For many people who use our lakes and rivers, seeing a Bald Eagle can be the thrill of a lifetime. However, too much disturbance to nesting eagles can have a negative impact on nest success. Recently a reader reported a situation where he observed a boater approach to within 15 feet of a tree with nesting Bald Eagles on Sharbot Lake and the birds seemed to show signs of distress. While most people know that it is illegal to destroy or take an eagle’s nest, young or the eggs, people may not know that approaching too close to a nest can cause the birds stress. The last thing any Bald Eagle lover would want is to unintentionally cause a nest to fail or to produce fewer young. Fortunately, there are precautions that people can do to limit the amount of stress they cause to nesting eagles (and other raptors as well, including Osprey). The United States Fish and Wildlife Service recommends to avoid disturbing nesting birds, active nest sites not be approached any closer than a distance of 330 feet, or about 100 meters. Binoculars are a great way to have a close look at nesting birds without disturbing them. Disturbance is defined as any activity that changes an eagle’s behavior. For example, if an eagle stops preening to study you then you have disturbed the eagle and you are too close.

Bald Eagles are being seen more frequently on our lakes and rivers, and I think we all want to do our part to make sure their nesting efforts are successful, because nesting success means more Bald Eagles for us all to appreciate…from a distance!

Following are some of my families’ personal experiences with wildlife in the city and at the cottage. I hope you find them interesting and a little bit humorous.

The first story is about a little pond that is in the fenced city backyard belonging to my daughter and her husband. The pond is tiny by any standards – perhaps about six or seven feet long by about four feet in width. The actual water in the pond is about 2 feet by 3 feet and perhaps a couple of feet deep. It is hard to believe but a pair of mallard ducks visit the pond each morning and evening to float in the pond, perhaps eat some algae and other plant life, and get some of the leftovers at the bird feeder. They seem to be partial to ground corn. The only time they don’t visit is when they build their nest and sit on the eggs; otherwise they’ve been coming for a couple of years. It’s wonderful that, even in a city subdivision environment, birds such as these come to visit. I guess the ducks like it because it is very quiet and safe. Rabbits and many other birds visit regularly but it’s the ducks that amaze me.

My brother and his wife purchased a cute little cottage with clapboard siding about 30 years ago and they really enjoyed their little lakeside waterfront. The air was wonderfully fresh and it was nice to go to bed at night breathing the fresh air and enjoying the silence. After a while though, they noticed a really bad smell and could hear rustling sounds outside the cottage most nights. After some investigation, they found that families of little brown bats had taken up residence in their shutters. The shutters on the building faced south and bats really love lots of heat. The pungent smell was from bat droppings. They tried to discourage the bats by blocking the sides of the shutters but it didn’t work – somehow the bats still got in. Eventually, the strong smell continued and the shutters had to be removed but we felt bad that the bats had lost their home as they do eat tons of bugs. I purchased a bat house that year for my brother’s birthday and my husband and I also purchased one. Even though the bat houses were installed facing south, just a few feet above the water, there is no evidence that we were ever able to entice the bat families to the bat houses. Of course the bat populations have dropped considerably in recent years and they are probably quite choosy about where they want to roost for the night and to raise their families.

The next story is not very nice – in fact it is a bit gross! One winter, quite a few years ago, we visited my brother’s cottage. It is not heated in the winter but doesn’t seem to take long to heat up enough so that you don’t stick to the frozen chairs when you sit down. While waiting for the woodstove to warm the place, I decided to check out the pantry. There had been signs that mice had been in the building, much to our dismay, and I wanted to be sure that all was okay in the cupboard. At the very least, mice can do so much damage and their droppings are a real health hazard.

When I opened the pantry door, I stepped back in shock. My brother and his wife had a very large glass jar, filled with cooking oil, on a shelf at just about eye level. The lid was plastic. The shocking sight was a bunch of faces peering out of the jar, perfectly preserved and their eyes open. There were about 13 mice in the jar according to my brother (I didn’t stick around but ran screaming out of the building!) The mice had completely chewed the entire lid and, one by one, hopped into the jar where they drowned unable to climb up the slippery sides of the jar because of the oil it contained. It is one of the grossest sights I have ever seen. At any time, mice give me the creeps but this was off the scale for me – I would far sooner encounter a bear (which we’ve done several times with no problems)!

After this latest episode, my brother decided enough was enough! He decided to scrutinize every nook and cranny on the building. Luckily, it is a basic cottage that sits on piers well above the ground. He caulked every possible place around the perimeter wherever the walls and floors joined. Still, mice continued to get into the building but he finally discovered the point of entry, a tiny spot at the corner of the main door where it meets the threshold. After plugging that with wood, they’ve had many years of cottage living without being invaded (unless you count mosquitoes).

Note: If you are gardening or just out for a walk, please be on the lookout for baby turtles. Amazingly, my neighbours at the lake have discovered two baby snapping turtles that apparently survived this cold winter in their nests. The snappers are the turtles with long tails. If you find one, please take it near the water’s edge where it may have a chance of survival.

My morning routine had become familiar. I got up, changed the water for the dog, and went down into the basement to check the live mouse traps. Sure enough, the little trap door on one of the black plastic boxes was closed, meaning that I had caught another mouse. Sighing and picking up the mouse trap, I went out to the garage where I unceremoniously plopped the lively but no doubt unhappy mouse into an empty 5 gallon pail – the mouse’s temporary holding pen until I was ready to make my all-too-frequent trip to deliver yet another mouse to an uninhabited place.

Deer Mice and their look-alike cousins, White-footed Mice, are extremely common and may be the most common mammal in Ontario. Based on my recent records, they are the most common mammalian visitor to our house. The range of Deer Mice is the entire province of Ontario, whereas the White-footed Mouse is only found south of Algonquin Park.

Deer Mice are highly adaptable little creatures, able to thrive in a wide variety of habitats – forests, grasslands, brushy areas – and buildings. They are omnivorous opportunists that eat seeds, fruits, insects, birds’ eggs, and a variety of other tasty items depending on what is available. They often forage on the ground, but regularly climb trees and shrubs to find food. They den in many different situations – in hollow tree branches, in wood piles or hollow logs, or on the ground in grassy nests. My evidence suggests they have a real fondness for pink fiberglass insulation as nesting material.

These little rodents can be extremely productive. The female is ready to breed at the ripe old age of 35 days, and on average will give birth to 4-5 young per litter. Mice breed in all four seasons and can have multiple litters per year. Were it not for the fact that so many other creatures prey on them, the world would soon be knee deep in mice. For example, the tiny skulls of deer mice are often found in the regurgitated pellets of owls, a testament to their importance in the food web. Foxes, coyotes, other birds of prey, snakes and members of the weasel family are all major predators of mice.

In the fall of 2013, there was a bumper crop of Sugar Maple seeds in our area. People noticed the number of mice seemed to be much higher during the fall-winter of 2013-14. This makes sense, as populations of wildlife often increase or decrease based on food supplies. And as the populations of mice rise and fall, so do the numbers of predators that take advantage of the population swings in prey.

Unlike some folks, I find deer mice quite cute. Their big black eyes, dainty nose and long whiskers remind me of pet hamsters I had as a child, and I have trouble disliking them. However, I don’t want them in my house, and I have spent hours combing the outside of the house looking for tiny gaps (as small as less than ½ inch wide) where they can get in. After what seems like having stuffed bushels of steel wool into cracks and gaps, the flow of mice into the house has slowed. However, I am still greeted some mornings by a closed trap door, meaning that I still have work to do.

In the beginning of our mouse battles, we were only taking the mice to the end of our driveway before letting them go. I figured that an animal that small would not have to be moved very far for it to never come back. However I have since learned that Deer Mice can find their way back to their home territories from quite a distance. According to one study I read, more than 50% of mice that had been trapped, marked and released 1.5 kilometers away made it back to their spot of capture within a day or two, including somehow crossing a significant river. There are theories on how they do this, but the answers are far from clear. As a result of this amazing new information, I now take my captures WAY down the road to an area where there are no houses for more than 2 kilometers in any direction before releasing them to fend for themselves. While I find Deer Mice attractive in a cute kind of way, I do not want them to come back to my house, thank you very much!

Observations: Fellow columnist Lorraine Julien sent her own story on mice: "My brother has an older cottage and they were inundated with mice up until they were able to seal it properly. I remember one winter going there and opening up the pantry. On the shelf was a very large glass jar with a plastic lid. The jar contained cooking oil. When I opened the cupboard door, all I could see were mouse faces looking through the glass!!! They had chewed through the lid and, one by one, they dropped into the oil and drowned. I think my brother said there were about 13 of them. I don't know, as I ran out of the cottage. I would sooner run into a bear than mice."

By: Lorraine Julien

The Northern Leopard frog is easily identified by its irregular shaped greenish-brown spots that cover its back and legs. The frog’s underside is a creamy white colour with light coloured ridges on either side of its back. It’s a medium sized frog reaching a length of 3 to 5 inches (7.5 to almost 13 cm) nose to rump. Females are a bit bigger than males. You’ll probably see them around your cottage this spring as they are still fairly common in lake country. A very similar, but smaller, frog is the Pickerel frog, which has spots that are more angular (square).

The Northern Leopard frog ranges across most of northern North America except for the Pacific Coast. These frogs usually live near ponds and marshes but may venture into well-covered grasslands hence their other name, the Meadow frog. Though it is fairly wide spread, massive declines in its population began in the early 1970s, especially in Canada and the western U.S. The cause of the decline has not been determined but it’s likely a combination of factors: pollution, water acidity and habitat destruction.

This frog is not a fussy eater and will eat just about anything that will fit into its mouth. Patience really pays off - it can sit still for ages and wait for prey to wander by, then pounce with its powerful legs. Food on the menu includes: beetles, ants, flies, worms, smaller frogs (including their own species) and even small birds and garter snakes.

In turn, frogs of all types are a tasty treat for turtles, larger snakes, herons, raccoons and numerous other predators. In captivity, Leopard frogs have lived as long as 9 years but in the wild, probably 3 to 4 years would be the maximum. Their eggs are laid in a jelly-like mass usually attached to submerged vegetation.

The call of the Leopard frog is best described as a kind of chuckling sound made by rubbing wet hands on a balloon. It’s wonderful to see and hear our beautiful songbirds, but one of the best harbingers of spring (for me) is the sound of hundreds of frogs, and peepers singing their hearts out. Our resident bullfrog usually joins in with his base tones every so often.

If you want to help preserve amphibians and wetlands you should consider joining Frogwatch Ontario. You’ll learn a lot and help the environment as well. Frogwatch is a great community based conservation programme sponsored by the Toronto Zoo that helps to identify Ontario toads and frogs, their unique calls and the special places where they live. You can submit observations to:

www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/FrogwatchOntario.asp

Your data will be used to update Ontario frog and toad distribution maps and identify important wetland habitats. Adopt-A-Pond can also be contacted by email – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 416-392-5999. If you are unsure which type of frog you are trying to identify, you can email a picture to Frogwatch. You’ll find these people are a great source of information – I know, they’ve certainly helped me in the past.

All frogs and toads are very active in spring and early summer when the males are calling to attract a mate. They are also seen throughout the summer, especially when froglets are emerging from the water. Dusk is the best time to monitor, but some species are also active during the day.

It’s really a good thing if you see lots of frogs around your cottage as it is an indication that the lake and surrounding area is healthy and relatively free of pollutants. Of course, the fact that frogs like to eat bugs is a real bonus but I would like it even better if they could eat mice – perhaps larger frogs could eat a small mouse. Wishful thinking on my part but I’ll have to check it out!

By: Lorraine Julien

Though rarely seen because of their nocturnal habits, opossums have been slowly moving into southern Ontario from the eastern U.S. for quite a few years. This past winter would have been particularly cruel for this little animal from the south though - their tails and feet are pretty well hairless, leaving them especially prone to frostbite. Though they may look like big rats, they are actually quite gentle creatures. They are about the size of a house cat with mostly light-grey spiky fur.

Some of my family live in the country in the Port Perry area where they occasionally see wild (and not so wild) animals that may venture near their home looking for food. They have adopted a small family of feral cats. The cats are fed fairly regularly with kibble and kitchen scraps; however, another animal that has regularly joined the cats is an opossum. The little opossum has no fear of the cats and when it starts to eat their food, they jump back out of the way. We haven’t seen it this winter probably because of the severe cold.

I’m listing here some of the more unique facts you may find interesting about this animal:

First of all, is it an “opossum” or a “possum” and how did it come by this name? In the early 1600’s, a Capt. John Smith named the animal “opossum” from the word “opassum”, the Algonquian term meaning “white animal”. The proper name for North America’s only marsupial (pouched mammal) is the Virginia Opossum found in the U.S. and south eastern Canada.

Opossums have been around for millions of years (since the time of the dinosaurs) and are one of the Earth’s oldest surviving mammals. The animal was discovered in the tropical forests of South America. Until then, marsupials were only known to exist in Australia and Tasmania. As human populations increased northward in the Americas, the opossum followed, attracted, probably, by new food sources: road kill and garbage. Unfortunately it is obviously dangerous to eat road kill unless you are a crow with lightning reflexes!

Opossums have litters of up to 14 kits each about the size of a honey bee. Right after birth, the tiny creatures crawl into their mother’s pouch where they nurse for several months. After they’re mostly weaned, they leave the pouch from time to time and ride on their mother’s back until they mature.

Disease - They are naturally immune to rabies

Poison - They have almost total immunity to the venom of poisonous snakes

Garbage - They’ll eat almost anything, making them another of Mother Nature’s garbage collectors – items on the menu include road kill or anything dead, rodents, insects, snails, slugs, birds, eggs, frogs, plants, fruits and grains.

Brains - They are actually quite smart – they have a remarkable ability to find food and remember where it is. When tested for this skill, they scored much better than rabbits, cats and dogs. Another test showed that they could find their way through a maze more quickly than many other animals.

Natural Pest Control – since they like to eat slugs, beetles and snails, they are a welcome addition to the garden. They will kill rats, other rodents and cockroaches they find in their territory.

Thumbs – The opossum has opposable “thumbs”. The opposable thumbs are on the rear feet (technically they’re toes) which enable it to have fantastic climbing skills. Primates are the only other animals with these “thumbs”.

Impressive Tails – They have prehensile tails (meaning the tail can grasp and wrap around things like tree branches). Some people think they sleep hanging upside down but this is not the case. They’ve been seen carrying bundles of grass and other materials by looping their tails around the bundles. The tail works like a fifth appendage or hand.

Great Eyesight – the eyes appear to be black but it’s just that their pupils are strongly dilated; there is iris around them but it’s mostly out of sight. The giant pupils are thought to be adapted from their nocturnal habits.

Natural Defence – You’ve all heard the expression “play possum” – when possums are threatened they may run, growl or whatever but when all else fails, they “play possum” and act as if they are dead. It’s not a conscious act but is an involuntary, trance-like state that can last up to four hours. It has proven quite effective as a deterrent to predators looking for a meal.

Though opossums may look fearsome with a mouthful of teeth (50 – the most of any land mammal), these interesting and misunderstood little animals are quite gentle and quietly go about their business, mostly eating rodents and bugs. As long as we have winters like the past couple, it’s doubtful their numbers will increase to any extent here in the near future. It is possible though that we may see them in the Land O’ Lakes as they do like to be near water.

This nest, which had reportedly been used in the past by Ospreys, has been a good spot for this bald eagle, judging by the size of the young, who should be flying within weeks, or even days. Bald Eagles, which had been almost wiped out in Southern Ontario by 1980, have made a comeback. They are still more common in northwestern Ontario, but nests have been identified on lakes in Frontenac, Lanark, and Leeds and Grenville in recent years.

Bald Eagles are designated as a Species at Risk by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), but their designation on that list is as a “Species of Special Concern” which is defined by the ministry in the following way: “Lives in the wild in Ontario, is not endangered or threatened, but may become threatened or endangered due to a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.”

The MNR has four categories of Species at Risk: Extirpated, Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern. Bald Eagles were listed as Endangered in Southern Ontario in 1980 and have seen steady improvement.

Still, active nests are not common sightings, judging by the number of nests reported in the latest Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Program report by Bird Studies Canada in the spring of 2012. That report identified 57 active nest sites in Southern Ontario, the bulk of which are in the vicinity of Lake Erie. Of those, 41 were successful, and 67 chicks survived at least to the fledgling stage (the point when they were able to fly and leave the nest).

That study identified only three nests in Frontenac County, on Bobs, Wolfe and Kashwakamak Lakes, and one in Lanark County, on Christie Lake. The Bobs Lake nest was the only successful one, bringing two chicks to the fledgling stage. There were very likely more successful nests in the two counties in 2011, based on the regular sightings of Bald Eagles each year, but they were either in more obscure locations or they were not reported to Bird Studies Canada.

Marcus Saunders, from Clarendon, an avid bird watcher who did the research in Northern Frontenac and Lanark Counties for the most recent Bird Studies Canada Atlas of Birds of Canada, said that he sees Bald Eagles locally “just about every month of the year.” He said he was aware of a nesting pair on Crotch Lake a number of years ago, and he thinks there may be nests on or near other lakes.

Bud Andress spent 20 years working on the restoration of Bald Eagles in the Thousand Islands region, which included building eagle nesting platforms. He also was part of a team that attached a radio transmitter to six fledgling birds, three of which survived.

“The three birds travelled a spectacular distance. They went as far as James Bay, Labrador, West Virginia and Washington, DC..”

The travel patterns of adult Bald Eagles are not well known, Andress said. There are a number of birds that over-winter in the Thousand Islands region, where their largest food source is white-tailed deer. Unlike Osprey, which survive almost exclusively on fish that they kill themselves, Bald Eagles are opportunistic feeders, happy to steal fish from Osprey or scavenge for food in any way they can.

“What we don't know,” said Andress, “is if the nesting pairs we see in the summer stay here in the winter or travel elsewhere, and we don't know if the pairs stay together all year or just meet up in the breeding grounds in the spring.”

Bald Eagles do nest in the same location year after year, not necessarily in the same nest but in the same vicinity.

One male in the Thousand Islands area where Andress lives has had 37 chicks since 1999, likely with two different mates.

Ian Tanner, Natural Heritage Education Leader

The unique geography of Bon Echo Provincial Park makes it a great place to view our avian friends throughout the year.

Peregrine Falcons may be the most notable birds that reside in Bon Echo. Twenty years ago Peregrine Falcons were re-introduced to Mazinaw Lake by Natural Heritage Education Coordinator, Denise Wilkins. During the spring and summer months Mazinaw Lake echoes with their distinctive kak-kak-kak calls. They can be seen flying frequently along the edge of the cliff or perched high on a tree surveying the skies. The falcons at Bon Echo often prey on Blue Jays and Ring-billed Gulls, diving from high in the air and capturing their food on the wing. When the Peregrine Falcons migrate south for the winter there is a marked increase in gulls at the Narrows and the beaches.

Another bird of prey that dwells in Bon Echo is the Barred Owl. Most people who spend a night or two in the Park will hear this bird call “Who cooks for you...who cooks for you all”. Barred Owls are among the most vocal of owls and are also quite common although they are notoriously difficult to spot during the day. A unique feature about owls is a peculiarity of their feathers. The wing feathers are very soft and therefore are not efficient for flying speed. However, they produce a quieter flight reducing the chance of being heard by their prey. Another unique feature is the location of an owl’s ears. One is located higher on the owl’s head than the other, allowing them to triangulate the position of their next meal far more accurately than were their ears to be symmetrical.

If you are heading out to Joeperry Lake keep your eyes peeled for Ospreys. These hawks have a diet that consists almost entirely of fish and they will hover above the water before plunging in to grab a meal. Another bird that spends its life looking for fish is the Belted Kingfisher. These brilliant blue birds perch on branches above the water and dive for small minnows and frogs. The Common Loon is also present in Bon Echo’s waters. While they live on Mazinaw Lake, your best chance to see them will be on Joeperry, Bon Echo, or Kishkebus Lakes. These birds are uniquely adapted for pursuing fish underwater and can hold their breath for several minutes, travelling hundreds of metres while submerged.

Barn Swallows also call Mazinaw Rock home. These aerial acrobats are now a threatened species due to the decline in foraging habitat, loss of available nesting sites, and pesticide spraying reducing the number of insects needed for food. These birds however can be seen most days at the Narrows. They swoop and dive catching insects just above the surface of the water. If you watch carefully you can see them drink while airborne, gliding close to the water and scooping up a mouthful. These small birds are great builders, nesting directly on the cliff. They build their nests by carrying mud, a little at a time from nearby streams and ponds then mixing it with saliva and lining it with moss and feathers.

A number of woodpeckers can be seen among the trees at Bon Echo. The smallest is the Downy Woodpecker, a black and white bird with males sporting a tiny red patch on the head. It has a long barbed tongue and glue-like saliva which help it catch insects. The largest is the Crow sized Pileated Woodpecker which is mostly black with white flashes on the neck and a flaming red crest on its head. Woodpeckers chisel holes in trees to reach the insects and grubs living in them. Large rectangular holes are telltale signs of Pileated Woodpeckers. A woodpecker can be identified by its distinctive “swooping” flight. Woodpeckers will flap their wings once or twice then fold them in, resulting in a wave-like flight.

The Park is also home to a plethora of different warblers and songbirds including White- throated Sparrows, Common Redpolls, and occasionally Scarlet Tanagers. The Cliff Top Trail is home to the Prairie Warbler. These birds are olive-coloured above with bright yellow below and black spots and streaks along their sides. Prairie Warblers prefer hot, dry environments, nest in juniper bushes on Mazinaw Rock, and are at the northern edge of their breeding habitat. Many of these birds call the Park home throughout the summer but can be difficult to spot among the leaves and undergrowth. For this reason I recommend familiarizing yourself with a few different birdcalls, such as the calls of the Red-eyed Vireo, the American Robin, and the Wood Thrush. More may be added as you become familiar with a few..

Fall is an exciting time to look for birds in Bon Echo. With the changing weather not only are the leaves disappearing but many birds are also migrating through the Park on their way to wintering habitats. Last fall we were lucky enough to spot a Red-throated Grebe swimming in Mazinaw Lake, as well as Broad-winged Hawks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and Wood Ducks.

Whether you are an avid birdwatcher or someone just curious to see how many bird species you can spot, bring along a field guide and binoculars on your next visit to Bon Echo. You’ll be rewarded by a remarkable variety of sightings and songs.

By Steve Blight

This year I have seen more individual Io (pronounced EYE-oh) Moths than in all other summers combined. Likely this is because I am now able to spend more time in Io Moth country than in the past. Whatever the reason, I am happy to have seen so many. Io Moths are a strikingly colourful member of the Saturniidae family of moths, or giant silk moths, a family which also contains some of Canada’s biggest moths such as the beautiful Luna and Cecropia Moths.

Io Moths were named after a priestess from Greek mythology and are unmistakeable – with a wingspan of 5 to 9 centimetres (2 to 3 ½ inches) male forewings are usually bright yellow, while females have dark yellow or reddish-brown forewings. Both males and females have large spots that look like eyes on their mostly yellow hind-wings; these eyespots are black or blue, with a gray or bluish iris around a white centre.

Like other giant silk moths, adults do not eat – they don’t have fully formed mouth parts or digestive systems. When they emerge from their cocoons in early summer, adults have only one job to do during their 1 to 2 week lifespan – find a mate and make more Io Moths. To find a mate, female Io Moths release a chemical called a pheromone into the air which males detect with their sensitive feather-like antennae. According to one reliable source, female Io Moths have a specific time of night – 9:45 to10:30 pm – when they release the pheromones. This process is referred to as “calling” and the time appears to vary from one species of moth to another. Perhaps love-struck males are easily confused by the pheromones of different species and this helps them keep things straight. I wonder if males wait around impatiently checking their watches…

Even Io Moth caterpillars are interesting. Caterpillars go through five stages, or “instars”, during their lives as larvae. At first they stay together as a group, travelling about in lines (called queuing) and moulting into later instars by arranging themselves in circular patterns of caterpillars called rosettes. Older instars become more solitary and develop bristly spines along their bright green bodies that can cause irritation and pain to people who handle them. After about 4 weeks of feeding and moulting they spin their cocoons in leaf litter on the ground or in crevices among rocks or wood, emerging as adults the following year.

There is another interesting note about Io Moth caterpillar behaviour that I can’t resist describing. In queuing, as many as 40 caterpillars, gather and travel in a line. Each caterpillar has its head against the end of the individual in front of it, and they swing their heads back and forth, as if to make sure that they are still following the line. Researchers have found that the caterpillars can be placed in a continuous circle, and they will continue in this endless circle for hours, until one is blocked and changes direction, leading the line out of the circle!

Io Moths are native to eastern US and southern Canada, from eastern Manitoba through Ontario to western Quebec. Unlike many species of butterflies and moths that feed on a very narrow range of plant types, Io Moths feed on a variety of trees including willow, elm, birch and others, depending on what is available. Fortunately this beautiful and interesting moth is reported to still be quite common throughout its range, although some declines have been noted in the eastern US.

By Steve Blight

The house we live in has quite a few windows. The main purpose of building our house near Sharbot Lake was so that we could live in a rich natural setting. Having a lot of glass allows tons of natural light into the house, affords great views into the forest, and helps us feel more connected to the natural environment. All is good.

Unfortunately, birds and glass don't mix well at all. I have been aware that having lots of glass in a bird-rich environment might result in birds striking our widows, with the accompanying terrible results. However, up until recently we weren’t aware of any bird strikes at our house at all -- not to say there weren’t any, rather that we had no evidence that any had happened. Then in April, all that changed.

First a little about bird-window strikes. Some estimates suggest that the number of North American birds killed in bird-window crashes range as high as 100 million per year. Some birds seem to recover quickly and fly off; others die instantly; still others take up to several hours before they seem to recover sufficiently to fly off. Unfortunately even some that appear to recover are believed to die later from injuries sustained in the crash. One expert estimates that 1 out of 2 of all window crashes end up with a dead bird.

One morning in April I was sitting at our kitchen table and a heard a muffled but loud "thud" from above my shoulder -- and right away I knew it was a bird. We went outside, fearing the worst, and lying on its side on the deck looking quite stunned was a tiny Golden-Crowned Kinglet. It was alive but doing poorly. After a frantic search for what to do (thank you Google), we determined the best thing to do was to capture the bird carefully with a towel, and place it in a small, partly-closed box located in a sheltered outdoor spot away from predators and give it time to recover. So that is what we did, crossed our fingers and waited. Within about an hour, the kinglet had flown off, to an unknown future.

The very next morning the sorry story was repeated with a Hermit Thrush. Same solution -- towel, box, wait two hours and it was gone. A couple of days later was the last straw -- within the span of several hours a Hairy Woodpecker then a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had hit the same window, and received the same box-wait treatment.

Since the kinglet window strike, I had been searching for a solution with increasing desperation, and dreading the awful thud of another bird strike. It seemed so wrong to me to have chosen to share space with birds that come from as far away as Brazil and then be responsible for their deaths. Something had to be done.

Fortunately there is a great source of information on bird strikes available on the All About Birds website, sponsored by Cornel University in New York State (http://www.allaboutbirds.org). In my opinion it is the best website dedicated to North American birds out there, and a quick search on window strikes led to all sorts of useful info on why birds strike windows and measures that can be taken to reduce their incidence. I would very much encourage anyone that is upset about bird strikes at their home to visit the site. There isn’t enough space here to repeat all the good advice, but three things can really help. First, try simply moving your feeders and birdbaths to new locations. Bird strikes usually occur at particular windows, so moving feeders farther away (minimum 30 feet) from them may solve the problem entirely. You can also try placing your feeders much closer to the glass—if a feeder is just a foot or two from a window, birds may still fly into it, but not with enough force to injure themselves.

Second, avoid apparent visual tunnels. Bright windows on the opposite wall from your picture window may give the illusion of a visual tunnel through which birds may try to fly. Try making one window less transparent by keeping a shade drawn or a door closed, or by altering the lighting inside the house.

Third, find a way to break up the reflections caused by large expanses of glass. Note that single stickers of hawks rarely work -- it isn't the fear of the predator's silhouette that keeps the birds from the widow, but the fact that the reflection is broken up. Multiple stickers are needed to be effective. Another way is to hang dangling objects from the outside of the widow -- the inside of the window won't work as it does not break up the reflection. The All About Birds site provides many different creative solutions that may work for you.

Our solution was to stretch a curtain of thin hanging cords, spaced 4 inches apart, across the group of windows where the bird strikes occurred. The design came from another website called Acopian Bird Savers (www.birdsavers.com). This site provides instructions on how to make the curtains as well as offers them for sale. Being a moderately handy guy and always open to saving money by doing things myself, I set out to custom-make some bird savers. I bought some white vinyl 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch trim and sticky-backed Velcro from Home Depot, ordered the prescribed drab olive-coloured 1/8 inch nylon paracord on-line from Ropeshop.ca, enlisted my creative daughter's help, and got to work. After about a day's work, the finished product was ready for installation

The picture accompanying this article illustrates the final product that we installed on the outside of our windows. It ended up being fairly inexpensive, not difficult to make, and easy to install. We put the rope curtain up at the beginning of May, and the evidence so far is encouraging -- no bird strikes on these windows since. A Veery recently crashed into a different window (it flew off after one hour of the box treatment described above), and this window will get its own rope curtain treatment in short order.

I’m recounting this story because window strikes are a serious problem for our birds, and there are inexpensive and practical ways to reduce their incidence. I am hopeful that with a little effort (and quite of bit of Paracord!), our family will be able to safely share our living space with families of birds for many years to come.

by Lorraine Julien

Now that the short dark days of December are here and we look forward to Christmas, I took a few minutes and looked longingly at pictures taken this past summer. Some photos are of summer scenery around the cottage but most of the wildlife pictures were taken through our cottage windows as that was the only way I could take pictures without spooking them. Some of these creatures visit on a regular basis but it’s still thrilling to see them.

The sharp-shinned hawk stayed on our deck for probably 30 minutes so I was able to get lots of shots of her or him. The fox looks a bit mangy but it was very early spring and she had obviously survived another winter. The barred owl lives in the area with his family as we regularly hear his “who cooks for you” call. The painted turtle had just finished laying her eggs and was in the process of covering them. The little toad rested for a while on the “turtle nest” sign. Even choke cherries look pretty at this time of the year!

Steve and I would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks especially to everyone who contacted us with their comments and questions, and sent in their photos and observations. 

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.