Headwaters Nature: Monitoring snakes at Island Lake

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Jenn Bailey is reaching out to see if Headwaters Nature members might enjoy helping her with snake monitoring at Island Lake. Ontario Nature is her partner, while the Upper Grand District School Board supports and funds the research.
Jenn Bailey is a long-time friend of our youngest and was a star pupil in a Summer Outdoor Education Teacher Certification course I helped teach several years ago. She is now the outdoor education teacher at the Island Lake Centre for the Upper Grand School Board. The centre is one of a dwindling number of such experiential nature programmes in the province. She is excellent in many ways.

The survey involves checking under 24 boards for snakes, though we may find nothing. Any snakes, other reptiles, or amphibians we locate must be recorded. Tasks include:
* identifying any herps we find
* photographing reptiles and amphibians (for snakes, top and side of the head against a grid, plus total body length)
* recording other relevant data
* noting time spent under each of the 24 boards and calculating the total
* following sanitation protocols (using alcohol-based hand sanitizer before and after handling snakes)

Jenn has done Ontario Nature’s project training last spring and helped set up 24 monitoring boards in the park. Ontario Nature suggests having at least two people for the surveys, and she is currently solo out there.
She doesn’t submit data until spring. She would like to use this fall as a great time to practice catching and handling snakes, taking photos and measurements, and logging everything. It would be nice to build some confidence before the real work starts next year.

Surveys would begin at 7:30 AM, and the process should take no more than an hour. The boards are a 10-minute walk from the Akinomaagaamikoong (Outdoor Ed) building at Island Lake Conservation Area.
Because the permit ends after September, most surveys will occur next spring, beginning in May.
Jenn would need to provide participant names to Ontario Nature so they can be included on the permit.

If you know anyone who might be willing to wade into brush during tick season to handle snakes and record data carefully, please let her know at info@onheadwatersnature.ca for more information.
Anyone with a working knowledge of herps, field survey experience, or simply a willingness to solve problems and having a good sense of humour is welcome.

I strongly support this research project and ask that we in Headwaters Nature do the same.

Eastern Garter Snake

Eastern Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, ssp. sirtalis

Willy Waterton presentation: Black and White Bear Encounters

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Come to our first meeting of the new Headwaters Nature year on Tuesday evening, September 29th, 2006, at our usual location at the Orangeville Seniors Centre, 26 Bythia Street, in Orangeville.

We know Willy as an excellent photographer, and as a widely-knowledgeable field naturalist.  He and his wife Audrey presented the book from the Owen Sound Field Naturalists on the Orchids of Bruce & Grey last year. We’re looking forward to another fine presentation about another topic  that at least partially involves Bruce County — black bears!

(Note that we are going back to our fomer practice of providing coffee and tea along with fine baked goodies.  Please bring your own mug — and some spare change to help us defray the costs.)

HN WIlly Waterton: Black and White Bear Encounters

HN WIlly Waterton: Black and White Bear Encounters

 

Partial Eclipse of the Moon late this Thursday evening, 2026 August 27/28

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Partial Eclipse of the Moon late this Thursday evening, 2026 August 27/28: A field trip for Headwaters Nature

I’m inviting you to join me late this Thursday evening (not Friday evening as I earlier wrote in error) to see the partial eclipse of the Moon as it transits across the sky from low in the South-East and across the South, and into the South-West. My thanks to those who pointed out my silly error about Friday evening … We’ll be going out on Thursday evening.)

The sky is predicted to be clear late on Thursday evening and into Friday morning. It will be about 15ºC at midnight, and dropping slowly. (I hesitate to say this, but there might also be a chance to see the Aurora Borealis that evening.) I will be dressing very warmly in several layers including a windproof outer jacket, and some light gloves and a warm wooly hat. I’ll bring a tripod and my smartphone, and my binoculars. Be aware that lunar eclipses take place over hours, not the brief minutes of a solar eclipse. There’s a slow drama that unfolds as the Moon is swallowed up by darkness. (Note that because this is sunshine being projected onto the Moon, we will not need any form of eye protection, such as we had to wear during the last Eclipse of the Sun several years ago.)

We’ll meet in the parking lot of Zehr’s at 11:30 PM EDT Thursday evening. Once together, we’ll cross Highway 10 at the lights at Fourth Avenue, and walk north along the Lakeside Trail to the north end of the first wooden bridge. That’s where we should have a clear view off to the south-east across Island Lake, when the Moon will be slowly being engulfed by the shadow of the Earth. The greatest part of the eclipse will be at 12:13 AM, with almost all of the Moon being dark and possibly quite reddish. We can stay there watching the Moon and the rest of the night sky as long as we like, though I expect we’ll be getting quite cool since we’re now used to being easily warm most of the time. We’ll walk out and back, covering about 1 kilometre of totally flat well-maintained trails each way.

I encourage you to read the excellent explanation of the event written by Nicole Mortillaro, a frequent presenter on CBC. She has several good diagrams and images https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/partial-lunar-eclipse-9.7314230? cmp=newsletter_CBC%20News%20Morning%20Brief_18067_2186512

Please respond to markwhitcombe34@gmail.com if you are planning on joining this Headwaters Nature field trip.

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