Category: <span>News</span>

Species of the Day: Snapping Turtle

The snapping turtle is a common reptile to see along ditch banks, in any marsh or pond area and sometimes crossing roads with a grumpy attitude. These turtles are sometimes cranky because they’re quite different from the typical turtle. The snapping turtle lacks a large plastron, (which is the bottom half of the shell that covers the belly). While most turtles can pull their limbs and head into their shell, the snapping turtle cannot. Therefore it’s only means of defense is running away (slowly) or trying to fight off its predator. The snapping turtle is very much prehistoric looking which makes them easy to identify. This turtle has a long tail equipped with sharp looking spikes which separates it from any other turtle in Ontario. Along with the spikes on the tail, the shell also has spikes! These spikes are flatter and more rugged looking and are usually covered in algae and mud. If you’ve ever seen a snapping turtle you know they are one of Ontario’s largest turtles! They can have up to a shell length of 50cm and can also weigh over 30lbs!

The snapping turtle is common in Southern Canada from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia and everywhere in between. This turtle will hibernate in the muddy bottom of wetlands through our cold Canadian winters and actually breathe through their bum when they run out of oxygen! The cloaca is the vent at the rear of the turtle where eggs, urine and feces are all released. A part of the cloaca, the cloacal bursae, is a membrane that allows gases to pass through it. Oxygen is taken from the mud and enters directly into the turtle’s blood stream. Snapping turtles can breathe through their butts!

If you see one of these monster sized turtles remember that they’re an important aspect of the environment they live in. The snapping turtle is often seen crossing busy roads so keep your eye open and try your best to avoid running over these cool creatures of the not so deep.

Species of the Day: Common Five-Lined Skink

Ontario’s only lizard can be found basking in the sun on logs and rocks across dunes, forests or open meadows. These lizards are quick! This blue-tailed reptile is commonly mistaken for their much slower moving friend, the blue-spotted salamander which is actually an amphibian and not a reptile. The skink is covered in scales and is not slimy but actually quite smooth and can grow up to 20cm long. The stripes and blue tail are picturesque of what a skink may look like but these are just juvenile skinks. In fact, as the skinks get older they lose the blue colouration of the tail and may be a grey to grey brown colour. A skink’s tail is blue because it gets the attention of a predator. It is a great trick because if a predator strikes at the tail the skink can drop it and dart off to safety. No need to worry about our little friend though. The tail will grow back soon after it has been dropped at a rate of about 6mm a week.

The Carolinian populations in Canada are endangered while the more northern populations are of special concern. The greatest harm to these speedy animals that they can’t out run is habitat loss. The destruction of Carolinian forests has lowered the areas for habitat dramatically. There are only four to five isolated populations in the Carolinian zone! Along with development and destruction of Carolinian forests, road mortality is another major threat the common five-lined skink is facing.

Now that you know a little bit about the common five-lined skink you can maybe catch a glimpse of one scurrying away under a log or boardwalk!

– J. Pickering (2014)

Species of the Day: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

This fascinating little bird only weighs between two and six grams! Their wings beat about 53 times per second! The ruby-throated hummingbird is the most commonly seen hummingbird because its range is large and includes central and eastern North America as well as northern Mexico. This common hummingbird is easily identified between other birds because it is so small and moves so quickly. There are some issues when trying to identify this hummingbird from an insect that looks quite similar though. This moth is named the hummingbird moth for a good reason, they look almost identical at a quick glance! Along with the hummingbird moth, another 17 species of hummingbird in North America and Central America are very hard to distinguish from the ruby-throated. They vary in throat colour, shape and flight patterns. The ruby-throated hummingbird is usually emerald green on the back, belly and head. The male has a red throat and white chest while the female has an all-white throat and chest.

If you think you’ve discovered a rare yellow throated hummingbird sorry to disappoint you but it is common! It may just be the ruby-throated hummingbird that is covered in yellow pollen from the flowers they were sipping nectar from. Nectar feeding involves sticking their long beak into a flower to slurp out the nectar from the middle of it. Being dusted in pollen is a good thing because they are pollinating many flowers across a landscape as they move from one to another!

A hummingbird feeder can be put up on to a hook pole along with other bird feeders in your own backyard to attract the ruby-throated hummingbird. They like an easy-to-make mixture of sugar and water! Try this simple little setup to bring in this magnificent bird for a closer look.

– J. Pickering (2014)

Friends of Rondeau – Annual General Meeting

Due to scheduling conflicts, The Friends of Rondeau AGM will be held at the Visitor Centre and is rescheduled for September 7, 2014 at 10:00am.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Species of the Day: Eastern Hog-nosed Snake

The Eastern Hog-nosed snake is known for its distinctive upturned snout that gives the species its name and makes it easy to identify. Their habitat includes fields, forests, beaches and old dunes.  When a Hog-nosed Snake is threatened it puts on a very unique display. It will flatten its head giving itself a cobra-like appearance and strike at you with its mouth closed. If that doesn’t work it will throw up on itself and roll around in it. Then it flips onto its back and sticks out its tongue and pretends to be dead. If you flip the snake over while this is occurring, it will flip back over again as if to convince you that it really is dead.

Hog-nosed Snakes mainly eat toads such as the American Toad and the Fowler’s Toad, but also eats frogs on occasion. It is believed that the elongated teeth that are present in the back of the snake’s mouth are used to puncture the toads who inflate their lungs in order to make themselves harder to swallow.

The hog-nosed locates its prey primarily by scent which is shown by the fact that they can locate buried toads and then use their shovel shaped head to uncover them.

Predators of the hog-nosed’s nest include foxes, raccoons, and other mammals and the adults are eaten by raptors and wild turkeys.

Much of the habitat of the Hog-nosed Snake has been destroyed and turned into waterfront recreational areas and agricultural fields. Humans are also a threat as they kill hognose snakes when they put on their defensive display as they are perceived as dangerous.  

– V. Nolan (2014) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Species of the Day: Coyote

Except for parts of Alaska, the tundra of northern Canada and extreme southeastern USA, coyotes are found virtually everywhere in North America. They have greatly expanded their range due to declining grey wolf numbers. Grey wolves are larger and more powerful and tend to exclude coyotes from their territory.

Coyotes are most commonly found in open forests and grasslands where they hunt small animals such as mice, vole, squirrels and birds. Coyotes generally form family-groups and tend to hunt in these packs. This allows them to split up with some chasing the prey towards others who are waiting to ambush it.

Coyotes have become so comfortable with human developments that most rural areas have become home to coyote populations. Coyotes can also breed with dogs and this makes them less afraid of humans which can often become a problem because they can kill domestic livestock. However, they seem to be able to live closely with humans without becoming a threat as they are shy animals who would prefer to avoid a confrontation with humans as wolves and humans are their only natural predator.

The success of coyote populations is due to their varied diet, early age of first breeding, flexible living requirements and high reproductive output as they can have a litter of three to ten pups in the spring.

– V. Nolan (2014)

 

*Gregg McLachlan is a nature photographer and entrepreneur from Norfolk County, Ontario. If you would like to see more of his amazing work, please click on the image above to be redirected to his site.

Species of the Day: Virginia Opossum

The Virginia Opossum is North America’s only marsupial which means that it carries its babies in a pouch like a kangaroo. Opossums are about the size of a house cat and use their tails to wrap around tree limbs and to help them balance. It is a common misconception that opossums hang from their tails, however their tails aren’t strong enough to hold them for a long period of time.

The opossum can have up to 25 babies which are the size of a honeybee when they are born, but only about 13 survive. The babies stay in their mom’s pouch for about 60 days before they move out of the pouch and spend four to six weeks on their mother’s back.

Opossums have very small brains so when they get too stressed out they become unconscious. When this happens they look dead so predators tend to avoid them. While this defense mechanism can be very beneficial against predators such as owls, hawks and foxes, it is not very beneficial when it occurs on the road. This causes many opossums to get hit by cars.

Opossums are omnivores and are nocturnal and use their keen sense of smell to eat things such as insects, small mammals, invertebrates, birds, fruit and carrion.

– V. Nolan (2014)

Species of the Day: The Monarch

 

The Monarch is one of the most well-known butterflies in North America and maybe even the world. The bright colours of their delicate wings are commonly seen on all sorts of wildflowers but mainly milkweed. These butterflies reside along roadsides, float in open fields and concentrate near riversides where the larval foodplant milkweed, is abundant. The adult female monarch will lay her eggs usually on the bottom of milkweed leaves to avoid detection from birds.

Monarch Butterflies rarely ever actually make the round-trip from the high up Mexican mountains to Southern Canada and back down to Central America. It usually takes four generations for the monarchs to make their migration. The young of the monarchs that overwintered in Mexico take flight and head north in late spring laying eggs where they stop. The second and third generations keep reproducing at their stops until the offspring reach Southern Canada. Only monarchs born in late summer join the fourth generation flying back down south to Mexico. Although they don’t make the full trip by themselves, one individual may still fly up to 8000 km in one year!

This tip will help you to identify the gender of the monarch you are observing on a milkweed flower in your own backyard. Male monarchs are actually easy to identify from the females because they have a scent gland (black dot) on the hindwing near the abdomen.  If you want to really impress your friends the Latin name is Danaus plexippus.

A commonly confused species with the Monarch butterfly is the Viceroy. This butterfly only has a couple slight differences including the size and pattern on the hindwing. The Viceroy is smaller than the Monarch and also has a rounded black line across the hindwing.

– J. Pickering (2014)

Species of the Day: Blanding’s Turtle

 

The Blanding’s Turtle is very easily identified by its bright yellow throat. It is a medium sized turtle. This turtle also has a very unique shell because it is dome shaped and resembles an army helmet. The bottom of the shell also known as the plastron, is rich yellow and is concaved.

These turtles live in wetlands filled with lots of water plants and shallow water. Although they spend most of their time in water when it comes to finding a mate or a nesting site they can be found far away from the water’s edge. Hibernation occurs from late October until the end of April in the mud at the bottom of permanent bodies of water like a lake, bay or pond.

Did you know?

The size of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Blanding’s Turtle population is impossible to estimate accurately, as only limited data are available.

Did you know?

It can take a female Blanding’s Turtle up to 25 years to mature. This long-lived species can survive in the wild for more than 75 years.

Did you know?

Unlike other Ontario turtles, the bottom shell is hinged so that some Blanding’s Turtles can completely close their shell after pulling in their head and feet.

Did you know?

The Blanding’s Turtle is a poor swimmer and normally walks along the lake bottom in search of food – aquatic insects, crustaceans, molluscs and vegetation.

– J. Pickering (2014)