very amazing sight was
the pair of bluebirds that we sighted.
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We began to venture off trail for the remainder of the
hike. We ran across patches of rough fruited cinquefoil. We also noticed
along the side of a hill sheep sorrel. This is such a neat looking plant
and you eat the leaves. They have a great sour taste. I always compare the
taste to rhubarb. Many other species of plants were also identified.
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Sheep Sorrel
Photo by Alexis Burnett
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Photo by Walter Muma
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Around lunch time we all stopped and sat in the sun for
quite a long time noting signs of animals presence and birds. We talked
for sometime, discussing plants. The sun made an appearance for the rest
of the day and it began to warm up. Alexis spotted a jack pine tree around
our lunch spot. What a neat looking tree. A small garter snake came up the
hill and passed right by us. After lunch we continued down the hill.
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Jack Pine tree
Photo by Alexis Burnett
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Photo by Walter Muma
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Cherry trees
Photo by Alexis Burnett
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Photo by Alexis Burnett |
We then headed into a fairly dry
marsh where I noticed cattails. Here we also noticed some cattail
that had been chewed on, we figured possibly a muskrat or deer as
muskrat love cattail root and deer tracks were found all around. We
showed the group the white tubers that were edible as well as the
young green shoots. We all tried some. |
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| Then we ventured further into
the moist marsh. Here we found many more species of plants including:
water mint (edible leaves), colts foot, watercress (edible leaves as well)
and horsetail, as well as others. |
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Photo by Walter Muma
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Sparkling clear water creek
Photo by Walter Muma
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Photo by Walter Muma
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We decided now to
retrace our steps. Along the way we noticed an egg - possibly a
starling's. |
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The day was getting quite warm and on the way back we
noticed that the land was becoming alive with a lot more insects and
animals now. We walked back to the cars and here our meeting came to an
end.
This was a really great day mother Nature sent out the
sun today and today summer was definitely in the air. Thank-you to
everyone who came out hope to see you again in a couple of weeks.
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