Saturday's Critters

 When did it get to be Saturday again?! We are taking great joy in watching our critters. I say 'our' as if we own them, but we are happy to watch them, watch over them, and share their antics. 

We've had an uptake in critters on the cameras, as they seek food, look for winter yards, and deer hunting season ramps up. Sadly, hunting season is here. When we lived in Muskoka we would all be very aware of the seasons and avoid walking on Crown Land. Here, I prepare just so I know what the guns are about. Our neighbour hunted, he's since sold, and we could hear it. We had our property properly marked so he'd know his boundary. 

Of course in Muskoka there was moose hunting. We don't get many moose here. We had to make a special trip to Algonquin Park for that.

First you figure out your Wildlife Management Unit on the  WMU map. We are 67. Then you go to the Deer season (Nov. 7 - 20 here). 

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

I hope you liked my chipmunk video yesterday. (I've never seen a chippie doggie digging!) Here are Clover and her boy.

 

clover and fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wait until the end when the fawn bounds into view! We should have a name for the fawn, but once he grows a tad, we may not be able to ID him!

I'm thinking the baby porcupine has taken over Fred groundhog's den. Fred has disappeared, I haven't seen him in a few days or week. (You know how time passes!)  Josephine has named the baby porcupine (porcupette) Charlie! I like that. 

baby porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

↑ Oct 18 in the backyard. What is fun is that Clover and her fawn come into the yard. The fawn seems interested in the baby, but loses interest, happily! They all go back to grazing. The porcupine just ignores all of us!

↓ Just for comparison, this is the adult porcupine we saw in the front yard Aug. 20!

 

porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And the tabby who visits us. 😼Oregano

 

oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Saturday's Critters # 462

Moose and deer are in rutting season: beware

Gentle, huge creatures.

Deer and bears scamper across the roads. The moose just stand there ignoring you!

 

Collisions with animals winter 2012/13

Slow down, people.
This week a 68-year-old man died when his car rolled - after hitting a 1000 lb. moose. Animals are on the move.

We have two deer carcasses in nearby ditches. There have been many reports of deer collisions, as they are more common here in southern Ontario.

In rutting season, deer are frequently crossing the highways. Moose, in south eastern Ontario are infrequent, but they are out and about. If you have ever driven through Algonquin Park, you'll know that they step over guard rails, and pretty much ignore traffic.
We drove through Algonquin Park early one morning, on our way to greet our newest granddaughter in May, 2010. Moose were out and about. They are massive, impressive gentle creatures.

Slow down and...

• Be vigilant
• Scan the ditches
• High beams help, use them, but lower them when another car approaches
• Know that one deer is usually followed by another
• Be aware that dawn and dusk critters are on the move
• Be aware of oncoming traffic and driving conditions
• Avoid swerving, you may drive into another car
• Understand that you won't win in a collision with a deer, moose or bear:

This is a guest post, by a Muskoka resident:

dead deer in the ditch

We were at the hospital for 8 hours. She had no broken bones, did not need any stitches but we helped the nurse remove between 50-75 pieces of chard glass from her face. Her eye glasses most likely saved her eyes. Unfortunately she did get jolted hard enough to prompt a whiplash and suspicion of a mild concussion. She is back to work part time but has many Doctors appointments to deal with all her aches, pains and headaches.

1. Driver killed in collision with moose on Hwy. 417 in east end Ottawa Citizen: Collisions with moose aren't common in Eastern Ontario because there isn't a huge moose population in the region.

The car's passenger, an Egyptian university student, survived:
Moose crash survivor believes 'someone is watching over me'
Ottawa Citizen
Despite the severity of the collision, Hazzi came out of it with few injuries — a large gash on his head, a few scratches on his hands and a “huge pain” in his shoulders. “I believe someone is watching over me,” he said. Moose and deer are both in rutting season.

Grants and Federal and Provincial Parks

I visited Algonquin Park as a child!
Don't you love the glasses?!

 I've visited  20 parks, that I can recall. Algonquin Park was my first!

There is a difference between Federal and Provincial Parks, but we are blessed with a fair number of natural places to visit. Both have Learn To Camp programs and journalists seem to have a hard time differentiating them. No matter. They are parks!



Federal vs. Provincial and Public Ownership
Less than 11% of Canada's land is in private hands ; 41% is federal crown land and 48% is provincial crown land. The YUKON, the NORTHWEST TERRITORIES and NUNAVUT are administered on behalf of Canada by ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT through the Territorial Lands Act and Public Lands Grants Act .

The wonderful volunteers picking up garbage 

at the side of the road in Algonquin Park were very busy. 

Wish we'd had time to help!

Who Owns Park Land?
The provinces sold crown land to homesteaders, farmers, business owners and granted land to demobilised soldiers (200 acres for enlisted settlers and 600 acres for officers); regulated the use of resources: forestry, mining, furs; manage recreational land use such as fishing, hunting, camping. (Read more at: Ghosts of the Day 1, Ghosts from the Day - Part 2, | Ontario Visual Heritage Project. Much harm was done in places like Georgian Bay, where for-profit clear-cutting logging conflicted with the fishing industry. Silt destroyed spawning grounds in Georgian Bay, ruining a way of life for all. Some park lands were expropriated from landowners in the early development of parks, such as the local Lally Family in MPP.

Sharbot Lake in her fall colours

Bon Echo visitor crosses the road

Friends of Ontario Provincial Parks are community-based, non-profit groups what help fundraise, and support the activities of parks. They support the interpretive, educational and recreational objectives of our parks. All have a volunteer board of directors, general members, and/or volunteers.

Many non-profit groups apply for government grants to support volunteer work, hire employees. This is why there is a Board of Directors, to ensure that, as Transfer Payment Agency, money is spent wisely and according to Canada Revenue laws, good governance protocols and fiduciary responsibility .

The beauty of this, is that hard-working volunteer fundraisers are not hampered by Ontario Parks, Federal Parks cutbacks, or Capital Expenditures funds. Grants are numerous:

Sandbanks Provincial Park photos

a) Trillium Grants  b) Cultural Strategic Investment Fund grant c) Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund Grant: Valley Heartland, to name a few.

By the way, if you are interested in reading about park life from the view point of a park ranger, make sure you read Nevada Barr's books. She is a mystery writer, also an experienced USA Park Ranger, and sets each book in a different US park. Make sure you read them in chronological order, as she develops her heroine/main character (Anna Pigeon) over the series!

Pancake Bay

Murphys Point Park

Silver Lake

Lake Superior Park

Prince Edward County
Lake on the Mountain,
Sandbanks Park

Yes, I drove
the Gargantua Bay road

 

Sparrow Lake - Federal

Mamainse Harbour -Federal

 

Blind River -Federal

Dodging wildlife, avoiding collisions, my moose

Moose are on the move, as are bears and deer.
These are moose we spotted in Algonquin Park 2 years ago. It took some time and effort, and a stay in a motel nearby, then an early start!
It was well worth it, despite the dang mosquitoes.

You can see where they suffered with ticks.

I've written lots about this issue: Deer collisions in Canada: costly economic toll. Having found a deer carcass in our ditch, while doing my spring cleaning, and having come across another carcass, while biking last year, it concerns me.

Beer, deer, moose, all of these critters are huge, heavy and can cause terrible damage to people, themselves and things.

This is a guest post, by a Muskoka resident:
We were at the hospital for 8 hours. She had no broken bones, did not need any stitches but we helped the nurse remove between 50-75 pieces of chard glass from her face. Her eye glasses most likely saved her eyes. Today there is little evidence on her face that she was in an accident. Unfortunately she did get jolted hard enough to prompt a whiplash and suspicion of a mild concussion. She is back to work part time but has many Doctors appointments to deal with all her aches, pains and headaches. 


 The Mile Hill area on Highway 17, north of Sault Ste. Marie, has been identified as a high wildlife collision area. This is where the MTO has installed special systems.

There are several things the MTO is doing. Here is one report from Today's Trucking...

Dodge the Deer: Wildlife-Detection System Means Safer Roads
Today's Trucking News
NORTHERN ONTARIO — The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is taking some extraordinary (and quite space-age) measures to cut down the number of truck-animal collisions.
This type of wildlife detection system uses infra-red motion sensors to continuously monitor the highway right-of-way. It detects the presence of large animals, such as deer, and automatically triggers a warning device, a flashing light, to alert the travelling public.

This one ran across the road in front of us
near Gravenhurst

Also, here is a study
Deer tracked with GPS in Ontario study
Natural Resources and Trent University are in Eastern Ontario tracking deer.


Avoiding deer collisions
CHCH News
Just last week in Stratford there were 21 deer collisions in less than a week. Ontario's transportation ministry says 11 people died from wildlife crashes.


Time for Hiburrrrnation
LOCAL2 Sault Ste. Marie
According to the North American Bear Centre, website, the Ontario Black Bear is one ... There are currently 75,000 to 100,000 Black Bears in Ontario. They can weigh up to 500 lbs!

Ontario Highways –human and animal collisions in Ontario

backyard buck

Two recent highway new reports involving three events:

Hwy 417 blocked to traffic near Boundary Rd after two accidents Sunday

Ottawa Citizen By Kirstin Endemann November 6, 2011 OTTAWA — Highway 417 eastbound at Boundary ... vehicle accident involving a deer, Ontario Provincial Police reported. Two teens in hospital, and 4 taken in in a previous 3:00 a.m. incident.

Bear slams side of vehicle

spotted her across the road

Brockville Recorder and Times
More common are car-deer collisions, and Bisson said two of those in Grenville County on the weekend also did not cause injuries.

The collisions both happened on Highway 416 on Sunday night, in the northbound lane about four kilometres north of Highway 401. The first was reported at 10 p.m. while the second happened a half hour later.

And another in Muskoka:

Women dies after colliding with moose

SHAWANAGA – A Hamilton woman died last Wednesday night after a collision with a moose.
The accident happened on November 2 at 8:40 p.m. on Highway 69, three kilometers south of Bah Sa Gim Road.The roof was peeled off of her car. The moose found dead 25m away.

From the MTO

I find it interesting: This writer, as a result of a collision, calls for highway measures to be put in place.

"Bambi, Pastoral Symbol of Nature or Destructive Road Hazard by Reg ...

Cornwall Free News

A rate of 1 deer-car collision every 38 minutes and an average cost of $3171"

 
BTW This statistic is misleading. Most incidents occur in late spring and fall.



I'm not sure that fencing is the answer. I found some data on this web page:

The King's Highway: HIGHWAY FAQs
For example, Highway 17 is 2,000 km long. 

Q.	How many miles of highways make up Ontario's provincial highway system?
A.	The Ontario Government presently has 16,500 centre-line kilometers (10,248 miles) of roadway under its control. Until the municipal transfers of 1997-1998, Ontario had about 21,500 kilometers (13,354 miles) of provincial highways.

 

This guy let me take an intimate photo

Moose can weigh up to 600kg, according to Hinterland's Who's Who. For anyone who has driven through Algonquin Park you know that they do not fear you, and are drawn to the ditches. They will stand with front legs on one side of the road-side barrier, rear on the other.

Amazing creatures the moose

Humans are so quick to take over the ecosystem, yet we have to respond to the natural cycle of the seasons. We know they are on the move, especially in November.

Moose are in season!

This being the season for capturing moose in photos, I feature these photos.

It was last year that we took some trips through our incredible Algonquin Park to hunt for moose, in between helping the children with the new baby.

I am against those hunting for sport, illegal in the park.

Many use moose to supplement family nutrition. This makes sense.

Cottage season is about to begin. The citiots will soon return to the open waters of our fair province.

For more information, a blog friend sent me data.

The election, with the Conservative Party of Canada rising to a majority, and the New Democratic Party now being the official opposition, I wonder what will happen to our Canada.

I respect that families are as diverse as the population of our country.
I value cities and rural areas. This makes Canada interesting.

I value our farmers, but wonder about the right to bear arms, clear cut the land, or run cows by rivers. We must value farmland, water ways and forests.









My first moose sighting, May 7, 2010, a year ago. It was the day my daughter phoned us in the morning, celebrating our 2nd granddaughter's birth! We left the house around 7 a.m., and hightailed it to see them.