Morning rituals - deer friends, wolves

Our mornings have settled into a new routine.
Firstly, feeding Doh, Ray, Me.


The feeding is nice entertainment. Yesterday, when I went out, the yearling came to the feeder, while momma was watching me and drooling. I didn't take my camera out, and missed the shot. Great gobs of...well, you get the picture anyway, dripping while she assessed by danger to her and her babe.

Hubby grabs the mail!

Next part is hustling across the highway to fetch the newspaper from the mailbox.

We figure that once we can't run fast enough to escape the cars speeding on the highway, we have to move somewhere else!

She watched me carefully

They paw at the grass buried under the snow

Even the fence bark is chewed

Poor buds - nibbled

One professional photographer, John E. Marriott, has been 

Photographing Banff Wolves II

I am content to go out much after dawn to photograph my deer! I captured a shadow of a wolf last month. I was content with that!

But I must search for some burlap with which to wrap my baby trees! I don't know how the previous owners managed their gardens, plus the 14 deer we've seen at once, but they did. They disappear once the snow disappears, we found this out after last week's melt.  Soon turned up once the snow fell again, seeking our grass and feed.

Wolf in the shadows

Christmas turkey count: 28


Yep! There were 6 turkeys that morning, 28 by the afternoon. I couldn't believe it! Scratching away in the snow for bird seed (0:30). At 1:50, the turkeys stopped, moved into the forest after our 3 deer went scrambling across the gully up the hill. I watched, and spotted a wolf (2:20). I couldn't believe it. All I caught was a shadow of it.

Back to the good old days

My spring bulbs grow, coffee at hand

I loved sitting in the morning and reading the newspaper. At least, that was the theory. Usually I was at school at 7 a.m., and home by 3, perhaps out having a workout to relieve stress. Maybe, in my clouded, out of focus rear mirror, it was in the evening I read it!

When we moved from Ottawa (Nepean) to Bala, Muskoka, we were out of luck. I mean no newspaper delivery. Not the Globe & Mail, not the National Post, not the Toronto Star, Toronto being a mere 2 hour drive south. None of them.

The local Metroland paper came in the mail, with many inserts, but not the closest major paper, The Toronto Star. We would buy it on Saturdays. But with an entire section devoted to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), it really didn't apply or interest us.

In Perth, just to the north of us, one of my clients gets the Globe delivered. I was excited. No luck. I decided to go for broke and have the Ottawa Citizen delivered. I cannot abide reading a newspaper online. Is it just me?

Snowy morning, traffic speeds to work

I like sitting there, discussing issues with my beloved, cutting out interesting pieces, researching it later. For example, the day before we had ordered the paper, an article was printed about the wild turkeys introduced to build up the extirpated species. I was shocked. I might not have spotted it, being labelled a 'science' issue, and buried in the subpages of the online edition. Now, I don't know about you, but I failed science. My daughter has her M.Sc., and so I don't feel too badly. She is my resources for things scientific. She mentioned this article as she knew we had had 28 turkeys on Christmas day.

Surprise - who was under the spruce tree

This morning, since hubby goes out to feed the deer, who are usually standing staring in at us, heads hung, with an empty feeder, I figured he might as well go down to the end of our drive and fetch the paper. Mind you, this was my gift to him. And it was a good gift. We can go back to the good old days when we discussed issues in the paper, debated politics, and drank that first cup of coffee in the day.

Oliver was not amused. He sat, slowly turning from black fur, to white snow waiting for that dastardly red squirrel, then went after the birds. All he caught was snow.

Oliver goes at it

Oliver the little black devil.
First the squirrel...

Then the deer!


The turkeys were a riot yesterday, too.

☃ Snow, snow, snow ☃

What a difference a day makes... 24 little hours! ♪♫♩♪♫♬ 

In two days (Jan. 2nd) the snow melted

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*•♥•✿•☆:*´¨`*:..:*´¨`*:.☆•✿•♥•*¨*♪♫•*¨*•¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*•♪♫

By Jan. 4th the snow, and the deer were back!

Deer feeding in Perth, ON from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wild turkeys in Ontario

Wild -- or not -- about turkeys


More than a decade after they were reintroduced to the forests of Ontario, experts are still divided on whether the prolific bird is a boon or a menace, Tom Spears wrote...

This is from an Ottawa Citizen article in Monday's paper. I guess it is a blessed relief reading about nature, MNR policy, and our tax dollars at work.

Australia's floods, Chile's earthquake, deaths in airplanes, murder and suicide bombers seem all too common. Success stories are great to read.

Yet, Spears did not represent both viewpoints. Some would say he did not present the truth. In fact, Karen Bellamy, Manager at MNR, tells me this isn't true and that many supported the reintroduction, and the it was the eastern wild turkey that was reintroduced.

Having written about this before, Wild Turkeys


 (about the reintroduction of turkeys into Ontario), I found that our American neighbours sent us a number of turkeys. The hunter's federations were the motivators, but reintroduction of extirpated species, cycle of life, All God's creatures, and all, seemed to be a good thing.


The article in The Citizen seemed a bit off to me. It suggested that the MNR didn't bring the 'right' species, i.e., the originals, a introduced a hybrid, and it has been ruining farmer's fields. I did some more research and found this:
([PDF]) Proceedings of the 9th National Wild Turkey Symposium

As this symposium stated:

Ontario stats: 

• 24,000 in 1999
• 55,000 in 2004 with a 129% increase in population from an Eastern subspecies.
• 80,000 in 2010

One section, by Karen Bellamy (Manager, Species at Risk at Ministry of Natural Resources; MNR) reported at the 2005 Wild Turkey Symposium:

• within Ontario MNR has contributed to the growth of Ontario’s wild turkey population. In total, 4,400 birds.
• Wild turkey restoration efforts began in 1984, and by 1987 a total of 274 birds were transferred into Ontario from 6 U.S. states. 
• Active trap and transfer were trapped and released at 275 sites in Ontario between 1984 and March 2004 (Malhiot, 2005). 

History of Wild Turkeys in Ontario

The eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is native to Ontario and was historically common in southern parts of the province. It was extirpated from the province by 1909 due to unregulated hunting and the clearing of forests for agriculture in southern Ontario.

There is sound scientific basis for protecting the wild turkey and its habitat and for providing a sustainable harvest. Challenging issues will be 

• social, political, and economic (changes driven by growth and demographic changes in the human population). 
• Biological challenges, climate change and introduced species, are directly linked to human activity and much less tractable than the issues the wildlife profession faced in the past (Jenkins 2003).

Primary management concerns were 

• Weather, food availability, and habitat limitations. 
• Nutritional value of winter diets is inversely related to snow depth, with ground diets dominated by acorns or corn of highest metabolizable energy. (Perkins)

Now, the Citizen article says that our current estimates population of 80,000 turkeys arose from the introduction of 400 turkeys. My research told me about 4400 were harvested from 5 subspecies.
With hunters only permitted to be taking 3 per year, the population has swollen.
"The Birds of Canada, Canada's authoritative bird encyclopedia, says the turkey was probably gone from Canada by 1902 because of loss of forest habitat."


And what is the purpose of turkeys, of it is not to balance the cycle of life? If the purpose was only for the hunters, then that is another issue. Here in SE Ontario, I have 7 acres of forest, and lots of the critters. The Citizen article states:
These non-native, introduced hybrids represent subspecies (especially those from the central and western United States) that naturally occupy open scrubby land. They are a good apicultural choice, but represent lousy, inappropriate and destructive conservation and species management.

Seeing as we have has 6, 15 and then a group of 28 visiting our feeders, perhaps they are surviving well here in our forest! Don't all poultry scratch the soil? The deer are much worse than the turkeys!
I sent the Citizen article liink to Karen Bellamy, and her response:

"Interesting article, but full of inaccuracies and misinformation from my perspective.  The turkeys in Ontario represent one of the greatest wildlife success stories that we will ever see in our lifetime.  This species that was extirpated in the province and in most of North America has been brought back from the brink of extinction and I think that is something that should be celebrated, not criticized.  If we could only be so lucky with many other species at risk.

Many naturalists do not share the view that the restoration of this native species to the province was a doomed plan or a bad idea.  In fact they were very supportive all along.

I do understand the complaints from farmers and have spent considerable hours investigating many of these.  While turkeys can do some damage to crops, it is generally minimal and not even in the same league as the crop damage that deer and raccoon can do.

There has been extensive work done on turkey genetics and the birds in Ontario are not some funny hybrid, but are the real McCoy.    The wild Turkeys that were used to restore the species in ON were pure Eastern Wild Turkeys, the same subspecies that was in the Province historically.   In fact, they likely have the greatest genetic fitness of any wild turkey on the continent, due to very careful planned movements of birds across southern Ontario."

Research, further reading...
([PDF])

Proceedings of the 9th National Wild Turkey Symposium

• Allison, R. M. 1976. The history of the wild turkey in Ontario.
• Canadian Field Naturalist 90:481–485.
Malhiot, M. 2005. 2004 Ontario wild turkey status report. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
• Marshall, I. B., and P. H. Schut. 1999. A national ecological framework for Canada 
• ecostrat/intro.html . Accessed 11 May 2005.
• Nguyen, L. P. 2001. Feasibility of transplanting eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) on the Precambrian Shield in central Ontario. Thesis, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
• Nguyen, L. P., J. Hamr, and G. H. Parker. 2003. Survival and reproduction of wild turkey hens in central Ontario. Wilson Bulletin 115:131–139.
  • Wild Turkeys (my blog post)

  Thanksgiving turkey (my original post!)Oct 11, 2009

Deer aleaping

We were greeted with another snow storm. All of the green grass covered up, the deer scratch away at the snow on the surface to get to the grass below.

All of the snow melted in two days. Now it is back! Lots of accidents downtown. Glad to stay home today.

Sady is content to remain indoors.

One deer stands in front of the shed, where the feed is stored. Another stared in the door at JB hoping he'll get the hint and put out food.

The video shows the deer and their wonderful lords-a-leaping style of locomotion. From feeding at the trough, to bouncing across the snow. Such entertainment!

The important things in life for 2011

Close eyes, gamma...

Family
A soft place to fall
Warm hugs
Something to hope for
Somewhere to go
People who laugh with me when I dance
Someone who knows my name
Anticipatory fun
A soft place to fall
Someone to catch me

Got it!

Someone to give hugs

Someone who'll just sit with you and keep you company
Something to cuddle

Someone for whom we can write a poem

When someone knows my name

Grampa let me help him open his present

The joys of being a girl in 2011

Laughing
-with me!

Mommy having fun

Somewhere to go

A soft place to fall
Someone to catch me!

Jean-Luc's poem:

For Christmas we bought you

Things for your bar

An olive remover

Fork for a jar

The trinkets you see here

Are only a start

Another awaits you

From here you depart

Go to the garage

And under the stairs

You’ll find your present

For your downstairs!

(We bought him a wine  rack, and had to store it under the stairs!)

I wrote him a poem

And then there is the down side...sharing his room. Oliver hides under his bed, while his allergic sister (Caitlin) sleeps in his room.

Grumpy gave up his room for the kids!
He pouts...

Perth, Lanark County, Ontario

We are having fun fitting into Lanark County. Read about the events in the: 'Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario!'

Lake Effect has been following us from Muskoka (rememberSnowmageddon?) to Perth.

Lanark Country has an interesting past. Fences that cannot be sunk in limestone bedrock. Interestinggeology and history, with officers granted 600 acres of land.

Fences that cannot be sunk in limestone bedrock. Interesting geology and history, with officers granted 600 acres of land. 


The big amalgamization in the 'Common Sense Revoloution' (1995 - 2003) shocked many of us across the province.

It had made a number of regions far too large in m estimation.


Victim Services - an excellent resource for those facing trauma.

Drummond/North Elmsley is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada in the County of Lanark. It is situated on the north shore of the Rideau River between the town of Perth and the town of Smiths Falls. The township covers 364.78 km². It is a predominantly rural municipality.

[edit]Communities

The township comprises the communities of Armstrong Corners, Balderson, Beveridge Locks, Cook's Shore, Craig Shore, Drummond Centre, Ebbs Shore, Elmgrove, Ferguson Falls, Glenview, Innisville, McCreary's Shore, McCulloughs Landing, McNaughton Shore, Port Elmsley, Prestonvale, Richardson, Rideau Ferry, Robertson's Shore and Wayside.

• Official town site
• The Perth Citizens Band - Canada's oldest continually performing band
• Downtown Heritage Perth
• Run in a kilt - celebrate 800th annisversary of sister town in Scotland
• The Perth Town Crier's Web Site - contains history, news and photos of the area
• Stewart Park Festival - one of the major festivals in Perth
• ecoPerth - a non-profit organization promoting the town's sustainability
• Classic Theatre Festival, professional summer theatre

Demographics

According to the Canada 2006 Census:

• Population: 7,118
• % Change (1996-2001): 6.7
• Dwellings: 3,237
• Density (persons per km².): 19.5

[edit]External links

• Township of Drummond/North Elmsley
• Riding Profile

Interview courtesy of Lake 88 (www.lake88.ca).

Contact Us - Perth

Town Hall, 80 Gore Street East, Perth, Ontario, K7H 1H9 Telephone: (613) 267-3311 ...edevlin@perth.ca. Ed McPherson, Councillor. 613-267-3311 ext.2239 

OTHER KEY CONTACTS  

Perth & District Chamber of Commerce

Visitor Information Centre
34 Herriott Street
Perth, Ontario Canada K7H 1T2
Phone: 613-267-3200 or 1-888-319-3204
Fax: 613-267-6797
email:welcome@perthchamber.com 

Web: www.perthchamber.com

Downtown Perth B.I.A.34 Herriott Street
Perth, Ontario Canada K7H 1T2
Phone: 613-264-1190
Fax: 613-264-8541
email:dhpbia@superaje.com

Lanark County Tourism Association
P.O Box 37 Sunset Blvd.Perth, Ontario, Canada K7H 3E2
Phone: 613-267-4200 ext 145
Fax: 613-267-2964
Internet: www.lanarkcountytourism.ca
email:  tourism@county.lanark.on.ca

Too Asian?

*This article was originally titled “‘Too Asian’?” For Maclean's response to the controversy it has generated, click here. 
Maclean's has now retitled the article:
*The enrollment controversy

Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada. The phrase “Too Asian?” is a direct quote from the title of a panel discussion at the 2006 meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling where experts examined the growing tendency among U.S. university admission officers to view Asian applicants as a homogenous group. The evidence suggests some of the most prestigious schools in the U.S. have abandoned merit as the basis for admission for more racially significant—and racist—criteria.

Mr. Layton, the freshman councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina (Toronto), proposes to consume valuable time at the new city council’s very first business meeting with a demand for an apology from Maclean’s magazine. Seconded by Kristyn Wong-Tam of Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale, his motion recommends that “Toronto City Council disassociate itself from the views expressed by Maclean’s in its article entitled ‘Too Asian?’* and request that Maclean’s apologize unreservedly for the negative stereotyping of the Asian-Canadian community.”

I hardly know what to think of this item. Maclean's has gone downhill since it has shortened the depth and breadth of articles. It read more like People than a Canadian journalist newsmag. That said, you get what you pay for.


What a Toronto city council has to do with a national magazine, I don't know.  Secondly, the title is meant to attract attention to a bizarre trend in the US of racially streaming students, and deselecting merit as a criterea, it arose from the name of a conference. This has slipped by many who complain. In fact, the point of the article seems to slip from many minds.


Education and the cultures around it differ around the world. As with any system, a work ethic makes all the difference. We know that Asian countries have more controls around who goes to which schools. You must study your way into a 'good' school. Discipline and hard work makes for higher marks. The value of education and culture and attitudes towards it differ by many factors. It varies by country, ethnic group, region, towns and communities. That said, within one classroom you can find a wide range of attitudes by family and the students you teach. We do know that what you put in comes out. 


We know that parents continually for for or against homework, field trips, extracurricular activities, too much work, or too much play, too little or too much parental involvement, and so on. I found that the best students were raised in a climate or hard work, caring, and family investment in the process, as much as my efforts. Kids who like to work and play, live and learn. Kids who had a goal and a dream and achieved it.


Too much pressure results in tragedy, too.

The thing is that  'Suicide Rates Rising Among Asian Americans'

At Cornell University, for instance, 13 of the 21 student suicide victims between 1996 and 2006 were Asians or Asian Americans. That picture is not complete unless you consider that Asians make up of only 14 percent of the total Cornell student body.