Work and Play in Sault Ste. Marie - Pt I

Last week Nathan Miller and I were in Sault Ste. Marie for work. I was looking forward to a few days of early morning bird surveys, hiking through the woods and getting out to explore some wetlands in our down time.

On our first night we were surrounded by a small group of curious Cape May Warblers, named after Cape May, New Jersey were the species was first described.

Oval-leaved Bilberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) is a locally common shrub.  It has a relatively small range in northern Michigan and around Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario but is also found on the east coast and west coast as well as across the Atlantic in Japan, Russia, etc..  This member of the Heath family has an s-rank of S3 (rare to uncommon in Ontario).

A hydro-cut provided good open habitat for a few species of butterflies including this Arctic Skipper.

Black Bear tracks and scat (as well as Eastern Wolf and Moose) could be found here and there.

Nathan spotted a Mink Frog while I was transfixed trying to get shots of the Cape May Warblers.

Some ferns of interest (for a southerner) include glades of Interrupted Fern (Osmunda claytoniana), similar to Cinnamon Fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum) but with the presence of fertile leaflets (which eventually wither away) create an interrupted effect on the frond.

Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum) with it's in-rolled leaves with densely hairy undersides was in bloom.

Silvery Sedge (Carex canescens) has a bit of a bluish-silverish hue to the foliage and stems.

One of the most common wildflowers in the upland forest areas is Bluebead Lily (Clintonia borealis).  This species is also called Yellow Clintonia, the fruits resemble blueberries hence the name Bluebead.

A few video clips of the sights and sounds...

In our downtime we checked out some fens and beaver meadows near the airport... to be continued in my next post.