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Virtual Tour: Ripple Rock Preserve - Part 2

26/6/2020

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This week, I returned to the Ripple Rock Preserve to tour the portion of the property on the south side of Highway 17. If you haven't yet read part one, you can do so here!

Three straight days of rainy weather this week prevented me from getting out until Thursday to tour the property. In order to beat the afternoon heat and get back for a 10:00am meeting, I arrived on site just before 6:00am. The sun wasn't poking up over the trees yet, so the lighting was still fairly dull. The photo to the right here is the view from Highway 17 looking at the wetland from about the west boundary of the property.
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The forest is very dense on this side of the highway, making navigating much more difficult and tiring. When I would stop to look around for wildlife or interesting plants, the mosquitoes would then be all over me, basically forcing me to keep moving. I knew I wasn't going to last long out there in these conditions! I worked my way the south end of the property to the open-water portion of the wetland.
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I spent some time standing at this location, looking to see what wildlife I could find. There were many Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles flying around, a common sight in wetlands around here. A Virginia Rail was calling from the other side of the wetland and various warblers were singing from the forest behind me. A Hooded Merganser flew in out of nowhere and landed in the water, as seen in the photo to the right. See that beaver dam behind it? That's the same beaver dam that a bobcat was seen crossing just a few days ago! You can check out the photo here. I obviously wasn't so lucky.
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Northern Blue Flag is in bloom right now and there were a couple of them right here as well. A very pretty flower! Then a Red Squirrel came running down a tree and started yelling at me, just like every other time I'm in the middle of nowhere. These forest squirrels aren't as friendly as the ones that come to my bird feeders!
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Just up from there, I found a great vantage point of the wetland. You'd never know there's so much open water back here based on what you can see from the highway! This wetland is part of the Kensington Complex, a provincially significant wetland. This means that it has extra protections against development and other activities that could compromise the function of the wetland. 
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After returning to the highway, I walked down to get a photo of the wetland from the perspective that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. No open water here, just cattails! In past years, Sandhill Cranes have nested in here. I did not notice them this year, but since I have been working from home, I drove by here significantly less this spring, so maybe I just missed them. In 2016, I was able to capture photos of one of the adults on the nest in late April, then in early June, both adults with their little colt! Sandhill Cranes usually only have one or two offspring each year and they sure are cute when they're this small.
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Thanks once again for reading my virtual tour. The weather forecast looks great next week, so hopefully rain won't delay me again.

I've added a few more photos from my tour below. The photos certainly aren't my best, but I blame the bugs!
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Virtual Tour: Stobie Creek Preserve

18/6/2020

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This week's virtual tour brings us to our Stobie Creek Preserve. This is an 85-acre property located just east of Desbarats where the Stobie Creek flows into the Portlock Harbour. Most of the property is forested with a pretty typical mixed of hardwood and softwood, much like most of the forests in our area here. The wetland portions are known as the Stobie Creek Wetland and is designated as a Provincially Significant Wetland, much like the Kensington Complex, which I've mentioned in numerous virtual tours. This designation gives the wetland extra protection from development or any other kind of negative site alteration. 
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I started my hike at the north end of the property from Bear Road and bushwhacked my way south. There were a lot of large trees that had fallen over the past few years from windstorms that I either had to climb over or find a way around. One fallen tree was so big that it created quite the large opening in the canopy after it fell, as you can see in the photo to the left. It'll be interesting to visit this location over the next few years and see if any new plants species take advantage of the abundance of sunlight that now shines here. 
As I hiked through the forest, I didn't find much out of the ordinary. Lots of warblers were singing from the treetops and the usual forest flowers were out, like Canada mayflower, bunchberry, and starflower. I did come across these interesting fungi though. I'm not sure what species they are and I may never know, as fungi are notoriously difficult to identify. I'll post them on iNaturalist though and see if someone does know!  
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I eventually made it down to the south end of the property, where there is an open rock face that overlooks the mouth of the Stobie Creek. What a view! This photo is another example of how high the water is in our area this year. Before the high water of the past couple of years, you wouldn't have been able to see any standing water in the actual wetland area like you do now. 
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Unfortunately, the nice view does not extend directly to the south over the Portlock Harbour. The two photos below give you an idea of how far south you can see from here.
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This open area did seem to have a little more to find than the forest did, in terms of insects. Here is a Little Wood Satyr, a species of butterfly, and a Racket-tailed Emerald, a species of dragonfly. Both of these were species I had never seen before, so that was exciting for me.
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From here, I worked my way down and around to get to the very south end of the property that does overlook the Portlock Harbour, although from at water level. The line of trees gives you another idea of how high the water is, as they've died from too much water.
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I saw two duck families from here! The first one below is a family of Common Goldeneyes and the second one is a family of Wood Ducks. Both mothers did an excellent job at getting their ducklings away from me as fast as possible. I wish I could've said sorry for accidentally disturbing them! 
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I hiked around through the forest some more, but the bugs were getting bad, it was getting hot out, and I wasn't finding much of interest. So I worked my way back to my car and drove around the public access point on the east side of the Stobie Creek so that I could take in the view of the wetland from this angle. The view is below!
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There were a lot of birds to be seen and heard here. Marsh Wrens and Common Yellowthroats were singing, Red-winged Blackbirds were all over, a Belted Kingfisher was making a racket, a couple Soras were calling, and Common Terns, a Caspian Tern, and an Osprey were fishing over the wetland. Then, all of the sudden, I heard a low, distant "coo coo coo coo" coming from the middle of the wetland. A Least Bittern! It called repetitively for the rest of the time I was there. If you're not familiar with Least Bitterns, they're a very small, heron-like bird that's super secretive. They are considered a rare bird for the area and is listed as "threatened" on the Ontario species at risk list. This is the first modern record of one within the TKC focus area and I'm excited that it's in a wetland that TKC protects! I managed a recording of it on my phone, which can be heard here. It's hard to hear, but it's best heard in the first few seconds of the clip.
As I was standing there, I caught some movement in the water out of the corner of my eye. It was a fish in the water! I managed some photos and it turned out to be a Pumpkinseed, a common fish species to find in a wetland like this. 

​Thanks again for taking the time to read my virtual tour! If you've missed any past editions, they can be found here.
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Virtual Tour: Black Hole Preserve - Part 1

10/6/2020

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The Black Hole Preserve is, in my opinion, the most fascinating property that The Kensington Conservancy protects. There seems to be an endless supply of interesting plants and wildlife to to see on this 200+ acre property. I will also be breaking this tour into multiple parts, as I could likely end up writing a dozen blog posts.

For today's tour, I started at the north end of the property along Highway 17. The first thing I did was check out the nesting boxes that we have here. Tree Swallows are currently nesting in one of the boxes, as seen below. There were no eggs in it yet, but I suspect they'll be laid any day now.
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The north end of the property is a semi-open area that was historically farmed. Ecological succession is taking place and many trees and shrubs are growing in the field now, but there's still a relatively large area that is still open. Many of the flowering plants that are found in this field are actually non-native to the area. Many non-native plants thrive in disturbed sites, and an old farm field definitely is a disturbed site. These species are not invasive though, so there's no real need to worry about them having a negative impact on the native biodiversity on the property.
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At the south end of the open area, I found some Eastern Tent Caterpillars. While their nests can be pretty "gross", contrary to popular belief, they are a native species and a natural part of the local ecosystem. They're actually quite pretty looking caterpillars, but in moth form, they're brown and plain. The solid yellow line down their back differentiates them from Forest Tent Caterpillars, which have spots down the back. Forest Tent Caterpillars go through 10-15 year cycles where they are really abundant and can cause significant damage, but they are also a native species. 
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In all the time I've spent out in nature in my life, I've luckily never run into a bear. I've seen plenty, but always when I've been in the comfort of a vehicle or house, or at least very close to either. Black Bears are definitely found on the Black Hole Preserve though. I've found their scat many times and often it's pretty fresh. This pine tree has had claw marks on it from a bear for years now and I always point it out when I take groups in for a tour. 
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After a quick trip through the treeline south of the open area, I made it to the wetland. This is a view that I'll never get tired of. The photo doesn't really do it justice either, it's something you have to experience in person. On a typical year, TKC offers guided hikes, at no charge, to TKC preserves, so if you're interested in seeing this yourself, let me know!
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After taking in the view, I looked down and realized that I was surrounded by Pink Lady's Slippers! There were well over a dozen of them right here. Also shown below is some Round-leaved Sundew. This plant is pretty hard to photograph, so you'll have to come see it in person someday to get a good look at it. They're a carnivorous plant! Insects get stuck to them, then the plant digests them. 
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The wetland is home to a variety of birds each year. While I didn't see any Canada Goose families on this visit, three adults came flying in. There were about half a dozen Wood Ducks flying around, but they were always too fast for my camera. Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere, as usual. Below is a photo of a male and then of a female, they look so different! They're also very territorial. They'll chase away any larger bird that they think is a threat to their nest. While I didn't get a photo of a Red-winged Blackbird doing it, I did get a photo of a Common Grackle chasing the Sandhill Crane that flew over!
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With the high water levels, I was unable to cross the wetland to get to the south side. The beaver dam that I normally cross was partially underwater! I'll need to bring hip waders next time. Luckily though, I was still able to walk along the edge of the wetland and make my hike a loop, rather than just walking back out the way I came in.

Below is a collection of some of the other flora and fauna that I observed on the property. Each photo has a caption describing what it is if you hover your mouse over it or click the photo.
Choke Cherry
Bunchberry
Orange Hawkweed
Silvery Blue
Starflower
Variegated Pond-Lily
Watershield
American White Waterlily
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Beaver lodge
Cedar Waxwings
Meadow Anemone
Four-spotted Skimmer
Snowshoe Hare
Sign of beaver activity
After wrapping up my hike, I headed over the the northeast corner of the Black Hole Preserve to the old bridge that goes over the Anderson Creek. Many of you have likely seen this bridge while driving by on Highway 17, but many of you might not have known that it's on TKC property. Anderson Creek flows from some small lakes north of here and empties out into Anderson Bay, just west of Kensington Point.
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While standing on the bridge, I could see maybe a dozens bumblebees buzzing around this blooming choke cherry. There were at least two species of bumblebee here, the first one is a Tricoloured Bumble Bee and the second one is a Common Eastern Bumble Bee. I've personally seen 6 species of bumblebee around here, but there's been 14 recorded on iNaturalist for the Algoma District. Next time you see one, try to take a picture and see if you can identify it! 
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Thanks again for taking the time to read my virtual tour, I hope you enjoyed it! Below are some more scenic photos of the wetlands here, should you be interested in checking them out.

Stay tuned for next week's tour!
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