Does this make my head look fat ?

  
  
What a magical time of year it is.  We have slid gently from the delightful, constant rainy, soggy season into the stimulating eat-you-alive black fly season.  


In an effort to combat the latter I have resorted to wearing some very fetching head gear when I travel into bug front lines.

 Not everyone can wear mosquito netting and still look this sexy tramping around in the muck looking for Spring Peepers.

Amy-Lynn and I went to a pretty spot near the Shearwater Flyer Trail which is a part of the Trans Canada Trail system.  

Amy-Lynn catches tadpoles.

It quite soggy there.  Prime bug breeding grounds.

Water pours into my boot print.

We explored the area.    I prattled on as we walked.  Amy-Lynn pointed out interesting plants.  

Wild Rhododendron

Suddenly we both came to a halt when I, displaying the advantages of posessing raging ADD, shouted "Venus Fly Trap!".  I'd spotted the small carnivorous plant on the ground at our feet.  It was a plant that I didn't think could possibly be there.

Click for a better view of the sticky droplets.

Turns out I was half right.   It wasn't a Venus Fly Trap, but it was a carnivorous plant. Thanks to Mr. Google I now know that sundew plants are common across Canada, which surprises me as I've never seen them before.   The leaves are covered in red hair-like tentacles each of which produces a clear, sweet, sticky droplet  which contains digestive enzymes.  When an insect lands on a sun dew, the tentacles contract, trapping it against the leaf.  The enzymes digest the unfortunate insect and the leaf absorbs the nutrients.  Yum. 

 

I want to go back again to see if we can find any salamander eggs or fry.  In the mean time we are happy with the results of our tadpole hunt.