P.S. From Rays computer list, the total number of bird species counted on the 
     
     trip was 90, and 170 recorded sightings. 
     
    

    
     Author’s Note: I think people should know that we were seven people who 
     
     didn’t know each other very well and that was part of the fun. It's not as if 
     
     ‘we were all pals who got together to do something for the weekend. I wouldn't 
     
     like to think "I don’t know anyone" is a reason for not participating in such 
     
     an adventure. 
     
    
   
   
    
     SOOTY MOLDS IN CHARLOTTETOWN by Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     During the past 14 years in which I have been involved in forestry, 
     
     there have been frequent reports on problems arising from heavy infestations 
     
     of aphids or plant lice. Many of these calls resulted from the finding of a 
     
     sticky substance on cars left under street or lawn trees but, sometimes, they 
     
     were the result of individuals finding what looks like soot on cars, steps, 
     
     leaves, and other items around trees. Upon investigation, the cause of these 
     
     problems was the secretions of aphids feeding on adjacent trees, particularly 
     
     lindens. 
     
    

    
     The problem becomes evident when 
     
     significant numbers of aphids are 
     
     feeding. The aphids suck such large 
     
     amounts of sap from the leaves that 
     
     much of it passes through the insect 
     
     and is excreted with little or no 
     
     change. As this sap contains sugars, 
     
     amino acids, proteins, other organic 
     
     substances, and minerals, ants often 
     
     climb the trees to collect the 
     
     excreted "honeydew". One of the 
     
     distinguishing characteristics of the 
     
     deposition of these sugars on the 
     
     leaves, cars, or other objects is a 
     
     sheen or glossy covering on the 
     
     objects. 
     
    

    
     As with most surpluses of a ready source of food energy, various 
     
     organisms have adapted to take advantage of it. Ants have already been 
     
     mentioned but bees and wasps may also be attracted to it. The sugary surface 
     
     solution also promotes the growth of several molds (fungi) of the family 
     
     Capnodiaceae as well as other pigmented members of the Ascomycetes (sac fungi) 
     
     and Deuteromycetes (asexual fungi). These molds grow on the surface of the 
     
     leaf or other object covered with honeydew by utilizing it as food. The 
     
     abundance of food allows them to produce large amounts of dark brown spores 
     
     which blacken the leaves, furniture, car or other object giving the appearance 
     
     of a soot-like deposit, hence the name, sooty molds. The presence of the 
     
     microscopic dark thread-like mycelial network which forms much of the fungi 
     
     can sometimes be detected when the leaves are looked at in side light. These 
     
     structures are readily recognized under a microscope. When growth conditions 
     
     are right for the sooty molds, the resultant growth can be so heavy that it 
     
     reduces the light transmitted to the leaves thus impairing the host plant's 
     
     photosynthesis. It must be remembered however, that these molds are not 
     
     actually infecting the plant, they are essentially sitting on top of it 
     
     utilizing the honeydew deposits. 
     
    

    
     Complaints from the Brighton Road area in Charlottetown were 
     
     particularly heavy this fall. Some of the lower leaves had such a heavy 
     
     growth of mold that they appeared to be covered with a very diffuse black 
     
     tissue paper. These growths are washed off the trees or blown many tree 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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