We recently had an inquiry from a reader in the Georgian Bay area, who while searching for information on Poisonous Hemlocks, found a column that was published in the News five years ago. He was extremely concerned because he had found plants on his waterfront property that appear to be Spotted Water Hemlocks.

Since these weeds can be very toxic, we are running the updated column again. To learn more about these dangerous weeds, there are some great websites you can check out including www.invadingspecies.com

There are two species of highly poisonous Hemlock weeds that grow throughout Ontario: Spotted Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) and Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). Both are members of the Carrot family, as is Wild Parsnip, and all look similar to Queen Anne’s Lace, at first glance. To add to the confusion, there is also the non-toxic Common Cow Parsnip and Common Water Parsnip, which look very similar to their very dangerous, poisonous relatives.

When this column was first written, I noticed a couple of plants near our dock that were very similar to Queen Anne’s Lace except that the overall flower cluster was not flat but instead was shaped like a convex group of little umbrellas (see photo). The leaves were long and narrow (about 3-10 cm). These plants may have been the Common Water Parsnip but I never did find out for sure. That fall, once we were well covered with long pants, jackets, gloves and boots, we removed the plants and burned them. They didn’t appear again, to our great relief.

Spotted Water Hemlock is considered to be our most toxic wild plant. It is native to most of North America from northern Canada to southern Mexico. Its tuberous white roots are often mistaken for parsnips. It’s shocking to think but, according to my research, a single root stock can kill a horse! Children have been poisoned by using pea shooters made from Water Hemlock stems. Though a few people have died from Water Hemlock poisoning, livestock have fared much worse. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and convulsions can begin quickly, within 30-60 minutes, followed by severe cramps. Both Spotted Water Hemlock and Water Parsnip have similar clusters of small white flowers shaped like little umbrellas and both like the same habitat near the shore line of lakes and rivers. Water Parsnip, however, is not poisonous but it so closely resembles the poisonous varieties that it’s not worth taking a chance.

Poison Hemlock (Conium Maculatum) is native to Europe and the Mediterranean region. This weed was spread into Ontario in the early 1980s in a seed lot of alfalfa. It’s often found on poorly drained soils, particularly near streams, ditches and other surface water. It also appears on roadsides, edges of cultivated fields and waste areas. This weed looks very similar to the other nasty members of the Carrot family. At first glance, the flowers also look like Queen Anne’s Lace, except the small, white flowers are clustered in little umbrella shapes rather than flat. It is a biennial plant that can grow up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall with long, hollow stems. The stems are smooth, green and usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half. The leaves appear to be lacy and fern-like. It produces a large number of seeds that allow the plant to form very thick stands, sometimes encroaching on cultivated fields, and to the extent that it stops the spread of any other type of vegetation inside its area of growth.

All Poison Hemlock parts are poisonous; however the seeds contain the greatest concentration of poison. Once the plant is dead, the poison is greatly reduced, although not gone completely. This plant contains a number of poisonous toxins, the worst of which is Coniine, a neurotoxin that has a chemical structure similar to nicotine. It disrupts the workings of the central nervous system and is toxic to humans and all classes of livestock. Coniine causes death by blocking the neuromuscular junction – this results in muscular paralysis with eventual paralysis of the respiratory muscles leading to death due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain. Death can be prevented by artificial ventilation until the effects have worn off some 48-72 hours later.

This is the poisonous plant that was used to poison condemned prisoners in ancient Greece. Socrates was the most famous victim to be killed in this way.

Poison Hemlocks were used medicinally in ancient times as a sedative to treat symptoms of arthritis and for its anti-spasmodic properties. The problem was – there was a fine line between the exact amount needed to treat the ailment and the amount that was toxic enough to kill the patient!

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.

Mink, weasels and martens are all members of the Mustelidae (Weasel family), which also includes otters, skunks, fishers, ferrets, wolverines and badgers. It can sometimes be difficult to make a definite identification with mink, weasels and martens, in particular, especially if you are a distance away and only get a quick glimpse. There are two main differences to look for – size and colouration.

Mink never live far from water - they are a fairly common sight at lakeside homes and cottages, running along the shoreline. In fact, these versatile animals are wide-ranging and can be found anywhere from Florida to the Arctic except in very dry areas. With semi-webbed feet and non-retractable claws, they are great swimmers and tree climbers. Their lustrous fur coat is a solid dark brown colour, although they may have a small pale area on the chin and scattered white spots on the underside.

Mink are fierce fighters that scream, hiss, spit and, like other members of the weasel family (including skunks), emit a pungent odour when provoked. They are larger than weasels, with a body length up to 71 cm long including the tail. With their amphibious lifestyle, mink can feed on a wide variety of prey including fish, crayfish, frogs, garter snakes, mice, moles, water birds and chipmunks. One U.S. study tallied 32 species of prey identified from mink scat and uneaten remains.

Few wild mink are trapped for their fur any more since commercial ranches supply most of the demand for pelts (as many as 100 are needed to make a full length coat).

Weasels, with their long slinky bodies, are smaller than mink but otherwise very similar. Of the three weasels native to Ontario, the Long-tailed Weasel is the largest (30 – 55 cm long including a 10 – 15 cm tail). During the summer months, most weasels have brown fur with white or light coloured fur on the chest and underside. They hunt birds, especially ground-nesters, and can cause considerable damage in a chicken coop. This must be the culprit that used to steal my mom’s hens and chicks.

Weasels can slither through the smallest openings and seem to have rubber bones! Like mink, weasels will eat almost anything that moves and can kill prey much larger than themselves. They do benefit humans, though, by killing rats and mice in fields and barns. Like its cousin, the Ermine, this weasel changes colour twice a year except in the southern portion of its range. Molting occurs over a period of four weeks, and during this gradual process you may see half-white, half-brown individuals. Molts are triggered by changes in the length of days but temperatures may also play a role.

Martens are a shy and very solitary member of the Weasel family and could be mistaken for mink since they are a similar size and colour, except that the Marten tail is bushy and almost black compared to the rest of the body, which is dark brown. They are mainly nocturnal but occasionally can be seen during the day chasing a squirrel. I had a quick glimpse of this elusive creature one day as my canoe glided silently near the shore and I was able to catch it by surprise. Among the Mustelids, martens are much more carnivorous than skunks and less so than weasels. They love to eat birds’ eggs (like many of their cousins), insects and, when in season, blueberries. In fact, they’ve been known to eat so many blueberries that their lips are noticeably blue!

Predators of these animals include coyotes, bobcats, large owls and human trappers. Since weasels are lightning quick, they must be difficult to catch unless slowed by old age or sickness.

We recently had an inquiry, along with beautiful photos, from one of our readers inquiring as to the identity of an animal that was either a mink or a weasel. An exact identification was difficult since the photos did not show a complete body and all of these animals are similar and love to be near water.

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.

At our property in North Frontenac, we have been inundated with Forest Tent Caterpillars the past few weeks. In more than 30 years, we have never seen so many caterpillars. Although tent caterpillars can have explosive growth in population every few years, the Forest Tent Caterpillar can be much more numerous. They can defoliate thousands of acres of trees but large outbreaks usually only last for a couple of years and the trees seem to survive by producing a secondary batch of leaves. Few birds prey on caterpillars but there are two species of cuckoos that feast on them. Unfortunately I am not sure whether the cuckoos inhabit areas this far north.

I had hoped the caterpillars would be finished by now but, unfortunately, the larval or caterpillar stage can last for up to 8 weeks! Most of the leaves they eat are not digestible and so are excreted in the form of tiny fecal pellets. Pretty gross when combined with the sticky pheromone liquid they expel so they can find their way back to their tent or silken mat.

Steve Blight wrote an excellent article on this subject a few years ago and it follows here to provide lots of factual information:

The Tent Caterpillars of the Land O’Lakes By: Steve Blight

I have strong childhood memories of gathering bluish hairy caterpillars and keeping them in jars until I became bored with that pursuit and my mother quietly released my captives. My attention span at the time wasn’t long enough to see what they would have become if I had looked after them longer.

It turns out they were forest tent caterpillars. If I had had more patience and watched them until they changed into adults, I would have been rewarded with a rather dull, medium-sized, reddish-brown moth. In retrospect, it wouldn’t have been much of a reward, so having plenty of other things to do with my precious summer probably saved me considerable disappointment.

We have two species of tent caterpillars in our area – the eastern tent caterpillar and the forest tent caterpillar. Both of these native insects hatch in early spring, feed intensively on leaves for several weeks, spin their woolly cocoons, and emerge as adult moths in mid-July to mate, lay eggs and die. Although few birds prey on tent caterpillars, the two species of cuckoos we have in our area are hairy caterpillar specialists, and are known to be more common in areas where tent caterpillars are plentiful. For more information on cuckoos, see the August 13, 2009 Outdoors in the Land O’Lakes column on these interesting birds.

Only the eastern tent caterpillar builds an actual tent. Generally found on plants in the rose family, it is most often seen on various types of cherries and apples. The newly hatched caterpillars initiate the construction of a silk tent soon after emerging. They generally live together at the tent site for the whole of their larval life, expanding the tent each day to accommodate their increasing size. The full-grown larva is 40-50 mm (about 2 inches) in length, hairy and brownish black with blue spots along the body and a white stripe running the length of the back.

Forest tent caterpillars do not build tents, but instead gather together on silken mats that they spin on leaves or the bark of a tree. The full-grown larva is also about 40-50 in length, hairy and brownish black but with blue and orange longitudinal stripes and a row of pale, key-hole shaped spots along the centre of its back. This species will travel some distance in search of food, and mass migrations during outbreaks are common.

Both species are subject to periodic outbreaks, when populations may rise to incredible numbers. This is particularly true for forest tent caterpillars, where outbreaks occur every decade or so in our area. I recall one year in the early 1990s at our cottage on Bobs Lake when by mid-June every leaf on every tree had been consumed. With sunlight streaming through the trees again, it felt more like late April than June. However, by early July the trees had valiantly put out a second crop of new, smaller leaves.

I was worried that many trees would not survive the attack, but the following year there didn’t seem to be any increase in tree mortality. Fortunately tree mortality is usually low during an outbreak unless it lasts for several years in a row or happens during a severe drought. In our case, there wasn’t a single tent caterpillar to be seen anywhere the year after the population explosion – problem solved.

Tent caterpillar outbreaks are natural occurrences and controlling them is rarely either necessary or advised as outbreaks usually collapse on their own. However, limited protection of landscape trees from forest tent caterpillars can sometimes be achieved by gathering up and physically destroying large numbers of caterpillars when they are clustered together on tree trunks. Eastern tent caterpillars on fruit trees can be managed by pruning out the entire branch and sealing it in a black plastic garbage bag left out in the sun.

Since the collapse of the big early 1990’s outbreak, there hasn’t been a year around Bobs Lake when forest tent caterpillars have been anywhere nearly as numerous. However, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is reporting that numbers are beginning to rise in several parts of eastern Ontario, including the Bancroft area and near Frontenac Provincial Park north of Kingston. Someone should let the cuckoos know!

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.

Ticks and Lyme disease have been in the news a lot recently. While there is currently much welcome discussion about effective testing and treatments, one thing that needs no debate is that black-legged ticks and Lyme disease are here in the Land O’Lakes. As our climate warms and winters become less severe (remember the balmy +17 degrees last Christmas Eve?), the black-legged tick has been gradually moving north from its principal range in the United States and has brought Lyme disease with it. Both are now permanent residents in our area.

Ticks are arachnids, members of the same family as spiders, mites and scorpions. Adult black-legged ticks (also known as deer ticks) are dark, about the size and shape of a sesame seed, and have eight legs – a feature that helps to quickly distinguish them from six-legged insects. Deer ticks have a complex two-year life cycle during which time they pass through three stages: larva, nymph, and adult. The tick must take a blood meal at each stage before maturing to the next. Adult tick females latch onto a host and drink its blood for four to five days. In late spring the female lays several hundred to a few thousand eggs on the ground in clusters. In our area, the adult ticks are more numerous in early to mid-spring and then again in mid-fall. Immature ticks, known as nymphs, are much smaller than adults (about the size of a poppy seed) and actively search for a blood meal in May through July.

About six or seven years ago, we had our first experience with ticks when we found a funny little bump on our dog’s neck. It was October, and she had spent the previous weekend chasing chipmunks at our cottage on Bobs Lake. By mid-week the “bump” had become the size of a small dried bean. We looked at it closely and realized that it was no ordinary bump – it was a partially engorged tick. I found some tweezers and pulled it off, being careful to grasp the tick right by the dog’s skin to ensure I didn’t leave the tick’s mouthparts attached to the dog. Legs wiggling in protest, I disposed of the tick in such a way that that this particular individual was not going to bother anyone ever again. Period.

Later that same fall, I found a tick on my neck after spending a few hours in the bush, and since then every spring and fall my wife and I find a few of the little beggars crawling around on either our clothes or on our skin. We used to find 3 or 4 ticks on our dog every week, but since we began treating her with a vet-prescribed anti-tick medication we rarely see any on her.

If being bitten was the only nasty thing about this critter, it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, there are gazillions of biting flies in this area. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, deer ticks are the principal way that Lyme disease is transmitted to people. Known as a “vector” in the bug business, ticks often have the species of bacteria that causes Lyme disease living in their gut. They pass on the bacteria to mice and deer that they normally feed on, giving other ticks the opportunity to become infected when they feed on the infected mammal. And so on. All three stages of ticks can pass on Lyme disease, but according to one reputable source, the nymph stage is responsible for the majority of human cases of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where a number of cases were identified in 1975. Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression and a characteristic circular red skin rash, described by some as looking like a bull’s eye or a target. Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. The good news about Lyme disease is that the probability is extremely low that a tick passes on the bacteria to a person if the tick is found and removed within the first 24 hours of attachment to a person. The other good news is that in the large majority of cases the infection and its symptoms are eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early. Unfortunately there is currently no vaccine available for Lyme disease, but there is much scientific work going on right now aimed at developing an effective one.

Not surprisingly, the Internet is jam-packed with information to help people deal with ticks and Lyme disease. The best advice I have found is summarized below, and begins with prevention.

• Wear light coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants when working in the woods or brushy areas. The light colour makes the ticks more visible and thus easier to find and remove.

• Some people find it practical to have a separate set of outdoor clothing that they change into and out of outside the main living area of the house (e.g. a garage, porch or shed).

• “Death by dryer” works too. Putting your clothes in the dryer on high for five minutes will kill the ticks.

• Tuck pants into socks. I know it looks goofy, but it prevents the ticks from getting under pant legs. Some people wear rubber boots, but they can get hot in the summer.

• Use insect repellent on sleeves, cuffs and socks. Repellents containing DEET are known to be effective.

• Shower after spending time outside and get into the habit of conducting full-body checks, using mirrors and if you so desire, the help of a willing partner. Remember, removing ticks before 24 hours is key.

• Use tweezers or one of the specially-designed tick removers available at many public health units to carefully pull off any embedded ticks, being careful to grasp the tick very close to the skin and pull it out, mouth parts and all. Wash the site thoroughly and treat it with alcohol.

• If you do remove an embedded tick from your skin, watch the site carefully for any signs of an expanding red rash. A small, itchy reddish bump (like a long-lasting mosquito bite) at the site is normal, but a large spreading rash is not.

• If you have any doubts at all, contact your local public health authority or consult with your medical care provider. The tick I removed from my neck was sent to be tested for Lyme disease, and fortunately it came back negative.

For people who are interested in reading more, the best reference website I have found is available at this link http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/. There is plenty of good information available on Canadian websites (e.g. Health Canada, Government of Ontario) but the information on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website seems the most comprehensive and authoritative.

Ticks are here for good, so the best defense is a good offence. By learning to recognize them, taking a few steps to avoid them, and knowing what to do when you find one, we can minimize the risks. For my part, I’m determined not to let ticks spoil my time in the woods!

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.

Although spring has been more winter-like than spring, fiddleheads will be popping up any day now. Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled fronds of a new fern. The name comes from their resemblance to the curled end of a musical instrument such as a violin or fiddle. The fiddleheads of the Ostrich fern are highly prized and are the only ones that should be eaten. Fiddleheads of other ferns should be avoided because some, such as the Bracken fern, have carcinogens. You will find fiddleheads growing wild in forests (especially in damp areas) and along rivers.

The flavour resembles fresh asparagus or mild broccoli. Be careful when picking these ferns (or any wild plant) because you need to leave lots of plant shoots so they can regenerate. Most people enjoy them steamed or boiled then sautéed in butter and garlic or tossed with vinegar. You may need to boil them in two changes of water if they have a bitter taste. You can substitute fiddleheads for other greens in all kinds of recipes. I was surprised to learn that these young plants are a source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids and are high in iron and fibre. The fiddlehead season is very short and they grow fast so you have only a short time in which to harvest them. Fiddleheads are only one of the many wild treats coming this spring if you know what to look for. For recipes you can check out farmersalmanac.com or just look on the internet.

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.

It’s wonderful to hear the songbirds these past few weeks as they’ve arrived back from their winter retreats, although I have felt sorry for them with the colder than normal spring. Worms started to pop through the ground recently, only to dive back in again as the freezing temperatures returned. Trees that were covered in frozen fruit from last year were soon stripped of their berries – apple trees, mountain ash, junipers, etc. by hungry birds.

Remember to keep feed in your bird feeders. When they arrive back here from their southern climes, the birds are ravenously hungry and anxious to find a mate and prepare their nests. All this activity requires a lot of energy and food. Once the little hatchlings arrive, the parents need all the food they can get. Some good foods for spring and summer are:

• Black oil, nutrition rich sunflower seeds (great for most birds)

• Nyjer (thistle) seed for the finches and nuthatches

• Meal worms – great for adult songbirds trying to feed their youngsters

• Leftover pieces of fruit such as oranges, apples and chunks of bananas will attract orioles and tanagers (you’d have to take any leftovers in at night though as raccoons and other night creatures would be attracted. I know from experience that raccoons really like banana peels. I have a photograph of them diving into our compost bin and coming up with mouthfuls of banana peels.)

• Nectar – the hummingbirds will begin arriving around the first of May so remember to put your nectar feeders out. The hummers will be very hungry until the first of the flowers begin blooming.

• Suet – apparently most suet cakes are now made to withstand melting in the summer heat and can be used year round. I notice these are available at Canadian Tire and probably other places. Again, I would use these with caution as you may attract raccoons and/or bears.

• Calcium Carbonate – egg shells can be washed and sterilized after using the eggs. Just wash and sterilize the shells using a low heat oven, then crush and add them to your feeder. Birds love them and it’s good to supplement the feed with egg shells in the early spring when most bird species are nesting and laying eggs. For the first time I’ve just added some shells to my feeders and the pieces seem to disappear.

A major benefit of having more birds around your property is the fact that you’ll have fewer bugs – especially the biting kind!

Also remember the butterflies, especially monarchs, and the bees. Plant lots of butterfly and bee-attracting plants. Try to leave wild milkweed to flourish so the monarchs will have plants on which to lay their eggs this summer. Of course most flowering plants will also attract hummingbirds and honey bees.

Although spring has been more winter-like than spring, fiddleheads will be popping up any day now. Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled fronds of a new fern. The name comes from their resemblance to the curled end of a musical instrument such as a violin or fiddle. The fiddleheads of the Ostrich fern are highly prized and are the only ones that should be eaten. Fiddleheads of other ferns should be avoided because some, such as the Bracken fern, have carcinogens. You will find fiddleheads growing wild in forests (especially in damp areas) and along rivers.

The flavour resembles fresh asparagus or mild broccoli. Be careful when picking these ferns (or any wild plant) because you need to leave lots of plant shoots so they can regenerate. Most people enjoy them steamed or boiled then sautéed in butter and garlic or tossed with vinegar. You may need to boil them in two changes of water if they have a bitter taste. You can substitute fiddleheads for other greens in all kinds of recipes. I was surprised to learn that these young plants are a source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids and are high in iron and fibre. The fiddlehead season is very short and they grow fast so you have only a short time in which to harvest them. Fiddleheads are only one of the many wild treats coming this spring if you know what to look for. For recipes you can check out farmersalmanac.com or just look on the internet.

Note: A word of caution when eating anything you find growing wild as some types of plants could be poisonous. Always get an opinion from an expert. Better to be safe than sorry.

I noticed my rhubarb had started to grow some time ago but, it too, has been waiting for milder weather as have most perennial plants and bulbs. Even with just one or two warmer days, plants are sprouting up trying to make up for lost time (but so are the weeds)!   

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.

The Mourning Dove is easily recognizable with its long, plump, medium-sized body and undersized head. They are an interesting and intelligent bird and are sometimes called Turtle Doves. The body is a grayish light brown colour with a very pale, rosy breast and black spots on its folded wings. The brown colouring on the feathers makes a perfect camouflage, especially on bare ground.

A couple of dozen birds huddled together near our home during most evenings this past winter. Their favourite spot at night was some bare ground under our lilac bush, which was not too far from the bird feeder and where they were protected from strong winds and some predators by the board fence. It wasn’t until I used binoculars that I could identify the brown lumps as birds.

Although the Mourning Dove does have a mournful call, it is much more prevalent once another breeding season starts and the birds stake out a territory to attract a mate and raise their young. Doves are very fast flyers, using powerful wing beats with their long, pointed tail stretching out behind them. The wings make a whistling noise as they take off. They are usually found on hydro wires or in fields or patches of bare ground where they love to forage for seeds and insects. The method of scratching and looking for seeds reminds me of free-range chickens on a farm. About the only place you won’t find Mourning Doves is in thick forest.

The nest is a flimsy structure – little more than a haphazard pile of twigs perched precariously on a branch – usually in an evergreen tree close to the trunk. The base of the nest is so loosely built that the eggs are often visible from below. Sometimes the eggs fall to the ground because there is so little nest to support them. Usually two white eggs are laid, with incubation being about 15 days. Strangely enough, the male usually sits on the nest during the day and then the female takes over for the night shift. Fledglings leave the nest about 15 days after hatching. Two broods are usually raised each year.

If the young birds survive long enough in their flimsy home, they get a special treat, unlike other birds. Doves and pigeons produce a unique food called pigeon milk, rich in fat and protein. It is not really milk at all but it is produced by glands in the crop of the parent bird. It would be almost impossible for the adult bird to try to pour this liquid into the mouth of a hungry baby; however the dove has a better way.

The parent opens its mouth wide which, allows the baby bird to stick its head deep inside to feast on the thick, nutritious, regurgitated food. The chicks obviously thrive on this unusual diet as the Mourning Dove is one of the most numerous and widespread birds in North America.

Doves and pigeons also drink differently than other birds. Most birds dip their bill into the water, taking in a mouthful at a time and then tipping the head back to let the water flow down the throat. There is a better way though – doves and pigeons submerge their bill and take in the water in a continuous draft. One or two long drinks are usually enough and then they can fly away. This ability to drink quickly is advantageous especially when predators such as cats or hawks are lurking around.

While a lot of these birds migrate south to areas like southern Mexico and Central America, near Lake Ontario our doves remain year-round, relying on bird feeders and grain from nearby fields. They seem to like roosting together on sheltered, bare ground during miserable weather. It’s amazing that their numbers remain high, as some 70 million are shot annually, mostly in the U.S. There can’t be much meat on them but it makes me think of the nursery rhyme about four and twenty black birds baked in a pie!

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.

An early and familiar sign of spring in the Land O’Lakes is the spectacular breeding display of the male American Woodcock. Once this pint-size shorebird arrives on its territory in late March or early April, it begins its territorial displays with a series of “peent” calls given from a clearing on the ground, followed by an upwardly spiraling flight display. As it whirs upwards, the bird’s wings whistle loudly as it performs its “sky dance” before it plummets back to the ground accompanied by a series of liquid chirping calls to resume its “peents”.

I heard and saw my first woodcock of the year on March 16, a bit earlier than most years. I was out for a walk and about 20 minutes after sunset a woodcock repeatedly went through its aerial display overhead and on the ground nearby. After one of its aerial displays, it dropped to the ground about 10 meters in front of me, and I was quite surprised how loud its “peents” were.

The American Woodcock is the only shorebird (or sand-piper like birds) that makes its home, both winter and summer, in the forest. In the summer, it breeds in young moist deciduous forests with suitable clearings. The female lays about 4 eggs on average in a simple depression in the ground, and is reported to sit so quietly that she can be touched. In winter, woodcock seek similar young moist forests in the southeastern US. Highest densities of woodcock in winter are apparently found in northern Alabama. The southern migration of these birds from our area is well underway by mid-October, with the bulk having departed for their winter homes by mid-November.
The woodcock is a plump 10-12 inch (25-30 centimeter) bird with almost no neck and slender legs. A woodcock’s large eyes are located far back on its head so that it can see predators while it’s feeding. Ear holes slightly in front of the eyes help locate earthworms, which make up about 80 percent of its diet. Their long, slender bills with their flexible tips are perfectly suited for probing in moist forest soils for worms, insects and other invertebrates.

This species has several other interesting colloquial names, including timberdoodle, Labrador twister, night partridge and my personal favourite, bog sucker. The male and female woodcock are identically coloured in mottled earth tones which closely match the colours of the forest floor. It is a “crepuscular” species – in other words, it is most active around dawn and dusk and very secretive and inconspicuous at other times during the day.

Numbers of woodcock are believed to have increased in Ontario during the 19th century as settlers cleared the forests, providing the openings and younger forests preferred by the species. In addition, earthworms were introduced from Europe during this period. Earthworms native to Ontario were eliminated during the last ice age.

Woodcock populations are believe to have declined in Ontario since the 1960s, although the evidence seems to suggest that this decline may have slowed beginning in the mid-1990s. The main reason for the decline in Ontario is that many young forests with openings are maturing and the openings closing in, and in other areas, young forests are being cleared for housing and agriculture. However, despite these declines, it continues to be a common breeding bird in southern Ontario.

Now that spring has arrived, listen for the tell-tale “peent” and aerial twittering which lets you know that the American Woodcock is back to claim its woodland territory for another year.

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.

Almost anyone can identify a Cardinal. This medium-sized red songbird is characterized by a unique crest they can move at will, a black mask on the face and a short, cone-shaped bill. Although known for their vivid red colour, only males have the super red feathers. The female is very pretty, though not as striking as the male. She has grayish shades through her body and duller warm red wings and tail, with a sharp crest just like her mate.

Once primarily a southern bird, the Cardinal has steadily extended its range northward since the early 20th century. For many years, they’ve been regular inhabitants of southern Ontario as well as the Atlantic provinces. Since Cardinals do not migrate, we are lucky to have this beautiful creature year-round. I am lucky to have a resident pair that visits my feeder daily to munch on their favourite black-oiled sunflower seeds.

Cardinals not only mate for life, they remain together throughout the year. Their lifespan is about 16 years. As long as the leaves are off the trees, it’s pretty easy to spot them. Even in the evergreens, their colours are so brilliant, they show up like Christmas ornaments.

As spring gets closer, the Cardinals become more vocal. Both male and female have a wide range of musical notes and sometimes sit side by side at the top of a tall tree singing their hearts out. It is rare to see a Cardinal without seeing its mate. In fact, I’ve noticed that if the female is at the feeder, the male is usually in a nearby tree keeping a close eye out for predators or intruders. He is very skittish so any photographs I’ve taken have been through the kitchen windows.

Once late winter or early spring arrives, a nest site is chosen. The female weaves a deep cup of bark strips, rootlets and grass, and lines it with fine grasses or hair. The male feeds her during the two weeks that the 3 or 4 eggs are incubated. The fledglings may be fed by both parents – grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, caterpillars and other insects. So strong is the male’s instinct to feed young birds that he sometimes stuffs food down the throats of nestlings of other species! The youngsters are dull and brown with black beaks until fall when they molt and, in their first winter plumage, they look like their parents.

There are a wide variety of predators including hawks, owls, shrikes and falcons. Predators of chicks and eggs include milk snakes, blue jays, eastern gray squirrel, eastern chipmunk and domestic cats.

A male Cardinal will fiercely defend his territory. Rivals are warded off with angry cries. If an intruder persists, the Cardinal darts out to attack. If he sees his reflection in a mirror or window, he will keep pecking away relentlessly at the supposed intruder! Earlier in the winter, I noticed a Cardinal without tail feathers and I now suspect that he was probably attacked by the male that is always in this area.

The Cardinal does not molt so they are colourful year-round. Thanks to its expansion northward, more and more people find the drab winter days brightened by the fiery beauty and vibrant song of the Northern Cardinal.  

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.

Perhaps it was the mild weather and open water but at least a couple of small flocks of swans were spotted in the Land O’ Lakes area recently.

Helen Hoogsteen of Big Clear Lake, near Arden, reported that she saw two adult swans and three grayish smaller ones on their lake shortly before Christmas. Around that same time, Steve Blight reported that he saw four to five Tundra swans on McGowan Lake, which is adjacent to Hwy. 7 between Sharbot Lake and Perth. Probably Helen’s swans were Tundras, as well, since they are North America’s most numerous and wide ranging swan. Lately, almost every year, there seem to be sightings of swans in the waters adjacent to this section of Hwy. 7. Silver Lake is another area the swans like to visit.

Though there are seven species of swans worldwide, we have only two native species in North America: the Tundra Swan (sometimes called the Whistling Swan) and the Trumpeter. There is a third type that originated in Eurasia and that is the Mute Swan, which is mostly prevalent along the east coast but has also taken up residence along the shores of the Great Lakes.

If you are lucky enough to see these birds and have a good pair of binoculars, there are a few things that differentiate them aside from the fact that all the adults have white plumage. You may sometimes also see swans with rusty stained heads and necks – this is because their long necks are often probing for food in lake-bottom, iron-rich mud. The best way to tell the swans apart is by their calls, which I’ll describe in the following paragraphs.

It is amazing that cold water seems to have no effect on swans. Perhaps it is partly because their feet have what is called a ‘counter current’ system of blood exchange so that the cold is absorbed by the warm blood in the capillaries of their feet, keeping the cold blood from entering the core body (some other waterfowl have this same system).

The largest of the swans is the Trumpeter, which can weigh as much as 30 lb. (some males have been known to weigh as much as 35 lb.) This beautiful big bird is the largest waterfowl in North America. It has a long, straight neck with black facial skin around the eye blending in with the large black bill – appearing almost mask-like. Its nasal, far-reaching call is “oh OH” similar to a French horn, from which it gets its name. The long windpipe of Trumpeters probably helps to produce this deep, resonating sound. As their great wings drive the Trumpeters to higher altitudes, they retract their large feet under the tail.

Tundra swans are the most plentiful and the smallest of our two native species at an average size of about 15 lb. The neck is a bit shorter and not as straight as that of the Trumpeter and its large black bill usually has a small yellow patch on it. When silent, the best way to tell them apart from the Trumpeter is that the eye is not surrounded by black facial skin. Their call is a kind of “whouu-hoouu” mixed with yelping and barking sounds, especially when the young join in!

It’s really exciting to see our native birds visiting some nearby lakes as it’s not long ago that they were almost extinct. When Europeans settled in the North American wilderness, the swans paid dearly, as their beauty and size made them tempting targets. Between the 1850s and 1870s, the Hudson’s Bay Company handled some 17,000 swan skins, many of them from Trumpeters. You’d wonder what the skins and quills would be used for but following are a few uses. Quills were used for pens beginning in the early 1700’s. Trumpeter quills were much preferred as they were very hard, yet elastic, and could be used for drawing fine detail. By the 1830s, well over a million quills annually were taken from both swans and geese. Since only 10 quills were taken from each bird, more than 100,000 birds would be sacrificed in only one year.

The chamois-like skins were used in many ways: powder puffs for women, coat linings, vests, ceremonial robes, ornaments, boas, wallets, caps, jackets, pillows and mattresses to name a few. The beautiful feathers were prized by natives but mostly used for adornment in the European market. In Europe, a swan was the principal food at banquets available usually to the upper crust segment of society. In medieval times in England, ownership of a swan was a mark of social standing.

It’s easy to see that the North American swans didn’t stand a chance of survival without help!

Tundra swans fared much better than the Trumpeters though, as the Tundras tended to nest in the near Arctic and were, therefore, not as accessible. Also the fact that Tundras tend to fly higher than Trumpeters certainly helped in their survival. When fall arrives in the far north, Tundras begin flying south in wedge formation with a strong old cob leading the way. Cygnets (young) are placed between the veteran flyers and are sucked along by the air turbulence stirred up by the stronger birds ahead. Wings beating slowly and regularly, the Tundras climb until they are nearly invisible from the ground. When storms or mountains force them higher, ice crystals swirl from their wing tips. Many years ago, it was a Tundra swan flying at 6000 feet that struck and crippled the tail of an airplane, causing it to crash.

By the late 1800s, Trumpeters, in particular, were almost extinct until conservancy acts and measures came into being both in the U.S. and in Canada. Originally native to Ontario, the Trumpeter Swan is getting help in its comeback here due to provincial re-introduction programs that were started in the early 1980s to re-establish the Trumpeter in its former habitat and range. Conservation groups in Ontario are all part of the folks helping the Ontario Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group which was started, and is led, by Biologist Harry Lumsden. The Restoration Group works with the Trumpeter Swan Society, both of which are helping to bring these great birds back with numbers now measuring in the thousands in North America. (Note: I have a list of Trumpeter refuges in Ontario that you can visit. If you are interested, please email me).

Swans have been admired and loved so much by cultures around the world that they have been featured in stories and legends for thousands of years, including the ancient Greek myth of the silent swan of Greece singing a most beautiful song at its death (swan song!) There are even North American legends about swans. It seems as though the birds themselves are heralding a major conservation victory with their deep, reverberating calls (we’re back with a lot of help from our friends!)

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.