Bats

Bats are nocturnal flying mammals that feed at night and can be found in both city and rural locations.  During the day, they roost in caves, in holes or leaves of trees, in attics or in abandoned buildings.  Although they look like a little mouse with wings, they are not related to mice at all, as most people think.  Most bats are very tiny with the smallest ones weighting 1.8 grams (weighing less than a dime).  It is their wings that make them appear larger, but their body size is generally quite small.  They range in size, with the largest ones being flying foxes which are located in the tropics.  Their life span is usually 4-8 years, although they can live longer than this. They emit a high pitched shriek or shrill call that is undetectable to human ears.

Some bats have larger ears and have very good hearing and some have a type of sonar that allows them to find their prey at night.  If they have large eyes and small ears, then sonar is probably not as important to the bat.  They usually hunt for food around ponds, marshes, streams, damp ditches and on the edges of wooded areas.

Bats are migratory in nature and follow the insects south in the winter. They will look for moist, warm caves to hibernate in the winter, so that they don’t dry out, and they do not eat while hibernating.  They need quiet and peace in winter so it is best not to disturb their hibernation places as this could be destructive to their survival. 

In total there are close to 1000 different species of bats in the world, but in Ontario there are 9 different species of bats, the most common being the Little Brown Bat and the Big Brown Bat.      They mate just before they hibernate, are warm blooded and give birth to live young.  Most brown bats have only one baby per year, although it is possible for them to have two.  They carry their babies on themselves at first and feed them milk. 

There are some myths out there that bats will get caught in your hair, attack and bite you or suck your blood.  There is such a thing as a Vampire Bat, but it is not located here in our country. So no, they don’t suck your blood and they won’t get caught in your hair.  They will however fly close to humans to catch insects attracted to humans and if feeling threatened, they will bite to defend themselves, and they do have very sharp teeth so it is best not to antagonize them. 
 
People automatically assume that if a bat doesn’t fly away it is sick and possibly rabid, but this is not necessarily true. One of the reasons that they don’t fly away, is that while resting, bats drop their body temperature and before they can fly they must warm up and this can take as long as 30 minutes.  During this warm up time, they shake and vibrate.

Although Bats can carry rabies, rabid bats usually lose their ability to fly or do not fly well.  They rarely become aggressive.  Careless handling of bats is the primary source of rabies exposure from bats. Although the percentage of rabid bats is low, any bat should be approached with caution just in case. The major predators of bats are owls, red tailed hawks, snakes, skunks, racoons, and of course humans who sometimes hit them with brooms or tennis rackets.

Black Bear

We do live in bear country, although they are not always visible. We had a reminder of that recently when a young bear decided to investigate one of the garbage boxes, in broad daylight, along North Shore Road in the East Basin of Loughborough Lake. Probably most of the long term residents of Loughborough Lake have heard of bear sighting incidents at one time or another. They may have also seen them. Typically this does not happen often although there is some evidence that sightings may be increasing. A story that was reported in the Whig Standard in 2010 talked of sightings that year in Bath and the north and west end of Kingston. The Whig Standard stated: "Ministry officials do not think the bear population is expanding. Instead, they suggest development encroaching on traditional bear habitat is at the root of the increased number of sightings.

"As development continues, people are bound to have more interaction with bears," said Jamie Prentice, of the MNR.

A bear nosing around a berry patch in the back 40 of a farm might not be worthy of note; one poking around a suburban garage is. Supporting the theory is the fact that many of the bears being seen are young and are opportunistic eaters rather than skilled hunters.

"Yearling bears ... are moving away from the sow -- their mother -- for the first time," Prentice said, "so it's not unusual to see them out and about looking for an easy feed."

This appeared to be the case in this instance. The bear tried unsuccessfully to enter the garbage bin from the hinge side - this was a slightly stronger than normal box, being clad in metal - and then resorted to overturning the bin and getting at the garbage that spilled out. Several nearby residents spotted the bear, and in a couple of cases, people delayed their morning commute to come back and get cameras or neighbours to witness the event. One neighbour was walking her small dog, off leash, towards the end of the lane and the garbage bin and bear. Fortunately she spotted the animal before her dog and was able to leash the dog and reverse course without incident.

It doesn't take too long before the novelty of the situation wears off and the realization occurs that there could be a problem. The following is from the Ontario MNR website on Bearwise:

"Most problems between black bears and humans occur when bears are attracted by the smell of and rewarded with an easy meal. When bears pick up a scent with their keen noses, they will investigate it - even at your cottage property. If bears are rewarded with feasts of bird food, garbage or pet food, they will return as long as the food source continues to be available. It takes all cottagers working together to eliminate these attractants and to stop bear problems."

They go on to recommend that garbage be put in containers with tight fitting lids and only put it out on garbage day and not earlier. Use bear resistant containers. Do not store garbage in plywood boxes (which make up most of the lane way garbage bins), old freezers or vehicles. They even recommend that if you are leaving cottage country on a day that is not garbage day then take your garbage home with you.

In case of nuisance bears contact 1-866-514-2327 or in the case of an emergency contact 911.

Coyotes

We live in Coyote territory. Yes, the coyotes do live in our area and they are here to stay.  It is the Eastern Coyote who is most predominant in our area. The wolf population prior to 1850 was extensively hunted by man and as the wolf population decreased, the coyote population expanded. 

The Eastern Coyote is a hybrid species – a mix of Western Coyote and Eastern Wolf. The Timberwolf or Grey Wolf is mainly located in Northern Canada and is the largest of the species ranging from 80-125 lbs.  The Eastern Wolf located in mainly northern areas like Algonquin Park is a bit smaller ranging from 45-75 lbs.  The Eastern Coyote (the main one in our area) is the smallest of the species ranging from 30-45 lbs.  Since the Eastern Coyote is a mix of Western Coyote and Eastern Wolf, you may see a larger coyote in our area as well.  What we see and hear are mainly coyotes and not wolves. 

Coyotes mate for life.  If one of the pair dies, they find another mate.  Coyotes generally breed once per year, in February.  The pups are born approximately 2 months later in April or May.  The litters range in size from 3-9 with the average being 6 pups.  After one month they leave the den to start investigating outside and 3-4 months after birth, they learn how to hunt.   In the fall, the pups leave the parents to find their own mates and to establish their own territories.  Because they do not stay with the parents or in the parent’s territory, the number of coyotes in any given territory does not increase.  

Up to 50% of the pups do not survive the first year.  If they reach adulthood, they have a better chance of survival.   The life expectancy of a coyote ranges from 8-12 years with an average being 5 years.

Coyotes are very territorial.  Each territory houses one mated pair of coyotes and their pups (up until fall).  Then only the mated adults remain in the territory.  The size of the territory depends on the amount of food supply.  In an agricultural area where there is not a lot of food, there may be 20-40 coyotes in a 100 sq. km. territory.  In an urban area or anywhere there is an abundance of food for them there may be 100 coyotes in a 100 sq. km. territory.  It is all dependent on the amount of food.  When more food is available, the territories can become much smaller.

Most of us have heard the yipping and howling of the coyotes.  Howling does not always mean they are hunting or have just made a kill.  It is their way of communicating with their mates and pups to let them know where they are while hunting or travelling alone.  It also lets other coyotes know that this territory is taken and to stay out. 

Depending on their size, the average food requirement per coyote is approximately 1 kg/day.  Their main diet consists of rabbits, birds, small mammals such as squirrels, moles or mice, amphibians, grasshoppers, wild berries and fruit.  And yes they will eat vegetables in a vegetable garden.  They do like deer, especially if it is wounded or young and if they kill a deer, and have lots of food, then they can fast for a while.  And yes, they will eat cats and small dogs.

Coyotes can adapt to any environment where there is an abundance of food.  This includes urban areas.  They are often found in city parks where squirrels are plentiful, in industrial parks, in abandoned properties, and wherever garbage is stored or freely available.  Some people intentionally feed the coyotes and this is not a good idea, because once the coyotes learn that food is easily available in a certain area, they cannot unlearn it and will continue to come back to that area.  They generally stay in bushy areas during the day and do their hunting and scavenging at night.

If there is not an abundance of natural prey and livestock such as sheep or chickens are available, the coyotes can become a problem for farmers. They are opportunistic hunters and will kill livestock if it is freely available, especially when natural prey is scarce.  

It is permitted to shoot a coyote that is killing livestock on your own property, but not on anyone else’s unless you are a licensed trapper or hunter or animal control person authorized by MNR.  You do require a small game license to hunt coyotes and hunting them is open season all year long in Southern Ontario.  Do check with your municipality though to make sure you are not breaking any municipal bylaws by hunting in your area especially near an urban area.  

It is illegal, however, to poison them or cause them undue suffering.  So if coyotes are causing a problem for your livestock, and you don’t want to hunt them, contact MNR and get a person authorized by MNR to deal with your problem.  If you have a problem with coyotes killing your livestock, call MNR for information on what to do.  Some municipalities will come to investigate and if it is proven that coyotes are killing your livestock, there may be a compensation plan for farmers. 
 
Remember that coyotes don’t want confrontation.  They are simply wild animals trying to survive, to eat and to feed their young.  So to discourage coyotes, there are several things you can do.

Keep Your Garbage in closed containers or inside until garbage day.  If you can, put your garbage out the morning it is to be collected.  They hunt and look for food at night.

Be careful with compost.  If it is freely available, it will attract coyotes because they like fruit, vegetables, meat and eggs.  So keep your compost in a closed compost container.

Do not put food out and intentionally feed them.  This will keep them coming back for more. Once they learn there is food in a certain area, they will never unlearn it.

Fishers

The Fisher is a member of the weasel family and it got its name from the European Poul Cat that the French called Fitch (pronounced Fiche).  This developed into the name Fisher.   The males, slightly larger than the females usually weigh about 15 lbs while the females who tend to be a bit smaller, are in the range of approximately 9 lbs.  They are dark brown ranging to almost black in color. Twenty years ago our area did not have any Fishers, since Algonquin Park was the furthest south that they ventured. Their range of locations had been greatly diminished, especially in Southeastern Ontario, due to logging, overharvesting for fur and predator control.

Since 1999 they have begun to recover their numbers and their range of locations. The Fishers in our area have mainly migrated from the Adirondaks, coming across the St. Lawrence River.  Fisher numbers have increased in Southeastern Ontario since the 1950’s, because the forested area has increased, mainly due to the reduction in farming.  Many of the farms were subdivided, sold off, and allowed to go back to natural forestation. 

This has attracted back the Fishers as they prefer densely forested areas with a wide variety of both deciduous and coniferous trees with big trees which often contain their dens.  Southeastern Ontario is also attractive to Fishers because it has a good supply of diverse food sources.  Fishers are solitary animals and live alone except that the females who stay with their kits for about 6 months,  spring until fall. Once they are two years old, females mate and have their young in the spring months, usually producing from 2-4 kits per year.  This is a good time for this process as food is plentiful.     

Fishers are very territorial and males will fight with males and females will fight with other females in their territory.  Males and females don’t fight even if their areas overlap, and female territories are often smaller and inside male territories. They are considered generalist predators.  The mainstay of their diet is rabbit and porcupine.  However, they are scavengers and will eat deer carcasses, and road kill as well as turkeys, birds, raccoons, snakes, fruit and berries.  The chances that they will attack your cat or small dog are not high, but letting your pets roam the woods at night is generally not advisable in our woods. That said, these beautiful creatures are not nearly as dangerous as their almost mythical name implies.

Leopard Frogs

The below is an edit of an original article by Cataraqui Regional Conservation Area.

Not that long ago, leopard frogs were the most abundant and widespread frog species in North America. It was hard to visit a marsh, stream or pond with­out coming across a number of these interesting looking spotted frogs. Since the 1970s, however, massive declines in Canada and the United States have significantly reduced their num­bers. The declines are attributed to a combination of eco­logical factors, such as pollution, deforestation, habitat loss, lawns and mowing and pesticide use. 

They are more sus­ceptible to changing environmental factors than most species be­cause of their highly permeable skin that absorbs any toxins in their surroundings. Because these frogs are extremely sensi­tive to chemical pol­lutants, they are often used as an ecological indicator species. This means that biologists studying particular ar­eas are able to judge changes in pollution, disease, habitat, etc. by studying the frog population in the area.

Northern leopard frogs are named for the array of dark spots that adorn their backs and legs. They are green in color with a white under­side and light-colored ridges on either side of their backs. Their range is most of northern North America, except for the Pacific Coast. They generally live near ponds and marshes, but will often spend time in well-covered grass­lands as well, earn­ing them their other common name, the meadow frog. In winter months, they avoid freezing by hibernating underwa­ter in water bodies that are deep enough to prevent freezing solid.

Northern leopard frogs will eat just about anything they come across. They sit still and wait for prey to appear, then pounce with their powerful legs. They eat beetles, ants, flies, worms, smaller frogs, including their own species, and even baby birds and garter snakes. Northern leopard frogs are preyed upon by many different animals such as foxes, snakes, raccoons, other frogs and even humans. They do not produce distasteful or poisonous skin secretions like many species of frogs and instead rely on speed to evade predation.

At Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area as well as other Conservation Areas in the region, these frogs can be found close to ponds, streams, marshes, reservoirs and lakes. They can also be spotted in fields or heavily for­ested areas, especially if there are streams nearby. To track them down, it is best to lis­ten for a short snore-like call during spring and early summer. This is the sound of the male frog looking for a mate as breed­ing season is the springtime.

While the numbers of Northern leopard frogs have signifi­cantly declined over the past few decades, this species is not yet considered at risk in Ontario. If you want to help them recover, please be sure that you do not mow your lawn short, or perhaps at all in the late summer, especially near waterfronts. Help support a healthy population of crickets in your garden in August.

There are a number of envi­ronmental groups that have frog watch programs aimed at improving the native habitats of frogs in Ontario. If you would like to get involved or receive more infor­mation, please visit Frog Watch at na­turewatch.ca or the Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conserva­tion Network at www.carcnet.ca

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird

One of our most compelling summer visitors keeps itself aloft in air that, to it, must feel more like maple syrup. The reason this bird does not soar through the air like a Bald Eagle is because it is, well, very, very small. It is in fact one of the smallest birds in North-America: I am speaking of course of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. 

Being small poses special problems to these birds as they try to stay aloft. This is because flight, whether it be by an airplane, bird or insect, requires a certain speed to prevent the air from sticking to the tips of the wing. The smaller the wings, the harder it is to achieve this speed. You can see this effect when you blow out a candle: the hot smoke molecules rise up in a straight column because they move too fast to mingle with the surrounding air. As the smoke cools higher up, it slows down into a turbulent viscous mess that does not support flight. 

The hummingbird has made a few remarkable adaptations to combat this problem. Like an insect, it rotates its wings in a figure eight at the incredible pace of 80 times per second, producing lift on both upstrokes and downstrokes at sufficient velocities. The rough feathery surface of its wings helps it further reduce the turbulence at its wingtips. Beating its wings at this pace allows it not just to fly, but also to hover when still, like a little helicopter. 

Just like a helicopter, the hummingbird needs a high-octane fuel to maintain this activity: the sugary nectars produced by our flowers in spring. To obtain it, it manages to migrate over 3000 kms twice a year. By January, it takes off from its overwintering spot in Central America to travel northward in search of nectar. According to a recent study, special adaptations in the retina of the hummingbird’s eye may provide it with a compass that allows it to "see" the earth’s magnetic field as it finds its way back to where it was born. It uses this and the elevation of the sun to time its arrival, usually within a week from the beginning of May. This is when the weather is warm enough to spawn the first spring flowers, and when the risk of a night frost has become low. For when it becomes too cold at night, their small bodies cool more than those of other birds. On a cold spring night, hummingbirds must therefore engage in another remarkable adaptation: they briefly hibernate (torpor), shutting down their bodily processes for just one evening. 

Although its ability to hover is a perfect adaptation for drinking nectar from a flower, it is not just the nectar that the hummingbird is after in spring. Like many birds, the real reason it times its arrival so precisely is because of the abundance of airborne insects at this time of year. It makes for a perfect time to lay a tiny clutch of eggs and raise offspring here, where there are fewer competitors for this source of food. For hummingbird chicks need to power the growth of their muscles, and this can only be done with the protein provided by an abundance of insects caught by their parents. It was with great surprise that I witnessed a hummingbird catching an insect this summer, and with great agility, too.  

Indeed, when hummingbirds were first dissected in the mid-19th century, they found no nectar in their stomachs, but flies, gnats, wasps, aphids, beetles and other insects, often 50 individuals or more, propelling the belief at the time that this was their sole source of food. This insight changed only when a special bypass at the beginning of the hummingbird's stomach was discovered. It allows nectar to flow directly into the gut for faster processing. 

Today, the thought that hummingbirds only rely on nectar is common. It led me to engage in one of my great summer pleasures: to feed hummingbirds with a mixture of 4 parts water and 1 part refined sugar in a glass feeder off the window of my cottage. I boil a new mix weekly, cleaning the feeder with vinegar to remove any moulds that might upset the bird's fragile stomach. It is a delight seeing hummingbirds hover near this artificial flower right in front of me. At times they even fight over it, performing all sorts of aerial acrobatics to ward off unexpected visitors. 

Feeding hummingbirds in this way has, however, always felt like a bit of a guilty pleasure. The feeder does not resemble a flower at all, nor does the sugar water resemble nectar. Am I doing the right thing? Should I allow the hummingbirds to sort out their own food at the risk of them leaving my yard? It was only recently that I learned I need not have worried. Not only do hummingbirds eat insects, the nectar from flowers is not their only source of sugar. They also drink the sap of our very maple tree. Hummingbirds, in fact, track Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (not to be confused with Hairy or Downy Woodpeckers) as they bore holes in maples in search of sugar water. It is this behaviour that allows hummingbirds to safely negotiate the woods of North America on their way back to Central America in fall without running out of high-octane fuel. It made me feel a little better about feeding them, as the ability to drink tree sap is, perhaps, a more important survival tool for this amazing species of bird than any of its other remarkable adaptations. 

The co-evolution of insects, hummingbirds, sapsuckers and maples shows that ecologies are always more complicated than we think. We need to not just take care of the species we love, but also of their support networks. To have these amazing birds return for our own offspring to witness we must therefore stop using insecticides in our yard, stop cutting down maples for real estate developments, and treat our woodpeckers well by leaving rotting trees standing. In fact, we need to start admiring the very insects that bug us. For the flight dynamics of their tiny wings are considerably worse than those of the hummingbird's.

The Hooded Merganser

Every spring, as the ice starts to break up, flocks of migratory waterfowl gather in the small ponds that slowly open up the ice flow on our lake. The first cracks often appear near bridges and creeks, and that's where the waterfowl gather, exhausted after often flying several thousands of kilometers. Gradually these ponds grow larger, eventually returning to us the lake that we lost to winter. One species in particular, is dear to my heart: the Hooded Merganser, or Hooded for short. First described by Linnaeus in 1758, it is not classified as a merganser, but as the only extant species of Lophodytes. Its male is perhaps the most beautiful duck in all of North America, with its white on black crest after which it was named, its serrated beak and bronzed pectorals. A sexually dimorphic species, the female looks rather drab by comparison. Her priority is, after all, not to dress to impress, but to brood on her small clutch of eggs undetectably.

Back in the eighties, my father kept Hooded Mergansers in a small pond behind the house. He was one of the few people in Europe that knew their secret to breeding: their insectivore diet. Unlike regular ducklings, Hoodeds do not enjoy starter feed. In fact, they refuse anything strictly vegetarian, and anything not alive. After much trial and error, and many a dead duckling, we settled on a rather more wiggly food source: mealworms. The duckling mortality rate dropped to zero almost immediately. From then on, I found mason jars full of worms and stale bread wiggling all around the house. Sometimes a mealworm would escape, only to metamorphose into a small black beetle, which often needed forceful persuasion to enjoy the outdoors instead. Few people know that ducklings, when separated from their mother, should never be kept in water. This is because they almost immediately sink and die of exposure. There is a very good reason for this: the oil glands on the bottom of their tail are not yet functional, and the mother duck uses her glands instead to rub the ducklings in oil, thereby making their feathers completely waterproof. There is, however, one exception: Hooded hatchlings seem not overly concerned about drowning, and swim gallantly right after hatching. No prodding around in a small bowl of water for them: Like humans, they much prefer a bath tub. Happiest when allowed to dive around for food, we would fill our bathtub with luke-warm water, put in a half dozen ducklings, and sprinkle some mealworms as a topping for good measure. The ducklings would splash to their hearts content and dive until wet, at which point we rescued them, placing them under the comfort of an infrared lamp to dry.

It was much to my delight then, after moving continents to this very special part of the natural world, to be welcomed by Hoodeds in the pond right behind my house on Loughborough Lake. While they stay here all summer, spring is when the males proudly display. Their mating ritual involves a strange purring sound, almost like a cat, while they whip up their breast and crest to impress the female. It is not entirely clear why they are so desperate to attract attention of the other sex, since male and female are inseparable their entire lives. Indeed, Hoodeds are often spotted in pairs, and are rarely found in large flocks. Shy birds, any sign of danger will lead them to take wing. Fast fliers, they speed to a covered area, often a swamp, where they make their nest in a hollow tree stump. While these swamps are often maligned for their mosquito population, we need to recognize that they very much are what keeps this lake alive: Filtering the water and serving as nurseries for most species of insect, fish, bird and mammal found on this very lake.

The ducklings hatch after about 5 weeks of brooding. As a precocial species, they jump in the water within 24 hours to start feeding on aquatic insect larvae, such as mosquito, that are so plentiful in these locales. Both adults and ducklings stay in the swamps for most of the summer: You are indeed more likely to catch one flying over a beaver pond in South Frontenac Park then on our lake in mid-summer. After fattening up on crawfish, the ducklings grow adult feathers and practice taking wing, eventually joining their parents on a trip to overwinter in the wetlands of the Southern United States. Unlike other birds, they do not fly the distance in one go. Instead, they like to follow unfrozen waterways lurking with danger. For it is here that duck hunters lie in wait, shooting and killing reportedly one hundred thousand of these beautiful birds every year. While there were times this species was in severe decline, recently, their numbers have somewhat bounced back. For them to thrive, it is important for us to consider not paving over those mosquito-laden bogs with gravel roadways. It is important to not uproot those dead tree stumps rotting on the water's edge. And it is important not to develop your lawn near wetlands, as this fills them with pesticides and lawn fertilizer runoff that kills these crucial nurseries. Only by respecting the existing natural habitat will our children and grandchildren continue to be able to enjoy the cottage and its natural wonders, including the Hooded, our most beautiful crawfisher.