4thgen

It is definitely an Eastern Milksnake. The markings on both Fox Snakes and Massasaugas are quite different from the cream background with reddish brown blotches shown in your picture. Also, assuming that this was somewhere fairly close to Barrie, neither of the other two species occur there.

What I don't believe has been mentioned yet is that there are a number of tick species in Ontario. If you still have the tick in your possession, you should try to identify it. Every tick that I've picked up in Ontario has been a Wood Tick of the genus Dermacentor, which is not a carrier of Lyme disease. Best of luck.

As some of you might know, it has been an irruption year for Snowy Owls. The vast majority of those seen in Ontario have been along the shore of Lake Ontario. If you're down and around the Lake, keep your eyes open and you might be lucky enough to see one. Presqu'ile Provincial Park has had as many as five present at one time. As whitespinnerbait has stopped with the bird pictures, I'll post a few. I'll leave the names off in case anyone wants to guess at the species. You can find the answers by checking the properties or maybe I'll just post them in a couple of weeks. All pictures were taken with a Canon a300 with a 75-300mm, except for the last one which was taken with a point and shoot. Ok, so the second to last one is kind of tricky, and the last one just seemed relevant.

Why stop at cormorants? I saw more Osprey last year than the year before! This is irrefutible evidence that Ontario's fishery is going to come crashing down! They're eating MY fish!!! So what if they've been here all along. So what if their original decline was caused by people! Their nests? Don't get me started on those eye sores. Oh my God, I saw more herons last year than ever before as well!! Herons eat fish too! Oh my God! The world is ending!! We need to act right now!! THERE IS NO TIME FOR SCIENCE!!! They're taking my fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY FISH!!!!!!!

Everyone seems to have a story about a musky from Lake Ontarion in the Toronto area but it seems nobody ever to thought to take a picture of one. If anybody has one hidden away somewhere, I would love to see it. Until then, I remain sceptical. Fishingitis, pike are everywhere along the waterfront as long as there is a bit of stucture. I haven't been to the area that you're talking about, but it sounds like some other places I know of that produce pike (see avatar.) You will definately be more successful if you downsize a bit. Long cranks in the 5" range are a good start.

I'm surprised that no one has heard of the Toronto Wildlife Centre. Give them a call at (416) 631-0662, they are your best bet by far. Oh, and you've got a Common Grackle there; a very angry one by the looks of it. www.torontowildlifecentre.com

Nice shot of a swamp sparrow!

Nice shot! Good job finding one. We banded about 70 that night. They're so cute but by the end of the night it feels like your hands have been stabbed by thousands of needles.

It seems that I'm not the only OFC member that also subscribes to ONTbirds! Good on ya.

This one seems to be staying in the same area just north of Rice Lake. There was also a flock of ~200 snow buntings nearby with a merlin cutting through them. Didn't see it get one but they were driven out of the area pretty quickly.

Nice shot! I haven't seen a long-eared in ages.. I found this young snowy yesterday though. I'm in southern ON right now.

They've been showing up around Peterborough really commonly for the last couple of weeks. As frozen-fire has mentioned, quite normal. I field calls about them most days at work and sometimes it's hard to convince people that they'll be okay despite the cold.

Back when I first started pier fishing, I couldn't figure out two things: why I always had teeth marks in my egg sinkers, and why I had to reel in a bunch of line after feeling a "hit", before actually feeling the fish. Having spent countless nights out on piers now, I can tell you that 99 out of 100 salmon that are caught on bottom rigs didn't bite. When marshmallows work just as well as ear plugs, styrofoam and cigarette butts, you should know something is up. Although the occasional salmon might bite in the small pools up river, once again 99% of them are lined or flossed. Totally unsporting and not much fun either. I haven't fished for salmon anywhere but a pier in years and I can tell you that lures are quite capable of outfishing flossers. The hits are awesome and you actually get headshaking. Being able to turn a fish when it runs -- priceless.

Oncorhynchus is a salmon genus. Same as the other Pacific salmon. They are different from the others by quite a bit though.

Mothballs didn't work for me last winter when I used them with poison sticks to try to keep a car mouse-free. I'll be following this thread -- hopefully I won't be pulling the whole vent/heating system out again next spring...