admin 
Distinguishing Features – Overall colouration, varying, from pale buff to black with buff-tipped guard hairs, giving a “salt and pepper” appearance; dark brown to black on tail and feet. Heavy-bodied; short-legged. Size 45.7 – 65 cm (18 – 25.6 in) Habitat Widespread throughout Northwestern Ontario; prefers pastures and fields; forest edges. Diet Grazer; vegetative parts … Read more
General – a smooth-barked deciduous shrub or small tree up to 10 m high with a short trunk, slender, spreading branches, and a narrow, open round-topped crown; similar to American Mountain Ash but winter buds are sticky. Showy Mountain Ash Leaves – alternate; compound with 13-17, similar to American Mountain Ash but shorter and more … Read more
Distinguishing Features – A tall, coniferous, evergreen tree with a straight trunk, down-swept branches and open, pyramidal crown with a nodding tip; growing to a height of 30 – 50 m and a diameter of 1 m. Needles: nearly flat, soft, glossy, widely spaced along twigs, of two lengths with the shorter ones standing upright … Read more
Distinguishing Features – Overall colouration, silvery-brown to dark brown oily, waterproof fur with chestnut to hazel sides; underparts, grayish; tail flattened vertically, without fur; hind feet, partially webbed. Size Male: .48 – .6 m (1.6 – 2 ft) Female: .51 – .57 m (1.7 – 1.9 ft) Habitat Common throughout Northwestern Ontario, primarily in lakes, … Read more
Boreal forests throughout the world share many of the same species of animals and plants as Northwestern Ontario’s boreal region. flora. On the following pages we will look at the common and not-so-common flora and fauna found elsewhere in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, Russia, Eurasia and Siberia.
General – perennial, evergreen, hemicryptophyte, subshrubs, autotrophic, monoclinous, with adventitious roots and with fibrous roots, 0.02-0.4 m tall, with rhizomes. Trailing Arbutus Leaves – alternate, 1 per node, spaced evenly along stem; petiolate, petiole 0.4-3(-5) cm long, hairs short and unbranched, erect. Flowers – formed on short shoots, monomorphic, with sepals and petals readily distinguishable … Read more
Distinguishing Features – Length: male 43 cm; weight: .56 kg; female: 40 cm; weight: .45 kg. Adult Male – summer: Bill black. Iris brown. Toes and claws dark brown, the edges of the latter yellowish-grey. Head and neck bright chestnut, the feathers on the back part of the latter and crown of the head barred … Read more
General – erect, little branched, densely matted rhizoids on lower stems; forms large cushions and sometimes mats, 2 – 8 cm high. Leaves – 5 – 12 mm long, erect to curved, pointed in 1 direction, moist or dry; lance- shaped and sharply pointed; midrib single, ends in tip; uppper leaf cells longer than wide, … Read more
Northwestern Ontario’s vast forests have spawned an enormous regional enterprise based on wood. The region’s forest products are valued at more than $3 billion a year and the industry provides more than 15,000 jobs. The most valuable forest product by sales is wood pulp, produced by five mills (Weyerhauser in Dryden, Bowater in Thunder Bay, … Read more
Distinguishing Features – Leaves: 6 – 13 cm long; narrow, lance-shaped, with pointed tips, saw-toothed; colouration: dark green above and whitish to gray underneath. Bark: gray; rough, thick, deeply grooved. Branchlets: yellowish-green to brownish; slender, unbranched, drooping Flowers: borne on catkins 1 – 2.5 cm long; greenish; on the ends of short leafy twigs; appearing … Read more