It was a nice fall afternoon so we headed out for a short walk on the various paths at Fletcher Wildlife Garden. A group of Environmental Studies students from Carleton University was helping with the clean-up throughout the Garden. Other than the noise of the clean-up, things were quite quiet.
The pathways were well covered in fallen leaves, the sumac was a bright red-orange
Being located on the Experimental Farm, not NCC land, the bridge rehabilitation was completed quickly and efficiently by volunteers. Although I suspect the NCC would have called for higher extended railings which might have been better.
A variety of squirrels were out foraging throughout the garden - red squirrel, chipmunk and a grey squirrel making short work of a walnut(?)
The Garden is dealing with a number of invasive Norway maples. The trees are being girdled which will eventually kill them, but the trees will be left standing to provide food and shelter for wildlife.
Given the time of year, there were a few flowers surprisingly still blooming. One lone dandelion in a grassy field, a fall aster, obedient blossoms in the Backyard Garden, and some fleabane
Despite their long hours of dealing with dog-strangling vine, there are still a few areas it invades. The goldenrod looked like they had a very healthy bloom and were full of seed
Yellow giant-hyssop still had a few very small blossoms, but most of the blossoms, looking like a green cat-tail, was forming seeds
Shriveled ash tree berries
Several squadrons of geese flew over
While the nuthatches and chickadees worked on a block of seeds in the Backyard Garden, we spotted a "blob" on top of a birdhouse in a more secluded area. It took a second but we realized the blob was a barred owl which promptly flew off into a spruce tree. Despite not having my birding lens, I still managed a decent (cropped) photo of it.
Just beneath the garden, on the edge of the Arboretum, a homeless (presumably) person had pitched a tent
