A Little Bit of Natural and Human History

Some readers may have noticed a recent article in the local weekly paper, Chatham This Week, which talked about all the black squirrels in Washington D. C. And no, it had nothing to do with anyone there being 'nuts'. 

Black squirrels are relatively common across southern Ontario, and even more so in the central parts of Ontario. Up until about the last century, they were non-existent in D. C. or anywhere close. According to the historical narrative, the current population of black squirrels there are the descendants of ones  that came from Rondeau Provincial Park.

 

Around the very late 1800s or very early 1900s, someone from that part of the USA was intrigued by the black squirrels at Rondeau during a visit, and arranged a delivery of a few of these squirrels to a zoo in the D. C. area. Wildlife exchanges were much more common in that era than they are today. They eventually they became numerous enough that they were released in the wild, and have been in the D. C. area ever since.

 

When I was the park naturalist of Rondeau back in the '70s and '80s, I recall coming across the written documents in the park's historical files, from the superintendent of the day relating to this event. This delivery of black squirrels occurred in 1902.

 

Black squirrels are really a colour form of the Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Both black and grey colour forms are common in southern Ontario. The grey colour form is the more common colour form of this species south of the border, especially so the farther south you go. The ecological advantage of being black here in Ontario is that it absorbs a bit more sunlight energy, keeping the squirrel a bit warmer than its grey counterpart during the winter period.

If you want to read a bit more, check out the article in Chatham This Week at this link. 

 

 On a completely different note, but also of local historical relevance, is The Guyitt House. This has been acclaimed as the most photographed abandoned house at least in southern Ontario, and some say all of Ontario.

It is along the Talbot Trail, formerly known as provincial highway #3, just a few kilometres east of Rondeau and within sight of Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park. There have been various media articles from time to time, and even YouTube videos, one of which surfaced quite recently.

I have photographed this abandoned house on several occasions. One of my first efforts was in early April, 2010. I photographed it during the daylight hours, but since it was an historical building, decided to process the image in black and white with a bit of sepia tone added.

At around the same time, I had been intrigued by photographing things by moonlight, so during the full moon later that same month, decided to give it a try.

While in a way, this next image may appear to have been photographed during broad daylight, it was actually a 303 second exposure at just after 11 p.m. using only the light of the full moon. If you look closely (click on the image to get a larger view) there is a white line just above and to the left of the chimney at the right hand side of the house. That streak is the light of a bright star, showing how far it moved during that 5+ minute exposure.

In June of 2011, I decided to photograph the house again, this time in broad daylight and in colour. The pinkish purple flowers in the foreground are a type of wild phlox, not a native plant, but one that was commonly planted by settlers of the region.

The house has deteriorated quite a bit in the decade following the time of taking this photograph. One wonders just how much longer it will remain standing, and at what stage it will be completely removed.

If you want to read a bit more about The Guyitt House, check out this link from an article by the CBC.