From Turtles Kingston:

Has anyone ever told you a snapping turtle is aggressive and can bite off your finger?

Well it’s important to know that these are FALSE MYTHS!

Is a snapping turtles snap dangerous? yes

Can they bite off your finger? no

Will they attack if they feel threatened? yes

Are they aggressive? no

So let’s get some things straight about the Ontario common snapping turtle (we are not talking about the alligator snapping turtle)

has a bite capacity less than an adult human. Thus, a bite will hurt but it cannot take off your finger in one bite.

they bite and release so if you are bitten it won’t last long but their snap is very easy to avoid by keeping your hands to the back of their shell (above their back legs)

they snap because they feel threatened and cannot pull themselves inside their shells like other turtle species.

We know that even with these myths busted it can still be intimidating to help a snapping turtle. So what to we recommend?

If you ever need to move a snapping turtle and you aren’t confident use the drag method.

Get an item such as a shovel, car mat, or towel / blanket (don’t drag them without soemthing underneath)

Grab the turtle from the back shell above the tail (never grab them by the tail)

Gently pull the turtle onto your item and drag them across the road in the direction they were headed.

https://www.turtleskingston.com/moving-turtles

From Ontario Hummingbird Sightings Reporting:

The migration season is in full effect across Ontario, with a significant increase in sightings reported over the past week. The current data indicates a high volume of activity concentrated in Southern and Eastern Ontario, with the majority of sightings occurring between April 26 and May 2.

Citizen science provides essential data for tracking the arrival of these birds and understanding their migration patterns from a scientific perspective. If you have spotted a hummingbird, please contribute your observation to the provincial record at hummingbirdscanada.ca.

When reporting, ensure you include:
• The exact date of the sighting.
• Your specific location within the province.
• Any notable observations regarding their behaviour.

Your contributions help honour the collective effort to monitor and protect these species.

https://hummingbirdscanada.ca

From Point Pelee National Park:

#DYK? #PointPeleeNP is home to FIVE species of frogs?

The Bullfrog, Green Frog, Northern Leopard Frog, Spring Peeper, and American Toad call the park home. And while we haven’t observed any of them wearing a top hat like Michigan J. Frog, each of these different species’ distinctive calls provide us with a great soundtrack throughout the year!

Unfortunately, it is believed that four frog species are no longer present in the park: the Gray Treefrog, Fowler’s Toad, Chorus Frog, and Blanchard’s Cricket Frog.

These extirpated species remind us why it is so important for us to #SavetheFrogs!

You can do your part by reporting frog observations to iNaturalist, which can help us monitor populations here at #PPNP.

Pictured: Green Frog

From the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority:

In collaboration with Ontario Nature, the UTRCA is proud to announce the contribution of 855.76 hectares of natural areas and provincially significant swamp land towards Canada’s Protected and Conserved Areas target, also known as the 30×30 target.

Due to accelerating biodiversity loss, the 30×30 target is a commitment to halt and reverse this trend by conserving 30% of all lands and waters by 2030, helping ensure connected, resilient, and equitably managed landscapes where wildlife can thrive. Collaboration between municipalities, conservation authorities, and local community groups is critical to achieving these goals at the local level.

You may recognize some UTRCA properties that contribute to the target, including W.L Dickson Arboretum, Cade Tract, Dorchester Conservation Area and Mill Pond, Embro Conservation Area, Harrington Conservation Area, and Shakespeare Conservation Area. These sites were evaluated against national standards for protected and conserved areas, meaning they receive long-term protection and are stewarded in ways that support biodiversity.

Beyond conservation, these areas offer meaningful opportunities to connect with nature while also providing important flood mitigation and source water protection.

For more information, visit our website.

From The Long Point Bird Observatory:

Less than a week to go for our FREE Earth Day event at Birds Canada Birds Canada Join us for an Earth Day event sponsored by Seniors for Climate Action Now! Featuring bird walk, garden talk, plant sale & film screening!

AGENDA:

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM: Join host Kevin Kavanaugh from South Coast Gardens as he gives a talk about the importance of native species to birds, bees, and pollinators!

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM: Join Kathy Jones, biologist and volunteer coordinator at Birds Canada as she takes guests on a slow birding walk of the grounds.

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Film screening of the documentary film 2040. Award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream.

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Plant sale featuring native plants by Adam Timpf and South Coast Gardens.

THESE EVENTS ARE FREE, BUT SPACE IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION FOR THESE EVENTS IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Long Point Biosphere Ruth Frost South Coast Gardens Experience Norfolk Canada Norfolk Insider Nature, Climate, Action blogNorfolk

From The Mill Pond, Dorchester, Ontario

By Lorraine Johnson

One of the toughest of the tough, field pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) is a great alternative to lawn grass in sunny conditions. It will hold up to a bit of foot traffic (though not a baseball game or anything rigorous!) and spreads with virtually no maintenance.

Bonus: it’s drought tolerant!

Another bonus: it’s a larval host plant for the American lady butterfly

So here’s an idea: remove some lawn area that you don’t use very much, plant some pussytoes, and grow some butterflies.

Field pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)

Height: 4 in to 12 in

Flowers: white

Blooming period:early to mid-spring

Exposure: sun to partial sun

Soil:regular to dry; drought tolerant

Specialist pollinator interactions:larval host for American painted lady butterfly, everlasting bud midge, everlasting tebenna moth

Good combinations: prairie smoke, pearly everlasting, golden Alexanders, wild strawberry, blue-eyed grass

This drought-tolerant native is a good choice if you’re looking for a low-growing groundcover for sunny conditions. Unlike most native meadow species, not only does field pussytoes stay short, but it also blooms in spring. The white flowers, which are visited by bees and flies, complement the plant’s silvery foliage, and the fluffy seedheads are also decorative. Use it at the front of the border so it doesn’t get lost in the exuberant growth of surrounding plants. A bonus—field pussytoes does just fine in poor soil. And yes, as its common name suggests, the flower clusters at the end of the flowering stalks do, indeed, look like a cat’s furry paw. A closely related native species is plantain-leaved pussytoes (A. parliniissp. fallax)

From Alliance for A Liveable Ontario:

Why does protecting nature matter? Sarah Hasenack from Ontario Nature tells us why https://youtube.com/shorts/hX5EuU7bzCg?si=0_UaBEPEfOX4Htwo

Coming Soon: The Building a Liveable Ontario Podcast. Subscribe at youtube.com/@liveableontario.

From Earthroots:

Ontario is home to eight native turtle species and seven of them are at risk of disappearing.

Spring is a crucial time, as turtles look for sunny basking sites and begin choosing their nesting grounds.

Protecting turtles means protecting wetlands, shorelines, and the places they return to year after year.

This season let’s give them the space and safety they need.

Share the shore. Protect our turtles.

From The Mill Pond, Dorchester, Ontario:

That little blue flower that’s popping up in the lawns right now is called Scilla… and it’s bad.

It’s an invasive species that’s toxic to pets and humans if ingested
It’s a fast spreading bulb
It crowds out native spring flowers
It provides little or no nutrients to local insects

To manage it, gardeners should prevent seeding by mowing or removing flowers, and dig up bulbs (ensuring all bulbils are removed) before they spread to nearby woods 

From the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority:

Big news from our flood forecasting team… we’ve made some new hires! After years of monitoring rainfall, water levels, and watershed conditions, we’re excited to announce that frogs have officially joined the team to support flood forecasting efforts.

Frogs are highly sensitive to changes in moisture, temperature, and atmospheric pressure, making them ideal for:

Early warning “chorus alerts” before rain events

Wetland condition monitoring

On-the-ground reporting

Our team has already noticed increased accuracy during spring conditions, although meetings have become significantly louder…

We’re currently working on translating key frog calls into actionable data. Early findings suggest:

“Ribbit” = light rain

“RIBBIT RIBBIT” = significant rainfall

Continuous chorus = you might want to check your sump pump

More updates to come as our newest team members settle into their roles.