ERS 346 Outing #3
Time and date: 19/10/7 11:00 AM
Duration: 60 minutes
Location: Waterloo Park, ON
Weather: 17°, cloudy, windy
Habitat: Deciduous forest, urban park
For my third wildlife outing, I decided to try and observe species in Waterloo Park because this is a novel urban ecosystem that I walk through every day on my way to campus, which makes me curious to know what kind of wildlife this habitat can support. Shortly into my walk along the path adjacent to the LRT tracks, I observed a hairy woodpecker foraging among dead goldenrods, and detected that it was focusing its pecking efforts on a gall in one of the plants. This is interesting because it is evident that the bird was seeking food in the gall, which indicates to me that this species of bird may have learned behaviour since it is able to recognize this shape in the goldenrod as a potential food source. The hairy woodpecker can be identified by its black and white body with a bright red patch near the back of its head. The presence of the hairy woodpecker made me curious about what other bird species might be around, so I decided to wait in the same area for 20 minutes to see what else I could observe. During this time, I observed an adult (probably male) blue jay flying into the shrubs before me, which I was able to identify due to its strong blue colour with a prominent crest and bold black necklace. Although I didn’t get to see any, I was able to hear black-capped chickadees nearby as well, which I was able to identify by their call that sounds similar to “chickadee-dee-dee.” As I finally decided to move on from this area, I was left pondering whether or not the diversity of bird species I was able to observe in such a short time is representative of the overall diversity of birds in Waterloo park, and therefore indicative of the health of this ecosystem. Since songbird diversity can be a valuable indicator of good ecosystem health, it would be interesting to conduct a study of the songbird community within Waterloo Park. However, I was abruptly stopped in my thoughts by finding a dead eastern grey squirrel on the ground in front of me. I found it near the LRT tracks and since it had no noticeable signs of trauma, it made me wonder if perhaps it died due to electrical shocks from the tracks. Lastly, I found some turkey tail fungi on a fallen log in the forest, which is characteristic of how this species grows, and it can also be identified by its distinct colourful rings with small pores underneath and a leathery texture.
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