Waterfowl Day

October 14, 2007

Decided to attend the Waterfowl Day 2007 at the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary. We'd been planning to go for a while but with Samantha having a cold, it was a last minute decision to in fact head on down. In the end, Samantha made the decision as she was quite excited to go see 'the animals', in particular the porcupine that was promised on the flyer.

Little Ray's Reptile zoo was there with some amazing snakes but the lengthy fun facts and scientific explanations soon were enough for Sam so we headed off early to check out some of the crafts and to beat the lunch crowd at the hot dog stand. The Gypsy Magic Show was next but Genadi the gypsy also failed to capture Sam's attention so off we went to the visitor centre and store to see some animals. Of the various stuffed animals displays they had, wouldn't you know the most exciting one for Sam was the plush insect display where she enjoyed pushing them all to see what sounds they make. (The mosquito was WAY too lifelike!)

Determined to see some live animals, we headed over to the bird banding station. This bird banding station is the largest of its kind in Ontario and oddly enough, receives a fair bit of funding from the States. It used to be for banding geese but this was very cumbersome and only moderately successful so now they catch and band geese in July when they are flightless instead of trying to trap them. Now the trap is used to catch ducks. They get mostly mallards but since they started adding oats instead of just corn for the bait, they are also having more success in capturing wood ducks. Since we often have a pair of wood ducks come nest in our woods in the spring, we were excited to be able to see some up close. We stayed long enough to see the ducks being herded into the banding station and then we left.

We decided to stay long enough to give the Muskoka Wildlife Centre a chance to impress us with their animals... after all, this is what Sam had been talking about all day. This is Canada's largest live-animal outreach program and it was really great. Again, Sam didn't care for all the explanations but the animals were exciting enough to keep her captivated and momma and poppa enjoyed learning a few new things (like how to pick up a snapping turtle which is an important skill in our neck of the woods!) Of course they brought out animal after animal, but the one that was missing was... the porcupine. Rubby stepped up (was someone going for the father of the year award?!) and kindly asked the presenter if he didn't happen to have a porcupine in that van of us. I guess he was only supposed to come out for the second show but he obliged us and Sammy not only got to see, but she also got to pet the porcupine!

As if all that excitement wasn't enough, Sam wasn't ready to go home yet... she wanted to go treasure hunting! We stopped for a quick cache on Ault Island where Sam and Rubby saw a deer by the water. So it turned out to be a good wildlife overall.

One of the aims of Waterfowl Day was to raise money for the Bird Sanctuary.

Some duck carvings at the craft table.

Snakes from little ray's reptile zoo... the bigger stronger snake is the girl.

Sammy pets the snake.

 
another snake is brought out and again Sammy gets a close-up.

Time for the big ones to make an appearance!

This one had a very pretty design.

Time for the biggest snake to come out...
apparently he's not full grown either, he can get to be twice as big!

Ya, he's big, but apparently size doesn't impress Sammy much.

Genadi the gypsy... boring.

Plush mosquito making buzzing noise... exciting! Let's do that again!

View from the duck banding station to the tower and visitor centre.
Normally we don't get to come to this side of the pond!

Where are all the ducks momma?

There they are!

Mallards and wood ducks making there way along the trap.

The nets help channel them along a cage tunnel.

The duck herders in action.

Sammy waiting for the ducks to waddle past.

This was pretty much all the excitement Christopher had today!

The Muskoka Wildlife Centre brought along live animals like this horned owl.

Meet Dr. Whooo.

Yay! This is more like it!

A red fox... hey, is that Swiper?!

Here comes Sam, the snapping turtle.

The safe way to identify a snapping turtle is by its tail... it has a 'dinosaur' tail with spikes.

This is the *wrong* way to hold a snapping turtle if you value your fingers
(are you paying attention Rubby?!)

 
The correct way is to grab it from behind and underneath. Yanking it by the tail or using a stick that it's holding on to would potentially break the turtle's back and putting your fingers anywhere near the front or along the sides would put them within reach of the turtle's snapping beak.

Here comes Hudson the lynx.

A lynx is pretty much like a bobcat, but it has much larger paws.

Hudson is still a kitten but he is still very dangerous and soon he won't be shown to the public anymore.

Aroma the skunk was thankfully without aroma!

The show is over but while rubby went to ask about seeing a porcupine,
Samantha patiently waited and looked at her new bird poster.

Another close-up look at Dr. Who as the newspaper reporter was getting some photos after the show.

Sammy picks up a little souvenir... a Dr. Who feather!

And finally we get to see the porcupine!

Not only does Sammy get to see the porcupine, she gets to pet it too!

Before heading home, a view of Upper Canada Village from the Ault Island geocache.

In the other direction, the view across the St. Lawrence River.

Sammy heading back to the car with her treasure.

All that excitement! Time for a nap!