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July 26, 2010, at 2:17 pm
If we can all recall far enough back from our days in science class, one fundamental rule of plants which has probably stuck with us over the years would be the idea of Photosynthesis…This is where plants contain a chemical known as Chlorophyll which by its composition is green, thus making the leaves of all plants green. Plants are able to capture energy from the sun, mix it with a little Carbon Dioxide, sprinkle a little water into the mix and you end up producing Oxygen and of course that yummy plant food, sap.
Now, if you have been walking through the Arboretum lately you may have noticed a rather bizarre looking plant. It is a true plant, but is not green. In fact it is white, and sometimes nearly translucent. Many people think that this plant is indeed a mushroom or some other fungus, because it doesn’t fit the standard bill of what a true plant should look like. This bizarre sight is known as an Indian pipe, or ghost pipe.
 Several Indian (Ghost) Pipes growing amongst the moss on thr Yellow Trail (Photo: Chris Cloutier) If you have a closer look at these impressive forest dwelling wildflowers you will notice that they suddenly become more familiar. They have a stem, just like other flowers, they have leaves and they also have a flower right at the top of the stem. However, because these mysterious plants do not contain any chlorophyll, they are ghostly white, not green. And because they lack the food producing chemical, these plants are unable to produce their own food. So what do they eat? Well in fact they eat the same thing as most other plants (sap) but they obtain it in a much more bizarre way. Instead of capturing solar energy and going through the hassle of making their own food, Indian pipes will simply steal it from other plants. In our region, they really like tree sap, typically of Beech, Pines, Birches and others. But to make this story even more bizarre, they don’t take the sap directly from the tree, instead, they will steal the sap from fungus to which the tree has formed a crucial relationship with. The tree and the fungus live in harmony, helping each other. The tree gets a much larger surface area for it’s roots as well as access to otherwise unavailable nutrients whereas the fungus gets its fill of tree sap. The unsuspecting Indian pipe sneaks in and steals some from the fungus…a diabolical living, but a small price to pay for a plant to live the lazy way…
Look for these and other interesting sights in the shady spots on the Yellow trail!
have fun out there!
CC
July 21, 2010, at 8:53 am
With the periodic rains of late, you may have noticed that the Arboretum has suddenly become greener and more full of life. The drought conditions of the previous two weeks were hard on much of the plant and animal life, activity levels were low due to intolerable humidity and the blistering sun. With a refershing shower of rain, we get new phenomena occuring and one such event to keep your eyes open for is what we naturalists refer to as “Puddling”. Anywhere where water collects a crowd of critters soon follows, either to replenish water supplies or for some other reason. Two neat animals to watch are the Swallows and the Butterflies.
Swallows are birds that like to nest high above the ground, either in old buildings, tree cavities and even our large “golf ball” radar station. We have several species here including Tree Swallows, Cliff Swallows and Barn Swallows among our most common varieties. These birds make elaborate nests seemingly out of clay, like pottery which they will adhere to the walls of buildings, etc. In order to construct these nifty nests, the adult birds collect mud from drying puddles. They mix this mud with saliva which acts like glue and slowly piece it together into the shape of a cup.
 An adult cliff swallow collects mud to continue building it's pottery-style nest (Photo: Chris Cloutier) Butterflies also love mud puddles, but for a different reason. Butterlies have a very narrow diet of Nectar and…..well nectar. Because of this narrow diet, there isn’t much variety in the food that they consume so in order to add some much needed vitamins and minerals, they love to drink mineral water…or as we like to call it….mud!
 Nearly a dozen Cabbage White butterflies gather at a favorite "puddling" spot to soak up some minerals (Photo: Zofia Laubitz) Have a look around all tiny puddles to witness these and other creatures taking advantage of a resource many of us would have simply overlooked!
Have fun out there!
CC
July 14, 2010, at 10:18 am
Unfortunately, with the new lush growth of leaves in the canopy, many of the beautiful birds are reduced meerly to a flash through the treetops. Fortunately their songs still accompany any travelers to all locations within the Arboretum. For those of you who have developed a keen ear for the sounds of the woods, you may have noticed a new, not so beautiful sound echoing through the treetops lately… you know which song I mean… “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” The long drawn out “HISS” produced by the Cicada.
Cicadas are large insects, one of our largest in fact and belong to an order of insects known as the “True Bugs”…so yes, in this case it is correct to call them BUGS. Cicadas spend most of their lives beneath the soil, where they use their long thick “straw-like” mouth parts to feed on sap stored within the roots of trees. As summer rolls around, the mature nymphs will leave the soil and their focus changes from food to reproduction. These alien looking nymphs crawl out of the soil and onto the exposed bark of the tree from which they have been feeding for some time. Most of the species we have here in southern Quebec only spend a year or two in this stage whereas one New England species known as the “17-year Cicada” spends…you guessed it!…17 years as a Nymph!!!
Once they have climbed out of the soil the immature cicadas split their old skin and a shiny new insect emerges, one which looks very different from what it looked like in it’s youth! Look for the cast skins hanging from trees in your area too! The new cicada is now an adult and has a full compliment of 4 large membranous wings which will aid it in locating a mate. But courtship for these bugs is not that easy; first the males must put on a little concert in order to attract the attention of females in the area. This is accomplished by forcing air out of thier bodies at high speed, while at the same time using a special membrane in the body to resonate the air producing the particular call which is specific to each species…an impressive feat for a simple BUG isn’t it?
 The shed skin of a Cicada, the last momento of it's former life beneath the soil. Notice the split down the middle of it's back, this is where the adult emerged some time ago (Photo: Chris Cloutier)
Have fun out there!
CC
July 7, 2010, at 12:34 pm
White birch is an easily recognizable tree and most people refer to all “papery” looking trees as birches. You would be absolutely right, however there are three different species which can be found in the Arboretum and they are the white, yellow and grey birch. The white birch is by far the most easily recognizable and is sometimes called the paper birch because of its white “papery” bark. The bark of these trees has been used historically as a rough source of paper but probably more recognized for its use by the native Americans of this region who used the bark of these trees to build canoes.
 The white papery bark of a White Birch shines in the midday sun of spring Paper birch or white birch is not exceptionally common throughout much of the arboretum. It is a species that has certain habitat requirements which are not found throughout most of this forest. White birch is often referred to as a pioneer species, meaning that after a disturbance such as fire moves through an area, they are one of the first species to re colonize. The reason why they do so well in these habitats is because they are a fast growing tree that loves sunlight. In areas where there is abundant shade, white birch simply cannot grow. This makes it difficult for new birches to emerge in the Arboretum With the abundant shade produced by the dense sugar maple canopy, it is hard for white birch seeds to find a suitable area to germinate. They are however very tolerant of cold weather and harsh climates, they are in fact one of only a handful of tree species which can be found in all provinces and territories in Canada. Because of this, the white birch was celebrated with the establishment of the “Birch Trail” which contains a single tree collected form each province and territory and planted in a row. This trail can be found just passed the sugar house leading onto the Orange trail.
Remember, if you wish to know more about some of our native tree species, as well as many of the exotic trees which adorn our collections; we are offering a collections tour with John Watson, entitled “The Living Museum”. The date and time for this event are; Saturday July 10th, from 9:00-11:30. Hope to see you there!
have fun out there!
CC
June 30, 2010, at 1:20 pm
The last weekend in June was certainly a busy one compared to most, we had two Nature walks this weekend, both of them spectacular! Saturday night was the first time that the Arboretum hosted a summer night time excursion. The walk was entitled Bats, Bibites, and BedSheets!?!?! The main focus of the walk being some of those hard to find nocturnal creatures, in particular, you guessed it! Bats and Insects. The “Bedsheet” idea came from on of my favorite forms of insect traps known as a light trap. To explain it simply; a bed sheet or other white cloth is stretched between two posts and is illuminated with the help of some large flood lamps. This brings in all sorts of nocturnal flying insects including moths, beetles, and sometimes even a praying mantis or two! Aside from all of the neat invetebrates at the end, the walks itself had some expected and some very unexpected surprises. Aside from seeing a little brown bat flying at pretty close range, we were also able to observe a Northern Flying Squirrel, a Blue Spotted Salamander, a Red-Backed Salamander and a beautiful light show put on by those tiny little beetles, the Fireflies!
Sunday’s walk was entitled “Butterflies that Flutter-by” and was a way for Arboretum visitors to experience the amazing world of butterflies. We collected and observed a total of 16 species, a very respectible number considering that that is nearly half of all the known species to occur here to date! Some of the highlights were Hackberry Emperor, Northern Pearly-eye, Great Spangled Fritillary and Banded Hairstreak. With nets in hand we explored all of the best spots known to attract these beautiful creatures and were certainly treated to some impressive and even rare species.
 A Banded Hairstreak: A tiny butterfly that was certainly one of the highlights of the Butterfly walk
A special thank you to all who participated on the walks this passed weekend. If you are interested in seeing what’s coming up next at the Morgan Arboretum, please visit the Calendar Page!
Have fun out there!
CC
June 21, 2010, at 8:35 am
Saturday June 19th marked the first time that the Arboretum hosted a Dragonfly Walk. We couldn’t have asked for a better day, and certainly, the 16 guests were not disapointed! We collected a total of 8 Dragonfly species (1 being a damselfly) including some really spectacular species such as the Midland Clubtail, Prince Baskettail, and a new addition to the Morgan Arboretum Dragonfly list…the Widow Skimmer. We were also treated to some wonderful Butterflies including Tiger swallowtails, white admirals, Fritillaries, a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell and a beautiful Question Mark (see earlier post for images).
 A Male common Whitetail claiming a fence post as his own At the very end of the walk, all visitors were taken down to the pond on the Orange trail where we used a “dip net” to collect the aquatic nymphs of Dragonflies. Before finding the large nymph of the Green Darner (in all likelyhood) we also found an adult Eastern Newt which was quite a treat as it is not often that the adult forms are observed.
On behalf of the Morgan Arboretum, we would like to thank all participants who came along on this wonderful event and who support our guided nature walks. I would personally like to thank all of the children who came along and really made this walk a success. Their passion for the outdoors and for discovery is truly inspiring, and not to mention that they caught most of the Dragonflies! good job!
 Chris Cloutier, Naturalist at the Morgan Arboretum explains the finer points of Dragonfly identification (photo: Greg Rand) For those of you who wish to learn more about some of the groups of animals we simply saw at a glance, please keep your eyes on the calendar page. Coming up next weekend we have two Nature visits; One which focuses on Bats, Moths, and other nocturnal creatures (Saturday, June 26th at 8:00pm) and a Butterfly walk on Sunday June 27 at 10:00am.
Have fun out there!
CC
June 9, 2010, at 3:05 pm
When not avoiding mosquitoes, another pest you should avoid is certainy Poison Ivy. Although not a true ivy at all, this plant does somewhat resemble it. The problem with poison ivy is that it is often confused with many other plants, namely species like Virginia Creeper and Hog Peanut, both of which are totally harmless.
 Hog peanut, a harmless attractive climbing vine, notice the smooth edges and uniform green colour There are several sayings on avoiding this plant; “leaves of three let it be!” “where butterflies land, don’t place your hand!”, and for good reason. The oils contained within the tissues of this plant cause an allergic reaction in most people. Only about 20% of people are immune to the irritating effects of the oil, the rest of us can show some pretty serious reactions. I for one will show the rash after a few days of coming into contact with it; whereas I know several people that may need medical attention if they encounter it. As for myself and most of the population, an unsightly rash and a rather annoying itch are about the worst things which arrive through touching poison ivy. Typically an application of Calamine lotion does the trick and the reaction will stop after a few days or weeks. It is very important for everyone to be aware of their allergies before heading out, this applies to foods, insects and pollen as well. It is always better to be safe than sorry…another saying which has stuck pretty well for decades!
 "Leaves of three let it be" Poison Ivy showing it's three bundled leaves, toothed edges and red-coloured stems. Although this is typical, the leaves may or may not be toothed as strongly as this and the degree of redness on the stems can also vary Watch you step out there!
CC
June 2, 2010, at 7:41 am
As biazzare as it may look to us, for a mosquito, looking at a Dragonfly head-on like this is kind of like looking down the barrel of a gun! Although insects can sometimes creep us out simply because of how they look, if we begin to break down why they look this way, we often then to turn that fear into curiosity.
 A male Stream Crusier in the hand
Dragonflies like this Stream Cruiser are hunters, one of their favorite foods being mosquitoes and they are certainly built for the job. Dragonflies spend much of the day in flight, they do land periodically, but when foraging or staking claim to a territory there isn’t often time to rest. If you look at the head of this Dragonfly you can see how specialized it is for picking tiny flying insects right out of the air. Have a look at the eyes on the sides of it’s head. Each eye can be composed of nearly 30,000 lenses, each of which can detect a seperate image. This allows the insect to really focus in on potential prey. The antennae (seen just at the top of the head) are much smaller than that found in other insects, this is because dragonflies don’t use their antennae for detecting prey but only use them to help judge wind currents while at top speed. When most people get a chill from seeing insects and spiders it often comes from the long “unnatural” legs. Dragonflies like this one have very specialized legs that really help them feed. Note the long bristles found on each leg. While flying the dragonfly will hold it’s legs together and aligning these bristles to form a basket. It is with this spiny basket that the dragonfly will scoop up mozzies and stuff them into that large mouth found on the front of the head, often while still in the air!
Pretty impressive critters once you take a second to look at how they are made!
Have fun out there!
CC
May 30, 2010, at 10:55 am
It is very much the breeding season for birds right now and all around us there is enormous energy being expended in finding and defending territory, attracting a mate, laying eggs and raising the young.
After the last two weeks high spescies counts in the arboretum a 7am foray this morning turned up some 30 species, down from the 50 and 60 of earlier in the month indicating that the migrants heading further north have refuelled and pushed along. meanwhile the ones that are still with us are going to be residents – breeding residents we hope.
 Starling bringing food to his nest in the hollow of the tree in front of him  Song Sparrow on territory  Red-winged Blackbird asserts his rights to this piece of the meadow  Mallard flying over field beside the arboretum - there are at least two (? three) p[airs nesting amongst the hay crop alongside the Bobolinks Meanwhile, in the last seven days of hot, humid weather the flowers have grown amazingly fast – the iris are especially good at the moment
 High Summer
May 26, 2010, at 1:36 pm
The Canadian Tiger Swallowtail is our largest butterfly. They are simply beautiful and fairly easy to recognize, even from a long distance. Have a look for these majestic flyers around open fields and meadow clearings where they flutter about in search of flowers where they obtain their nectar, or even hanging around large puddles where they like to congregate in order to sip the sediment soaked water.
 Canadian Tiger swallowtail cooperating nicely for a photo If you would like to try to attract large stunning butterflies such as these to your yard, make sure to plant their favorite foods. The adult butterflies feed on nectar mostly which they sip out of flower bases using thier long “straw-like” proboscis. The best approach is to mix as many colours as possible with as many different fragrances as you can. They are also attracted to rotting fruit like bruised mushy plums, apples, and especially bananas! Attracting butterflies all year round takes a little more research into each species. In order to have caterpillars living in your garden you have to plant very specific plant species…for the Tiger Swallowtails, parsley works wonders for Black Swallowtails, but the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail prefers trees like Birch and Aspen!!! As you can see, even among closely related butterflies, their preferences vary quite a bit!
If you wish to discover more about some of these garden insects, learn which are hazardous and which are beneficial, please join us for a wonderful workshop this Saturday May 29th at the Conservation Centre. This informative lecture will be given from 1:00-2:00 and will be hosted by our special guest, Stephanie Boucher, curator and entomologist at the Lymann Insect Museum of McGill’s Macdonal Campus. Stephanie has many years of experience dealing with garden pests, and the countless situations they bring about, come and participate for this free event (parking fees still applyfor non-members) and have all of your questions answered.
have fun out there!
CC
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Arbo-Nature A web journal of the wildlife and plants you can see in the Morgan Arboretum - you can report your observations to the office for inclusion here, photographs are always welcome.
Un journal Internet de la faune et les plantes que vous pouvez voir à l'Arboretum Morgan - vous pouvez signaler vos observations au bureau, les photos sont toujours les bienvenus.
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