by Chris Earley

OK, this was a really challenging quiz to put together but we did it! Can you tell what is in each of the squares? A printable version is available by clicking here. The answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.

The construction on the road coming into The Arboretum from the College Avenue entrance is complete! Although it looks a little bare along the edge right now, grass has been seeded to come up in the Spring. The road is much wider than it was previously. Hopefully all the improvements made will make it more pleasurable to drive on in all seasons and it will be much easier to take care of.

We are on social media! Check out our Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter feeds. There are fabulous photos posted as well as other notices of events and workshops, articles etc. It is a great way to keep in touch with us and see what is happening at The Arboretum.

We are now a partner with an organization that is working to keep cats safe and save birds lives. The organization is led by Nature Canada. More information can be found on the web at: www.catsandbirds.ca. A University of Guelph Research survey is being conducted to examine people's perceptions of wild birds and outdoor cats. If you are interested in completing this survey you can find more information on our Facebook page.

Alex and Jason, our Interpretive Naturalist Interns are excited and can hardly wait to unveil our new t-shirts, but we haven’t received them yet. The t-shirts are environmentally friendly bamboo, made in Canada, charcoal in colour and very fashionable with an awesome Arboretum appropriate design on them. The print design on them is by Alex and Chris. We are expecting them soon and should have them in time to be used for Christmas gifts. Watch our home page as well as our social media accounts early December when they will become available. We can hardly wait!

   

by Alexandra Kocher

As I was walking around in The Arboretum I came across a Monarch Butterfly sitting on some grass. Immediately I was flushed with excitement because we have been catching and tagging as many monarchs as possible this year. Tagging is a way of keeping track of individual butterflies, and it is done by putting a sticker on the wing of the monarch, giving it its very own number code. Why do we do this? Well, every fall Monarchs fly all the way to Mexico to hibernate, and if a Monarch arrives with a tag then those who find it can look up where that monarch came from. Doing this allows us to see how far Monarchs fly each year and it also helps us to understand their behaviour and life cycles. When the spring rolls in and the Monarchs leave Mexico, they head back north, but not all in one trip like on the way down. The way up is split into generations, so each generation of butterfly flies a little further and further.


A Monarch which was tagged this September in The Arboretum
Photo by Alexandra Kocher

The Monarch I found was very easy to catch! It didn’t even move in fact - it was a little TOO easy to catch if you ask me! And once I got a closer look at my new friend I could see exactly why, because his wings were crinkled and not flat and strong like they should be. This would have happened when he first emerged out of his chrysalis and hung to dry his new wet wings. Apparently this monarch isn’t very good at laundry, because his wings did not hang to dry properly and were therefore left wrinkled. I held the Monarch on my hand and watched him try to fly away, but all he could manage was a flutter to the ground. This Monarch cannot fly, and therefore cannot migrate to Mexico, meaning if he didn’t get killed by an animal he would surely freeze to death in our winter climate.


Buddy the Monarch with crinkled wings
Photo by Chris Earley

We know this Monarch is a male because of the two black spots located on his lower wing veins; females would not have these markings. Knowing this, we named our Monarch Buddy, and took an oath to look after him over the winter. We house Buddy in a homemade butterfly cage which is made of mesh netting and two embroidery rings with things inside for him to sit on such as flower heads, tall grass, and twigs. To feed Buddy I make a sugary drink to simulate flower nectar; it is a warm mixture of water, sugar, and orange Gatorade. Some people believe that the electrolytes in the Gatorade help sustain the butterfly, but others use the orange smell to help to attract the butterfly to feed. Either way I added it to the mix and it seems to be working for Buddy. I pour the sugary liquid over cottonballs in a dish so that Buddy has something to sit on and avoids the chance drowning or soaking his wings in a puddle of liquid.

 
A close up of the vein spot found on    Buddy drinking from his  sugary cottonballs
male Monarchs, like Buddy here          in his mesh enclosure
Photo by Alexandra Kocher                 Photo by Alexandra Kocher

Buddy has been doing well so far, and I have been using the opportunity to note some behaviour of his along the way. One thing observed was that he started becoming very rambunctious in his enclosure around the time he should have been migrating. He also ‘shivers’ a few times a day which is just his muscles trying to warm up in our cold office. This is exactly what our body is doing when we shiver as well, only his body is trying to heat him up for flight. I haven’t broken the news to him yet about not going to Mexico, perhaps The Arboretum can raise some funds to fly him down ourselves! But in the meantime, he has been an awesome addition to our Arboretum roster and has been helping me teach young students about his amazing species and how we can help them!

To learn more about Monarchs in decline and what you can do to help, take a look at the link below. It’s an older blog post (written in 2015) but it has some great information!
http://blog.nwf.org/2015/02/saving-monarchs/

A printable version of this newsletter is available by clicking here.

By Ann Estill, Arboretum Volunteer

When I was a little girl my favourite treat in the fall was to gather hickory nuts. Mother and I would take a big paper bag and trudge up beyond Grandpa’s barns, wood lot and cow pasture to the turnip field where there stood a magnificent Hickory tree beside a small stream. Home again, Mother would take a hammer and little copper anvil (it was a wedding present to her) out on the back stoop and crack them open, one by one. It was tedious work and she never let me pick out the nuts for fear I might miss a bit of shell which was brittle and hard, better than hard candy for breaking your teeth. The layer cake that followed was delicious, with butter frosting, decorated with the little halves. Yes, we only had one each season. Too labour intensive for more.

This fall I traveled to my son’s in North Carolina and was amazed to see and hear about his Hickory nut project. He picks up the plentiful nuts and then crushes them with a sledge hammer, 3 cups water to 1 cup nuts. Shells, nuts and water are brought to the boil where the aroma filling the kitchen is a treat. He says: “I believe my hickory elixir is the fat of the nut. After boiling, the mix stratifies into three parts: the top part is the "hickory milk." The second part is the meat--which is flavorless after a boil, and the third part is the shells--still with plenty of nut meat trapped within. I sometimes skim the nut meat and use it as filler in eggs, gravy, sausage dishes, etc. Good texture, mostly flavorless.” He warns against skimming too closely because of the hazard the shells offer.

The longer the boil, the thicker the elixir. The Hickory milk is health giving, a shot glass taken every day adds protein, vitamin B1, good fat, and trace elements that are health-giving. Some folks add a bit of honey or maple syrup. There is an earthy flavour that grows on you. Who knew that small nut with its unique sweet flavour would do all that?

                       
                        Shagbark Hickory Fruit

Looking for a great gift for the nature lover in your life? We have a series of 5 booklets: Feeder Birds, Wildflowers, Mammals, Dragonflies and Summer Garden Birds which would be a perfect choice for a gift. Each booklet is full colour and is $8. Details can be found on our website.

We also have a nature journal with a series of colour photos in the centre pages and lots of unique pages with leaf backgrounds for sketching or journaling. Each journal is $10.

Our Biodiversity placemats are $5 each or $50 for the set of 12. Check out the new ones that just came out last month... they must be purchased as individuals as they are not part of the set of 12. Each double-sided, laminated placemat features a different group of local organisms.

Gift certificates are also available for our workshops. Owl Prowls make a fabulous family outing; or check out our other workshops.

To purchase these booklets, journals, placemats or gift certificates please call ext. 52358 or e-mail us at [log in to unmask]. We would be happy to mail these out to you (a mailing fee will apply).

Christmas is quickly approaching. If you haven't already booked your Christmas party then please consider The Arboretum. It is the perfect location for your Christmas event. We can accommodate up to 130 people for lunches or dinners with a view of the picturesque Arboretum grounds. For further information please contact Dawn Ann Webster, Bookings Co-ordinator at extension 54110, [log in to unmask] or check out our website. All catering is provided by Hospitality Services, University of Guelph. For further information on the catering please call extension 53350 or e-mail [log in to unmask].

Owl Workshop, Animal Tracking and Owl Prowls workshops are approaching. The dates and registration deadlines can be found in our Coming Events listing in the column on the left side of this newsletter. A detailed description of each course is available on our website. Help us promote our programs … please forward this e-mail on to your friends and colleagues who may be interested. The more participants we have, the more programs we can offer.

Registering early is important for us because we need lead time to decide if there are enough people registered to run the workshop or not. To encourage registering before the deadline, we now have an Early Bird Fee. You can still register after the deadline, but it will cost an extra $10, so why not register early?

Registration is available on-line, which allows you to register for our programs at anytime, not just during our regular business hours. A secure link is provided on our website for this easy registration process.

If you do not have internet access, registration can still be made by phone or in person at 519-824-4120 ext. 52358 as in the past. Please remember that a decision is made on the registration deadline as to whether the workshop will run or not, based on the minimum number of required registrants. You may still register after the deadline as long as the workshop is running and there is space.

We have been over run with American Robins in the last week. They are EVERYWHERE! The reason we seem to be so popular with them at the moment is our abundance of crabapples and dogwood berries. Our squirrels are pretty happy with this food source at the moment as well. Some of our winter birds, such as Dark-eyed Juncos, are back and we have also had a sighting of a Barred Owl. Hopefully the owl will stick around and delight our cold-hardy Arboretum visitors. A mink was seen catching frogs in the O.A.C. Centennial Arboretum Centre's reflecting pool recently. Check out our photos of it on our flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/52649814@N05/

  
American Robin eating Red-osier          American Robin
Dogwood berries                                 photo by Brenda Doherty
photo by Brenda Doherty

               
                Mink
                Photo by Chris Earley

Be a part of the BetterPlanet Project by donating on-line:

Your donation can be directed to The Arboretum online through the secure University of Guelph donation page: http://uofg.convio.net/arboretum

If you prefer not to make an online donation, there are several other ways to provide your financial support. You can choose to donate by telephone, mail, fax, or in person:

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH Attention Alumni Affairs 50 Stone Road East Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Tel: 1-888-266-3108 ext. 56934 Tel: 519-824-4120 ext. 56934 Fax: 519-822-2670 Email: [log in to unmask]

If you would like information on bequests and planned giving to The Arboretum please contact:

Ross Butler
Director, Gift Planning
at (519) 824-4120 ext. 56196 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask]