FIRE!!!

 Fire is a desirable event in some natural habitats. In fact some habitats wouldn't exist very long without regular fire.

Last Wednesday, April 10, there was a series of small fires, called prescribed burns, held at various parts of Rondeau Provincial Park. There have been quite a few open, mostly grassy areas within Rondeau. However as natural as some are, or seem to be, they did not originate as a result of fire. I have discussed this in a bit of detail such as on this blog post as well as others that focus primarily on Point Pelee NP and Pinery Prov Park, where in both cases, fire was perhaps used for perhaps the wrong reasons. You can check those posts by searching the Labels list on the right hand side of this post for those two parks.

At Rondeau, the open grassy spots or savanna habitat was not caused by fire, but by other means. Nonetheless, the use of fire as a tool to manage it for the grassy/savanna habitat is quite acceptable, and even necessary to maintain the habitat for certain grassland species of flora and fauna, some of which are at risk.

Here is a case in point. This first photo shows a beautiful grassland/savanna habitat immediately south of the campground, taken in July, 2009.

The growing conditions have been good over the years, and in October, 2023, this is what it looked like due to the absence of fire for at least a decade. Clearly it was becoming very overgrown, and some of the plants had not been seen, or were present in greatly reduced numbers at that point.

This next photo shows more or less the same area, from roughly the same vantage point, right after the burn of a few days ago. Of course the new season of growth has not yet begun, but one can hope that some of the desirable plant species will reappear.

But I am jumping ahead of myself.

I arrived on site in the late morning, and the conditions had already been satisfactory for the burn crew to get underway. The grassy site just south of the churches, near the tennis courts, had already been burned, and the crew had just completed the mopping up process.

Next was to burn two grassy areas along the north end of Harrison Trail. This first one shows the typical condition, where logs and branches from fallen trees are laying in the grass.

Before the fire is started, the crew goes over the details of the burn site, and the responsibilities of each crew member.

The fire is then lit via a drip torch.

When there is adequate dry grass, the fire goes well, causing an almost complete burn. If the fuel on the ground is mostly leaf litter, it is damper and the fire moves slowly and even misses sections.

Here is another section of the grassy area along the north end of Harrison Trail just prior to the burn.

There can be a lot of smoke....

...with little flare-ups when better grassy fuel is encountered.

After the burn.

Some folks may be concerned about wildlife, and rightly so. There are some wildlife cover boards scattered in a few places, where research/survey work has been undertaken in the past regarding some types of wildlife using the area. In this next photo, the cover boards and immediate area are watered down, to protect the boards and any critter underneath.

There were a very small number of Eastern Garter Snakes seen slithering away from the burned area.

A Five-lined Skink had been taking refuge under a log, and was seen scurrying away when the burn crew was spraying the log with water so it wouldn't burn or smoulder.

With the fire patches at the north end of the park looked after, next on the list of sites was immediately south of the Visitor Centre. After the initial crew assembly, the site was ignited.

With so much grass, the fire took off quite nicely.

A Red Cedar tree that had been the victim of storm conditions a year or so ago, but was still partially alive, was in the path of the flames....

...and ignited. As nice as Red Cedars can be in the proper place, they can be quite invasive and even eventually become dominant in prairie and savanna habitat.

Lots of smoke...

...but the fire had done its job here in fairly short order.

The crew always stays on site for awhile, checking for hot spots and such to make sure everything was under control.

After the burn, the small shrubs and other woody plants showed the desirable effects of being burned, so that they would not out-compete the desirable prairie grasses over the ensuing growing period. 

 Only time will tell how much of those prairie grasses will become evident later this growing season, but the exposed dark ashes allow the soil to warm up more quickly. The dormant grasses with their roots underground should respond favourably and show good growth in the next few months, and overall greatly improving the prairie/savanna habitat for all the creatures that depend on them.

Congratulations for the crew for doing a fine job in their efforts to promote healthy prairie and savanna habitat at Rondeau! And I should mention that one of the highlights for me, aside from seeing this prescribed burn in action, was to re-connect with several OMNR folks that I worked with or at least knew, during my pre-retirement years.

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Some fun ups and downs of spring

 What a difference a few days make. Last Tuesday, April 19, I took this photo out the kitchen window. It's 'sno' fun being a robin in these conditions. How am I going to find any worms?

However that didn't deter them from doing what robins do. Two days later, it was well underway constructing a nest. It did most of it in a single day.

The finished product just a day or two later, as it was observed putting some final touches on the nest, and building it a bit higher. I haven't checked, but I suspect at least one egg is now lying in it, awaiting to be incubated. Usually 4-5 eggs are laid, with incubating starting on the day the next to last egg is laid.

I was out at Rondeau shortly after the snowy days. There wasn't an awful lot to report with respect to newly arrived migrants, but it was pleasant just the same. For anyone who had been to the park since April 12, one might have noticed some different changes to the grassy parts of the park, especially along the northeast side. What had looked like this first photo.....

was now looking like this. Finally, after about three or so years, the park staff were able to carry out a prescribed burn. These next few photos were taken about a week after the burn, so with the snow and rain, the black ash had been washed away, leaving it looking a bit less black. It was a bit too soon for any greenery to appear.

In the absence of several years of fire and the presence of a higher water table, the shrubs had really expanded, making it look less like an oak savanna that it should have appeared as.

However with there being enough fuel for the fire to enter the stands of shrubs, the intent is for the heat and flames to damage the sensitive bark, suppressing the shrubby growth and give the grasses and wildflowers a chance to rebound. Time will tell how effective this burn has been, and perhaps another one will be required next year. There were other areas that the park staff had intended to burn, but due to the conditions of the day, the fire was slower moving than hoped for, so the areas covered were limited.

The few days after the burn, and before the sudden upswing in temperatures, were still pleasant to get out for. A few Eastern Phoebes were around.....

...as were some Hermit Thrushes.

Pileated Woodpeckers were usually detected by their distinctive drum roll heard off in the distance, but on occasion I would catch a glimpse of one, and even get a heavily cropped photo.

While looking through pine trees for an elusive Pine Warbler, I noticed this ball of fur resting on a branch. I knew immediately what it was, but it was interesting to note that when I uploaded it to iNaturalist, the first choices they gave me were incorrect, and included things like Porcupine, and some mammals that don't even occur in North America. It is a Raccoon, having a rest while soaking up a bit of sun.

Eastern Gartersnakes were out soaking up a bit of sunshine, or at least hoping for a bit of sun.

While walking the Black Oak Trail, I flushed up this Turkey Vulture. I could smell something, and it wasn't the vulture. It was a decomposing raccoon not far off the trail, but I didn't bother with getting its photo.

Here is a bird quiz for you. I was busy trying to capture a different photo of this bird, but one of the photos turned out like this. Note the small size, olive-green lower back, and lighter coloured edges of the darker tail feathers. Any ideas?

Here is the same bird without the upraised wings. Obviously it is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a species which is fairly common these days.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet giving me a quizzical look

One of Rondeau best known denizens was out attempting to cross the road when it spied me. I could almost sense it deciding what its best options were, whether to race across or retreat.

It selected the former option and here I caught it with all four hooves in the air....

...just before it landed and leapt through a brushy tangle. This buck, as evidenced by its small black knobs which will grow into antlers in a few months, might have had a tougher time if its antlers were fully grown, likely snagging on some of the shrubby growth.

There are other things to see and photograph, such as this Common Greenshield Lichen.....

....and early spring wildflowers, such as this Early Buttercup.

Next is one of my favourites of early spring, the Round-lobed Hepatica, which differs slightly from a close relative, the Sharp-lobed Hepatica. As you might suspect, they have slightly different shaped leaves.

A few butterflies were out, although most weren't sticking around for a photo session like this Mourning Cloak was. This species overwinters as an adult, and a closer look shows some wear and tattering of its hind-wing.

 Fungi can be found in good condition, such as this Scarlet Elfcup, one of the earliest to be seen in spring.

A plant I am often on the lookout for in spring, before the forest floor greens up very much, is this orchid known as Puttyroot. The leaves are quite distinctive. It is a legally threatened species, so I won't divulge any details of where I found it. But it is part of a population that I have been watching for most of 40 years, and this year the leaves were the most abundant I have ever seen. I counted 117 of them, which is almost twice as many as I have seen in the past. It will be interesting to see how many send up a flowering spike, as typically only about 10-20 per cent do so.

The landscape features of the park are attractive in their own way at this time of year, as one can see much more detail than when all of the leaves are out. This first one is of a slough along Bennett Ave.....

These next ones are of a slough along the west South Point Trail. Sloughs showing so much openness, and not being choked with either buttonbush or the invasive Phragmites are getting harder and harder to find.

This distinctive tree root is that of Yellow Birch, which typically begins its life sprouting on a log or other exposed organic surface.

A trip or two to the Erieau area can be a nice change. Along the Rail Trail there is usually a good variety of ducks, although not always close enough to get a good photo of. This next photo shows a pair of Blue-winged Teal, which may stick around to nest.

A sunny day will cause a lot of turtles to be basking, and at this stage, most will be Midland Painted Turtles, the only Ontario turtle species that as yet, is not considered legally at risk.

Forster's Terns are the most commonly seen tern at the moment.

At the outset of this blog post, I mentioned what a difference a few days makes, and it was just so evident in the weather of the past few days. A warming trend, caused by brisk southerly warm winds, brought a lot of migrant birds that were just waiting for the right conditions to leap forward on their migration pathways. On the weekend there were at least 10 species of warblers recorded, including lots of Yellow Warblers. Even the rare Prothonotary Warbler was seen and photographed, but most were the early species typically seen first. They weren't always easy to photograph, however.

Yellow Warbler

There was an abundant diversity of new arrivals, including species such as Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, Lincoln's Sparrow, Wood Thrush and Veery, several flycatcher types, etc., etc. One of the highlights for me was to have this stunning male Scarlet Tanager so cooperative, while feeding on some berries on this Red Cedar. The brilliant scarlet and black against a background of green and blue, made for a delightful time with the camera. While I was being dazzled by the cooperativeness of this beauty, I missed out on seeing an adult male Orchard Oriole that my birding companions saw. Such is birding.....and I shall not complain a bit after spend the time with this impressive bird.

So even though things are to cool down a bit over the next few days, I have no doubt that some of the birds that arrived on this warm period will stick around. I will be out trying to see and photograph as many as possible.

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