ERS 346 Outing #4

TIME & DATE: 2019/10/17 @ 14:30
DURATION: 180 minutes
LOCATION: Mono Cliffs Provincial Park, Orangeville, ON
WEATHER: 12°C, moderately windy (5 on Beaufort Scale), 100% cloud cover, light rain
HABITATS: mixed deciduous-coniferous forest, talus slopes (limestone cliffs), open water (ponds)

It was a cold and rainy day when I decided to go for a hike at Mono Cliffs Provincial Park. I started along the forested trail that followed at the foot of the escarpment. Into the woods, the topography was quite variable. There was a decent amount of leaf litter on the ground and I lifted up a couple of logs to check for salamanders. Sure enough, I saw an Eastern Red-backed salamander. With the dampness of the lowland environment, many logs and rocks to hide under, deep leaf litter, and relatively minimal evidence of significant human disturbance (few invasive species, strong heterogeneity in ecosystem structure and species composition, and a clearly restricted path for hikers), this seemed like an appropriate place to spot an Eastern Red-backed salamander.

With the rain, it was difficult to find much wildlife but if you really went searching for it, you could spot some critters in the forest. A Banded Tussock moth (native – I didn’t know that!) sat itself on a yellow maple leaf on the forest floor. It turns out that Banded Tussock moths have chemical defenses that they acquire from their host plants! They feed on a variety of tree species throughout southern Canada to Texas – ash, birch, oak, walnut and willow, to name a few – so it is logical to find this species in a mixed forest in southern Ontario.

I continued on and climbed up a set of steps that took me to the top of the escarpment. Following the trail along the ridge of the cliff, I saw a lot of woodpecker evidence (boreholes). I was snapping a photo of a particularly ‘holey’ birch snag when I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly across the trail and land on a tree deeper into the woods. I’m always impressed by how large these woodpeckers are... This species of woodpecker has a relatively broad range of ecosystem types which it inhabits, but it is most often found in mature deciduous or mixed forests. I think that because the protected area has a fairly large mature wooded area with plenty of snags and decaying woody matter, Mono Cliffs Provincial Park presents a well-suited habitat for the Pileated Woodpecker.

I took a pause and was eating my lunch at a popular spot in a fissure between the cliffs when an Eastern Chipmunk popped out to join me. The chipmunk darted back and forth but it appears by his bold character that he must be well accustomed to people. Though chipmunks are common to see elsewhere, they prefer areas with rocks, shrubs or brush to provide cover. Perhaps that’s why the chipmunk had chosen to make his home here in the rock cover of the fissure.

On my way back, I passed by a pond that was receiving its input from a stormwater drain. At the edge of the pond where the water emptied into the pond, a small grey-brown bird pecked at the substrate. I’m not sure what kind of bird it was but it resembled a shorebird. Being in a forested area, it doesn’t really make sense to see a shorebird, but it’s obvious that this individual was feeding on some of the invertebrates and other food items being brought into the pond by the runoff.

Posted on November 10, 2019 12:02 AM by