Whazzat? Or More Life at the Cottage.

Charlotte Lake, Renfrew County, Ontario July 2017 #2

Perched near the summit of the Algonquin Highlands, not very far from the highest point in the region, Charlotte Lake merges the boreal with the temperate:   conifer dominated forests and mixed forests. The understory is as diverse.

With a penchant for puzzle solving, I tackled a few of the more difficult classifications in the biological system: mushrooms (fungi) and ferns.

Those who have attempted 'Shrooms know the is s lot more to identification than colour and shape. Spore prints, structure,  texture, odor, and, to some extent, taste are also important. It is best to gather target mushrooms and bring them to a lab to identify.  To see how this works, several years ago, I was honoured to cover one of Richard Aaron's field courses at Queen's University Biological Station.

Click here to read about that if you would like more insight to mushroom ID:

https://opinicon.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/fabulous-fall-fungi-with-a-fun-guy/

If you would like ot know more about mushrooms, Richard continues to provide his field course in late September and early October at the Bio Station. Richard is also kindly providing an outing for the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust at High Lonesome Nature Reserve:

https://mmlt.ca/event/discover-the-fun-in-fungi/

I thought that the mushroom pictured below was a toothed mushroom. Closer inspection of the cut piece at the lower left shows this is a gilled mushroom.  There are two large genera of gilled mushrooms which account for a large propertion of our forest mushrooms: Lactarius and Russula. A young Lactarius will ooze latex when cut.  This one did not, which leads me to belive it is a common Russula.  I await with interest my "mushroom" friends input into this.

Many people want to know if a mushroom is edible or not.  After several experiences with experts like Richard, I prefer to BUY my mushrooms!  Recently, for example, at another High Lonesome Nature Reserve Event, we found a spectacularly beautiful full white gilled mushroom, which I was able to ID immediately: Amanita virosa, the Destroying Angel. It is well named.

Once you have been hooked by the challenges of mushroom ID, ferns don't seem to be quite as difficult. Since I took university niology back in the early 1970's, genetic research enabled by an explosion in technology and ability to parse DNA, has reclassified the ferns away from mosses and closer to flowering plants.

All of that science doesn't help much in the field.  I took the photo above mainly because of the plant in the centre of the frame.  It is flowing (three lobed leaves aboe, flower is in the V formed by the two flower stalks.  This is Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum.  Then the ferns took over my interest.  The one on the right is easy....Sensitive Fern, Onoclea sensibilis. The fern on the left, also pictured below, is one of the many Wood Fern (Dryopteris spp.).  They are more difficult.

The photos below help, because many ferns may be identified by their leaf (pinnae) structure, AND the positioning of the spore sacs (sori) on the UNDERSIDE of the fertile fronds (the fronds that carry sori).  One of our most common Wood Ferns is Dryopteris marginalis, so named because the sori are at the margins of the pinnae. This plant has sori just developing away form the margins.

Here is my field observation.  See if you agree:

"Note the newly formed sori are NOT at the margins. This is NOT marginalis. Likely Goldie's, Dryopteris goldiana,  which is big, dense and has scaly stipes (these look just "hairy" to me.)"

Taking a break from the botanical, insects at the water's edge always attract attention.  I was singing the blues after seeing these two, above Silvery Blue Butterfly, Glaucopsyche lygdamus, one of over a dozen North American species of the Blue tribe Polyommatini. Another genus, the Azures, also reflect blue grey.  The Spring Azure is a very commonly seen small butterfly.

The damselfly below also challenges the intrepid biologist, as there are many Bluets  damselflies.  They are often separated into groups by the amount of blue on the abdomen. Therefore, there are black types showing minimal blue stripes on the abdomen; intermediate types which are about 30-50% blue on the abdomen; and blue types which are about 75-80% blue in the middle part of the abdomen.

Immediately, we see this is one of the blue types of Bluet.  Then it gets difficult! There are 6 species, with small differences among them. Mostly, you tell them apart by the claspers (males) which are the naughty bits at the end (10th segment) of the abdomen.  This IS a male.  Note the eyespots (and yes I checked out the claspers). They are clearly tear-shaped, which is the field mark of the Familiar Bluet, Enallagma civile. Ta daaaaa (marching band).  Mystery is solved. That is until one of the experts points out something else that I missed!

Didja want some cheese with those quackers?  Keeping on the "bleu" track, this Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors,  and her three ducklings drifted past us several times each day. Teal are small ducks.  The close relative to this one, Green-winged Teal are even smaller.  The blue feathers are usually hidden unless the female duck is preening or flying.  At a distance females of both Teal species are difficult to tell apart, and the field guides would have me call this one a Green-winged Teal. So, just to say, it ain't always so!  I saw this duck close up and often enough to identify it by its size and blue feathers

A dragonfly's view of the lake may approximate these shots, with one of the ubiquitous Corporals eyeing me.  Of course, to get the insect view, you have account for the differences in eye shape, location and the differences in colours and shapes in an insect's eye. Yet, occasionally,  a photo from a different perspective provides a very different view of the world.

I love the above photo, as it is very high resolution and you can see very small details. When identifying plants, these small details are important and may elude you in the field. This is a very common (often named a "weed") member of the mint family: Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris. The purple flowers are typical of the mint family. In this case, you can see 4 or five flowers off of the compact spike or head, The mint family species are common in the woodland understory, roadsides, and fields/lawns. Some are native, like this one; many are escaped from gardens.  Familar varieties are used as herbs, such as Thyme, Bergamot, Peppermint, Catnip, Pennyroyal and Marjoram. This one's common name derives from application as a traditional remedy for a variety of ailments, including wounds, burns, insect bites and allergies. Most of its parts are edible, though flavour is questionable! Like so many of our traditional herbs, this one is being studied for a role in treating a variety of diseases:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14595592

Not too far away, just up from the lake shore, were these lovely rose nodding flowers.  A member of the Honeysuckle family, these are Twinflowers,  Linnaea borealis. Like many flowers in the coniferous forest, Twinflowers grow from a creeping long vine, and are therefore quite large plants.  You may not find them in the wildflower section of your guide. Look under shrubs! This is also true for the many members of the Heath family which also grow in our northern woods: cranberries, partidgeberries, bearberries, blueberries and wintergreen.

These are so hard to find. Any snake in the boreal forest is a rare discovery. These are so small and inconspicuous, most people are unaware that they exist. There are two wee brown snakes that eat mostly earhworms and slugs: Dekays Brownsnake and the Red Belly Snake. I think this is the latter. Just to be sure, I sent the photo to an expert for confirmation. And he did confirm! Thanks Nick.

Next time, even more cottage life, including a bird one rarely sees in southern Ontario except in migration.