The amount of calcium (Ca) in our freshwater lakes is seeing a major reduction. This is due to the lack of calcium in our forest floor from acid rain and also from recent rises in deforestation for residential development. Calcium enters our watershed by the weathering of rocks and soil runoff. Weathering means the physical or chemical breakdown of rock; for example, when water collects in the crack of a rock and freezes it expands, so when it thaws again the rock has a bigger crack and can split apart revealing small particles that are now mobile. Weathering can also be from rain and water fl ..read more

Muskrats are often an overlooked species in the Land Between region and are frequently seen as pests. However, muskrats are actually beneficial and have great cultural, ecological, and economic importance.  Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents that are active year-round and commonly found in most of North America in marshes, beaver ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes (Saunders, 1988). With small eyes and ears, and brown fur with long, glossy guard hairs, they are similar in appearance to the beaver but are much smaller and have a thinner, rounded tail. They build houses with mud and aquatic pl ..read more

Written by Jaclyn Adams Picture this: it’s dark outside and you hear rustling in the bushes a few feet away. Curious, you wander closer and slowly lean towards the rustling, squinting to see if you can identify what is making so much noise. It’s probably just that pesky squirrel that has been eating all of your garden vegetables and breaking into your bird feeders. You can hear soft stomping; something sounds agitated. There’s nothing but black until you see a flash of white stripes, and a huge fluffy tail. Your immediate reaction is to jump back and run away as fast as you can. But the smell ..read more

By: Michael Allen Bryden As the sun sets and dusk rolls in, you see a small black figure fly overhead in the sky, but that’s not a bird. You notice the erratic flight pattern of the figure and realize it could only be one thing. When the night comes in, the bats come out to play. Bats get a bad rep, but it is entirely undeserved. Very few bats in the world portray a vampire’s blood-sucking behavior, and you’ll be delighted to know that all of Ontario’s bat species do not drink blood. Ontario is home to 8 species of native bats, all of which are nocturnal aerial insectivores, meaning insect-eat ..read more

Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) are the cutest and most easily recognizable birds we have here in The Land Between. They are curious, energetic, and downright acrobatic! Earning their names from both the black “cap” on their heads, and their chicka-dee-dee-dee call, Black-capped chickadees are among the most common and wide-spread bird species in Canada. Their range spans every province and territory except Nunavut, and includes the majority of the northern United States and Alaska. Black-capped Chickadees live in a wide range of habitats from forests to suburban backyards, esse ..read more

While you might not always see a beaver or a white-tailed deer on an everyday basis, you can always rely on seeing birds wherever you go. And while is true, birds are not as common or abundant as they were in 1970…or even in the 1800’s. But, notably, in the last 50 years, a dramatic decline in bird numbers has been recognized. In fact, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a loss of close to 3 billion birds have been recorded across North America in the last half-century.  What is even more shocking is that these disappearing birds are not exclusively species at risk, but rather ma ..read more

By : Daniela Castellanos What is a mesopredator? The food web is an intricate and interconnected network of relationships between consumers and producers. We often hear about animals that are at the “top of the food chain,” these are our apex predators (e.g. wolves, bears, lions, etc.). But what about the smaller animals, who are often omnivorous and feed on smaller prey in the food chain? These are the middle-ranked predators or ‘mesopredators’.  This section of the food web (i.e. mesopredators) is just as important to ecosystem balance.  Why are mesopredators so important? Like al ..read more

​​The State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2020: Summary is an information-rich review of the most recent biodiversity research in Ontario. The summary addresses areas in which we have succeeded in improving biodiversity, as well as the persistent challenges. Recent successes in the fight against biodiversity loss include increased public awareness of biodiversity, the integration of biodiversity curricula into classrooms and increased environmental volunteerism. There have also been more assessments of the conservation status of thousands of species, more terrestrial land and rare ecosystems are u ..read more

  Have you ever admired a shoreland garden for its dynamic landscape that is rich with colour and teeming with life? You may have been admiring a shoreland garden that was planted with native species. Native shoreland gardens are not only beautiful, they are also low maintenance and provide many benefits to the land, wildlife, water, and also your property. The benefits of planting a shoreland garden with native species include: creating wildlife habitat, reducing erosion, improving water quality, moderating water temperatures, and mitigating flood frequency and impacts (1).  Benefit ..read more

Hibernation is commonly observed in many species of animals, especially those inhabiting Northern regions where there are significant drops in temperature during the winter months. In Ontario, freshwater turtles are ectotherms (their internal temperatures mimic the external temperatures) which make them “unequipped” to directly face the ruthlessness of winter conditions. For this reason, they stow away in the winter to avoid the unfavourable conditions of the colder months. Scientists have found that some turtles overwinter close together in groups, and this practice is called communal hiberna ..read more