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Freshwater turtles face a number of serious threats, from wetland destruction to roadkill to nest predation. Although nest predation is a natural threat, in many areas the number of nest predators has increased leading to higher rates of nest predation. And those nests that avoid being consumed by predators may still end up being destroyed by people. An incident from this past summer illustrated… Read More
In the White Lake Basin of British Columbia’s South Okanagan, roadkill is a major threat to reptiles and amphibians. Considered a “biodiversity ranch”, White Lake is home to many species at risk and is collaboratively managed by The Nature Trust of British Columbia, the Clifton Ranch, and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory to help conserve important habitat. One of… Read More
What began as exhilaration quickly dwindled into despondency and frustration. The trill of Western Chorus Frogs, which we had spent hours driving in search of, had at first fallen on my ears like life-giving rain, yet now pierced me as a mocking call of defiance. We had found our first population of Western Chorus Frogs. The night was bitter cold, dropping below expected… Read More
An adult female Greater Short-horned Lizard that became ingrained in my family’s life. Photographed here just after consuming a grasshopper, note the “tobacco juice” on her lower jaw. This is not a post about research. This is a post about a single animal: an adult female Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) that has been a part of my family’s weekly… Read More
With the arrival of spring, western chorus frogs (WCF) have started calling from their breeding wetlands within southwestern Ontario! For the past two years Blazing Star Environmental has partnered with Canadian Wildlife Service and Trent University to create a volunteer-based, long-term, range-wide monitoring program for the WCF in Ontario. We are excited to announce that this program has… Read More