The Piping Plover power couple of Darlington

Today’s blog comes from Piping Plover Biologist Monica Fromberger from Ontario Parks’ southeast zone. 

Every year, Darlington Provincial Park runs a Piping Plover conservation program to help these special endangered shorebirds.

This year, the park’s plover lovers have done it again!

Lovebirds Blue and Miss Howard have successfully hatched, fledged, and raised all four of their chicks to migrate for the second year in a row.

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How to build a bat box

Today’s post comes from Rachelle Law, a Discovery leader at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.

Are you looking for a fun do-it-yourself project to do this summer?

Would you love a solution to the amount of pesky mosquitoes in your backyard?

Are you passionate about creating habitats for wildlife?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this blog is for you!

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Driftwood: shaping shorelines and completing communities

For a while, park staff have been wondering: why do some of our guests who come to visit natural environments feel compelled to leave their mark on that beach, waterfall, or lookout after they’ve left?

At MacGregor Point Provincial Park, we’ve noticed some changes being made to our shorelines by well-meaning sun-seekers who visit our beach for a short time, but leave behind structures made of driftwood.

Staff in our park and others have disassembled several driftwood forts upon discovering them on our beaches, which can be a dangerous task.

Let’s talk about why we’d prefer our visitors to leave driftwood where it lies, and some fun things you can do at the beach instead of building forts.

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What is a conservation reserve?

Protection has always been, and continues to be an integral piece in maintaining our unique natural spaces and biodiversity throughout the province.

Whether protected for scientific or cultural reasons, the designation of Ontario’s nearly 300 conservation reserves plays an important role in preserving these lands.

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Can you teach an old naturalist new tricks?

Today’s blog comes from Tim Tully, Discovery Coordinator at Awenda Provincial Park.

That is the question.

After decades of doing things a certain way, can I rally the forces of change and adopt a new way of recording species data? Should I submit species data to iNaturalist or not?

I decided to empirically investigate in an unbiased scientific way. Specifically, what is all the fuss about iNaturalist anyway?

Here’s what I discovered….

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Together, we’re protecting our turtles

We’re doing it!

We’re helping more and more turtles in our provincial parks with the support of our incredible donors.

Over the past several months, we have collected donations for our Turtle Protection Projects across Ontario.

We are thrilled to report that many of these projects are well underway. Our park staff are working hard to protect and monitor nesting turtles and their hatchlings.

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Help us protect Lion’s Head Provincial Park’s sensitive species and ecosystems

Lion’s Head Provincial Park needs our help! This summer, the park has experienced high use, which is putting stress on this amazing habitat.

What you may not know is that Lion’s Head Provincial Park is open for day use only, and has limited parking and no facilities or camping.

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A mouse, a beast, and a ghost: who’s using Pinery’s ecopassage?

In today’s post comes from Alistair MacKenzie, Discovery Supervisor at Pinery Provincial Park, shares one of his parks exciting new conservation technologies: ecopassages.

I have a lot to thank my parents for, not the least of which is for introducing me to nature as a young child.

When my family immigrated to Canada, we began exploring Ontario and seeking out opportunities to witness natural phenomena and wild species. Soon, this behaviour led us to Algonquin Provincial Park, and we started making frequent pilgrimages there in all seasons.

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In search of Rusty and other adventures

Sarah Litterick is a Canadian nature nerd, fungi hunter, hiking enthusiast, beach bum, animal lover, and photographer. Sarah is currently upgrading her education with hopes of enrolling in the Wildlife Biology and Conservation program at the University of Guelph.

I’ll be honest: all my life I have had an intense aversion to insects, especially the stinging kind. I don’t know where this deep fear came from, but more than once, I have taken flight in a screaming dash because an insect came too close.

Nonetheless, in 2015, I joined the Friends of Pinery Park Board of Directors and was looking for ways I could get more involved in park projects.

That year, I signed up for their first-ever Bumble Bee Survey. The survey was a citizen science project and joint venture between the park and Wildlife Preservation Canada, along with many other supporters.

I honestly don’t know what made me say “yes” to this project, but I am glad I did.

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Forever protected: why MacGregor Point belongs

Our “Forever Protected” series shares why each and every park belongs in Ontario Parks. In today’s post, Kathleen Houlahan Chayer tells us MacGregor Point’s story. 

I worked as the Discovery Leader at MacGregor Point Provincial Park for four years, but it wasn’t really until I started working at Pinery (another park that I’m glad is forever protected) that I fully appreciated why MacGregor Point belongs in the Ontario Parks system.

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