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August 2006 Archives
Back in Orillia
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 27, 2006 at 10:49 AM
We're home again! It's great to be back, and it will be even better when Jenny, Amanda, Sean, and Britney get back from Ottawa late tonight- they've been up there for the last 11 days at the Ottawa SuperEx, putting on 3 programs daily plus having a display set up every day as well, so they'll be pretty happy to get home, too!
We're Home, at Least for the Moment
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 26, 2006 at 12:23 AM
We were in northeastern Ontario for a couple of days, having stopped to visit a couple of friends, Joe and Megan, who are doing small mammal trapping for the summer in the Kapuskasing area, on our way to Esker Lakes Provincial Park, where we did a program last night. As it turned out, Joe and Megan were staying at an Ontario Ranger camp, so we managed to fit in a reptile program for the rangers on their last day of the summer.
Blue Lake and Rocky Shore
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 23, 2006 at 4:56 PM
We're back in Ontario! I'm writing this entry from a rocky lakeshore north of Atikokan, where we have a program later today.
Breakfast Televison in Winnipeg
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 22, 2006 at 10:33 PM
We got into Winnipeg relatively late, and searched for a place to stay. Since we had to be downtown very early for a spot on City TV's Breakfast Television program, we had decided to find our first hotel room of our journey.
Narcisse: The World's Highest Concentration of Snakes
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 22, 2006 at 10:18 PM
After leaving Portage la Prairie, we took a side trip up to the famous garter snake hibernation site at Narcisse. Many people over the last few weeks have been asking us about them, and we recently spoke with someone who told us that the snakes have started to return to these hibernation sites, or hibernacula, already. So, we decided to check it out for ourselves. Considering we had only seen one live garter snake since leaving Ontario a month ago, it was pretty amazing to see so many snakes!
Prairie Skink Research with Dr. Pamela Rutherford
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 21, 2006 at 1:55 AM
We left Saskatchewan late Thursday night, after doing programs in Weyburn and Estevan, and drove over to the Spruce Woods area. We had arranged to meet with Dr. Pamela Rutherford, from Brandon University, who is conducting research on the prairie skink, early the next morning. Since we didn't arrive until very late (about 3AM), we just went straight to the study site and slept in the back of the van. The new fold-flat seats sure are great! We met Dr. Rutherford, her family, and one of her students, Jory, in the morning, and set off for the site to find some skinks!
Regina: CBC Interviews and an Unexpected Friend!
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 21, 2006 at 1:48 AM
We left the grasslands area on Wednesday to get to Regina. Although we wished we could have spent more time exploring the park, we were happy to be headed into the city to get some media exposure. We had set up a CBC Radio interview at noon, and a CBC television spot for the 6:00 news. It was raining gently as we left Val Marie- a fairly infrequent event as the area gets less than 30 cm of rainfall annually! We only got about half an hour north when we found an animal that had been brought out by the rain, a barred tiger salamander crossing the highway!
Short-Horned Lizard!
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 20, 2006 at 10:00 PM
On Tuesday, we had a rare day off! No programs at all! Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing to do- it just gave us some time to catch up a bit on blog entries, photo editing, clean and reorganize the van (much needed!), and things like that. We also went out on a hike in the park, and managed to find another species we were hoping to see- a Greater Short-Horned Lizard!
T-Rex Discovery Centre
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 16, 2006 at 9:58 PM
In 1991, a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was discovered near East End, Saskatchewan. It was subsequently excavated by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, and was a very significant find. Perhaps even more significant is that East End, a fairly small town, managed to raise $1.5 million dollars towards the construction of an educational facility all about the T-rex (now named Scotty) and other dinosaurs.
Mergel Ranch
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 16, 2006 at 9:45 PM
The Mergel Ranch (http://www.woodmountain.ca/market/ ) is a private 2500 hectare ranch just a little east of Grasslands. Besides the regular ranching operations, Judy Mergel operates a small campground at the ranch, as well as annual farmer's market weekends with live music and various other festivities. We were happy to stop in and present a program at the farmer's market, and had quite a turnout- about 250 people! We did some pictures of kids with snakes here, and received quite a few donations as well, totalling just over $210! That is really great, as our funding is very limited and any assistance with our travel costs is really wonderful!
Wagon Ride into the Badlands
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 16, 2006 at 9:10 PM
After our program at the Grasslands East Block party, we camped there with some of the staff so that we could go on a wagon ride out into the Killdeer Badlands which make up the bulk of the East Block area. The morning was sunny and cool; a great day for to explore the badlands! With two horse-drawn wagons and a few people accompanying us on horseback, we set off to explore this large tract of land that has only recently been added to the park.
Grasslands National Park: A Hike up the Butte
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 15, 2006 at 10:18 AM
Next we went south, towards Grasslands National Park. After an afternoon program in Ponteix, we made it to Val Marie, where the park visitor's centre is located. Grasslands is different from many other parks, in that it is relatively new, and has been acquired through purchasing private land such as ranches. Most national parks are huge blocks of land that were Crown land to start with. Grasslands has been pieced together, and the process continues today on a "willing seller, willing buyer" basis- if a landowner with the proposed park boundary wants to sell, the park is a guaranteed buyer, but there is no pressure, and the park does a great job of co-existing with its various neighbours!
Farewell to Megan
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 15, 2006 at 10:08 AM
After Maple Creek, last week we headed up to Swift Current, to do a program for the youth centre in town. After the program, we ran some errands, and then put Megan on a bus for a 44 hour ride back to Ontario!
Staff Profile: Megan Rasmussen
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 11, 2006 at 2:06 PM
Megan joins us this summer from the University of Guelph, where she is almost finished her biology degree. She is a member of the Wildlife Club, a group that is near and dear to our hearts since Jenny and I used to be members once upon a time. When I was in Guelph in January doing a fund-raising exhibit for the club, Megan came to Stone Road Mall and spent the entire weekend helping out. When our job posting went up, she immediately applied for a position!
Herping in Leader
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 9, 2006 at 9:59 PM
Before leaving western Saskatchewan, we had to spend at least a little time looking for reptiles, so we went with Gary up to the Leader area. We were hoping to meet up with Ryan, who until recently operated Scales Zoo in Leader. Unfortunately, the zoo is now closed, and we were not able to meet with Ryan, but we did manage to find a very small prairie rattlesnake and a small bullsnake. Of course, we were able to get some pictures of these...
Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 9, 2006 at 9:39 PM
Cypress Hills was the westernmost venue for our 2006 tour, near the border of Alberta. We got to the park very late, after doing the fireworks festival in Moosomin. One advantage of driving at night is the increased chance of seeing wildlife, though that can also be a hazard. We try to minimize driving at night in northern Ontario due to the risk of collision with a moose! That isn't really a problem in southern Saskatchewan, as moose are found in isolated areas here. We hear that hitting a cow is a possibility, but more so in rural areas than on the highway. Anyhow, that night it was a benefit, as Crystal got to see a cougar and a burrowing owl, while Megan and I slept.
Herpetological Garden, Maple Creek
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 8, 2006 at 6:45 PM
We're out of Cypress Hills now, lots to say about the park, but it will have to wait...
Moose Mountain and Moosomin, Saskatchewan
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 7, 2006 at 11:33 PM
We arrived in Saskatchewan Friday night, and went to Moose Mountain Provincial Park, which had a very nice campsite waiting for us. On the way out to Saskatchewan, we stopped at the Future Shop in Brandon, Manitoba, where I bought a laptop computer so that I can keep up with these dispatches once Megan leaves us this week. We're putting her on a bus in Swift Current so that she can get back to Ontario in time to start her Field Ecology course at Algonquin Park.
Riding Mountain National Park
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 4, 2006 at 3:17 PM
We delayed a few days in Manitoba to fit in a program for the Neepawa library. A couple of days off wouldn't hurt us or the animals, either. Neepawa isn't too far from Riding Mountain National Park, so we decided to check out this very cool spot!
Our First Plains Garter!
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 3, 2006 at 6:53 PM
While at Turtle Mountain, we saw our first wild Plains Gartersnake (Thamnophis radix). Sadly, it was dead on the side of the highway (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scisnake/206045563/). Yet another reptile that didn't make it across the road!
Turtle Mountain Provincial Park
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 2, 2006 at 11:15 AM
We spent the last few days in the area of Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. We did a show there, as well as at nearby William Lake Provincial Park, and in Melita at the Legion Hall and "The Bunker", a local teen centre. All went well; not large programs but it is a very rural area, and the park campgrounds are relatively small.
Some Praise We Received by Email
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 1, 2006 at 12:24 PM
We get various emails and comments from people we meet on the road. Questions are always great, too, if there's anything we can help anyone out with! We can't put them all up on our website, but this one was especially great!