2012 Ivanhoe River Tour

Back in July 2012 I did a canoe trip down the Ivanhoe River to the confluence with the Groundhog River.  While there were a fair number of portages along the way, these spots make for scenic views while having a rest and the sand spits and rocky river shore habitats are fun to explore.

You get an appreciation for the hardiness and tolerance of some plants like this Spotted Joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum) hanging on in a rock crevice.  The roaring spring freshet flows

Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa) and Poverty Oats Grass (Danthonia spicata).

Blueflag Iris (Iris versicolor), seemingly out of place but with roots deep enough to reach the moist soils it requires.

Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii) does well in the gravelly wet depressions.

Orange-belted or Tricoloured Bumble Bee (Bombus ternarius) were spotted throughout the beaver meadows and especially on the Joe-pye-weed.

One sandy spit had an abundance of interesting-looking driftwood.

With a canoe over your head and a few back and forth trips down the portage trail I spotted this Ladies' Tresses orchid.  Similar to the driftwood in the last photo, the flowers of species in the Spiranthes genus tend to curl around the stem.  Identification to species usually requires the flower to look at length, shape and colour of various parts.

 
Groups of Common Goldeneye ducklings on the river would scurry off into small channels for shelter.  The trip also included an encounter with a family of River Otter; chirping us from a distance, one got brave, swam rapidly at our canoe and greeted us with a thump.

Northern Yellow-eyed-grass (Xyris montana) grows along the sandy shorelines among the dense stands of Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile).  We have 2 Yellow-eyed-grass species in Ontario, the other, Two-formed Yellow-eyed-grass (Xyris difformis) appears similar, but has differences in the bract colouration and toothed/fringed edges of the sepals.