# NATURE observations in Toronto...



## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Just some verbal diarrhea regarding animal populations in Toronto  

Anybody else notice there seem to be fewer squirrels this year? 

Or that there has been a population explosion of American Toads?

Or that there are a lot of foxes (Because last year there were a lot of rabbits)

Or is it just me?


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

If the population of foxes is on the rise there will be a natural decline in the population of small game animals such as squirrels and rabbits and the like. As the small games dies out and the fox population increases, they will begin to eat the toads. Afther that and with rabies the fox population will die back and the small game population will once again start picking up. Is Mother Nature just taking care of her own. A lot of nature works on a 7 year cycle.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

I was just talking to someone the other day about how many of the squirrels look particularly sketchy this spring, missing large sections of fur and such.

also, I usually see more raccoons by now..


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

redclove said:


> I was just talking to someone the other day about how many of the squirrels look particularly sketchy this spring, missing large sections of fur and such.
> 
> also, I usually see more raccoons by now..


Really? I thought that was just in my neighborhood. Raccoons Ive seen many of but the squirrels really do look screwy- and I have seen several missing patches of fur...


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## gunnerx (Mar 20, 2008)

Must be the Toronto water.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

LOL "Hey?...could you push the button?"


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## hojimoe (Mar 7, 2008)

Ciddian said:


> LOL "Hey?...could you push the button?"


my dog will drink from that if you push the button....lol..but only after we play frisbee.... if we played fetch with a ball, he won't drink...he's a freak


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

Pablo said:


> Really? I thought that was just in my neighborhood. Raccoons Ive seen many of but the squirrels really do look screwy- and I have seen several missing patches of fur...


Mating season. Also the missing fur can be from the baby squirrels pulling at their mother.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Another thing I find incredibly perplexing is the moderate increase in frog/toad numbers - but _decrease_ in overall numbers of snakes... of all types, over the past several years.

On a seperate(ish) topic--

anybody else go to the brickworks yet this year? It looks like they messed with the fish somewhat, less goldfish, more SM bass (I thinK)... more native species generally- or so it looked like to me when I was there.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

i saw a lot more longear...

Saw a turn eatin up the goldies.. :3


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Hey, what are the directions to get to the brickworks? Major intersection?


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Brian said:


> Hey, what are the directions to get to the brickworks? Major intersection?


FROM EGLINTON South on Bayview. Keep going. pass pottery road. Next right hand turn.

FROM BROADVIEW Go down pottery road (Opposite Mortimer, North of Danforth)
turn left on Bayview, first right

FROM BLOOR Get to Broadview, see above


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

I've discovered 2 squirrel corpses in my backyard this spring. I'm off on a herp 'Big Day' next weekend, so I'll have to see if my findings match yours, Pablo. I did a big day two years ago and saw no frogs at all. However, it snowed that day so it's not a huge surprise. Found lots of snakes and lizards though. I've already seen a number of yellow spotted and red backed salamanders.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Hey Westender, where do you do these "Big Days"? Any tips on where to look for the salamanders and stuff?

I want to do one of those trails but never know which one to go to or where to look in order to successfully find anything.


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

I saw a male scarlet tanager in taylor creek park today. VERY rare siting in an urban area. What a beautiful bird!!


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

I particularly like the Torrance Barrens outside of Gravenhurst. It's large and accessible if you have a car. It's also a dark sky reserve so it's great to go at night...

There is a wide variety of animals there.

http://www.muskokaheritage.org/natural/torrancebarrens.asp

The area also has loads of five-lined skinks. I usually head up to around Honey Harbor to spot rattle snakes and fox snakes.

Really, what you need is to find somewhere that has ephemeral ponds if you're looking for salamanders. Up around the Kartright centre is a pretty good area. There are also a number of bogs off Leslie and Bathurst north of Richmond Hill. I've found red backs and Jefferson complex in High Park. There are also quite a few snakes there (but also a lot of poison ivy!)

The Leslie Spit has a population of melanistic garter snakes and lots of trash / fill for animals to hide in. I find snakes really like rusty metal and roofing shingles, so old dumps are great. I once found a Massassauga curled up inside an old mayonnaise jar.

I'll be taking photos this weekend so I'll post what we see. I won't say exactly where I'm going as I find that there are lots of 'collectors' who head into those places and catch and keep anything. Needless to say, most of those animals kept don't survive. I don't keep animals.

I'm really hoping to find a four-toed salamander, but I'll probably get pretty wet tracking it down. My father-in-law found a spotted turtle last year and he's already located a great site for Blandings this year so I'll try to get photos of them if I can. It's going to be warm and sunny so it should be a good day.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Aww.. most of those places are pretty far for me.

I live near High Park though but I've never really seen anything when I walk my dog there. I guess I just don't know where to look. Do you go down to Grenadier pond and look around there?


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Brian said:


> Aww.. most of those places are pretty far for me.
> 
> I live near High Park though but I've never really seen anything when I walk my dog there. I guess I just don't know where to look. Do you go down to Grenadier pond and look around there?


Crawfish meng


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

KnaveTO said:


> If the population of foxes is on the rise there will be a natural decline in the population of small game animals such as squirrels and rabbits and the like. As the small games dies out and the fox population increases, they will begin to eat the toads. Afther that and with rabies the fox population will die back and the small game population will once again start picking up. Is Mother Nature just taking care of her own. A lot of nature works on a 7 year cycle.


"...Ah that's the beauty of the thing, come winter the gorillas will freeze to death."


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

I dont get the gorilla thing..?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

...it's from the simpsons. I'm a child of the nineties, thus, i live on simpsons quotes. it's a shame.


Skinner: ahh, but as it turns out the lizards where a god send since they've eaten all the pigeons.
Lisa: Isn't that a little short sighted, what happens when where up to our ears with lizards?
Skinner: Ah, well we shall simply release wave after wave of Chinese needles snakes.
Lisa: then what about the snakes?
Skinner: We simply import gorillas who will eat all the snakes.
Lisa: Well what happens when where up to our ears in gorilla's!
Skinner: Ah that's the beauty of the thing, come winter the gorillas will freeze to death.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

twoheadedfish said:


> ...it's from the simpsons. I'm a child of the nineties, thus, i live on simpsons quotes. it's a shame.
> 
> Skinner: ahh, but as it turns out the lizards where a god send since they've eaten all the pigeons.
> Lisa: Isn't that a little short sighted, what happens when where up to our ears with lizards?
> ...


Thats pretty good


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

Brian said:


> I live near High Park though but I've never really seen anything when I *walk my dog* there.


That's the main problem. Wildlife tend to scatter when they see a dog bouncing around


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Gerald Durrell used to say that he could take any resident of any place and show them animals they had no idea existed in their own neighbourhood (I'm paraphrasing cos I can't remember the exact quote).

High Park isn't a hard place to find stuff, if you know where to look, and when. And dogs do tend to limit your ability to find stuff!

We had a pretty good day on Saturday - I don't have the full count list yet and I'll try to get the photos up soon. Sadly, there were almost no frogs. We also missed seeing Hognose, Massasauga and Fox snakes. But otherwise we had a pretty darn good day. We recorded observations of 19 different herp species.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

wow 19?

I'd love to come next time I had no idea this volume of variety could be found in a day.


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Actually, we should have been able to do 20 species. We missed spring peepers and wood frogs.

I'll try to arrange something for next year, or later this one.

Here's one of my favourites finds from the day.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

I would have come just for that. I have yet to see a rough green in the wild despite 20 years of looking...

I've seen:

massassauga rattler
Butler's, Eastern, Checkered Garter
Ribbon snake
Dekay's snake
ringneck snake
unidentified (possibly fox) snake
pine snake

and that's all she wrote


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Yeah, the green is a beauty. This one was big too, and very friendly. We also found a few milk snakes (pics to come). They were hilariously aggressive.

I didn't get to photograph the spotted turtle though. 

We didn't get a ribbon snake this year either. Oh well.


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## Janz (Apr 12, 2008)

where do you see all the snaks?


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

We were covering a fairly wide swathe of land north of Toronto - from Honey Harbour to Gravenhurst and all areas in between.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Why not come to Pickering and see the bears. I believe he was heading to the Golden Griddle restaurant. 

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/pickering/article/99595


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

I was taking part in an orienteering event in Willowdale park last night and saw 3 whitetail deer. I got within 10 feet of one pair before they scattered.

Of course, the first thing I thought was - better check myself for deer ticks tonight!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

LOL calmer... Yea that was interesting...


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Calmer - that's totally cool. Say what you want about the night life and cultures of Paris and London and NYC, at least we've got bears!

I liked this little bit of advice from the article:

- If you're carrying bear repellent, use it only if the bear is attacking you or is extremely close to you (make sure you are familiar with the product beforehand).

My father in law and his friends were out birdwatching somewhere in SW Ontario. His friend had brought bear repellent and had hooked it onto his belt. When they all climbed into their car, his friend forgot about the repellent and sat down with it still on his belt. Somehow, it activated within the confines of the car...


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Noooo west!! LOL omg XD


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

yup. picture 5 men in their early sixties rolling around in the long grass next to their car, 4 of them swearing at one other.

The only bear repellent he's allowed to bring along on trips now is a stick!


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