The background colour varies from tan to olive green or gray. They resemble the American Toad, but the one key difference is that the American Toad has only one wart in each dark patch, whereas the Fowler’s toad has two or three warts in each dark patch. The males are a little smaller than the females, and they have a grayish throat because of their vocal sac, which they use to call the females during the breeding season.
Fowler’s Toads prefer open woodlands and sand dunes, and are closely associated with sandy soils. They are often active during the day, thought in hot weather, they are mostly active during twilight and early evening. They become dormant in early fall and emerge in late spring.
Contrary to popular belief, toads will not give you warts if you touch them. However, you should always wash your hands before and after handling toads, as sunscreen, bug spray, and the oils from your hands can harm the toad, and they can secrets a toxic substance that you do not want getting in your eyes, mouth, or in an open cut.
These cute little guys are everywhere around our park. They are reddish brown with multiple stripes running from their shoulders to their rump. They are seen most often on the ground, even though they are good climbers. Their tails are about ⅓ their length and stick straight up when they run.
These little creatures live in burrows that they dig in the ground. Their burrows are dug, then they lay down soft grass and leaves as a bed, then they store their food underneath. They hibernate in their burrows in the winter, but you may see them roaming about in the middle of the winter.
They eat berries, nuts, fruits, insects, and even sometimes feed on bird eggs. They have pouches in their cheeks that they use to store food while taking it back to their burrows. These pouches get larger as the chipmunk grows older.
Poison Ivy can appear in many different forms. It can be of the climbing variety, which looks like a vine climbing a tree, it can be of the non-climbing variety, where it is spread over the ground, and it can sometimes even be in the form of a thick vine that looks more like a tree than a vine. Sometimes, there are Poison Ivy flowers and Poison Ivy berries. The leaves can be of varied shapes and sizes, but always with three leaves. A good general rule is “leaves of three, leave it be”
Poison Ivy rashes are caused by the oil getting on your skin. The oil is on all parts of the plant, including the roots, leaves, berries, flowers, and stem. The Poison Ivy rash is red and very, very itchy. Other than touching the plant directly, you can also get the oil on your skin by touching an animal, like a dog or cat that has been in contact with the plant. No animals, other than humans, react to the poison ivy oil, so it is impossible to tell if they have been in contact with the plant.
To protect yourself from getting poison ivy, stay on all marked paths and wash yourself with cold water afterwards. Warm water will open your pores and the poison ivy oil will be absorbed faster. If your pet has been in contact with poison ivy, wash them with cold water while wearing rubber gloves.
In Rondeau we have one type of skunk, the striped skunk. It is found all across Canada and likes to live areas of mixed forest and grasslands. Although skunks have long claws for digging, they rarely dig their own den. Skunks usually lives in abandoned dens of other animals, such as groundhogs or foxes. Often times they will live under porches or cellars but also likes rock piles and refuse heaps. To make a nest in its den, the skunk will move leaves into its den by putting them under their body then shuffling into their nest. The will use these leaves to line their den.
Breeding time happens in late February and goes until mid-April. Skunks will usually only mate once a year but a second breeding period is in May for those that didn’t successfully have any kits. The average gestation period is in 65 days and once their born it takes 8 weeks of nursing until they start hunting with their mother and they will eventually disperse. It only takes 8 days before they can spray.
Skunks are known for their special scent glands located in their anus. The glands are about the size of a grape and create a bad smelling, oily, yellow musk. This musk can be sprayed up to 6 metres and the odor can be carried for over a kilometer by the wind. Although the musk has been known to cause nausea and intense pain, don’t panic as skunks give warning before they spray, so if you see one back away slowly as sudden movements may cause them to spray. When skunks feel threatened they will face you will their back arched and tail up. They will then stomp their feet on the found and may perform a handstand. If they are still threatened they will bend its rear end around while still facing you and spray. If you, your pet or anything got sprayed here is a quick deskunking recipe that has been proven to work:
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
¼ cup baking soda
1 teaspoon liquid detergent
Mix together in an open bowl and use on sprayed surface. This recipe is safe to use on humans and pets and also on clothing and furniture.
For this and other great deskunking tips visit:http://pestcontrol.about.com/od/diyanimalcontrol/a/Get-Rid-Of-Skunk-Odor-Myths-And-Facts.htm
Other fun facts:
Skunks are omnivores and will eat a variety of foods such as mice, eggs, carrion, insects, berries, fish and vegetables.
Skunks do not like their own smell. They will not spray in their den or in confined spaces.
They will only travel about a kilometer away from their den.
Skunks are crepuscular meaning they are most active during dusk and dawn.
Since other animals are repulsed by the odor skunks are actually less likely to carry rabies than other mammals.
The skunk spray is used as a base in perfume because of its clinging abilities.
The skunks biggest predator is the great horned owl, who is un affected by the spray due to its poor smelling abilities
Skunks have excellent smell and hearing but poor eye sight
The Blue Jay is a mainly blue bird with a white chest, a blue crest, and a black collar around its neck. The Blue Jay’s blue colour is not due to pigmentation like other coloured birds, but due to light interference with the internal structure of the feathers. If the feather is crushed the blue colour will disappear.
Blue Jays will eat nuts, seeds, fruit, songbird eggs and even small vertebrates from trees and they have been known to hide nuts to eat later like squirrels. Blue Jays are very fond of acorns and because of this are thought to have helped with the spread of oak trees after the last glacial period.
They are a very noisy and aggressive bird but are very slow fliers which makes them prey to hawks and owls. Having a Blue Jay around can be very beneficial to other birds as it has been known to make an alarm call when a predator is in the area and other birds recognize this call and hide.
Blue Jays are very intelligent birds and like to grab brightly coloured or reflective objects and carry them around until they lose interest. Blue Jays can make numerous calls and can even mimic hawk calls to see if there is a hawk in the area or to scare other birds away from a food source. The Blue Jay even has a call that gathers all of the Blue Jays in the area together to mob a predator like a hawk.
Blue Jays are monogamous, which means they may go a life-time with one mate. Both the male and the female help build the nest and the male feeds the female while she lays on the eggs. Blue Jays also take part in a fascinating act called anting. During anting, birds will pick up ants in their beaks and rub them on their wings and tail feathers. While it is not completely understood why birds undergo this behaviour, one theory is that it is related to comfort or feather maintenance as it occurs when the birds undergo molting and the secretions from the ants soothe the skin. Another theory is that it controls parasites like lice and mites that live in the birds feathers.
Bird nests are a spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs. Not all birds build nests, some species lay their eggs directly on the ground or rocky ledges while brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. This includes the cow bird which will lay its eggs in the nests of other species, some of which recognize the egg and remove it from the nest while others raise it as one of their own. If a cowbird lays its egg in the nest of a yellow warbler, the warbler will build another nest on top of the previous one and will build up to six nests on top of each other. Most birds build a new nest each year although some refurbish nests from previous years. In most species the female does most or all of the nest construction.
There are a couple different types of nests. One is called a scrape nest which is just a shallow depression in the soil or vegetation that has a rim just deep enough to keep the eggs from rolling away. The nests are commonly lined with bits of vegetation, small stones, shell fragments or feathers to help camouflage the eggs, provide insulation or to keep them from sinking into muddy or sandy soil if the nest is accidentally flooded.
Another type of nest is a burrow. In this type of nest the eggs and young and in most cases the incubating parent are sheltered in the earth. Most use their own burrows but some use those excavated by others. Burrow nests are common among seabirds at high latitudes as they provide protection against cold and predators.
Some birds like to nest in cavities in living or dead wood. A relatively small number of birds, called primary cavity nesters can excavate their own holes. Most species use natural holes or those excavated by other species and these are called secondary cavity nesters. Both can be convinced to use nest boxes and sometimes they are critical to the species survival.
Furthermore there is a nest type called a cup which has a deep depression inside to house the eggs. Most are made of pliable materials including grasses though a small number are made of mud or saliva. Small birds even use a large amount of spider silk in the construction of their nests.
American Robin on Nest (R. McArthur)
There are also platform nests which are large structures often many times the size of the bird which has built it. Depending on the species the nests can be on the ground or elevated up in a tree. In extreme cases the nests grow large enough to cause structural damage to the tree it is located in.
Finally, there are pendant nests which are elongated sacs woven out of pliable material such as grasses and plant fibers and suspended from a branch. Birds such as Orioles prefer to live in pendant nests.
Most species of birds nest individually but some species prefer to nest all together like the Great Blue Heron. By doing so they can benefit from increased protection from predators and may be able to utilize food supplies better by following more successful foragers to their foraging sites.
These fantastic fliers are almost 0.8 m long, with a 2 m wing span. They have a white head and tail, a dark brown body, and yellow beak and feet. In flight, they keep their wings fairly flat when soaring. These Eagles mate for life and add to their huge nest every year. At 4.5 m, the Bald Eagle’s nest is the largest nest out of all the birds’ nests in North America.
The Bald Eagle gets its name from the white feathers on its head that make it look like it has a balls head, but did you know that the young Eagles do not have white heads? Bald Eagle’s heads do not turn white until they are 4 years old. The immature are generally dark all over with some lighter patches as they get older, and they develop an eye stripe in their third year. The immature Bald Eagles can be mistaken for Golden Eagles, which are dark overall, except for the golden nape.
These enchanting Eagles feed on waterbirds, small mammals, and fish. They occasionally feed on carrion, and sometimes take food from Ospreys. When the Young are born, both the mother and farther take to feeding the babies.
Rondeau’s large lake and bay make the perfect home for Bald Eagles, as their food source is always nearby, so keep your eyes open for these amazing birds.
This unique, sweet smelling tree is a part if the Carolinian forest that is found in Rondeau. The sassafras tree has three types of leaves that may all be found on the same tree. The leaves can be one lobed, which looks like an oval, two lobed, looking like an oven mitt, or three lobed, looking like a bird’s foot print. It can grow to be 20 m tall and 50 cm in diameter, sometimes even larger.
Sassafras trees are part of the Laurel family, whose members normally have a spicy smell, like cinnamon, and camphor. Sassafras is not the odd one out in this family, as all parts of this tree, including the leaves, and bark, give off a spicy odor when bruised.
The berries from the sassafras tree are blue and turn red as they ripen in late August. These fruits are eaten by birds, and squirrels, and once they fall to the ground, they become a tasty snack for foxes and small mammals. The seed flowers and pollen flowers are found on separate trees. They are small, greenish-yellow, and appear before the leaves unfold.
This scented splendour is rare in Canada, but can be seen in a variety of locations in our park, including the parking lot of the Visitor Center, so come on over and check out our green wonder.
This common mammal seen elegantly springing across fields or through forests is still a favourite sighting of many. A white-tailed deer is commonly seen on the edges of forests and in fields of crops in the spring, summer and early fall. The deer then move into forests for protection from the elements in the harsh winter season. Deer are actually not nocturnal but rather crepuscular. Crepuscular means they are most active at twilight, meaning dawn and dusk. This is the time you will most often see these animals seeking out water and food. They come out at this time because visibility is challenging which gives them an advantage over predators.
We hear about the history of these deer every day from Rondeau Park visitors. Everyone seems to remember the multitude of deer that roamed the woods by the hundreds and from what I’ve been told by visitors, roaming right up to the car windows as well. I was quite interested in these incredible animals before my job here at the Rondeau Visitor Centre and they still peak my interest today. Besides being told stories from visitors and fellow staff of Rondeau I have spent a bit of time researching the white-tailed deer in books and magazines.
The white-tailed deer can weigh up to a whopping 300lbs and if stretched out could be up to 7½ feet long! These deer have a very large range which covers most of North America. They are herbivores and graze on a variety of plants, nuts, grasses, corn, flowers and may even eat twigs and lichens. A single bound may reach up to 30 feet and they may jump as high as 10 feet! The power of this mammal is really astounding, especially considering they do so much bounding.
The red fox is usually seen in its red form, which is mostly red, with black feet and black tipped ears, but it can also be seen in its “cross form,” with a black marking across its shoulders and down it’s back, making a cross shape, or its “silver form,” with black hair tipped with silver. In all colour forms, the red fox always has a large bushy tail with a white tip, which it uses for balance when running and as a cover for its face in the winter.
Although foxes are canides, like dogs and wolves, they have a very cat-like hunting style. They crouch down and wait for the right moment to strike, and when they find the right opportunity, they jump into the air with straight legs and try to land on what they are hunting, then they stomp on the ground, trying to flatten their prey, which may include mice, voles, other small rodents, and birds. Red foxes may also eat right out of your garbage can, as these opportunistic feeders have adapted to rural and urban landscapes.
What does the fox say? The red fox can make about 20 different sounds, from screaming during the mating season in early spring, to gekkering, a sound foxes make when they are fighting, to their alarm call, which up close sounds like a cough, but sounds like a bark from far away, used to warn other foxes of danger. Foxes normally communicate with each other using body language, rather than vocalizations.
