Lambton Woods is one the local places for nature walks I enjoy the most. It’s along the Humber River at James Gardens. It’s also where we met this morning for the last of the summer series of nature walks with Miles Hearn.
ThimbleweedTansy
As regular readers know, I’ve learned an incredible amount about the natural world around me from these walks. Miles is a fountain of knowledge and a most interesting fellow. The next set of walks will be a series of 11 of them in the fall. I’ll let you all know when sign-up opens for these.
MonarchBull ThistleFigwort
The picture below shows Miles Hearn pointing out the difference between the male and female parts of a Cattail.
The top part is the male, the bottom is the female
And here he is photographing some slime…
Photographing SlimeSoapwortGreat egret fishing the riverBlack-crowned Night Heron
Someone in our group with a really good eye spotted this kildeer walking around on a sandbar in the river.
The highlight of the walk for me was spotting a bunch of chanterelles. At risk of going to nature walk jail, I could not resist harvesting them for dinner.
Recently I began to notice the qualifier “literally” being overused, in conversation but also on radio and television. For some reason, once I pick up on the overuse of an expression, I notice it all the time. Just last evening we were watching a little television, and on two different shows, characters slipped it in it on multiple occasions. I suspect some writers choose to use expressions like this one to make their dialog sound more like real life, more like us.
Of course, in conversation our brains scramble and reach to find effective qualifiers. I’m no different. Literally is sometimes used when figuratively would be more appropriate, but it isn’t misuse of the expression that bugs my butt, but overuse. We use literally as a gentle but firm intensifier – I’m not exaggerating, I’m not kidding. I get that.
Unfortunately, with overuse the expression loses its mojo. It has simply become filler. It could be worse. For instance, how many times have you heard people in conversation who only have command of the most base qualifiers, such as fuckin this or fuckin that. Fuckin eh.
Previously, it was overuse of the word iconic that grated upon my soul. I decided to strike that word from my vocabulary, at least for a few years. You won’t catch me uttering the word. Now I’m literally going to have to do the same for literally.
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn took place close to my home – just down the street – at Col. Sam Smith Park. Although I’ve been in this park many dozens of times, it’s a fantastic place that just keeps on giving.
Chicory
Our meeting place was at the very east end of the park. I walked in from the west. As I walked by the the yacht club, a shorebird walking along the docks caught my eye, a Spotted Sandpiper.
Spotted SandpiperSpotted Sandpiperwalnuts
When I think of birds at Sam Smith Park, the spring migration comes to mind, when we catch a glimpse of the wonderful world of the many warblers which stop on their way north. Or perhaps, the dead of winter when the basin hosts many winter ducks, and often a snowy owl who takes up residence on the docks. Still, on this beautiful July morning, Miles logged 28 different species of birds.
For me the bird highlight was seeing three Great Blue Herons at once at the pond.
Great Blue HeronGreat Blue Heron2 Great Blue Herons
If you’re ever walking along the rocks on the south edge of what we call “the spit”, which forms the yacht club basin, look down now and then. Some of the huge rocks along there hold many fossils.
Fossils
This has been a record high-water year in the Great Lakes. Here in Sam Smith Park, one of the main paths along the lake remains flooded.
Flooding
There are lots of butterflies in the park right now. Look for them around Milkweed and Canada Thistle and Knapweed.
MonarchRed AdmiralSwallowtail
We saw a few Yellow Warblers today, some of them quite close up. They have a distinctive song. Miles translates it to English, as: cherry cherry…cherry cherry sweet.
Yellow Warbler
The other common birdsong today came from Song Sparrows. We saw them all over the park.
Song Sparrow
You can here the tikita of Goldfinch all around the park too, and every now and again you catch a look at one flying or in among the leaves on a tree.
GoldfinchBathing Robin
We came across bath time for robins in the park. Here’s a juvenile robin enjoying a refreshing bath in a path puddle.
Bathing Robin
In the winter, there are many, many ducks around the park. This time of year it’s mostly mallards, this time accompanied by a couple mute swans.
Usual Suspects
There were many Cormorants around. We watched long lines of them flying low to the lake. In the yacht club basin, there are some nesting platforms put out there for the Red Necked Grebes. Cormorants are interlopers on these platforms, and often disturb grebe breeding.
Cormorant on a grebe platform. The Red-Necked Grebe looks on
Queen Anne’s Lace are a common sight in the park and all over Southern Ontario. When you come across some, have a closer look. Many of the blooms we saw today had residents – soldier beetles.
Queen Anne’s Lace with resident Soldier Beetles
You can find a variety of edible berries in Sam Smith Park, including Serviceberries (Saskatoons), Highbush Cranberries, and Nannyberries (Sweet viburnum). These Nannyberries are unripe. When ripe, they are dark blue and starting to wrinkle a little. I’ve never eaten them. Apparently the best way to deal with them is to boil them down for half an hour, then remove the pits and eat the remaining slurry like a jam.
This graphic novel grabbed me from the first scenes and never let go. It starts out at a taco restaurant, where a woman named April (or is it May?) is recognized by an old friend. “I’m sorry but you must be confusing me for someone else”. She goes to a motel, where a youngster named Eugene (honest) is watching tv. She tells him “we gotta move”.
This is kind of a noir road graphic novel. Part of its success lies in its focus on the family relationship. It appears that a single mom and son are on the lam and the youngster is totally hip to what is going on – except the relationship is not exactly as it seems.
The clean and sparse drawings are very expressive and help drive the story forward, making this book a real page-turner. I’m looking forward to reading Max de Radiguès’ collaboration with Charles Forsman, Hobo Mom.
Bastard, by Max de Radiguès, 2018. Fantagraphics Books. Recommended.
27th Street 