Quick Reference Guide

Factoid: Fowler’s Toads are nocturnal and are mostly active at night, but can occasionally be seen during rainy, overcast days.

Factoid: Unlike most small animals, Jefferson salamanders can live a very long time – up to 30 years.

Factoid: Salamanders can take in oxygen through their highly permeable skin. Their skin can also easily absorb pollutants and other toxins, which can cause serious harm or death.

Factoid: These birds breed and roost in chimneys as well as other manmade structures, including air vents, old open wells, outhouses, abandoned cisterns and lighthouses.

Factoid: During courtship, males present crayfish or small crabs to females in their bill.

Factoid: Kirtland’s Warbler is one of only a few warblers that have the distinctive habit of regularly pumping its tail up and down.

Factoid: The Least Bittern is more likely to be heard than seen in its dense marsh habitat. The typical call given by males is a hollow, quiet “coo-coo-coo”. When alarmed, they can give a harsh “kek-kek-kek” call. They are most vocal in early morning and evening, but could potentially call anytime during the day or night.

Factoid: Shrikes are sometimes called "butcher bird" because they impale their prey on thorns, barbed wire or sharp twigs.

Factoid: The peregrine falcon is one of the world’s fastest animals, and has been clocked diving for prey at speeds of 160 km an hour.

Factoid: The Prothonotary Warbler was named after legal clerks in the Roman Catholic Church, known as prothonotaries, who sometimes wear a golden hood and a blue cape.

Factoid: Chicks seem to hatch near full moons, giving parents more light for foraging so they can supply the extra energy demands of their rapidly-growing brood.

Factoid: These fish can absorb oxygen through their skin as well as their gills, allowing them to travel brie?y over wet grass or mud.

Factoid: During the breeding season, the body colour of the male Black Redhorse changes from bluish-silver to a darker greenish-black.

Factoid: The sandy colour of the Channel Darter provides perfect camouflage with the sandy river and lake bottoms where it lives.

Factoid: The Cutlip Minnow is reported to attack and eat the eyes of other fish, which has earned it the nickname "eye-picker".

Factoid: During the breeding season, the normally drab-looking, male Eastern Sand Darters become flushed with yellowish colouration and can develop metallic blue and green colours on their cheeks.

Factoid: The bottom-feeding Gravel Chub uses sensitive barbels, or whiskers, at the corners of its mouth to find its prey of small insects and larvae by probing under rocks and in crevices.

Factoid: Female Lake Chubsuckers can lay up to 20,000 eggs each!

Factoid: The oldest known specimen of this fish, from Lake Huron, is 155 years old.

Factoid: The sharp spines and poison glands found on the pectoral fins of the Northern Madtom can cause a painful wound!

Factoid: The Pugnose Shiner is one of the rarest minnows in eastern North America.

Factoid: Redside dace are the only fish in Canada with the ability to jump out of the water to eat.

Factoid: When it was more common, the Shortjaw Cisco was likely an important food source for fish predators such as Lake Trout and Burbot.

Factoid: The Spotted Gar can breathe air! It uses a special organ called a swim bladder like a lung when the fish comes to the surface for a breath of air. This allows the fish to live in areas with little oxygen in the water. Like most fishes, the Spotted Gar also uses gills to breath underwater.

Factoid: To attract ?sh for its larvae to attach to, the female pondmussel produces a lure that looks like the wriggling legs of a swimming shrimp.

Factoid: This mussel can be distinguished from other Canadian freshwater species by the chevron-shaped markings on its shell and its very small size.

Factoid: Kidneyshell larvae are clustered into packages called "conglutinates" when released, and somewhat resemble fish fry complete with eye spots, or insect larvae. When a fooled fish bites down on one of these packages, the larvae burst out and attach to the fish gills where they live as parasites and consume nutrients from the fish until they transform into juvenile mussels and drop off.

Factoid: The Mapleleaf Mussel depends on the channel catfish to survive. By attaching itself to the gills of the catfish, the mussel larvae consume nutrients from the fish until they transform into juvenile mussels and drop off.

Factoid: The larvae of most freshwater mussels must attach to a fish host in order to survive. Once attached, the tiny parasitic larvae consume nutrients from the fish until they transform into mussels. The Salamander Mussel is unique in that their larvae use the aquatic Mudpuppy salamander as a host, instead of a fish.

Factoid: Northern Riffleshell may be the most imperiled mussel species we have in Ontario, as it is believed there are fewer than 15 locations where this species occurs globally.

Factoid: A mussel larva must attach to a host fish where it stays until is has consumed enough nutrients to transform into a juvenile mussel. The female Rainbow Mussel goes fishing for host fish by producing a lure that looks just like a crayfish, including an eyespot and wriggling legs. When a fooled fish attacks the lure the mussel ejects its larvae, which have a better chance of attaching to the host fish at such a close distance.

Factoid: The Rayed Bean is extremely rare throughout its range. It is known from fewer than 25 river systems in Canada and the United States.

Factoid: It is estimated that Round Hickorynut populations in Canada have declined by more than 90 per cent since the invasion of the Great Lakes by Zebra Mussels.

Factoid: Round Pigtoe eggs hatch inside a special pouch in the mother’s gills called a marsupium, where the larvae are supported before being ejected into the water.

Factoid: The Snuffbox's main host is the Logperch, which is known to frequently roll over small stones and gravel in search of food. The Snuffbox waits patiently for a Logperch to come along and touch its shell. The Snuffbox then captures the Logperch in its shell and holds the stunned fish long enough to puff out a cloud of mussel larvae that attach to the fish gills, where they live as parasites that consume nutrients from the fish body. The startled fish is then released.

Factoid: The Wavy-rayed Lampmussel can fish. To attract a fish host that its parasitic larvae can attach to, the female produces a lure that looks like a wriggling minnow. When a fooled fish attacks the lure, the mussel ejects its larvae, which have a better chance of attaching to the host at such a close distance.

Factoid: People used the American Chestnut for treating numerous ailments (from coughs and dermatitis to heart trouble), as a staple food and beverage, to build shelters, for firewood and as a source of dye. Early settlers soon realized the many important uses of this tree.

Factoid: Aboriginal people have used American Ginseng for a wide range of medicinal purposes including treatment of headaches, earaches, rheumatism, convulsions, bleeding, fevers, vomiting, tuberculosis, gonorrhea and as a cure-all when other treatments failed.

Factoid: Aboriginal people used this plant medicinally to treat toothaches, injuries and digestive problems.

Factoid: Common Hoptree is one of two native larval host plants for the rare Giant Swallowtail butterfly.

Factoid: Bees and butterflies pollinate the flowers of the Crooked-stem Aster. The seeds are scattered by wind after ripening.

Factoid: Dense Blazing Star is able to grow in soil that is contaminated with cadmium by turning this toxic heavy metal into a non-toxic form in its tissues.

Factoid: Many insects rely on the Dwarf Hackberry for survival. Several rare insects, including beetles that were only recently discovered in Canada, also depend on the Dwarf Hackberry for part of their life cycles.

Factoid: The bright red fruit of this tree is poisonous to humans but can be eaten by over 50 species of birds and small mammals. These animals help distribute Eastern Flowering Dogwood seeds throughout forests.

Factoid: This orchid’s seeds are produced in huge numbers, but germination and seedling growth depend on the presence of special fungi in the soil.

Factoid: The tiny flowers of False Hop Sedge are wind pollinated, so the plant does not attract many insects. However, the caterpillars of various butterflies, skippers, and moths feed on various sedge species, while a number of species of birds feed on the seeds.

Factoid: Gattinger's Agalinis looks so similar to its close relative, Skinner's Agalinis, that it can only be distinguished by experts who closely analyze specific features of the flowers, leaves and stems.

Factoid: In Ontario, Hill's Thistle often grows with other species at risk such as Lakeside Daisy and Houghton's Goldenrod.

Factoid: Houghton's Goldenrod is thought to have evolved as a result of hybridization between two other goldenrod species and a subsequent increase in chromosome number.

Factoid: The leaves and seeds of Kentucky Coffee-tree contain a toxic substance, the alkaloid, cytosine, which may be fatal if consumed. However, aboriginal people used the roasted seeds of the Kentucky Coffee-tree to treat headaches and relieve digestion problems. Roasting is supposed to neutralize the toxins.

Factoid: In British Columbia, Scarlet Ammannia is found alongside another species at risk, Toothcup (Rotala ramosior). While these species are also both found in Ontario, they do not occur together here.

Factoid: The root of this species was used by Aboriginal people for burns, strained muscles, trouble breathing and difficult labour.

Factoid: A single Wild Hyacinth can produce over 100 flowers in a single season.

Factoid: Aboriginal people used Willowleaf Aster to treat stomach aches and injuries. They also smoked the dried leaves for good luck while hunting.

Factoid: The Blue Racer is among the most graceful and swiftest of Ontario’s snakes, though it only reaches a top speed of 12 to16 kilometres per hour. It is easily startled and will flee if threatened. It will also imitate a rattlesnake by vibrating the tip of its tail in leaf litter to produce a buzzing sound.

Factoid: The Butler's Gartersnake exhibits a peculiar behaviour called side-winding. When excited, it will vigorously wriggle from side to side, making little forward progress.

Factoid: If frightened, this harmless snake will mimic a rattlesnake by vibrating the tip of its tail in leaf litter to produce a buzzing noise.

Factoid: Unlike other snakes that tend to hibernate in groups, the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake usually spends the winter months alone. It may hibernate in a pre-existing burrow or dig a burrow in the ground with its snout.

Factoid: This snake is an excellent climber and may be seen up a tree or bush sunning, preparing to shed its skin or hunting for prey.

Factoid: Lake Erie Watersnakes can be a paler colour than watersnakes found elsewhere in Ontario. This is believed to be an adaptation that helps the snake camouflage on the pale limestone beaches characteristic of the islands it inhabits.

Factoid: The Massasauga is very shy and prefers to hide or retreat from enemies rather than bite them. If threatened, it will shake its tail as a warning and strike only as a last resort to protect itself if it can not escape.

Factoid: Queensnakes are excellent swimmers and can often be seen swimming and hunting underwater for their main food source – freshly-moulted crayfish. When freshly moulted, crayfish are soft, defenceless and easier to swallow. Ironically, during winter hibernation, crayfish turn the table and will eat juvenile and hibernating Queensnakes.

Factoid: These turtles can survive in the wild for more than 75 years.

Factoid: Unlike other turtles, the Eastern Musk Turtle rarely leaves the water except when females lay eggs. It spends most of the day resting on the soft lake bottom, foraging for food or basking in the sun under floating aquatic vegetation in shallow water.

Factoid: The Spiny Softshell turtle captures crayfish and .pdfuscs by partially burying itself underwater in the sand or mud and snatching unsuspecting prey. Its snorkel-like snout allows it to take a breath of air while submerged.

Factoid: Most female and male turtles look a little bit different. In the case of Spotted Turtles, females have bright orange eyes and chins whereas males’ are dark brown or black.

Factoid: Wood turtles do not begin reproducing until they are at least 17 years old.