So in the Frontenac area we had a busy weekend at the Perth Music Festival and the Smith Falls Chocolate and Railway festival, but after that it was great to have Monday as a day off on the road. The rest of the staff at our centre came to Murphy's Point to visit, and we had a fun day in the sun, hiking around the park. We only had two programs the next day, before heading home for a week.
Now we are on our second day in the Long Point area, on the North shores of Lake Erie, after what was a bit of a shaky start. The three of us haven't travelled very much with the van and trailer before, but after a couple of electrical issues when we left home we seem to be getting the hang of things! A big thanks to a gentleman from Brampton who was kind enough to help us out along the way.
This unfortunately meant we had to reschedule our visit to the Bayham Public Library to next Tuesday at 5pm, but we made it fine to our next two programs and were able to stay at Port Burwell Provincial Park for the night. We are now parked at Turkey Point Provincial Park, and will be using that as home base for the next few days.
The interesting thing about the programs now is the number of animals that we are talking about in our programs. Long Point is just such an amazing place to find reptiles that we have to include more species than any other place we have been to so far! With turtles, for example, it is possible to find 7 of Ontario's 8 species of turtle around this area. At our programs we are talking about three main ones, but everyone seems to agree that the Spotted Turtle is one of the cutest animals we travel with. They are one of Ontario's smallest species of turtles (and Eric's favourite, by the way), and have bright yellow or orange spots all over their head and shell. They are not often seen though, because the usually come out earlier in the year, and are very picky about where they live - they like bogs and swamp like areas. There's not many areas like this left though, so it is fantastic that they can still be found around here.
Robin
Here we are, back from our week in the Frontenac area – and what a week it was! We had a very busy schedule of 20 shows in 7 days, but met some great people and saw some amazing places. We unfortunately also had a bit of trouble finding internet access for updates – so let us apologize for our lack of blogging.
We started out from Orillia on Wednesday morning with the trailer in tow. We had a smooth (though long) ride into Lyndhurst, where we were greeted by an enthusiastic group – some of whom had actually seen Black Rat snakes! Black Rat snakes are the longest species of snake in all of Canada, but unfortunately can only be found in 2 areas in Ontario – one being the Frontenac Region. These snakes also have a special body shape that allows them to climb trees by wedging their muscles in between tree bark. One person even mentioned that they had watched one climb up to a nest to eat a small bird. Brittany, Eric and I had never seen them before in the wild, but after all we heard from these people we started imagining we might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one in our travels. They are a threatened species in the area, so they are not too easy to find, but we still had hope.
I am sad to say that our first sighting came only about an hour later, on our way to the second show of the week. At the side of the road we all saw our first Black Rat snake, already hit and killed by a car. It is incredibly unfortunate that tons of snakes and turtles get hit on roads every year, continuing to shrink their already small populations. It’s important that we keep watching for these animals as we travel, so that we can hopefully prevent some of these road deaths.
The only other place in Ontario where Black Rat snakes can be found is on the north shores of Lake Erie – where we will be heading next week! They are an endangered species in that area, and are in even more need of protection.
After this first, lighter day of shows we went into three days straight of four programs a day, from libraries to festivals to provincial parks. Our travels were somewhat exciting due to our lack of travel experience in the area, but we quickly learned how to navigate the nearby towns and how to find turn-around spots when we went the wrong way. Our navigation skills have hopefully greatly improved over the past week, which will make the rest of the summer that much easier!
More Frontenac stories to come soon . . .
Robin
Home Sweet Home! It's been great to be back on the Bruce- the place I call home. I've been showing Robin and Brittany around the Peninsula, and all my old haunts. We've been seeing a lot of my old friends, including some of the reptiles that can be found on the Bruce. It was fun to be playing to an audience who is from the same area as me, and therefore has a similar understanding of nature to me.
One of our many stops was the Tobermory library, which is tiny and quaint. They had a giant book about the "wonders of the world" which was amazing. We then had a great dinner of all you can eat fish and chips where the musician who was performing kindly let me borrow his guitar to sing a song. Following this, Brittany dared me to jump into Georgian Bay, and I was glad to oblige. Friday was an action packed day including Sauble Beach library, the Owen Sound library (I got to see my mother and some friends there) and a pavillion on the beach in Lion's Head. Owen Sound was quite the adventure as I was trying to see as many people I knew as possible (one of those rushed "visit everyone trips") and we had a schedule to keep.
On the way from Owen Sound to Lion's Head, we found a snapping turtle on the road, and pulled the car over quickly to help it across the road. These turtles are a common sight all around Ontario, especially in the spring. We helped the turtle safely cross the road so that she could lay her eggs. She was snapping to defend herself from the "predators" she could see. It is important that while you help these amazing animals across the roads you look out for your own well being as well. Though most turtles can be picked up to move, the snapping turtle has a strong jaw and is very defensive on land. We usually suggest putting a stick near their face for them to snap on to, and you can pull them across the road to safety.
On the note of turtles, we have been getting lots of stories about people taking turtles off of the roads and keeping them as pets. These people have good intentions, but the extent of our relationship with these wild animals should be to take them off of the road in the direction they are going, and let them continue on their journey. The wildlife needs to stay in the wild.
This trip has been great; getting to head home and teach people here about the animals that live right in the area is awesome. I also got the chance to talk about my favourite kind of turtle (anyone know what that is?) and see my old friends. It's served as a great introduction to a fabulous summer of road trips around Ontario. I look forward to seeing everyone in Kingston!
Eric.
After several weeks of scheduling and training, this summer's round of Reptiles at Risk on the Road shows are finally underway! We will be making our way around southern Ontario this summer, which means that instead of one long trip we will be having shorter roadtrips broken up by time at home with programs nearby. So far we've only been doing local events, north around Georgian Bay and east along the Trent-Severn Waterway.
We did fit in a few school shows before everyone finished for the summer (and got a few more sets of surveys to add to our data - yay), but Canada day was really our first full day of travel as a team. We started out at the Midland Canada Day festivities and arrived at the same time as the parade - which unfortunately meant that we couldn't drive into the park where we were supposed to be. After some strategic driving around looking for another way in, we finally parked and carried our two boxes of animals between the three of us, train-style. This meant we were able to watch the parade as we walked though, and once we were in we had a good crowd for the program.
After this slight hiccup our day went quite well! We next made our way over to Parry Sound which also had a great turn out, and it made Brittany's day because she was able to get a nice new orange water bottle and pet a zebra (mammals are okay too)! We were also at Oaster Lake Provincial Park in the evening, where our group was small but enthusiastic, and made for a great end to the day.
Brittany, Eric and I are thrilled to be joining the project this summer, and are looking forward to hitting the road! This Thursday will be our first road trip, spending about three days on the Bruce Peninsula. Eric used to live in the area, and we are all looking forward to a chance for some visiting and exploring in between programs. Our later trips will include the Kingston area, Long Point, Chatham and Windsor. It's going to be busy, and it should be a fantastic summer!
Robin