Larkspur Natural Area Society
Spring Happenings
Hello everyone
We would like to thank everyone for your interest in the Larkspur Natural Area Society. We had hoped that we might be able to gather for a group walk through of the natural area on the May long weekend, but with the new covid restrictions, a gathering is not going to happen. Instead, we would like to encourage you and your family to go out and explore the natural area on your own and imagine what you would like to see in the way of trails.
To make it a more interesting adventure, we would like to suggest some of the following to pique your interest and make you a little more aware of what wonderful things this natural reserve has to explore. You may want to take along a compass, binoculars, a camera and a pad of paper notes or for drawing.
Interesting nature
Does moss really grow only on the north sides of trees? Look to see where the moss is growing in our reserve.
How many frogs do you think there are in the ponds in the reserve? Listen for their loud croaking sounds, especially in the morning and evening. Here’s some interesting facts about frogs:
Can you spot any shelf fungus growing on the trees?
Can you find a birch tree? Did you know that the first nations people made canoes out of the bark from these trees?
Look up in the trees to see if you can see any birds’ nests.
Did you know we have many birds who live in the reserve…from the small hummingbird to the great grey owl. See how many different kinds of birds you can spot in the reserve?
Woodpeckers hollow out trees to make their nests. Sometimes other birds will move into a woodpecker hole, if the woodpecker is not there. Can you spot any woodpecker holes high in the trees?
There may be old wasp nests hanging in the branches high in the trees. Watch out!
Don’t forget to look down and watch out for wild animal poop. You should be able to see moose, deer and squirrel droppings, although the squirrel poop would be pretty small.
moose poop 
deer poop
Watch for signs of the yellowbellied sap sucker. This bird drills holes all the way around a tree, in several rows, to make the sap run out of the tree, then drinks the sap.
Yellow bellied sap sucker
We have lots of different waterfowl and birds living in and around our lake. These include, but are not limited to Canada geese, Great Blue Herons, mallard ducks, loons, and bufflehead ducks and occasionally wood ducks and hooded mergansers, great grey owls, cormorants, eagles, chickadees, robins, hummingbirds, grossbeaks, siskins, redpolls and sparrows. See how many different species you see around the lake and in the reserve.
Happy spring
Gail and Greg
Donna and Brian
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