Engage in citizen science and learn more about what’s living in your backyard!

Between May 24th and 28th, Wintergreen Studios will be holding its 3rd annual Land Art BioBlitz where participants will have the opportunity to identity wildlife, explore the outdoors, and participate in workshops ranging from music jams to salamander and dragonfly identification. Help celebrate Canada 150 by exploring its natural heritage and learning to love its amazing diversity!

Want to learn more about wildlife identification and spend the day (or night) outdoors exploring? Want to get up close and personal with slime mold? Want to create a cacophony of nature sounds inside a geodesic dome? You can do all of these things and more at the Land Art BioBlitz! BioBlitzes bring together expert and amateur naturalists to identify as many species as possible, creating an inventory of living things used to observe future changes.

The term “BioBlitz” was coined during the first 24-hour identification event, which took place at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Washington, DC, in 1996. Early BioBlitzes were held to measure the biodiversity of a site, which gives insight into the health and productivity of an ecosystem. Now many BioBlitzes include nature-themed programs such as ID workshops, guided hikes, and family-friendly activities to teach and excite the public about biodiversity. A combination of scientific survey and environmental education make for a fun, enriching outdoor experience.

So, what makes the Wintergreen BioBlitz different? This year, instead of it being a race to identify as many living organisms as possible in a 24-hour period, we’re planning a “slow” BioBlitz, to be held over five days. The idea is to mirror and honour the Slow Food Movement, giving everyone a chance to form a deeper connection with the natural world. It will challenge us to be more mindful and take the time to enjoy all the area and atmosphere has to offer.

Has anyone ever told you to take a hike? Well now you can, guided by an experienced naturalist! Wintergreen has lined up an amazing cast of instructors and many exciting nature and arts workshops for this year’s BioBlitz. “What makes this BioBlitz unique is that it’s way more than just species identification,” says Kate Belmore, BioBlitz 2017 co-chair. “It’s all about learning what’s out there, creating a better understanding of why biodiversity is so important, and learning how the arts both honour and extend the beauty and complexities of the natural world.”

The BioBlitz will also be host to many exciting workshops this year. Join Jesse Stewart, composer, percussionist, artist, and educator, for an impromptu music jam and a multitude of interactive musical workshops, taking us behind the scenes of our natural soundscape. Stewart will also be creating land art installations made from natural materials, to be left on-site for all to admire and eventually returning back to the earth. Richard Aaron, professional naturalist from Toronto, will transport us into the wonderful world of wildlife – exploring birding for beginners; dragonflies and damselflies, our aerial acrobats and hunters; slime moulds, half animal, half plant; and a peek at some of our rarely seen nocturnal moth species. Matt Ellerbeck, aka The Salamander Man, will be back with his crew of slimy amphibians to educate participants on the conservation of salamanders. Marie Bencze, organic vegetable farmer and founder of Rad Kids, will be showing participants how to forage the land in search of wild edibles and teach us the importance of our endangered pollinators. Bronwyn Harkness, passionate naturalist and Masters student in biology at Queen’s University, will help us look and listen for some of the local birds and learn what they’re singing about.

“There are serious environmental challenges facing our world, and loss of biodiversity is one of them,” says Monica Capovilla, BioBlitz Program Director. “We marvel at iconic species in other parts of the world, yet many of us are much less familiar with the sheer magnitude of diversity of living things that share our common spaces and the habitats that support them.

BioBlitzes are designed to raise awareness about our  current status of biodiversity and to motivate people to consider environmentally respectful practices. Every small step matters and taking the time to educate the next generation of naturalists and scientists is how change can take place down the line.”

Come for an hour, for a day, or for the entire 5-day stretch! Join us for this free, family-friendly, outdoor and environmental education retreat. Come explore the stunning land, help identify species, meet other like-minded people, and learn something new from one of the many nature and arts workshops. Day or night, you can explore the grandiosity that makes up the natural world and discover many new things about our precious planet during this extraordinary event.
About Wintergreen Studios

Wintergreen Studios is a non-profit organization and year-round, off-grid arts and wilderness educational retreat centre, located in the heart of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, in South Frontenac, ON. It boasts a stunning and richly diverse 204-acre property featuring a network of over a dozen hiking trails through mixed forests and meadows, granite outcroppings, ponds, marshes, and even a glacier carved lake. It is home to a wide range of plant and wildlife, which makes it a perfect host for a BioBlitz.

Contact – Monica Capovilla 613-539-2842 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After many years of informed concern by conservationists, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has finally made it illegal to hunt snapping turtles.

Snapping turtles have been listed as species of Special Concern both Federally and by Ontario but that gave them no protection and OMNR continued to state a limit of two turtles in their list of game animals.

Mortality is critical to snapping turtles because their earliest  reproduction is delayed for up to 20 years. Even then only 7 out of 10,000 eggs survive to adulthood. These characteristics of their reproductive life history combine to mean that, on average, female snappers must live until they are at least 25 if the population is not to decrease.

Egg-laying females search for sandy, south-facing slopes to dig nests for their eggs. Our roads often cut through turtle habitat and females dig nests in the gravelly road shoulders. Many more snappers, both females and hatched young, are killed on roads than were ever killed by hunting.

Conservationists have a victory in their fight against snappers being on the game list but the bleak future of snapping turtle populations is in the hands of drivers.

Spring is for new ideas. Do you have idle land or extra acreage that could be enhanced? Planting trees is an excellent way to add value to your property and has never been easier. If you have 2.5 acres or more of open land, you may be eligible for the 50 Million Tree Program, and the trees are planted for you!

If you are considering a large-scale planting on your property, the 50 Million Tree Program can help by providing both funding support to cover a significant portion (up to 80%) of the total planting costs and technical assistance. A local planting partner will work with you to develop a site plan that suits your property’s unique needs; they will do the planting and conduct follow up assessments in subsequent years. The landowner can relax while the work is conducted by experienced professionals.

“One of the great things about the 50 Million Tree Program is that it’s full service. Landowners work with the Planting Delivery Agencies (PDA) to develop the plan and choose the species of trees being planted on the property,” explains Mark McDermid, a Field Advisor at Forests Ontario. “The PDAs - forestry professionals - are responsible for the purchase, delivery and planting of all trees in the program.”

The 50 Million Tree Program plants for landowners who want to make their property more aesthetically pleasing, for farmers who have an idle field or want a windbreak, and for golf course owners who want to add some shade. Every landowner has a different vision so the planting agents work with you to make sure that vision becomes a reality. The 50 Million Tree Program makes tree planting as easy as possible for landowners in Ontario. To book a site visit, contact Suzanne Perry, our Forestry Outreach Coordinator at 1-877-646-1193 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To learn more, visit www.forestsontario.ca.

Every year the Monarch butterflies that we see in Frontenac Ontario migrate 7000km to a mountaintop at 10000ft in Michoacán Mexico.  The Monarch’s gather here in grape-like bunches hanging from pine trees to hibernate for the winter. Millions of butterflies can be seen in their drab winter colors hanging in these clusters.  The Mexican government has designated this a protected area, no logging or hiking trails are roped off people are not allowed to make loud noises, and flash photography is not allowed.  Yet in the past 20 years, the numbers of butterflies arriving her has dropped by 90%.  

The problem is not in Mexico it is in Canada and the United States.  The Monarch’s lack of diversified feeding/breeding habits means that it needs the wild plant known as Milkweed. Milkweed habitation in Canada and the United States is being destroyed by housing construction, farming, and herbicides. We have reduced the number and size of the Monarch’s milkweed feeding grounds. If the Monarch’s cannot get to milkweed during their migrations and summer breeding times, they will not be able to feed or reproduce.  A 90% loss in population in twenty years indicates that Monarch extinction is in sight.

In Frontenac, the Monarch Butterflies are seen as part of our summer. Their distinctive black and gold wing patterns can be seen as they flutter around our gardens, farms, and forests, pollinating our plants and adding color to our landscape.

I recently joined the Monarch Butterfly migration when I traveled to the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in the state of Michoacan, Mexico where millions of Monarch’s from Canada and the northern United States, have been hibernating each winter for recorded history. Every year millions of these butterflies gather here safe from predators, waiting for spring.

Sebastian Jannelli, of Greenpeace, reported in July of 2015 that “Over the last two decades, Monarch Butterfly populations have declined by nearly 90 percent.”

We rode the last two kilometers on horseback the added climb of 500m as the mountain rose to a height of 3100m (2 Miles) above sea level.  From the car park, we had walked the first 20-minutes up the paved pathway to the entrance of the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary, and the horses. The personally imposed rest stops attested to the lack of oxygen in the air at this altitude, and how steep the walkway was.

This is technically in the Tropics, but at this elevation, a warm jacket and good shoes are required. It can snow up here. The thirty people had traveled by tour bus up the winding mountain roads through the villages of Angangueo and Ocampo, to the car park at 2400m in the small village of El Rosario, Michoacan, Mexico. The car park has Baños and tarp covered restaurants. The last bathrooms are at the end of the 20-minute walk to the entrance of the park where the horses were waited to carry us the rest of the way. There is also the option of hiking to the top. I took a horse.

This year (2017) was my first visit to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary. After the 20-minute horse ride up a winding trail with a 30-degree slope, we reached the end of the horse trail and the to start of the 10-minute hiking trail into the forest and the butterfly colony.

Monarch’s reach their hibernation ground at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary starting in November each year. The Monarch colony is roped off from the hiking trail and looks at first like large bunches of grapes hanging from the pine trees these are hibernation clusters, huddled together for warmth. On bright, warm days when the sunlight brings heat to their waiting bodies, large numbers take short, spectacular flights through the forest clearings. It appears to be flights of pure pleasure, but it is more likely to be for the practical reason of soaking up the sun's life-giving energy as they wait for the call of Spring and their flight north. It is one of the wonders of our world to see Monarch’s like this in their pale and drab faded hibernation colors. Yet we may be the last generation privileged to see it.

A butterfly has four distinct stages, these are; egg, larva, pupa and adult butterfly. For the mighty Monarch, this takes about a month from egg to adult. For the annual migration, it takes about four of these life cycles to reach the hibernation grounds. The adult Monarch will live up to six weeks during the migration seasons but will live the four/five months of the winter in a hibernation cluster huddled together for warmth ready to start the migration and breeding cycle in the spring.  

Monarchs feed and breed only on the milkweed plant. Monarch’s along with other pollinators are threatened by habitation loss and herbicides. Mexico has taken a stand with the creation of the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary. This sanctuary protects the Monarch Butterflies when they are in their vulnerable winter hibernation stage. But there is another problem. A problem caused by the Monarch itself and its lack of diversified feeding/breeding habits. Milkweed habitation in Canada and the United States is being destroyed by housing construction, farming, and herbicides. We have reduced the number and size of the Monarch milkweed feeding grounds. If the Monarch’s cannot get to milkweed during their migrations and summer breeding times, they will not be able to feed or reproduce the following generations, their very survival is at risk.

I was at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in early March on a chilly day with only occasional periods of warm sunlight breaking through the cloud. Even these short burst of warmth caused hundreds of butterflies to rise from their grape-like hibernation clusters and follow the sunbeams as they moved slowly across the forest clearings. They are getting ready to migrate north with the expectation the essential milkweed will be where it has always been.

Next season will see the opening of gift stores along the tourist route from the car park, with its food stands to the base of the trails, high on this mountain. The box-like store shells were under construction as we walked past. This has been a Mexican government-inspired project to help the local villagers glean every tourist peso possible during the three-month butterfly winter season.

But will visitors come if the Monarch Butterfly die-off continues? Will people come to see were the extinct Monarch Butterfly used to come for their winter hibernation?

“Late in March we usually get a spring snowfall.” Rosa, my guide at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary informed me. “As the snow melts, the Monarch’s will start to leave this unique mountain top and head north. Then over the following three-day period, they will all be gone.” She said with almost the sad/happy look of a mother seeing her young child off to school on their first school bus. “They will return next year.” She added with a note of uncertainty in her voice.

Then Rosa gave an another sad after fought “In past years the butterflies covered this mountain top, not just the relatively small area that you are looking at today.”

I asked. “Are we the last generation to see Monarch Butterflies in their millions?”

“What are we in the collective countries of North America going to do about it?”

Syrup producers who were ready or able to scramble their way into being ready, were able to make syrup several times over the last week, even though some of the nights never dipped below freezing. That has all stopped now as the temperature has dropped, but in a few days the sap should run again, and if the long term forecast is accurate it will get cold again after that and it will be time to wait again.

Some of the commercial operators, such as George and Darlene Conboy, have been boiling for over a week (see picture below) while others and many hobbiest have sat out the February run which caught everyone by surprise. Buckets should be going up over the next few days, however, as there is no telling when the season will end. This is the normal as it has been this way for several years’ now. Fortunately yields and quality have held up or improved, demonstrating that the trees may be better at adapting to change than humans are alter all.

The proper name for a Muskrat is Ondatra Zibethicus (Ondatra is the Iroquois name for Muskrat and Zibethicus is Latin for “musky-odoured”).  Muskrats, like the beaver, range over most of the North American continent, except for the Arctic tundra.   Muskrats look like very small beavers although they are not at all closely related.  They have a similar dark, glossy brown coat but are considerably smaller with the head, body and tail measuring a maximum length of 16” to 28” (40 – 70 cm) whereas a beaver could be as large as 43” (109 cm) or more.  A Muskrat may weigh a total of 1.5 kg whereas a beaver can weigh 27 kg. – big difference!  The tail is not beaver-like but is long and scaly, more like a rat’s tail but flatter.  It has webbed feet, small ears and eyes.  A musky odour is emitted from the male during breeding season thus warning other males of his presence and advertising to females that he is available.  Females also secrete musk.

The Muskrat is mainly nocturnal but I know from experience they can sometimes be spotted during the day.  Late one winter, several years ago, we noticed a group of Muskrats gathered around an opening in the ice.  We soon discovered they were diving for clams.  They seemed oblivious to us as we crept closer for photographs.  They dove into the water, then sat on the ice shucking the shells from the clams.  They may remain active in the cold winter months, so that even when the ice freezes over, they can take advantage of air trapped under the ice as they swim.  

Muskrats also gnaw holes through the ice and then push up mounds of vegetation to keep the open spots from freezing.  The ice is easily chipped by their extremely sharp front teeth which, like those of all rodents, keep growing as long as they live.Muskrats can remain submerged for at least 15 minutes when swimming and diving.  Whereas beaver lodges are made of sticks and mud, Muskrat lodges are much smaller and are made of grasses, cattails and reeds.  The advantage of this type of building material is that they can start eating the inside walls of the lodge when food becomes scarce!  They have also been known to inhabit abandoned beaver lodges.  

During winter, the inside of the Muskrat house is very warm, often having more than 10 occupants contributing to the toasty atmosphere.  In summer, they can sometimes be seen sunning themselves on their houses, or on logs.  In addition to constructing houses, Muskrats sometimes excavate dens in the banks of streams or lakes and build feeding platforms and shelters which provide protection from the cold while they eat.  

They are fiercely territorial and will fight if threatened.  Their small size is deceptive; under the soft fur, their heavily muscled jaw and sharp incisors, make formidable weapons that can be used against predators such as fishers, foxes and mink.  Other predators include raccoons, snapping turtles, otters and bobcats.  Hawks will attack them during the day, while owls may hunt them at night.The Muskrat’s versatile diet is an asset; although it feeds mainly on aquatic plants, it also eats snails, clams, crayfish, and frogs and may travel hundreds of feet from water to harvest land plants.

Although its lifespan is not very long at an average four years, it reproduces rapidly: several litters a year, each with up to 11 young.

It’s common knowledge that Muskrat fur has been used for coats, capes and other clothing items for many years but you may not know that the fur is also used to decorate Scottish sporrans which are the decorative pouches worn at the front of a bagpiper’s kilt. RCMP winter hats were traditionally made from Muskrat fur but they may now be made with synthetic fur.  The musk, like that of the musk deer, has been used in the manufacture of musk perfume although I am not sure if this has now been replaced by chemicals.

These animals are not only entertaining to watch (if you’re lucky enough to see them), but they also help to maintain open areas in marshes which helps to provide habitat for aquatic birds.

About 25 years or so ago, my wife and I took part in our first Christmas bird count.  We were assigned an area within the urban boundary of Ottawa, and when the big day dawned, clear and cold, we pulled on our warmest boots and headed out to find some birds.  Nowadays, we take part in 2 Christmas bird counts near where we currently live – the Westport and Sharbot Lakes Christmas Bird Counts.

Christmas bird counts go back to 1900, when American ornithologist Frank Chapman asked birders across North America to head out on Christmas Day to count the birds in their home towns and submit the results as the first "Christmas Bird Census." The Christmas Bird Count, as it is now called (and often shortened to “CBC”), is conducted in over 2000 localities across Canada, the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

These days Christmas Bird Counts are conducted on any one day between December 14 and January 5. They are carried out within a 24-km diameter circle that stays the same from year to year.  They are usually group events organized at the local level, usually by a birding club, naturalists’ organization or simply an enthusiastic group of volunteers.  Volunteers participate in one of two ways – field observers cover a portion of the count circle on their own or with a small group, counting all birds they find.  Feeder watchers count birds at their feeders for a portion of the day.

On the chosen day, teams have 24 hours to go out and identify and count every bird they see in their assigned sector of the circle.  At the end of the day, the numbers from all the sectors are compiled, and this information is submitted to Bird Studies Canada, the sponsoring organization in Canada.  This data has proven to be very valuable in helping scientists better understand important things like bird distribution and movements and population trends over time.

Our big day for the Westport CBC was Tuesday December 20th.  Maps, guidebooks and binoculars in hand, my wife and I walked and drove the highways and byways between Westport and Bolingbroke in search of birds.  The weather was good, starting off at about minus 10 degrees early in the morning, but reaching a very pleasant (for December) high of about zero in the afternoon, with no snow in the air but a good cover on the ground.  We had a productive day, tallying about 190 birds covering 17 different species.  Our highlight was a flock of about 110 Snow Buntings feeding on dry goldenrod seed heads poking up through the snow in a roadside field just north of Westport.  Our second most common bird was, unsurprisingly, Black-capped Chickadees with 28.  The most unusual results were a couple of American Robins near a beaver dam and an almost total lack of Blue Jays – we racked up a grand total of 1 Blue Jay on our travels.  Normally Blue Jays rank among the most numerous birds tallied in this area.  Wendy Briggs-Jude, the coordinator of the Westport CBC tabulated the results from all the counters, and reported that over 2800 birds of 36 species were counted.

The Sharbot Lake CBC was held in the past, but had stopped some time ago.  Last year the count was revived by coordinator Andrew Keaveney, making this year’s count, held on January 5, the second consecutive recent count for this circle.  The weather was a little colder on this day than for the Westport count, with a high of about minus 5 and light snow falling pretty much all day. My count partner and I started off the day by walking a very lightly-travelled road, stopping at prospective groves of cedars and pines to scan the trees and adjacent fields and to listen for birds. We then spent several hours driving most of the public roads within our assigned territory, scanning open water for waterfowl and stopping by birdfeeders to add to our totals of woodpeckers, chickadees and other feeder birds.  My wife was in charge of counting the birds at the birdfeeder at our house, which happily falls within our assigned area.  I ended my birding day with a walk around our house listening for owls to add our daily total, but it seems that our resident Barred Owls had taken the night off from calling.

Our tallies for Sharbot Lake were lower than for the Westport CBC, but still respectable.  We spotted 79 birds from 10 different species, with chickadees and Wild Turkeys coming in first and second, respectively.  25 years ago it would have been big news to see a Wild Turkey, but not anymore.  Wild Turkeys have moved into our area and decided that they quite like it here (who would argue with that?), breeding successfully in substantial numbers.  The final results for the full Sharbot Lake count area were 874 birds of 24 species.  Perhaps the highlight was a flock of over 200 Bohemian Waxwings feeding in ornamental fruit trees in the town of Sharbot Lake.

A third Christmas count in the Land o’ Lakes is the Frontenac CBC, consisting of a circle which is roughly centred on Frontenac Provincial Park and includes the towns of Sydenham and Verona.  Although only in its second season, this year’s December 17 count drew 25 participants who tallied 2,256 individual birds from 37 different species. An abundance of eagles (15 – including one Golden Eagle) were rewarding sightings for several field surveyors. Two Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, a species whose range has been slowly extending north, were observed at feeders in Sydenham and Verona.

All of the above CBCs are looking for more volunteers.  Anyone who is interested in birds and in spending a winter day looking for them either in the field or from the comfort of their own homes as feeder watchers are invited to join in on the fun.  Those interested in participating in the Sharbot Lake CBC can contact Andrew Keaveney at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out more info on how to take part. For more info on the Westport CBC, please contact Wendy Briggs-Jude at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and to join the Frontenac CBC please contact Carolyn Bonta and Michael Johnson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For me, participating in Christmas Bird Counts is a bit like a treasure hunt – it’s exciting to seek out new species to add to the daily tally or to come across a big group of interesting birds like the 110 Snow Buntings we spotted north of Westport.  I also get a good deal of satisfaction knowing that our effort and the data we collect is helping to paint a continent-wide picture of the status of our winter birds. For these reasons I hope to be able to keep doing Christmas Bird Counts for many years to come.

It’s four years since this column first appeared in the newspaper but, after receiving an inquiry from a reader, I thought it would be interesting to provide this information again.
 
A small white face pushes up through the snow, its small black eyes gleaming. The long slender body comes next. It is probably one of the three main species of weasels that inhabit our area. They are: the Short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea), the Long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) and the less common Least weasel (Mustela nivalis). These little fellows are very similar, except for their size, but the most striking thing they have in common is the fact that their fur coats change color twice a year; once the shorter days of autumn approach, the chocolate brown fur on their upper bodies changes to snow white over the course of just a few weeks. As the days grow shorter, less light enters the weasel’s body through its eyes, stimulating moult by means of its pituitary gland. Temperature also plays a role in this change. A second moult as the days grow longer, reverses the colour change. Mother Nature is amazing!

The winter-white version of the Long-tailed weasel has recently been spotted in our area. Perhaps there is a greater abundance of mice this year since we haven’t noticed them before (mice are their favorite meal – in fact they are probably the world’s most efficient mousers). You may spot a weasel investigating holes, logs or bushes in its quest for food. Every now and then it will lift its head, stand upright to check out the surroundings, then tear off again zigging and zagging at top speed to deter predators. The long thin body humps in the middle much like a caterpillar’s. Small birds, moles, voles, eggs, snakes, fish, worms, insects and even some young bats are also fair game. With such a varied diet, I doubt these aggressive carnivores would ever be on an endangered species list.
You’d think that hard-working chipmunks would spend the winter snug and cozy in their little tunnels. This is not always the case: if weasels can squeeze their heads into a burrow or hole, then they can enter and kill the residents. Rabbits, rats and squirrels larger than themselves are killed by weasels pouncing on their prey with clawed forelegs and then finishing the victim by biting the back of the neck.

The ferocious Short-tailed weasel (sometimes called Ermine in winter) is very quick and agile. It can weigh up to 3.7 oz. (105 g) and can be up to 13” (34 cm) in length (a third of which is its tail). With a slender, almost serpentine body, it can easily move through small burrows in nocturnal pursuits of rodents. It is also a good climber and chases squirrels and chipmunks into trees. The Ermine in North America ranges from the northern U.S. to above the Arctic Circle. This weasel survives by killing what it can, when it can, then storing surplus in a side tunnel of its den (usually dead mice). Ermine in northern countries, including Canada, were once trapped for their luxurious, snowy white fur though demand for these pelts is much lower now and hence fewer animals are trapped.

The Long-tailed weasel is similar to the Short-tail but larger and more powerful. It can weigh up to 9.4 oz. (267 g) and be up to 22” (55 cm) long including a tail up to 6” (15 cm) long.

The little Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis) also goes through the color change. It is the world’s smallest carnivore weighing between one and two oz. (up to 57 g) and hardly longer than 9.5” (25 cm) including its tail (not much bigger than the mice on which it preys). Its speed and ability to crawl into tight spaces helps it to avoid predators. Unlike the other two weasels, its tail does not have a black tip.

All weasels are lightning quick hunters but, if they feel trapped, as a last resort, they can emit an odor said to be as pungent as that of the striped skunk – the only difference (and consolation!) is that it cannot spray the musk as skunks do.

Weasel predators include coyotes, foxes, hawks, owls and sometimes humans. Farmers who raise chickens and rabbits probably do not want to have these aggressive carnivores around – for the rest of us though, they certainly reduce the rodent population.
 
Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This is a busy time of year for birds and animals. I recently observed some squirrel activity that was really unusual so I wanted to share the little story in case anyone else has observed the same thing.

During October we did get some much needed rain and towards the end of the month, fungi of all types were popping up all over. I didn’t realize that squirrels ate some of these fungi until we saw some strange behaviour. At my brother’s cottage, there is a covered deck on which stands a little tree about 3 feet high in a pot. On arriving at their cottage, my brother and his wife noticed the little tree was covered in what appeared to be large mushrooms. They immediately thought someone was playing a joke on them until they happened to notice a red squirrel running around with a mushroom in its mouth. Not only was the tree covered in mushrooms, but the latticework around the bottom of the cottage also had some mushrooms stuffed in some of the openings.

We’ve come to the conclusion that the squirrel was drying the mushrooms before stowing them away for winter treats. The mushrooms were not haphazardly placed but were left in the tree and the latticework with the roots sticking out, probably to speed up the drying process. I have a photo of one of the dried mushrooms and, of course, they dry up to a small fraction of the original size. I learn something new every day when in the woods!

Following are just a few examples of how some other amazing birds and animals manage to survive our harsh winters:

Black-capped Chickadees - These cheery little birds are much more noticeable now as they busily go about the task of hiding away hundreds of seeds, berries and insect bodies under bark and inside knotholes or tufts of pine needles and curled dried leaves. Evidence suggests that during the winter, they not only remember where they’ve hidden things, but which caches contain the best treats and they return to those first.

Shivering their muscles to produce heat, roosting chickadees burn off most of their precious body fat each winter night, and replenish it during the day. To keep from running out of fuel on really cold nights, however, they enter a state of regulated hypothermia by reducing their rate of shivering and allowing their body temperature to drop by 5 – 7 deg. C.

Beavers - While some animals such as bears hibernate, some others such as beavers, become more frisky and amorous. When cottage lakes freeze and the world seems to stop above the surface, it’s the time of beaver romance beneath the ice when pairs of buck-toothed mates swim out in almost total darkness to make love. They can stay under water for about 15 minutes and may repeat this love plunge several times. About 3-1/2 months after conception, two to four kits will be born.

Although they do store lots of tree branches and twigs in their lodges, beavers also stock up internally for winter with fat stored in their flat, scaly tails.

Short-tailed Shrews – This tiny, fearsome predator is Ontario’s most common mammal by far. It prowls about unseen, often in near-total darkness, paralyzing its victims with a venomous bite before dragging them off like zombies to be stored away. In this way, insects can be kept immobile for up to five days, ensuring a continuous supply of fresh food. This is the only Canadian mammal that produces venom. The bite can cause burning pain for a human, with swelling that can last a week.

Occasionally shrews can take down prey as big as snakes and even baby hares. The short-tailed shrew goes about this business under the cover of snow and leaf litter throughout the winter. Some may get caught in cottage mousetraps, but if you’ve never seen a shrew, it looks like an earless mouse with a pointy snout and thick, velvety grey fur. They have tiny pin-prick eyes that can see some light but are otherwise not really needed since the shrew usually moves about in tunnels. To navigate, it makes ultrasonic clicking sounds and listens for the sounds to bounce back along tunnel walls.  

Please send your observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Now that the heat of summer is finished and summer vacations for a lot of people are over, it’s a nice, quiet time to explore forests and fields.

The brown moths that evolved after the forest tent caterpillar invasion have gone into a dormant state or died off but I am concerned that they laid millions of eggs. Perhaps we will have a really cold winter that may destroy some of the eggs at least. I don’t really believe that but one can always hope!

After the dry, hot summer I was amazed recently to see an abundance of fungi of various types around our lake property. There had been an overnight rainfall so it was an ideal time to do some fungi exploring. There were clusters of little orange cups called, appropriately, Scarlet Cups. These are usually found growing on hardwood sticks and they’re fairly common. I also noticed Fairy Butter which is another orangey, jelly-like fungus looking much like folded petals. It is usually found on conifer logs and stumps.

I believe the fungus shown in the accompanying photo is called Lobster fungus. The Lobster fungi were quite numerous, sprinkled along the edge of a little laneway. These creations of nature come in mind-boggling shapes, sizes and colours but now that the leaves are falling, they will be difficult to find.

Recently I went for a hike in a conservation area on the edge of Lake Ontario. The area of old growth forest was teeming with birds of all types. The most dramatic sight was the dozens of raptors resting in high tree branches that lined the shore of Lake Ontario before making the arduous journey south over the lake. Blue jays and many other birds were gathering in large flocks preparing for their arduous journey south.

In other areas away from the lake, it was the delightful chickadees that captured our attention. I held my hand out and waited only a few seconds before the first chickadee landed on my hand to see what food I had to offer. The next time I visit I must remember to take a bag of bird seed as they were not especially fond of my popcorn.

We spied a family of wild turkeys, trying to be incognito, quietly eating under some low-hanging tree branches.

In a nearby field, I spotted some butterflies and, on closer inspection, saw that they were monarchs. It was exciting to see them as I haven’t seen more than one or two all summer long.

Throughout the walk, the stereophonic sound of crickets was almost deafening but wonderful to hear. A road under construction was only half a mile away but the crickets completely eliminated any road noise. Grasshoppers were jumping all over, with lots of squirrels and chipmunks gathering seeds and nuts for the long winter ahead. A large turtle was soaking up the sun before burrowing into the mud for the winter.

Trees are now dressed in their fall finery, with beautiful golds and reds sprinkled among the evergreens. The purple of wild asters and clusters of goldenrod added to the beautiful colour palette.

Take advantage of this time of the year and enjoy a nature walk!  

Please send your observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.