Lobelia's it is!

I was home this weekend for my mom's birthday.  After going out for lunch in London I suggested we make a brief stop at Springbank Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Harlequin Duck that has been hanging out for the last few weeks.  The most recent ebird post had reported it/one upriver in Gibbons Park.  After walking a few kilometers of trail with no duck left unturned, I had to bail.  I did however find out that it takes my point-and-shoot exactly the same length of time to pull a Long-tailed Duck into focus as it does for said duck to dive and force me to zoom out and try again, and again, alas not even a shot of a Long-tailed.

This morning we enjoyed having breakfast and watching the 8 Wild Turkey monopolize the sunflower seed spoils beneath the bird feeder.  The pair of Eastern Towhees which overwintered here made an appearance also.  Anyways, all this to say that I made a conscious effort to get more bird material up here and came up empty handed.

So a quick scan through some photos on my laptop and Lobelia's it is!

This patch of Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) caught my eye while on a camping trip to Massasauga PP.  It's really kind of strange to me why true red blooms are few and far between in Ontario's flora.  Cardinal Flower, Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) and Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) make up the bulk of the reds (that I can think of off hand) and none are particular common on the landscape.  If I had to hazard a guess it might look to pollinator's having a preference for other colours but I really don't know.

A visit to Taylor Lake near Cambridge this past summer turned up a fair number of Pale-spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata). 

Here are a couple shots of Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii), named for the Swedish botanist Pehr Kalm.  These are common along the rocky rivershore habitats of the Ivanhoe River, west of Timmins.