Limberlost:

The Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve is a publicly accessible private year-round wilderness haven with twenty private lakes and more than 10,000 unspoiled acres of mixed forest. (Just west of Algonquin Park, north of highway 60) The forest reserve contains more than 70 km of hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing trails made available to the public at no charge. Visitors must sign an on-line safety waiver prior to arrival. 

https://limberlostforest.com/

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a series of Inukshuks that have "appeared" since our visit last year.

Our goal for the morning was to hike the 13 km Solitaire Trail, around Lake Solitaire.

Boardwalks were in place to get past the wetter portions of the trail.

Fungus along the trail.

A sign led us down a side trail towards a large quartz deposit.

Top of the rock in the middle of the picture is the lookout point which we reached towards the end of the hike.

Views from the top! Despite the rainy forecast, we were only dripped upon in the final 5 minutes of our walk!

 More Algonquin Things!

While walking along the Algonquin Logging Museum Trail, we spied a River Otter fishing for lunch. It surfaced several times with food that was difficult to identify from a distance. Deryl managed to get these photos when he came a little closer to us. Webbed feet and muscular tails help River Otters to move quickly through the water. As they dive underwater, they close their ears and nostrils to keep water out. They can stay submerged for up to 4 minutes!

https://biologydictionary.net/river-otter/

We enjoyed the view on Bat Lake Trail! It was my first time hiking this trail.

A quick look at this picture reveals way too many wings on these mating Autumn Meadowhawk!. The actual wing has a red spot and the black spots are on the wing shadows.

Some beautiful lichens were evident on the old Rail Trail, including these "British Soldiers."

A "grumpy" young Common Grackle enjoying the morning sun,

More Fall colour on the rail trail.

 Algonquin Trails Things!

Smoke Lake on a foggy morning.

Wooly Alder Aphids are sap eaters that use their food to create protective waxy, "stringy hairs". They create a sweet honeydew from their abdomen. Honeydew contains water and vital nutrients which some insects, such as ants have realized is a good source of nutrition. Ants have formed a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with these aphids. The ants will protect a colony of Wooly Alder Aphids from other predatory insects, and in return, can use their antennae to tickle the aphids and get sweet honeydew from their abdomens!

https://sarett.org/2019/10/30nature-notebook-wooly-alder-aphids/

Band-winged Meadowhawk, Spruce Bog Trail

Lake reflection along Rail Trail

A Shadow Darner hovered and stared at us but refused to land. Luckily, Deryl was able to get "action shots" of it suspended in the air!

More autumn colour along the Rail Trail.

 Ravens and Jays in Algonquin!

Prior to our Moose encounter along the Rail Trail, we enjoyed the antics of 2 Common Ravens. They are conditioned to being fed by people and will sometimes come close to see if you have food to share.

Ravens are confident, inquisitive birds that strut around or occasionally bound forward with light, two-footed hops. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Raven/id

Sometimes Ravens even have the need to scratch an itch!

Common Ravens along the Rail Trail have learned to dig up turtle nests and eat the eggs, much to the disappointment of turtle researchers.

Canada Jays were on our "hope to find" list and they didn't disappoint at the Logging Museum parking lot. Deryl managed this photo which amazingly does not show any leg bands.

Canada Jays have been researched in Algonquin Park for over 55 years. Nestlings are given a unique combination of coloured leg bands. The bands help monitor breeding success and allow researchers to follow individuals throughout their lifetime. 2 bands are visible on each leg in the above photo.

https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/canada-jay-research/

We both took a turn at hand feeding peanuts in the shell to these birds.

 Moose On The LOOSE!!!

This adventure was the experience of a lifetime! The following photos show our encounter with a Bull Moose along the Rail Trail in Algonquin Park this week!

We were headed back to the car after spending a few hours on the trail when I saw a Bull Moose headed right towards us!

Luckily, he moved slowly, giving us a chance to adjust our camera settings!

His huge tongue is visible in this picture! He was getting closer and we needed a plan! The path was narrow and there was a ditch with open water on either side. We had to backtrack to locate a "safe" place to stand.

Deryl took these 3 photos while we hid behind some trees, just 15 feet from the passing beast! The Moose was so close he couldn't get the whole animal in the picture frame!! We could hear it grunting as it turned to look at us.

Bye, Bye, Mr. Moose!

The moose was on the trail for approximately 350 metres. One couple watched it emerge from a small wetland and were following distantly behind it. Others saw it coming from a distance, but the moose left the trail and headed back to the water before reaching those people. Earlier in the morning, Deryl had commented that the path was a good animal corridor. Little did he know the truth to those words!

 One Hour In Canatara!

It didn't take long to rack up a long list of critters, even on a cool fall day! Here are just a few:

A very common bird locally at this time of year is the White-throated Sparrow.

A few weeks ago, I found an Asteroid Moth caterpillar on Goldenrod. Today I found one chewing on white aster. Being later in the season, it was a much larger individual. It will overwinter at the pupal stage in an underground cocoon.

According to folklore, the amount of black on the woolly bear caterpillar in autumn varies proportionately with the severity of the coming winter. The longer the woolly bear's black bands, the longer, colder, snowier and more severe the winter will be. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest. If the head end is dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is dark, the end of winter will be cold. https://www.weather.gov/arx/woollybear

The caterpillar's head is on the right. Based upon the above folklore, this winter will start out cold and be less severe towards the end of the season.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are in abundance as they pass through during fall migration. This one landed on a tree almost right beside my head!

A Rare Find (and some other things):

The Spotted Turtle is a Critically Endangered reptile. It was my first time ever seeing this species in the wild, and she was preparing a nest! It was an extremely exciting find in June!!! The most significant threats are habitat destruction and illegal collection for the pet trade. Activities that alter the water table during the winter, such as digging a ditch along a road, can wipe out an entire population. Since this turtle is slow to reach sexual maturity (up to 15 years) and suffers high egg and juvenile mortality, population recovery may be slow.  

https://www.ontario.ca/page/spotted-turtle

Butterflies are harder to find with this cool weather. Some species will continue to be found on the warmer, sunnier days through the fall. Cabbage White butterflies are a fairly hardy species. Three individuals are nectaring on the White Aster flowers.

A happy Gray Catbird, sat in the sun and sang a song! Their long song can last up to 10 minutes!  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/overview#

Fiery Skippers were fairly easy to find over the past few weeks. While at rest, Fiery Skippers (along with most other skippers) can hold their wings in a triangular shape. Their sitting position is thought to be an adaptation to take the best advantage of the sun's rays.

https://www.butterflyidentification.com/fiery-skipper.htm

A Bald Eagle flew past the Lake Huron shoreline while Deryl was standing there! They have been known to play with plastic bottles and other objects, using them as toys. One observer witnessed six Bald Eagles passing sticks to each other in midair!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/overview