Thursday, August 2, 2007
Tracks, eh!
Funny Tracks, eh Earl Plato
We are on the Lower Trail at Marcy Woods. My quest are for animal tracks. Of all the tracks I have seen there is one that I have never recognized at Marcys. I told owner Dino DiDizeno Jr. that I had seen that Carolinian transplant, the opossums’ dead bodies, on Point Abino Road, Mitchener Road, and last year even on Matthews Road. These three roads surround the Marcy farm property north of Marcy Woods. Point? There must be some opossums in the Woods. I told Dino Jr. that I love tracking animals. I have three animal track books - The largest and most complete is the Peterson Guide book. Great for reference but too bulky to carry at least for me. Friend, Erin, gave me a more compact one, Animal Tracks Ontario, by Ian Sheldon. It’s my favourite. One I had for years is the convenient, Track Finder, by Dorcas Miller. Tattered and torn it now rates below the Sheldon book. Opossums or possums, what do you know about them and their tracks?
Some fifty years now this slow moving marsupial from the Carolinas has lived in Southern Ontario. That’s my guess. I have had some exciting encounters with the ‘possum. That’s another story. It’s the unusual tracks it makes that I find interesting. I have seen them in mud and yes, even in the snow during the warmer weeks of winter as late as in 2002. I remember the unusual hind print next or beside the fore print. Once you have seen the ‘possum’s rear foot print you won’t forget it. The long, distinctive , inward-pointing thumb is unique. No other mammal has such a footprint. I have seen one possum with a shortened tail. Normally the long-naked tail makes a line in the snow as it rambles along. This thinly haired animal can suffer from frost bite and as a result the unprotected tail suffers irreparable damage and part may fall off. Remember that it’s primarily an animal of the Carolinas and warmer temperatures. Look for the tell tale opossum tracks.
***
Joyce Berry of Ridgeway (Thunder Bay) has photos of local opossums. John Day of Ridgeway has three ‘possuns visitors on a regular basis.
John feeds them and knows quite a bit of their daily habits. After several decades of its presence in Southern Ontario let’s accept this southern transplant as a natural citizen.
We are on the Lower Trail at Marcy Woods. My quest are for animal tracks. Of all the tracks I have seen there is one that I have never recognized at Marcys. I told owner Dino DiDizeno Jr. that I had seen that Carolinian transplant, the opossums’ dead bodies, on Point Abino Road, Mitchener Road, and last year even on Matthews Road. These three roads surround the Marcy farm property north of Marcy Woods. Point? There must be some opossums in the Woods. I told Dino Jr. that I love tracking animals. I have three animal track books - The largest and most complete is the Peterson Guide book. Great for reference but too bulky to carry at least for me. Friend, Erin, gave me a more compact one, Animal Tracks Ontario, by Ian Sheldon. It’s my favourite. One I had for years is the convenient, Track Finder, by Dorcas Miller. Tattered and torn it now rates below the Sheldon book. Opossums or possums, what do you know about them and their tracks?
Some fifty years now this slow moving marsupial from the Carolinas has lived in Southern Ontario. That’s my guess. I have had some exciting encounters with the ‘possum. That’s another story. It’s the unusual tracks it makes that I find interesting. I have seen them in mud and yes, even in the snow during the warmer weeks of winter as late as in 2002. I remember the unusual hind print next or beside the fore print. Once you have seen the ‘possum’s rear foot print you won’t forget it. The long, distinctive , inward-pointing thumb is unique. No other mammal has such a footprint. I have seen one possum with a shortened tail. Normally the long-naked tail makes a line in the snow as it rambles along. This thinly haired animal can suffer from frost bite and as a result the unprotected tail suffers irreparable damage and part may fall off. Remember that it’s primarily an animal of the Carolinas and warmer temperatures. Look for the tell tale opossum tracks.
***
Joyce Berry of Ridgeway (Thunder Bay) has photos of local opossums. John Day of Ridgeway has three ‘possuns visitors on a regular basis.
John feeds them and knows quite a bit of their daily habits. After several decades of its presence in Southern Ontario let’s accept this southern transplant as a natural citizen.
What;s Happening in Nature?
v
What’s happening? Earl Plato
An answer to the scarcity of frogs at Marcy Woods this year. Thanks to owner Dino DiCienzo Jr. I received this e-mail from nature scientist, James Kamstra, that helps us understand the scarcity of frogs at Marcy Woods. I quote as follows: “Not sure why the frogs seem to have declined. Wood frogs have a very narrow calling period which is only about two weeks in any one area. April warmed up very quickly this year and my impression was that their calling period was even more compressed than usual. Also their peak calling period coincides with warm night temperatures, and it is hard to hit their peak right on. Perhaps the writer (That’s me) hit the peak in a previous year and then was not quite at peak during his visits this year. I have been monitoring one site in Oshawa for more than 15 years. Some years I hit the peak and other years I don’t. I doubt that the Wood Frogs have declined significantly in Marcy Woods.”
Writer’s note: Remember this is the first spring for me in Marcy Woods for four years. That’s good news that next year I will probably hear the Wood frogs again.
***
Scientist James Kamstra continued with his e-mail message. “ The other two species have longer calling periods. Chorus Frogs typically breed in very open temporary ponded (vernal pools) areas. They were quite common in the open field/ thicket area north of Marcy’s Woods when I did the surveys in 2004 but I don’t think they were in the Woods proper. As for Spring Peepers, they were common in fields and swamps in the Woods. They have the longest calling period. Not sure why they would have disappeared. Maybe the writer (That’s me) was out on a cold night when they were less active.”
James Kamstra.
***
Kamstra is right. The sound of Chorus frogs were always in the fields just to the north of Marcy Woods and south of Abino Woods farm. There are vernal (spring time) pools there. The collected trilling calls of these frogs was very loud in certain years. Yes, the high pitched sounds of the Spring Peepers were nearer to the Marcy Pond but in the Woods just to the north in the string of vernal pools. Great sounds to a nature lovers ears. Learn more about nature this year.
What’s happening? Earl Plato
An answer to the scarcity of frogs at Marcy Woods this year. Thanks to owner Dino DiCienzo Jr. I received this e-mail from nature scientist, James Kamstra, that helps us understand the scarcity of frogs at Marcy Woods. I quote as follows: “Not sure why the frogs seem to have declined. Wood frogs have a very narrow calling period which is only about two weeks in any one area. April warmed up very quickly this year and my impression was that their calling period was even more compressed than usual. Also their peak calling period coincides with warm night temperatures, and it is hard to hit their peak right on. Perhaps the writer (That’s me) hit the peak in a previous year and then was not quite at peak during his visits this year. I have been monitoring one site in Oshawa for more than 15 years. Some years I hit the peak and other years I don’t. I doubt that the Wood Frogs have declined significantly in Marcy Woods.”
Writer’s note: Remember this is the first spring for me in Marcy Woods for four years. That’s good news that next year I will probably hear the Wood frogs again.
***
Scientist James Kamstra continued with his e-mail message. “ The other two species have longer calling periods. Chorus Frogs typically breed in very open temporary ponded (vernal pools) areas. They were quite common in the open field/ thicket area north of Marcy’s Woods when I did the surveys in 2004 but I don’t think they were in the Woods proper. As for Spring Peepers, they were common in fields and swamps in the Woods. They have the longest calling period. Not sure why they would have disappeared. Maybe the writer (That’s me) was out on a cold night when they were less active.”
James Kamstra.
***
Kamstra is right. The sound of Chorus frogs were always in the fields just to the north of Marcy Woods and south of Abino Woods farm. There are vernal (spring time) pools there. The collected trilling calls of these frogs was very loud in certain years. Yes, the high pitched sounds of the Spring Peepers were nearer to the Marcy Pond but in the Woods just to the north in the string of vernal pools. Great sounds to a nature lovers ears. Learn more about nature this year.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Goldthread-Love nature
What a joy to be back in Marcy Woods this past spring of 2007. Some years ago daughter ,
Allison Kells rediscovered the little plant , Goldthread. Great naturalist, Ernie Giles, had shown it to me near the beginning of the Marcy Woods trails. Gently he parted the lower area of the plant revealing a golden threaded stem. 24 carat? Guess what? Allison rediscovered again the Goldthread this spring in the same area we
had first seen it. It’s a member of he Buttercup family. Ernie shared the following back then: - the natives and early colonists chewed the golden stem/root to relieve mouth sores hence the name Canker-root. Enjoy nature.
Allison Kells rediscovered the little plant , Goldthread. Great naturalist, Ernie Giles, had shown it to me near the beginning of the Marcy Woods trails. Gently he parted the lower area of the plant revealing a golden threaded stem. 24 carat? Guess what? Allison rediscovered again the Goldthread this spring in the same area we
had first seen it. It’s a member of he Buttercup family. Ernie shared the following back then: - the natives and early colonists chewed the golden stem/root to relieve mouth sores hence the name Canker-root. Enjoy nature.
Hello Bon Echo
Hello Bon Echo Earl Plato
“Bon Echo” - know your French? We were opposite the towering 300 foot cliffs of Bon Echo in mid-August. Our tour boat hostess asked, “Give me a one-syllable word.” Wife, Elaine suggested “Ed.” (That’s her brother-in-law’s name.) The hostess told us on the count of three to yell, “ Ed!” We did. The echo was clear and loud as it reverberated from the cliff face.. Bon echo. We repeated the call. Same results - Great echo! I don’t suggest that our whirl-wind trip is the best way to enjoy nature.
Bon Echo Provincial Park had been suggested to me over the years as a neat nature spot to visit. This was the time for our first visit. The weather was ideal. What a summer!
After our stop at Emily Provincial Park the previous day and a stay at Peterborough we headed west on Highway 7 to Kaladar. Here we turned north on Highway 41 to Bon Echo.
Hey we’re seniors! Where was the Visitor Centre? We parked where the signs pointed. It was parking space for the Amphitheater. We walked back to a meandering road and followed the signs. A half mile? More. I thought, as this guy with his sore leg avoided dips and dives. What a place for a Visitor Centre! I asked the young park guide, “How close can you drive to this place?” “Where did you park?” “The Amphitheater parking lot!” “That’s as close as you can get.” Not convenient for all.
Our boat ride on Lake Mazinaw was delayed. Why? People had booked up to three months ahead for the hour plus tour. We had to wait until the third trip of the day. Time to wander around in the bookstore and go out to a good local restaurant. We came back to the Centre - same way - me stumbling over tree roots. There were the other seniors - some thirty of them. They had driven to below the Centre in two large vans. Hey a walk of about fifty feet! Could we have done the same? No, you had to book the vans ahead of time. Call first if you want to check the time of the tours.
After the ‘echo’ exercise we headed for the cliffs where they claim the Algonkians painted 250 red-ochre pictographs on its face. Use your imagination. Our guide pointed out the barely discernible drawings. She explained the religious significance of each.
Ahead two small motor boats had tied up at an outcrop. Two families had scaled a ledge about twenty feet up. ‘Cannon ball time’ on this hot day was the exercise.
Our Guelph University graduate guide gave us a great deal of geologic information. We looked closely at the rock formations of this Canadian Gibraltar. We saw climbers above us at a lookout at the top that must offer them a panoramic view. No time for that climb this day.
Campers will like Bon Echo Provincial Park. It has a full program for you according to their brochure. Keep exploring Ontario.
“Bon Echo” - know your French? We were opposite the towering 300 foot cliffs of Bon Echo in mid-August. Our tour boat hostess asked, “Give me a one-syllable word.” Wife, Elaine suggested “Ed.” (That’s her brother-in-law’s name.) The hostess told us on the count of three to yell, “ Ed!” We did. The echo was clear and loud as it reverberated from the cliff face.. Bon echo. We repeated the call. Same results - Great echo! I don’t suggest that our whirl-wind trip is the best way to enjoy nature.
Bon Echo Provincial Park had been suggested to me over the years as a neat nature spot to visit. This was the time for our first visit. The weather was ideal. What a summer!
After our stop at Emily Provincial Park the previous day and a stay at Peterborough we headed west on Highway 7 to Kaladar. Here we turned north on Highway 41 to Bon Echo.
Hey we’re seniors! Where was the Visitor Centre? We parked where the signs pointed. It was parking space for the Amphitheater. We walked back to a meandering road and followed the signs. A half mile? More. I thought, as this guy with his sore leg avoided dips and dives. What a place for a Visitor Centre! I asked the young park guide, “How close can you drive to this place?” “Where did you park?” “The Amphitheater parking lot!” “That’s as close as you can get.” Not convenient for all.
Our boat ride on Lake Mazinaw was delayed. Why? People had booked up to three months ahead for the hour plus tour. We had to wait until the third trip of the day. Time to wander around in the bookstore and go out to a good local restaurant. We came back to the Centre - same way - me stumbling over tree roots. There were the other seniors - some thirty of them. They had driven to below the Centre in two large vans. Hey a walk of about fifty feet! Could we have done the same? No, you had to book the vans ahead of time. Call first if you want to check the time of the tours.
After the ‘echo’ exercise we headed for the cliffs where they claim the Algonkians painted 250 red-ochre pictographs on its face. Use your imagination. Our guide pointed out the barely discernible drawings. She explained the religious significance of each.
Ahead two small motor boats had tied up at an outcrop. Two families had scaled a ledge about twenty feet up. ‘Cannon ball time’ on this hot day was the exercise.
Our Guelph University graduate guide gave us a great deal of geologic information. We looked closely at the rock formations of this Canadian Gibraltar. We saw climbers above us at a lookout at the top that must offer them a panoramic view. No time for that climb this day.
Campers will like Bon Echo Provincial Park. It has a full program for you according to their brochure. Keep exploring Ontario.
Senior Time in Ontario
When Nature Calls Seniors Earl Plato
Seniors, take a trip in Ontario this fall. We had come back from a 1,000 km three day trip in Central-Eastern Ontario. I collect several brochures from our Ontario travel bureaus along with a free Ontario road map. I sit down and plan a trip. Three days - three sites, that was the plan. I recommend all three locations - Bon Echo Provincial Park, Bonnechere Caves near the Ottawa River and my favourite - Algonquin Park. I was known by my growing children as the dad who used to say, “But, it’s worth a side trip”. I still do it. On our way to Peterborough and an overnight stay I had always wanted to visit Emily Provincial Park just west of the city. Why? It had a marsh boardwalk and a sighting tower. This is osprey country and there are nesting sites of this large fish hawk. “We’re doing good time. Let’s take a look.” Located outside of Omemee just at the south end of Pigeon Lake, the park was very busy with most sites filled. We drove in free of charge - map in hand. Only one major problem - signs were missing or non-existent. We drove around and around trying to make sense of the map. “Stop and ask.” came the pleas from our wives. We did. No close parking to the boardwalk at Emily. Of course you need to walk a distance. Still healing from my tendonitis I said, “Let’s try it another time.” We will. I love ospreys and the Kawartha’s Nature booklet says,” here (at Emily) you can watch the ospreys feeding their young or making spectacular dives into the water to catch fish.” We were told hat there were two nesting sites. 2003 I will return in late spring, the Lord willing.
***
A well fed cat won’t hunt. Gina Spadafori of the Buffalo News wrote as follows: “The ability to hunt is hardwired into all cats, but the level of desire varies by each cat’s genetics and early experiences, not by the rumbling in his belly.”
Whitey, my childhood cat was an excellent mouser and birder. She taught her offspring well. Sadly back in those days of the thirties there were plentiful open fields and meadows Whitey would catch a meadowlark at times and bring it home for her young. The beautiful songbird didn’t have a chance. Even a bob-o-link was a catch. However, as a farm cat she kept our barn free of mice.
We watched Whitey with her young. “ The play of the kittens - pouncing and leaping on anything that moves - is really hunting behaviour. Observers of feline behaviour believe that if the mother is an eager hunter, the kittens will probably be too.”
Whitey trained her kittens well. I recall Blacky, one of her offspring, as a consistent hunter who often brought his prey back still alive. He would play with his victims for several minutes. Spadafori writes, “... the cat’s much-observed tendency to play with its prey is really a matter of the animal’s not being hungry enough to eat but still being instinctively driven to hunt.”
Seniors, take a trip in Ontario this fall. We had come back from a 1,000 km three day trip in Central-Eastern Ontario. I collect several brochures from our Ontario travel bureaus along with a free Ontario road map. I sit down and plan a trip. Three days - three sites, that was the plan. I recommend all three locations - Bon Echo Provincial Park, Bonnechere Caves near the Ottawa River and my favourite - Algonquin Park. I was known by my growing children as the dad who used to say, “But, it’s worth a side trip”. I still do it. On our way to Peterborough and an overnight stay I had always wanted to visit Emily Provincial Park just west of the city. Why? It had a marsh boardwalk and a sighting tower. This is osprey country and there are nesting sites of this large fish hawk. “We’re doing good time. Let’s take a look.” Located outside of Omemee just at the south end of Pigeon Lake, the park was very busy with most sites filled. We drove in free of charge - map in hand. Only one major problem - signs were missing or non-existent. We drove around and around trying to make sense of the map. “Stop and ask.” came the pleas from our wives. We did. No close parking to the boardwalk at Emily. Of course you need to walk a distance. Still healing from my tendonitis I said, “Let’s try it another time.” We will. I love ospreys and the Kawartha’s Nature booklet says,” here (at Emily) you can watch the ospreys feeding their young or making spectacular dives into the water to catch fish.” We were told hat there were two nesting sites. 2003 I will return in late spring, the Lord willing.
***
A well fed cat won’t hunt. Gina Spadafori of the Buffalo News wrote as follows: “The ability to hunt is hardwired into all cats, but the level of desire varies by each cat’s genetics and early experiences, not by the rumbling in his belly.”
Whitey, my childhood cat was an excellent mouser and birder. She taught her offspring well. Sadly back in those days of the thirties there were plentiful open fields and meadows Whitey would catch a meadowlark at times and bring it home for her young. The beautiful songbird didn’t have a chance. Even a bob-o-link was a catch. However, as a farm cat she kept our barn free of mice.
We watched Whitey with her young. “ The play of the kittens - pouncing and leaping on anything that moves - is really hunting behaviour. Observers of feline behaviour believe that if the mother is an eager hunter, the kittens will probably be too.”
Whitey trained her kittens well. I recall Blacky, one of her offspring, as a consistent hunter who often brought his prey back still alive. He would play with his victims for several minutes. Spadafori writes, “... the cat’s much-observed tendency to play with its prey is really a matter of the animal’s not being hungry enough to eat but still being instinctively driven to hunt.”
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