Only flowering of male trees should be recorded. This sketch will help you identify them. Click here for a bigger sketch. It is common in much of Canada's parkland and boreal forest. These trees have smooth, light green or whitish bark.
Large trees can be blackish and fissured at the base.
Winter buds of poplars have several scales, unlike those of willows, which have a single bud scale. They attach to the leaf blade at right angles to the leaf surface. The leaf stalks are also relatively long. These characteristics make the leaves tremble or quake even in a light breeze. They are almost round or broadly egg-shaped, except for the small, sharp tip.