Today’s post comes from Rick Stronks, the (now retired) chief naturalist at Algonquin Provincial Park.
As winter weather rolls in, Black Bears are bedding down for hibernation.
Here are some interesting facts about these seasonal deep sleepers:
Category: Nature Knowledge
Health benefits of dark skies
Today’s blog comes from Senior Marketing Specialist Sarah McMichael-Chen.
My most memorable camping memory didn’t come from a crackling campfire, a panoramic lookout, or a stunning sandy beach.
It happened at 3:00 am at Lake Superior Provincial Park.
As I stumbled out of my tent for a late-night bathroom break, I noticed something different about the sky above me. There were stars.
A LOT of stars.
Stars over Killarney 2023 recap: a marriage of culture, beauty, and science
Stars over Killarney is an annual festival celebrated at Killarney Provincial Park. The event’s 2023 theme — Colours in the Cosmos — was inspired by the parallels between the beauty and the colour in provincial parks and the beauty and colour of the skies above.
And beautiful colour was found everywhere at this year’s event!
The program took a very hands-on approach, so what was being presented could easily be seen and captured by paintbrush or smartphone.
Continue reading Stars over Killarney 2023 recap: a marriage of culture, beauty, and science
Tracking the mysteries of migration
Today’s post comes from Bronte Creek Provincial Park Discovery Ranger Hannah Stockford and Darlington Provincial Park Piping Plover Student Jax Nasimok.
Once upon a time, bird migration was a great mystery!
Early ideas about migration by philosophers and scientists from hundreds of years ago were quite unusual. They varied from thinking birds hibernated in the mud at the bottom of lakes to flying to the moon!
Now we know most birds that migrate do so to find food, or travel to seasonal habitat or reproductive grounds.
While our understanding of migration is limited, with new technologies like Motus, humans are on the right track expand our knowledge in order to better understand and conserve migratory wildlife.
Dragonflies: the ultimate prehistoric predator
Today’s blog came from Hope Freeman, Discovery leader at Grundy Lake Provincial Park.
Gather round. I’ve got a creature of the night that is sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up…just in time for spooky season.
Picture this: you’re lakeside, with the sun just setting on the horizon. You catch a glimpse of something lurking in the shallow, weedy water below.
A drab aquatic insect appears with six long, jointed legs, each equipped with two claws.
Two large eyes and a jaw that covers most of the bottom part of the head…seemingly peering back at you.
Continue reading Dragonflies: the ultimate prehistoric predator
Surviving with sounds: the Luna Moth’s story
Today’s post comes from Senior Park Naturalist Kelsey Fenwick from Blue Lake Provincial Park.
For many, the Luna Moth’s beautiful appearance is a special sight that elicits a sense of curiosity and wonder. For the Luna Moth, its appearance is a clever trick to avoid becoming a bat’s snack!
The first time I spotted a Luna Moth as a child, I was fascinated. I wondered if I had discovered some kind of fairy or other magical creature!
It was the first time an insect had ever caught my attention and curiosity.
Continue reading Surviving with sounds: the Luna Moth’s story
Rise of the clones
Today’s post comes from Cara Freitag, past park naturalist at Neys Provincial Park.
When I first sat down to write this post, I felt doubt about whether or not people would want to read it.
“Who cares about plant rhizomes? Why would anyone read that?” I asked myself.
Well, I care about plant rhizomes. After all, they’re the reason we have a forest!
Squirrels for sale: the incredible history of squirrels at Rondeau
Today’s post is by Jess Matthews, the chief park naturalist at Rondeau Provincial Park.
One hundred years ago, there was a lot we didn’t know about managing parks.
The idea of maintaining ecological integrity is relatively new. Ontario’s first parks were primarily established for recreation and tourism.
During the first half of the 20th century, wildlife was often seen as a tourist attraction or a nuisance. There was little understanding of how animal diseases spread, or how local populations were adapted to the places they lived.
Because park managers didn’t know about any of this, some animals found themselves packed up and shipped off far from their homes.
This is the story of squirrels from Rondeau Provincial Park that, due to their fashionable coats, traveled as far as the White House lawn.
Continue reading Squirrels for sale: the incredible history of squirrels at Rondeau
Is that lichen killing those trees?
Today’s post comes from Cara Freitag, a past Park Naturalist at Neys Provincial Park.
There are many misconceptions about nature: climb a tree to escape bears, moose are friendly, coolers are strong enough to prevent bears getting your food.
Before I became a naturalist, I thought that all insects were bugs, not just the Hemiptera order. My cousins in Germany thought that every Canadian had a pet Polar Bear!
None of these things are true.
Big mammals tend to get most of the attention, but there are misconceptions about smaller organisms too.
We have many visitors at the Neys Visitor Centre wondering: “Is that lichen killing those trees?” (Don’t worry, the answer is no.)
Community science with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere
Today’s blog was written by Discovery Program Project Coordinator Jessica Stillman.
This summer, Grundy Lake Provincial Park, Killbear Provincial Park, and The Massasauga Provincial Park collaborated with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere (GBB) to host bioblitzes within the world’s largest freshwater archipelago.
What is a bioblitz? In short, it is a community science event for recording different species within a certain location and time.
For these events, park visitors, Friends members, and staff from both Ontario Parks and GBB came together to inventory living things by uploading them to iNaturalist.
Continue reading Community science with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere