2020 year of the grasshoppers and chipmunks in my garden

 Have you noticed that each year, some species in nature, seems to reproduce profusely for a year and then are seen only in small numbers the subsequent years? One year I saw a lot of dragonflies in the garden and since then, I see less than 5 during summers. Some year, I had a lot of one type of weed(whose name I dont know) and then I did not see that weed in particularly large numbers. 

Well this year, it has been the year of the grasshoppers in my garden. I have seen several grasshoppers and to my surprise I have seen one particular type which not only hops but also flies! and it looks like a butterfly as it makes one giant leap or a hoppity kind of flying as it moves from a flower to the garage door. It has the butterfly look for the few seconds it's in air and as it seems to fly-hop much quicker than a butterfly, I have never been able to capture it on video. By the time I can get the phone out and the camera on to video, it's wings are folded and it's a sitting grasshopper instead of a leaping butterfly!

As I mentioned in an earlier article, this year, on a trip to Awanda conservation area, we saw literally millions of caterpillars creeping and crawling all over trees (thousands!), branches, trunk, leaves, the forest floor, the road and even benches! We could  hear them... a crunchy sound caused either by their 'eating' the leaves or 'falling' from trees onto dead leaves. or moving on dead leaves. Just imagine, how many of them are simultaneously active, for me to hear the sound at all and that too, continually! Never ever have I seen caterpillars in such large numbers. And I have been visiting conservation parks, woodlands, meadows, wetlands, etc for years and years.

Another animal which I hardly or never saw in my 14 years here are chipmunks and this year, there are many chipmunks in my garden. Two hypothesis I have for their presence is: I threw out a lot of bird seed in my garden once. I wonder if they somehow smelt it from afar and came for it and then stayed on. The other hypothesis is that I have started growing tomatoes and cucumbers this year (which I never did before) and they came to eat these up. I love these bright, cute things, which remind me  of the squirrels in India. 

I wonder what I will see next year. I wonder what made the grasshopper population so much this year, at least in my garden. 

Discovered now when I googled about 'too many grasshoppers this year' this article

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/there-are-just-too-many-neighbours-in-a-northern-ontario-town-battle-grasshopper-infestation-1.5030206

the too many grasshoppers problems seems to have been there in this town in north Ontario too!

apparently since the last winter was mild, too many eggs survived and so many of them were born this year..

Hilton Falls, Aug 24, 2020

 Visited Hilton Falls Conservation area in Milton, about an hour's drive from Toronto for a hike. Due to Covid, we had to book the time of visit in advance, online. (6.50$ per adult). Went without our usual picnic lunch as we decided in this hike, spur of the moment, about half hour before we actually left. Armed ourselves with coconut water, jackfruit, a box of raisins, cashews and roasted almonds and a couple of bananas. 

It was a hot day but we were quite sheltered by the canopy of maple trees Saw two falls and a large lake (Hilton  dam). While there were several visitors at one of the falls, there were virtually no one at the other falls. Of course, we could see this falls only from the top as the bottom seemed inaccessible. I was also surprised that there were only two women who came near the dam. It was a large lake/dam, possibly man made or at least it was surrounded by rocks which were definitely not the naturally occuring river rocks.  It was surprising to see zero people near this lake, after the crowd at the waterfall! 

Here are a few photos.

above...the  reservoir we had to ourselves as no people here at all! But we did not go nearer to this reservoir but   stayed on the road which ran on one side, about 20 feet above this lake. 

Above are 2 photos of the falls without any people . I wonder if the wood seen here across the path of the water was brought by  beavers or people. There is a beaver trail  on the map and so maybe these are logs brought here by beavers?

The yellow mushrooms stood out so brightly by the side of the path, one could not miss it! This other mushroom above was so thin and paperlike with a faintly colored edge to it.

Below: saw this guy walking on the road with his zillion legs!

Above : wormholes on wood ...patterns on wood made by larva while. burrowing through a piece of wood (google says it). I would like to see a video to  confirm that these patterns were made by worms/larve.

This stranger above walked easily from the side to behind the falls without getting too wet. Not too slippery  to walk either. 

Above and below are the remains of a building...a saw mill producing lumber in the past.

Above and below... I know I take the photos of the same things over and over in all these hikes but I so love these trees roots clinging so strongly to the limestone rocks and creating such wonderful patterns on earth...roots curving in all directions  while clinging to the rocks

Above: walking down the stony path of life ... only today!

aug 11, 2020 visit to Yorkdale Mall

 Visiting Yorkdale mall in Toronto, after many months. I like this mall as one gets to see youngsters (teens) and others dressed in a range of styles. This time too I saw several interestingly dressed folks. The shops too looked different, post-covid. But as my memory is pretty bad, I can recognize that the shops look different but cannot pinpoint what the differences are!

Below are three  of the many photos I took here. I found these things on display both attractive and 'happy'. 

Fleurs De Villes :Floral trail in Yorkville Toronto Aug 5-9, 2020

 Went on Saturday Aug 8th evening to Yorkville (Hip part of downtown Toronto) to enjoy the floral display scattered over in buildings. Here are a few photos of those lovely creations made of real flowers, leaves, bark, etc, dried flowers, leaves and ferns but  sprayed with color, dried flowers and maybe a few artificial decorations. 

It was lovely strolling in this neighbourhood this evening...balmy weather. Not as crowded as it would have been pre-covid summers. People enjoying eating outdoors of restaurants. This is the only area I think where the tables were set in the middle of the streets for people to eat! 

This one above is plastic paper flowers. but it looked so beautiful!

This lovely orchid (?) above is part of the floral decoration outside Pustari.