I got to sleep in this morning as the start of this morning’s survey is a short drive from my lodging. The alarm was set for 4:15 am.

Dawn was glorious this morning.

MYSTERY PLANT

I will identify it at the end of the post:

This survey is almost entirely on little used and little maintained logging roads. A fallen tree for instance:

As I approached the final half hour of the survey, a real problem presented itself.

Most vehicles up here are trucks whose drivers will drive through this but I didn’t want to take any chances. The survey almost completed but not quite.

I surprised several animals today but was unable to get photos: a Black Bear with cubs, a Lynx and a Fisher.

I did, however, get close to a Ring-necked Duck. These beauties usually bolt when you get about 50 metres from them but this one didn’t. I was so close that you can clearly see the “ring” around the neck.

I briefly saw a Boreal Chickadee – a bird which rarely if ever approaches Toronto.

After the survey I drove to Kapuskasing. Here are some photos along the way:

Some botany:

MYSTERY PLANT

3 leaflets doesn’t always indicate Poison Ivy. This is Raspberry.

MY MYSTERY PLANT

Thank-you to several readers who identified this as Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata):

NATURE POETRY

And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven,
I know in my heart it is June.                                – Abba Gould Woolson (1838–1921)

Miles Hearn