What a busy weekend it has been! Ontario Parks’ first ever Healthy Parks, Healthy People Day was a huge success despite the light rain in the morning. With over 550 visitors at the Visitor Centre, it was definitely a great day! Thank you to everyone who came out and supported this great cause!
Local Conservation Officers were on site to answer questions.
We have a lot more awesome programs coming up this week. Check out the activity sheet below!
Call the Visitor Centre at 519-674-1768 if you would like more information about any of our upcoming events!
Come meet the superintendent of the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Program! The Coast Guard protects a huge region and helps keep people safe on our waters! Join Peter to learn about this important service and hear some amazing search and rescue stories!
#HPHP Day has been a great success so far here at Rondeau. We’ll be sure to post pictures from all the exciting events soon!
Just because today’s events are winding down, doesn’t mean this exciting weekend of programming is over! Tomorrow we have many more fun activities, including two special events that we want you to know about!
From 10am-12pm behind the Park Store, you can join the VC staff, along with a few officers from the local OPP and C-K Police detachments for a bike rodeo. Come by and learn about bike safety and complete a fun bike obstacle course. Don’t forget your helmet!!
At 9pm, head over to the playground for a special presentation from Peter Garapick, who is the superintendent of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue program! Peter will shed some light on what the program is all about, and share some amazing search and rescue stories! Don’t miss out!
Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is Healthy Parks, Healthy People Day across ALL Ontario Parks! This means FREE DAY USE and tonnes of fun activities!
Like…
A 5km Fun Run (starting at the Visitor Centre at 9am)
A Guided Hike (Spicebush Trail at 10am)
Yoga on the Beach (Beach Access 10 at 10:30am)
Guided Bike Hike (starting at the Visitor Centre at 1:30pm)
Children’s Program (all day at the Visitor Centre)
a BBQ lunch to support the Friends of Rondeau
and much much more!
We hope to see you all there! Call the Visitor Centre for more information (519)674 1772.
Rondeau’s Natural Heritage Education team has some great programs ahead! From movies under the stars, to owl pellet dissections, to children’s programs and guided hikes – there is something for all ages!
Check out the activity sheet below to plan your week!
School is almost done for the summer! If you are looking for fun, educational activities to keep the family busy – look no further!
Starting Friday, June 26th, the Visitor Centre will be open from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily. We have lots of awesome programs for people of all ages – so check out the activity sheet below!
This year, Ontario Parks is celebrating the 1st annual “Healthy Parks Healthy People Day” across the province. Numerous studies show that spending time in nature greatly improves physical and mental health in people of all ages – and what better places to enjoy nature than in our beautiful Provincial Parks! For that reason, Ontario Parks is inviting everyone to enjoy FREE DAY USE in any Ontario Park on Friday July 17th! To help kick-off HPHP Day in Rondeau we have planned some special activities including a 5km Fun Run, yoga on the beach, a guided bike hike and much much more! For more information on HPHP Day go to www.ontarioparks.com/hphp or call the Visitor Centre at (519)-674-1768.
Wow! What an amazing month we’ve just had! Our annual Festival of Flight was a huge success. The Visitor Centre was bursting at the seams on most days and during the two weeks of the Festival we had over 6,000 people through our doors! We had many awesome sightings during the migration as well, with a Kirtland’s, a Brewster’s and some very reliable Prothonotary Warbler’s being the highlights. A huge thank you to everyone who came out and reported their sightings and made this festival so enjoyable! We would also like to thank Reuven Martin (our bird hike leader extraordinaire) who took over 250 people on bird hikes and gave them an unforgettable experience! And last but not least we would like to thank the Friends of Rondeau who sponsored this event and kept the coffee flowing and the soup hot for all of our hungry birders.
We will miss our birding friends (humans and birds alike), but look forward to next year when the spring migration brings you back again!
Kirtland’s Warbler photo by: Chris and Chris Applegate
During the month of May there was one question that was asked almost on a daily basis…and it wasn’t about identifying a tricky warbler, it was about a weird “flower” seen along various trails in the park. At first we were stumped, until we went out and looked at this odd flower for ourselves and realized that it wasn’t a flower at all, but a small sapling opening its leaves. It was a Shagbark Hickory tree, and yes, it did look like a large, red flower.
Shagbark Hickory photo by: Gary Fowless
Shagbark Hickories are quite adaptable and can be found growing in many soil types, from sand to clay, from wet to dry. In Rondeau, you can see Shagbark Hickories growing on the higher ground within our swampy forests. Look for medium-sized trees with the characteristic grey, shaggy bark that curls away from the trunk in large pieces. In the spring, it is the inner bud scales which expand into showy, red bracts that look like the petals on a flower. Hickory nuts are a main food source for squirrels and chipmunks that have no problem breaking through the tough shell with their sharp incisors. Some species of woodpecker have also mastered this skill. Throughout history, humans have enjoyed the nuts as well. Native Americans mixed pounded hickory nuts with boiling water to make a sweet, creamy liquid known to some tribes as pocohicoria (it is believed that the name hickory comes from that root). Early pioneers found the trees equally useful and left only the hickory trees as they cleared the surrounding forests. Tulip Tree Trail is a great place to look for both young and old Shagbark Hickories.
With warmer weather on the way, the Visitor Centre staff are busily preparing for the busy summer months. In June the Visitor Centre will be open every Wednesday – Sunday from 10:00am – 4:00pm.
We hope to see you all out to our June programs and once school’s out on June 25th we will start into our full summer program schedule – stay tuned!
If you have been out on the trails this spring, you may have noticed that something is missing – part of South Point Trail! Over the winter, the southerly portion of South Point Trail was lost to the lake. For safety reasons we recommend that hikers do not attempt to cross the missing portion of the trail.
Various shoreline erosion devices have been tried on the south beach of Rondeau over the years, many of which are now offshore under several feet of water.
Please exercise caution on South Point Trail while we look into a solution.
Are you planning on migrating to Rondeau during the month of May for our annual Festival of Flight? Check out some of the activities we have planned so you can better plan your visit. We can’t wait to welcome back the birds and the birders they bring with them!
See you all soon!
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