Category: Nature Knowledge

When the sun goes down at Killarney

In today’s post, Biologist Intern Michelle Lawrence gives us an insider look at Killarney’s “nightlife,” and shares how staff are working to protect the park’s bat populations.

Killarney Provincial Park has been called “a crown jewel of the provincial parks system” by some, and it’s not hard to see why.

With white quartzite mountains and sparkling blue lakes, Killarney is truly a sight to behold. In Killarney’s wilderness, White Pine grow, live, and die; Moose munch on water lilies; and the forests and wetlands teem with warblers and other songbirds.

But when the sun goes down, not everyone in the park goes to sleep…

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Rolling out the red carpet at Pinery

Today’s story comes from Alistair MacKenzie, Natural Heritage Education and Resource Management Supervisor at Pinery Provincial Park.

I started out my career saving lives.  It was a hard job. Working conditions were awful. I was constantly being asked to bend and twist to what someone else needed me to do. I was dragged through the mud and poked with sticks, even burned with hot embers.

Despite these hardships, I loved aspects of the work, but eventually I just couldn’t keep up, and they pulled me back to base to run me through some tests. Sadly, I failed, and they unceremoniously stripped me of my field approvals and cast me aside.

I thought it was all over, until they boxed me up and shipped me to Pinery Provincial Park.

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The White Moose Forest

Everyone knows that Moose are brown, even if they’ve never seen one in person.

Big and brown. Even Bullwinkle, the famous cartoon Moose is brown.

Moose calves can be very light-coloured when they are very young — even a bright cinnamon colour, but they always turn brown as they get older. Always.

There is a place, however, where the Moose aren’t following the rules… west of Timmins there’s a place not shown on any map.

You could call it “The White Moose Forest”.

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The Murphys Point moth craze

This post comes to us from Mark Read, an interpretive naturalist at Murphys Point Provincial Park.

Most people have a love/hate relationship with moths. But believe it or not, moths are the latest craze to hit Murphys Point Provincial Park!

With moths that range in size from as big as your hand to smaller than a grain of rice, staff at the park have been documenting this understudied group for the last few years.

As a result, the park list has grown from 56 known species in 2015 to a whopping 673! That’s 617 more species identified in the park in just three years!

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A brief history of nature education in provincial parks

“Through these interesting and enjoyable experiences which are both educational and recreational, interpretation contributes to the inspirational value of the outdoors and fosters an understanding, an appreciation, and an intelligent use of our parklands.”

– Alan Helmsley, Department of Lands & Forests, 1960

Ontario Parks’ nature programs are designed to help people discover and connect with the natural and cultural history of the park during their visit.

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A summer bioblitz at Lake Superior

Today’s post is brought to you by the natural heritage education staff at Lake Superior Provincial Park.

This past July, Lake Superior Provincial Park held a bioblitz in an effort to identify as many species as possible within the park boundaries. That is 160,810 ha of park land and water, abundant with life!

Our mission: to get to know our park, and teach park visitors how to be citizen scientists!

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Summer bioblitzes at Algonquin

In honour of our 125th anniversary, our oldest provincial park, Algonquin, is hosting a bioblitz series!

Join park naturalists for weekly programs where you will learn how to identify and inventory different species, as well as the importance of citizen science in protecting the biodiversity of our parks.

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Howling with the wolves at Bonnechere Provincial Park

Today’s post comes to us from MacKenzie Schmidt, Discovery Program Coordinator for our Algonquin Zone.

For centuries, wolves have captured our imagination and wonder. Tolstoy wrote about them, biologists have studied them in earnest, and campers staying at Ontario Parks have had the opportunity to howl to them during public wolf howls since the 1960s.

In fact, the very first public wolf howl at Algonquin Provincial Park (1963) represents some of our earliest educational programming that is paramount to Ontario Parks’ mission today.

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Local schools blitz Murphys Point

This post comes to us from Mark Read, Interpretive Naturalist at Murphys Point Provincial Park.

Last month, two local schools took part in a mini bioblitz at Murphys Point, using their outdoor skills to explore, discover, and identify the various wildlife of the park.

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