The winners of the 2011 Friends or Rondeau Raffle are:

The Prisner Family of Chatham – 16 foot Echo Canoe

Arnie Tyson of Union – Reclaimed ash picnic table

Brian Patterson of Pain Court – Annual pass to Ontario Parks.

Thanks to every one who purchased tickets. We appreciate your support.

Fall leaf colour has always fascinated me. As a kid I always wondered why leaves changed colour to red and orange in the fall. The thing that I never really questioned was why they were green in the first place. I learned in elementary school that leaves were green because they had chlorophyll in them. I accepted this at face value and didn’t question it. What I really should have asked is why chlorophyll is green. It doesn’t make a lot of sense when you first think about it. Chlorophyll absorbs light from the sun to make food. The colour that we see an object as, is the colour that is reflected and not absorbed by the object. Therefore, chlorophyll doesn’t absorb green light for use in photosynthesis.

This doesn’t really make sense considering green light makes up a decent chunk in the middle of the visible spectrum. Why wouldn’t plants want to use this band of light? One day while I was doing some research on trees I came across a fascinating sentence – “Trees are green because long ago the seas were purple.” Thankfully the book went on to explain this statement. It turns out that the ancients seas were filled with a type of photosynthetic bacteria call Halobacterium halobium (which can still be found in extremely salty environments).

Because H. halobium was dominant in the seas, the water looked purple. To photosynthesize, this bacterium used light in the green spectrum. As environmental conditions changed, the population of H. halobium decreased and allowed for the evolution of new microbes that used chlorophyll for photosynthesis. Since these microbes evolved deeper in the water below the H. halobium the green light was absorbed before it reached these new microbes. This left only the light on both the blue and red ends of the visual spectrum to use. These microbes eventually took over and evolved into the plants that we see today that absorb blue and red light and reflecting the green light.

So that is where the green colour comes from. What about the reds, yellows and oranges? In fact, the yellows and oranges are there all the time. Their colour is produce by other pigments in the leaf called carotenoids (the same pigments that give carrots and squashes their colour). When the chlorophyll starts to break down in the fall the yellows and oranges are revealed. The carotenoids help to expand the colours of light that can be used for photosynthesis (the smaller peak in the absorption spectrum image).

The red/purple colour is different, they are from compounds called anthrocyanins. These compounds are made in the leaf in the fall to act as a kind of sunscreen to block harmful UV light (trees can get sunburned too). During the summer, the leaves have other compounds that perform this job, but they break down in the fall along with the chlorophyll. The fascinating thing about anthrocyanins is that they are different colours depending on the pH of the leaf. In more acidic leaves like maples the anthrocyanins appear red, in more basic leaves like ash they become more purple in colour.

As a final note, it is time of year for me to say goodbye for another year. My contract finishes at the end of this week. I’ve had yet another amazing summer thanks in the most part to a great summer staff and all the wonderful visitors who came to the Visitor Centre and programs this summer. I hope the rest of the fall and the winter treat you all well and I’ll hopefully see you next summer. If you have any questions about autumn leaf colour or anything else nature related please email them to me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca. If you have questions after Friday, September 30th send them to laura.penner@ontario.ca.

Colourfully Yours,
Kipling

One thing we’ve been trying to do all summer is get good photos of a rarely seen creature here at Rondeau. One of the reasons that it is so rarely seen is because it is nocturnal. Being the crafty naturalists that we are, we set up a motion sensitive nighttime critter camera early this summer and put out some food in the hopes of attracting this diminutive animal. With excitement we went out to check the first photos – great was our disappointment when all we got was pictures of Raccoons feeding on the bait.

The next time we checked we had an image of a deer walking by in the background. Both were neat photos, but we were looking for our elusive tree dwelling mammal, not raccoons or deer. Disappointed, yet not dissuaded, we kept at it and ended up with a lovely set of pictures of tree branches blowing in the wind, a blue jay, and more raccoons. Eventually, and fairly recently, we got what we were looking for – the elusive tree-dweller can be seen plainly in the photo below.

What, you didn’t recognize it? It is that white spot above and a little to the left of centre. If you haven’t guessed yet, that is one of our Southern Flying Squirrels (we know this for sure because the image comes from a video of the squirrel gliding down to the feeding platform!). The Southern Flying Squirrel is the smallest of the squirrels at Rondeau. Surprisingly to most they are quite omnivorous eating not only nuts, berries and fungi but also bird eggs, nestlings, young mice, voles, and even carrion!

The name flying squirrel is a bit of a misnomer; gliding squirrel would be more accurate. Flying squirrels have a loose flap of skin that extends from their front leg to their back leg on each side. When they jump off a branch they spread out their legs which stretches out this flap of skin and turns them into mini gliding carpets. While airborne they can steer themselves by loosening the flap of skin on one side and changing the position of their tail. To land, they lower their flattened tail which acts as an air brake, then pull up with their front legs and land lightly on their target tree.

The distance a flying squirrel can glide is directly related to its height on a tree at the beginning of a glide. Impressively, for every 1m of height a flying squirrel has it can travel a distance of 3m. That means that a Southern Flying Squirrel that jumps from a 20m high branch can glide 60m before landing on the ground! Scientists have also discovered that flying squirrels use “air highways”: by jumping off of certain launch pads they can arrive at specific destinations. The squirrels mark these launch pads by urinating on them.

If you have any questions about our upcoming events, Southern Flying Squirrels or anything else nature related please email them to me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca

Glidingly Yours
Kipling

On a different note, we’ve had quite a few of our visitors comment on the large number of dragonflies seen flying around lately. Almost anywhere that you go in the park from the Marsh trail to the beach dunes you’ll see many of our spectacularly named dragonflies including Twelve-spotted Skimmers, Black Saddlebags and White-faced Meadowhawks.

However, there is one species at Rondeau that impresses me more than the rest and that is the Common Green Darner. There are no species of dragonfly that over-winter as adults in Canada. Generally, adult dragonflies lay eggs in aquatic habitats and then expire when fall arrives. The eggs, however, persist and hatch producing dragonfly nymphs that spend the winter at the bottom of streams, ponds or marshes where temperatures stay above freezing.

Common Green Darners are not so conventional. They are one of a small handful of dragonfly species that are migratory. They are one of the first dragonfly species that we see in the spring: they can be seen as early as mid-April in Rondeau. They arrive at Rondeau earlier than other dragonfly species because young Common Green Darners emerge from their ponds in the southern United States early in the year and then use the warm southerly winds to help them fly up to Canada. Once they arrive at Rondeau the adults find mates and lay their eggs in the rapidly warming bay and marsh. Unfortunately, these adults won’t be around to make the trip back south again. The laid eggs take about 1-2 weeks to hatch and then will quickly grow to the point where they can emerge from the water in late august as adults. The newly emerged Common Green Darners will head south using the chillier northerly winds to help them on their way. Upon arriving in the southern US the adults breed and lay their eggs in the fall which will develop over winter and restart the cycle early the next spring.

Not a lot is known about dragonfly migration. Scientists are unsure of exact migratory routes, distances traveled, and many other particulars. However, they are on the track for more answers. Scientists have calculated that a Common Green Darner weighing 1 gram could migrate non-stop for 8.3 hours using its energy stores (fat!). Using this number, and factoring in the fact that dragonflies won’t completely use up their fat deposit before stopping to feed and refuel, scientists estimate that a Common Green Darner can migrate at least 700km in their southward movement; pretty impressive for a species that is only about 8cm (3in) in length. To facilitate further research on this amazing species scientists have developed tiny radio transmitters that weigh about 300 micrograms that they can attach to the undersides of the dragonflies using a combination of eye lash adhesive and super glue. With these new devices we will hopefully delve deeper into the mysteries of dragonfly migration.

If you have any questions about dragonflies or anything else nature related please email them to me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca.

Dragonly Yours
Kipling

With the upcoming Monarch Festival, our butterfly hike and the butterfly tagging demonstration, I don’t want to expound too much upon butterfly facts so I’ve decided to write about another bit of orange you can see this time of year. It’s a small, horn shaped flower that can readily be seen along Marsh Trail that goes by the name of Spotted Jewelweed.

Spotted Jewelweed is not only attractive to people, but is also a magnet for hummingbirds. The colourful flowers will produce 2.5ml of nectar per day that is about 40% sugar: a great treat for hummingbirds that are trying to fatten up for the long flight south. Hummingbirds aren’t the only visitors to these bright flowers; a number of different bee and wasp species will also feed on the nectar they produce. However, some of the bees and wasps can’t reach far enough into the flower to get the nectar so they chew a hole through the back wall of the flower. Unfortunately (for the flower) this means they don’t help pollinate the flower like hummingbirds do.

It’s vitally important for Spotted Jewelweed to be pollinated and produce seeds because unlike most wildflowers, it is an annual. Each year the new plants grow from seeds and not from rootstalks from the previous year. If no seeds were produced during one summer that would mean no new flowers the following season. To ensure its survival Jewelweed will also produce small flowers that will never open, but will self pollinate on the inside to produce seeds for the following year.

The real treasure (pardon the pun) of this plant is the seed pods. As summer fades to fall, the seed pods ripen and swell up. Once they are fully ripe a strong breeze or a slight touch by an animal or human hand makes the pod explode. This explosion gives this plant its other common name Touch-me-not. The explosion causes the seeds to be thrown up to 1.2m (4ft) away.

Interestingly, the self fertilized seeds do not explode as powerfully and are therefore not thrown as far as cross fertilized seeds. Some scientists believe that because self fertilized seeds are extremely similar to the parent plant the seeds will do better in similar soil types so the closer they land to the parent plant the better. Cross fertilized seeds have more genetic variability and will be better equipped to deal with slightly different soil conditions so further away is better. So if you get a chance later this summer and fall, go out and touch some Touch-me-nots and see if you can guess if they are self or cross fertilized seeds.

If you have any questions about Jewelweed or anything else nature related please email me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca

Explodingly Yours
Kipling

In honor of the fishing program from this past week I figured a fishy topic was in order for the nature highlight this week. We frequently get people bringing in weird bones that they find on the beach and almost always they belong to some type of fish. One of the weirdest bones that is regularly brought in is triangular in shape and covered in circular nodules. Guesses about the source of these bones range from turtle teeth (but turtles don’t have teeth!) to frog jaws (which are actually much more delicate). To the surprise of many these odd bones come from a common species of fish: they are the pharyngeal cheek teeth of the Freshwater Drum (a.k.a. Sheephead). Freshwater Drum feed on, mollusks (including zebra mussels), crustaceans, aquatic insects and fish. They use their pharyngeal teeth to crush and grind up the shells that protect a lot of their prey from predation.

The cheek teeth aren’t the only fascinating bones that come from Freshwater Drum. There are six small, roundish bones that are found on the inside of a fish’s head called otoliths. Otoliths are parts of the inner ear and help the fish maintain balance and detect which direction sound is coming from. All fish have otoliths, but Freshwater Drums have proportionally larger otoliths than any other species of fish in Lake Erie. The six bones come in 3 pairs: sagittae (largest), asterisci and lapilli (smallest). The otoliths grow each year and form layers that can be counted by researchers to determine the age of the fish. However, the otoliths (especially the sagittae) have been used by humans long before scientist discovered their age determining properties. The otoliths have an ivory-like appearance and have been used in jewelry, as a form of currency, and as luck stones. Although I must admit I doubt that the fish they originally belonged to feels particularly lucky.

Scientifically Freshwater Drum is known as Aplodinotus grunniens. Grunniens is latin for grunting and refers a behaviour displayed by mature males. Males have special muscle that vibrates next to their swim bladder which creates a grunting noise. Scientists are still not sure of the role this grunting plays, but suspect it has something to do with mating and attracting females. This grunting noise has lead to a myriad of common names including grunter, thunderpumper, and croaker.

If you have any questions about upcoming programs, grunting fish or anything else nature related please email me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca

Gruntingly Yours
Kipling

It takes a lot of people to make everything run smoothly at the Visitor Centre. Everyone sees all the naturalist staff that spend their days running programs, interacting with people at our festivals, and talking with everyone who comes into the Visitor Centre. What you don’t see is all the people that we need behind the scenes that are invaluable to us. These include all of the park staff from the administration at the main office to the gate attendants, maintenance, park store and warden staff who have all helped us out at festivals or special programs. We also couldn’t hold a lot of our special programs without the aid of the Friends of Rondeau. Through their tireless work and support we raise money and have the volunteers to run our Monarch Migration Festival, the Wings of Spring Festival and the Festival of Flight, not to mention all the guest speakers they have brought in throughout the years. And finally we have our other volunteers who come out and lend their enthusiasm and expertise for the betterment of the park. One of the foremost among them is Dale Wurker.

Dale has been volunteering his time at Rondeau for the last 18 years. His contributions have ranged from helping out with our Wings of Spring festival to recording scientific data. One of the most important things that Dale has done over the years is to take new and old staff out into the part and share his knowledge and expertise on different aspects of the park. Personally, Dale has taken me out on a number of occasions and helped me to identify bird songs and taught me many things about butterfly migration. Monarch migration is where Dale’s help is truly invaluable. Dale has dedicated hundreds of hours to the Monarch tagging program since it started here in 2002. Dale has tagged butterflies, recorded data, enlisted new volunteers, and collected recapture results. Through his tireless efforts we have strong, valuable data about the migration of Monarchs through Rondeau. Out of the 63 tagged Monarch Butterflies that have been recovered in Mexico 46 of them were tagged by Dale’s own hand. The best part is that he is still going strong. As I write this update Dale is out in the park with two of our naturalists monitoring the Monarch hotspots within the park and getting ready for the fast approaching tagging season. All of the naturalist staff at Rondeau would like to thank Dale for his willingness to share his knowledge, the amazing work he has done, and good times we’ve had with him here at the Visitor Centre.

As a creature feature for this week, I though it would be fitting to tell you about something I learned from Dale. Most of us are familiar with Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, those beautiful black and white songbirds that look as if they have been shot in the chest. It is the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that has a large reddish-pink triangle of color on its breast feathers, while females are a stripey brown colour that is much better for hiding on their nest with young. The new information that Dale imparted to me was that from time to time you’ll come across a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that does not have a rose coloured breast!

Instead, the spot of colour on the breast of the male will be bright yellow! Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks with yellow breast feathers have a rare condition called Xanthochroism – a pigment condition that can be found in other birds, fish and some other animal species. Xanthochroism is a pigment disorder similar to albinism. Instead of a lack of pigment, as is the case for albinism, an individual with Xanthochroism either has an excess of yellow pigment or a lack of darker pigments which allows yellow pigments to show through. Xanthochroism can be caused by a naturally occurring genetic mutation (as is the case for albinism) or occasionally by the diet of the bird. So keep your eyes peeled for yellow birds that aren’t supposed to be yellow!

If you have any questions about Grosbeaks, weird pigment disorders or anything else nature related please email them to me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca.

Yellowly Yours
Kipling

For the past couple of summers we have had some stargazing programs here at the Visitor Centre. However, just because we don’t have one this summer doesn’t mean that you should miss out on a great activity that you can do in park. Although you can stargaze just about anywhere, Rondeau is one of the best places to take a glance up at the night sky in southern Ontario. When you’re visiting Rondeau you’re on a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Erie, in an area that is predominantly farmland. This means that there is little light pollution and the skies are darker. The dark nights at Rondeau allow us to see a greater number of stars twinkling in the skies above than you can see when you’re closer to towns and cities where the street lights and other light sources drown out the fainter stars.

 This upcoming week should be especially good for stargazing because we have just had a new moon (the moon is totally hidden in the earth’s shadow) on July 30th which means we’ll see even more stars this week, many of which have fascinating stories and myths attached to them. One of my personal favourites involves part of a group of stars called the Summer Triangle. The Summer Triangle is made up of three bright stars; Deneb, Altair and Vega that are actually part of three different constellations; Cygnus the swan, Aquila the eagle and Lyra the lute.

There is a festival held in Japan called the Tanabata festival that involves two of the stars: Vega and Altair. These two stars are a celestial couple; Orihime (Vega) the celestial princess and Kengyuu (Altair) the herdsman. Orihime and Kengyuu are separated by a mighty river (the Milky Way) and are unable to be together. However, once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month the boatman (the moon) comes to ferry one of them across the river so that they may be together for that one day. If it rains, the river gets too high and the boatman cannot help them and it is said that a group of magpies will fly up and make a bridge so that the sweethearts can have their one happy day together.

Another great star to see in the sky this time of year is Antares which is part of the tail of Scorpius the scorpion. This star can been seen near the horizon in the southern sky and fools many people into believing it is the planet Mars because of its red colour. Antares is a red supergiant star. It is 550 light years away and it is only about 3300 degrees Celsius (fairly cool for a star). The reason it is so bright in the sky is because it is so huge. Antares is about 800 times bigger than our sun and 10 thousand times brighter! If Antares was put into our solar system, its diameter would reach out past the orbit of Mars! The way you can tell if you are looking at a star or a planet is whether or not it twinkles. Stars twinkle in the night sky because they are producing their own light. Planets only reflect the light from our Sun so they look like steady dots in the sky.

Constellation Scorpius (Antares is said to represent the heart of the scorpion)

If you want to see a planet you are in luck because Saturn is in a great viewing spot this week. If you look to the western sky (towards Rondeau Bay) in the constellation of Virgo you should see a bright golden yellow dot (remember it is not twinkling). This is Saturn and it is a great time of the year to see it. If you have binoculars or telescope you can even see the rings of Saturn as well as some of its moons.

So if you have a chance and the inclination I recommend you find yourself a good spot in Rondeau (I recommend Beach Access #11 or on the South tip of the park), aim your gaze skyward and enjoy the majesty of the stars at Rondeau.

If you have any questions about the stars and constellations or anything else nature related please send them my way at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca.

Twinklingly Yours,
Kipling

On a more native note, we have fantastic special guests coming to do a program for us on this upcoming Saturday. A group called Wild Ontario will be coming to talk about some of our native birds of prey and they are going to bring some their feathered friends with them. The animals they bring are birds that have been injured and are no longer able to live in the wild. Now they get to travel around Ontario and help inspire us all to protect and conserve birds of prey and the habitats that they need. So drop by the Visitor Centre at 2:00pm on Saturday, July 30^th for an hour long presentation where you will get to learn about and see these amazing creatures up close and personal.

There are few who would doubt that we are in the dog days of summer with the temperatures that we’ve seen in the past week. Likewise it should come as no surprise that the Dog-day Cicadas are busily making their buzzing calls. The male cicadas are fervently trying to impress the females by making as loud a call as they can. To make that piercing buzz the cicadas vibrate drum-like membranes inside their abdomens called tymbals. This is similar to wobbling a sheet of metal to make a thunder sound. These membranes cover large empty cavities that amplify the sound created by the vibrations. When one male starts calling it encourages other males to come into the vicinity and start to call as well. The loud cacophony of noise that ensues is akin to the most romantic opera to female cicadas.

However, this noisy adult form is only a very short part of the life of a cicada. When cicada eggs hatch in the twig in which they were laid, they quickly drop to the ground and dig down into the ground where they will attach to tree roots and feed on sap. They will stay underground anywhere from 2 to 20 years depending on the species. When it comes time to metamorphose into an adult, the larva climb out of the ground and up the trunk of the tree and secure their claws to the bark. Then their back splits open and the winged adult from emerges from the now empty skin of the larva. If you keep your eyes peeled, you may find some of the empty cicada skins still attached to the bases of trees and if you look down on the ground you may spot the pinky finger sized hole that they crawled out of.

In addition to Dog-day Cicadas there are another group of cicadas called periodical cicadas, which do not occur in Rondeau. These cicadas come out en masse after a set number of years, either 13 or 17 and can be found throughout the eastern United States. When the year of emergence occurs as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre will emerge and sing their hearts out.

If you have any questions about cicadas or anything else nature related please email me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca.

Buzzingly Yours
Kipling

   The big competition this past week was our 4^th annual Amazing Race.  Competing teams raced around the park completing numerous nature challenges including the “Spiderweb Escape” challenge, “Turtle ID” challenge and the “Eat a Leaf Like a Caterpillar” contest.  However, the definite favourite was the “Water Balloon Echolocation” challenge where one team member had to throw water balloons into a bucket using their teammates voices to echolocate the bucket.  The winning team finished the race in just under two hours and went home with a great prize package including t-shirts and water bottles. 

   Now I may have been exaggerating a little about the caroling carp.  They weren’t actually caroling, but we were singing about them.  The first of our two musical fisheries nights was a great success.  75 people packed the Grace Anglican Church on Thursday evening to sing along and do some heaving and hauling as they were regaled with tales of the early fishermen on the Great Lakes and learned how to haul in lines and fish like a seasoned pro.  A big thank you to the Grace Anglican Church for letting us use their building for the evening.

    Over the last month or so a number visitors have commented to me that they believe they are seeing a greater than normal number of chipmunks this year.  So, I thought it would be fitting to delve into the realm of the one of our most common mammals, which many of us take for granted – Tamias striatus or the Eastern Chipmunk. 

    Most people are unaware that there are actually 2 different species of chipmunks that live in Ontario.  The other species of chipmunk, called the Least Chipmunk, doesn’t live in Rondeau.  It can be found from about Parry Sound northwards. 

   One of the most amazing things about Eastern Chipmunks is their diet and hoarding tendencies.  Most campers and cottagers know that chipmunks eat nuts and seeds and acorns, nor would they be surprised to hear that they feed on plant buds and fruits, and berries such as raspberries and pin cherries.  Surprisingly, chipmunks also eat quite the selection of other animals which can include insects, slugs, snails, frogs and snakes.  Much to my surprise, I even came across a chipmunk last summer that was eating a bird that had killed itself by running into a window!  Carrion (dead animals like roadkill) can actually make up a significant part of a chipmunk diet!

So you can see how varied their diet actually is.  However, it is chipmunk hoarding tendencies that are truly impressive.  One chipmunk expert was quoted saying that chipmunks are driven by an “obsessive genetic fear of starvation”!   Chipmunks are known for finding food, shoving it in their cheeks and bringing it back to their burrow and they can carry an impressive amount in one load.  One chipmunk was observed with a single load that consisted of 48 cherry pits in its cheeks!  A chipmunk can and will hoard away a lifetime’s supply of food in just a single season.    Now, I admit that most chipmunks don’t live very long.  Only about 50% of chipmunks survive from one year to the next.  But the lucky ones can survive up to 12 years so nonetheless it is an impressive amount of food that they store. 

   However, none of this explains the apparently prodigious number of chipmunks observed in the last month and a half at Rondeau.  However, I think I have an answer.  Chipmunks are by nature fairly aggressive towards each other, which most people can attest to after seeing them chase each other back and forth across the forest floor or neighboring campsite.  So, it is true that you generally see only one or two chipmunks at a time.  This animosity subsides very briefly in early spring when the males go courting the females.  After mating, the solitary nature of the chipmunks returns and females are left to raise the young alone.  Once June arrives the young litter of chipmunks is ready to leave the burrow.  On average a litter of chipmunks is 4-6 and you can see them all in close proximity as they first leave the burrow to explore the outside world before they depart to find a territory of their own.  It is during this time that it may seem that we have a lot more chipmunks than we usually do.  In fact, I watched a litter of seven exploring and roaming around the Visitor Centre around the middle of June.  Once the young disperse, the mother will start the cycle all over again and a second litter will leave the burrow in September.  It may sound like we are truly overrun with chipmunks, but remember with the foxes, hawks, coyotes and everything else that eats them it’s a good thing that so many are born each year. 

   If you have any questions about chipmunks or anything else nature related please email them to me at kipling.campbell@ontario.ca

Chippily Yours
Kipling