What Was I doing During the Pandemic?

The onset of COVID-19, though inklings emanated as early as Fall 2019, were most felt in Mid-March 2020, when governments worldwide decided that drastic actions were required. As we now know, these actions did slow the spread, by March 2020, the virus had already spread worldwide.

In Spain, where Jan and I were happily spending much of the Winter, we grew increasing concerned during the week of March 9. At the regular Tuesday market in Nerja, we noticed that the Guardia Civil was present in numbers, checking stalls for health infractions related to an increasing concern about the spread of the virus. 

The next day, Jan and I and our friend Deb, went on a scheduled tour of the Alhambra, in Granada. There were few people on the tour, and it was the BEST tour of the Alhambra, as people were already responding to shutdowns. The Government of Spain had announced that all museums, public buildings, stores, parks, essentially all places that people could gather would be shut down on Friday, March 13 (how appropriate!). The borders with neighbouring countries were also closed. This cancelled the rest of our tour to Morocco and France. The Government of Canada advised that we should return home as quickly as possible.

Jan took charge, and phoned our carrier, Air France, at their Canadian offices. We were able to get our flights changed to Monday, March 16th. There was a collective sigh of relief, as, if we were to stay, we would have to live in isolation. The night of the Spanish shutdown, I walked to the main road into Nerja, a route always busy on Friday night. Note the eerie emptiness, like something out of an apocalypse film.

We did make it home, thanks to Air France officials in Malaga. We were on a waiting list for the Monday flight to Montreal. That was something we did not know until arrival at the airport. After going through a phalanx of officials at both ends of the flights (stopover in Paris), we made it back home on Monday night. We then adapted to the new COVID reality. 

As a director of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust, I spent more time at the properties we own and manage, including the one I managed in 2020, High Lonesome Nature Reserve. Here I am, pictured with our dog Winston (RIP 2025), at the Welcome Centre. The picture was posted at welcome centre to encourage visitors to leash their own pets. As winter progressed into spring, more and more people visited our properties, causing some parking problems and creating some trail congestion. The rediscovery, or just discovery, of freely accessible public trails became one of noticeable way people found to keep themselves busy and healthy. Later in Spring, we took another photo of me and Winston.

Life during COVID did have a "Groundhog Day" feel to it, as we visited aged relatives, when we were permitted, and learned how to socialize using a computer application called ZOOM. One morning, while still in bed, Jan and I heard what sounded like our house breaking! The delivery truck, pictured below, managed to hit the power line crossing our street, and brought down the power supply to our house. This did break the routine. 

The response was impressive. Our local Hydro One crew was on the scene within the hour, and before the afternoon was done, our electrician working with the Hydro One crew had a new pole, and a new service line into our house.

The truck and the pole, above. Our house, below. The electrical service is secured just over the top window,

Back to the trails. With the snow gone, in April. the Spring ephemeral flowers emerge. Here, Trout Lily leaves emerge on the High Lonesome forest floor,

followed, not too long afterwards, by the eye-catching flowers,

and a Bluebird, claiming a nesting box (young successfully raised!). High Lonesome Nature Reserve is a private 210 acre parcel of land north of Pakenham, Ontario. It is one of 17 properties (about 5000 acres) owned or managed through agreement with the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust. I served on the Board of Directors of this land trust for 7 years, and for a few years, I managed High Lonesome NR. With the onset of the pandemic, people, looking for safe alternatives to be outdoors, increasingly visited nature parks and reserves. High Lonesome's visitation skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, with a much greater number of 20-40-year-olds visiting. Hopefully, people discovering these jewels of nature will also support their management and contribute to expanding natural spots especially near to urban centres, where rapid suburban expansion threatens habitats in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence, and in our Ottawa Valley area, where our land trust operates.

Another early flower is one of our native Honeysuckles, Canadian fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) pictured below.

Then May brings the largest number of migrating insect-eating birds, like the Chestnut-sided Warbler pictured below.

These bird photos were supplied by bird photographers who frequent High Lonesome NR. A classic photo below of one of the Bluebird parents on an apple tree, just about to bloom.

A colourful migrant which nests in May, this Rose Breasted Grosbeak (male) was photographed on a sumac tree, just outside the Welcome Centre.

Summer arrives, and the Columbines, Aquilegia canadensis, bloom,

as does Canada Mayflower, Maianthemum canadense,

and Solomon's Seal. Note that there are several Polygonatum species in our area. This may be the more common Polygonatum biflorum, or Smooth Solomon's Seal.

In June, Iana and Pete came for a visit and were game for hikes at High Lonesome, where we found the Vandenhoff Memorial Bench made for a perfect mindfulness opportunity. I began to come here frequently to meditate and repair my tattered soul. Thanks Ilana, for your support, and thanks to this bench for its support.

Here are a few of the views of Taylor Lake where a generous person allowed me to park my canoe for the summer. This afforded some lovely journeys from our host's property at the south end of Taylor Lake (in Lanark County not far from Almonte, ON.)

Owen Clarkin, Annie Belair and I went to check out some property at Constance Bay, which may be a candidate for protection. Some of the highlights in photographs follow.

This is a Rubus species, probably common raspberry, which has 3-5 toothed leaflets. What attracted me was the variegated leaves. Many plants selected for horticulture do feature variegation. Occasionally, one can find a natural instance of variegation.

The Ottawa Valley features an astonishing diversity of Dragonflies for a northern latitude. I often find a species which is new to me. This is a female dragonfly, and impossible to determine species, since there are 3 species of Meadowhawks (Genus Sympetrum) which are only differentiated by close examination of the genital plates at the far end of the abdomen.

Above is a mint family plant. If anyone is able to better identify this plant, please let me know! The flowers are a particularly lovely shade, and they are larger than many mint flowers. Note the Red-banded Leafhopper,Graphocephala coccinea, on the upper leaf.

Common in our area, and throughout southern Canada, and most of the USA, White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, use the same trails as we do for finding good grazing. This one is so used to people, it just glanced up while we moved along. Note that these deer are smaller in the US south. Individuals in Florida are very small.

On another July 2020 walk near Constance Bay, I found this Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) butterfly (above). Mourning Cloaks, like most butterflies, have multiple generations each year. Unlike most of the butterflies in our area, Mourning Cloaks: overwinter as adults. They hibernate under tree bark or in leaf litter and can emerge as soon as the temperature rises above freezing. Therefore, they are often the first butterflies seen in spring in the Ottawa Valley. Below is a Mourning Cloak with its wings closed.  This is how they spend the winter in wood piles, etc. where this pattern and colouration makes excellent camouflage.

Above is one of the "native" plants in my developing native backyard habitat. It ranges much further south (south east and south central USA), so not really native to here. It is a lovely biennial blooming in summer. Perhaps it will establish itself, as other plants and animals from further south have done (the lovely Giant Swallowtail comes to mind). Our climate has changed, though not as drastically as in the far North.

A beaver cuts a tree and after a few decades, the stump looks like this! (above). This photo and the one below are taken in early August 2020, High Lonesome Nature Reserve. The reserve, managed by the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust (where I was on the Board at this time), became a prime destination for people in the general area, including Ottawa, during the COVID restrictions.

Meadowhawk Dragonfly species. There are two species, White-Faced and Ruby, in August. Later in October, another Meadowhawk, the Autumn Meadowhawk, dominates. Only males have the bright read abdomen.

Above and below, also in the beaver pond at High Lonesome NR, Broadleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), also known as duck potato, is a native aquatic plant found in Ontario's wetlands, marshes, and shallow waters. It typically blooms with delicate, three-petaled white flowers from July through September. These photos are from August 6, 2020. If you "rush" out to High Lonesome Nature Reserve now (August 2026), the heavy rains this summer have made for ideal conditions for this plant, and they are blooming in numbers at Joel's Pond.

And in the coniferous forest habitat at High Lonesome, one of the resident birds is shown below, a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, which scours the trunks of conifers for insects. Its close relative, the larger White-Breasted Nuthatch patrols the deciduous broadleaf forest.

During an August 2020 visit by daughter, Ilana, and son-in-law Pete, we climbed to the top of Blueberry Mountain, in the CliffLAND property (1250 acres or 506 hectares), another reserve protected through an agreement with the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust.

At the 30th August 2020 Festival of the Wild Child, held each year at High Lonesome Nature Reserve, and we did not miss this important event even in the first COVID year! Above, just to stay with threats to human health, is the American Yellow Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria var. guessowii), which, like most Amanita species is HIGHLY TOXIC! 

And below, a fellow Board member and great volunteer, Bob Stearns shows one of our young visitors animals caught in a net at the dipping station during the event. The same young man proudly shows us the Great Pond Snail (Lymnaea stagnalis), that Bob took out of the dipping net. 

Great Pond Snail on the hand of a Festival of the Wild Child attendee.

There are two types of large pond snails in our region.  They are differentiated by which side their "foot" opening occurs, right (Billed Snail) or left (Pouch Snail). Even 3 year olds can figure out this one!

Above,  are Shaggy Manes (Coprinus comatus), also frequently called Shaggy Ink Caps or Lawyer's Wigs. This species is very common in Ontario and is easily identified by its tall, cylindrical white cap covered in shaggy, upturned scales. And below, more Amanita, similar to the Fly Agaric in a previous photo. Note, some people eat Shaggy Mains. I do not forage for mushrooms in the wild, at all, and you are never to remove any plant or animal or other living thing, like a mushroom (!) from nature reserves.

You probably already guessed that during COVID, I spent a lot of time on the various Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust properties. The photos above and below were taken at the Keddy Nature Reserve near Carleton Place Ontario. This reserve is not open to the public, and visits must be approved by the land owners before visiting. During this visit, I was with owner Cathy Keddy, who was a botanical superstar. You can see her hand behind the late September flowering plant: Solidago bicolor (Silverrod or White Goldenrod) is considered uncommon in Ontario compared to other goldenrods, especially the one below, which should be recognized by most people as the VERY common Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), one of the most widespread and recognizable native wildflowers in Eastern Ontario: 

Lyophyllum decastes (commonly known as the Fried Chicken Mushroom or Clustered Domecap at the Keddy Nature Sanctuary (Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust, September, 2020).

Above: Bear's Head Tooth (Hericium americanum). Found on bark of trees in Eastern Ontario.

Likely, Pileated Woodpecker holes, searching for Carpenter Ants in a Pine, likely White Pine, Pinus strobus. Below, winter road to High Lonesome Nature Reserve. I have, since 2020, developed a distaste for cold and that white stuff....brrrr.....and find myself leaving for warmer climes.

After the long winter, Spring 2021 arrives and below, harbingers of Spring,  ephemeral flowers, like this Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), pop up everywhere before leaves appear on deciduous trees..

In July 2019, we visited Ilana (pictured here with Pete and Kevin O'Connell, Jan and Winston! Kevin rented a lovely cottage at Tiny, on Georgian Bay. During our stay we walked several local trails, including the Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area. Another good memory.

Above and below, me at the Tiny Marsh sign. Tiny Marsh (not so tiny) above.

A week later, July 26, 2019, I hiked the Macnamara Trail in Arnprior with Owen Clarkin. Being beside the Ottawa River at its eastern end, the Nopiming property does have some wild riverbank plants and animals.

Above, a Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) with interesting leaves. Eleanor Thomson, an excellent local professional botanist, helped me to ID this one. The photo, taken on the Macnamara Trail in Arnprior, is an excellent example of what NOT to do when taking flowers for later ID. The flowers do NOT belong to the plant that has those wide, heavily veined leaves. We believe the leaves are from one of the Buckthorns. T.wo Buckthorn species, Cathartic and Glossy, are among our most invasive local shrubs, displacing many native species. This one, though, is in a marshy area near the Ottawa River. Perhaps, it is our NATIVE Buckthorn, yes there is one, and it is not very common, Alder-leafed buckthorn, Rhamnus alnifolia. The leaves look like Glossy Buckthorn leaves (wide). On the plus side, the leaves are heavily veined, fine-toothed, 

and the shrub was short (the flowers growing above the Buckthorn prove that) and growing 

in a marshy area.

Below, the leaves of Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria. When I worked at Environment Canada in the mid 1990's, a Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) colleague identified an insect that preys on Loosetrife. It was released, and the result was excellent, although it still exists, this alien plant has not been very invasive. In fact, it has become difficult to find in some areas near me. In keeping with the backward progress of our society, the CWS programme was axed along with a lot of other great CWS projects, which has resulted in large costs to our environment and our society.

Scutellaria galericulata, Marsh Skullcap is one of the lovely riverside wildflowers we found. this northern hemisphere native isn't very common, except in habitats like this. It is very widespread throughout Canada.

then, time for one of my favourite annual events: Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust's Festival of the Wild Child, August 28, 2021. I volunteer each year for this event. We get about 100 families. I run the "pond dipping" site where young (and older kids) use dip nets to briefly capture pond life which I identify for them. It is 100% fun and joy!

The event takes place at High Lonesome Nature Reserve, which I was managing at the time. Here, one of our beavers had cut a White Cedar. Our beavers, 2 families, have been living on White Cedar for about 8 winters! I had never seen a beaver colony before this focusing on White Cedar.

Above and below, the older kids have fun too! Jenn, seen below left, now runs the event.

Above, Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus (the sulphur shelf) or its sibling species L. cincinnatus (the white-pored chicken) are large mushrooms ion local deciduous trees. The bright orange-yellow, fan-shaped shelves may reaching 50+ pounds in a single fruiting. I was hoping to show this to a group I was leading at High Lonesome a few days after seeing this specimen. Someone, though, ignoring the nature space rule (take only photos, leave only footprints), took it for their own use. This greatly saddened me. 

What made those holes in this Poplar? The woodpecker that loves sap! Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. I know Spring has arrived when their aggressive tapping echoes in the woods, followed by boisterous calls.

The marshes around our two High Lonesome beaver ponds, Joel's Pond and Beaver Pond.

Emily, above. Mink frog, below! Emily found one of the first Mink frogs here. After I identified it, we looked for more. There is a large population of them in our ponds.

 With Fall arriving, and Winter around the corner, our first COVID year passed, and, like so many, I spent more time outdoors in our MMLT nature properties, one of the positive outcomes of people not congregating indoors.