Sunday 29 June 2014

Off to Georgian Bay Islands National Park...

In a few minutes I will be heading out the door and going to Georgian Bay Islands National Park in southeastern Georgian Bay with Todd Hagedorn for the weekend. After working a fair bit over the last month and a half it will be a welcome break, that's for sure! I have gotten out a few time apart from my work surveys and will try to get a post or two up at some point. In the mean time, here is a photo of a Common Ringlet from Newmarket a few evenings ago.

Common Ringlet

Georgian Bay Islands is a herpers paradise. I'm not sure what the total species count is for the park, but it has to be close to, or at 30 species. I've been there on two occasions previously - if I recall, I saw 25 species of herps there on one weekend trip! Eastern Massassaugas, Eastern Hognose Snakes, and Common Musk Turtles are three of the species which are relatively easy to find there.

Eastern Hognose Snake - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Eastern Massasauga - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Eastern Hognose Snake - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Northern Ringneck Snake - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Eastern Milksnake - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Common Musk Turtle - Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Not only is it a crazy herping location, but the birding can be pretty good too. I recall on my first trip being surprised by the number of Prairie Warblers - I think we heard about a dozen singing males over the course of the weekend!  Should be fun...

2 comments:

Corey said...

Hey Josh, I am interested in going here but I was just wondering what side of the island would you recommend? I would love to find a hognose and a musk turtle and are you using the day tripper to get to the island?

thanks Corey

Josh Vandermeulen said...

Hi Corey,

Good luck if you go, the island is a special place with a ton of cool herps. I'm sure any side can be very productive for herps! To get there, we used Chris from Georgian Bay Water Services and had no complaints at all. His number is 705-627-3062.