Turtles of Ontario

I have had the opportunity to work with all but one species of Ontario turtles and would like to share my experiences and knowledge about these species through a series now that I have a bit more free time in the off season. Mostly I just haven't posted in a very very long time and figured this would be a nice post to make.

Here are a few photos of turtles I have found across Ontario and a bit about each one:

Spiny Softshell Turtles are definitely a unique turtle in relation to other species in Ontario since they are the only one without a hard shell. They are also incredibly flat and look more like a pancake with a really really long neck than a turtle.  This species is very rarely seen because they spend most of the time int he water and bask less frequently than hard shelled turtles.  Most of the time when I have seen them they are just pointy noses poking out of the water while the turtles swim along shorelines or large rivers or lakes.

Spiny Softshell (Apalone spinifera)

Northern Map Turtles have a pattern of so many lines on their shell and body that it looks like a map. These turtles love basking on rocky shorelines. Compared to the more common painted turtle,the shells appear dull rather than shiny from a distance.

Northern Map (Graptemys geographica)

Snapping Turtles are the heaviest species of turtle in Ontario. They have a bit of a reputation for being 'snappy' and there are even some old wives tales of them taking off a finger or two. I have seen a few people get bit and nobody has lost any fingers yet in my experience and these were all people who were holding turtles improperly or harassing them (not ever people having their toes bitten while swimming). To explain WHY these large turtles respond this way to people is that their plastron (shell covering their bellies) is smaller than their body so they can't actually fit into their shell fully like a Painted Turtle can.  To put this into perspective if a predator flips this turtle on it's back it will basically be a meal in a bowl.  But by being aggressive Snapping Turtles can scare away predators.

Snapping (Chelydra serpentina)

Blanding's Turtles have a dark helmet shaped shell and a bright yellow chin that makes them almost look happy.  Unlike Snapping Turtles, Blanding's Turtles actually have a hinged shell that can close the shell off to predators.  Unfortunately one of the biggest threats to this species is road mortality because when they get scared they hide in their shell and will just get stuck on the road (obviously a turtle doesn't know what a car is and won't look both ways first).  While on the road they either get hit by a car or can dehydrate on the hot road surface.

Blanding's (Emydoidea blandingii)

Spotted Turtles are an Endangered species in Canada and probably one of my favorites, but it is hard to pick. This species is quite small and can probably fit in the palm of an adults hand when fully grown.

Spotted (Clemmys guttata)

Painted Turtles are the most common species of turtle in Ontario and the only native turtle species not a Species at Risk. The bright yellow and red marking and shinny dark shell look quite similar to the introduced species Red-eared Slider, which is larger.  Painted Turles have the most drastic sexual dimorphism of any Ontario turtle. This means that the males and females look different and in the case of Painted Turtles it is both size, shell shape and nails that show differences. Males are smaller, have a concave plastron (most species have this trait for getting on top of the female) and most noticeably they have really really strikingly long nails! The nails are actually used in mating to 'tickle' the females chin. Somehow this works for them... the ladies must love it.

Midland Painted (Chrysemys picta marginata)

Stinkpot Turtles, also called Musk Turtles are aptly named after their defense mechanism of producing a very strong bad smell that they excrete through their skin when scared.  Like Snapping Turtles this species doesn't have a full plastron covering it's belly and can't fit in it's shell, BUT this species is nowhere near the size of a Snapping Turtle and can also fit in the palm of your hand when fully grown. Not very threatening is it...?

Stinkpot (Sternotherus odoratus)

Soo far the only native species of Ontario turtle I haven't had the pleasure of working with is Wood Turtles, but hopefully I will get a chance and will update this post to add that species when I do!

Villas and Popes- Relaxing and Stressing in Southern France

Collared Dove

 After our trek into the French Alps we headed south to Avignon where we had rented a villa with a group of friends. It was a scorching hot day with a heat warning to boot. We ended up overheating on the ride down south.

Waiting on the side of the highway

Luckily we made it to an emergency phone. French highways have pull off areas with right orange phones to call tow trucks or emergency vehicles. We were close enough to get a tow to Avignon where we got picked up. 

Emergency phones in France

The French countryside is quite relaxing and lovely and the villa was in the middle of stretches of orchards. The weather stayed hot and the pool at the villa was lovely. With a whole group of us renting the villa was actually quite affordable. One afternoon we took a short hike up to the nearby Monastere fortifie de Thouzon. The old ruins sit atop a hill in the area with a view of the entire lowland area around it.

Monastere fortifie de Thouzon

After the weekend relaxing at the villa we returned to Avingon and had to stay an extra night in the City of Popes waiting for the verdict on the car.

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The city is known for being where the popes fled to when they left the Vatican. The castle of popes is in the center of the city and near where we stayed along the Rhone River. The city is quite spectacular with thick stone walls enclosing a historic town.  I didn't do any tours of the inside but it was quite nice just to walk around for the day and look at the architecture.

Palace of Popes

Church behind the Palace of Popes

Uphill the Castle of Popes sits on top of the hill overlooking the river below. The views are behind a small manicured garden with ponds, the Rocher des Doms.

View of the Rhone behind the Palace of Popes

The views also include a view of Pont d'Avignon. Pont d'Avignon is a historic medieval bridge with only 4 arches remaining, but it is one of the biggest attractions in the city. It is quite impressive that it is still standing in relatively good condition for how old it is. Tourists pay to literally just walk out onto the bridge. I thought the view looking at it was good enough.

Pont d'Avingon

The part of the city I stayed in was very touristy, but the ice cream and crepes (hey when in France might as well be stereotypical on occasion) were as fantastic as I remember from my visit to France in high school.

Our car wasn't ready to go and we needed to get back to catch our flight so William drove us back to Les Herbiers through the night and we got a train to Bordeaux the next day.  I will say that cabs in France are extremely expensive and cabbing from the train station to the airport was over $60 for a 15-20 minute drive. As a Canadian I am really not used to those prices and I will NEVER take a cab again in Europe!

La Cascade de l'Oursiere and Lacs Robert in the French Alps - Grenoble, France

Grenoble is a gorgeous city with spectacular views. The city is surrounded by mountains and the buildings are historic and provide a nice character. The streets are lined with shops and cafes expected in France.

Grenoble, France

Two rivers (Isere and Le Drac) run through the city creating nice scenic walks beside the channel and over stone bridges.

Grenoble, France

The museum d'historie naturelle jardin de plants (botanical garden) was quite small and lacked any significant numbers of wildlife, but the flowers were out in full bloom with the mountain winds bringing the smell of roses to your nose.

jardin des plantes, musedum d'histoire naturelle, Grenoble, France

A man-made pond housed some turtles including one North American species, a red-eared slider, native to the U.S.

Turtles at musedum d'histoire naturelle, Grenoble, France

With such warm weather I am sure the turtles were loving their lives basking in the sun but we went searching for a place to stay in the shade for a while.

Relaxing in the shade

I convinced William to go camping in the mountains near Grenoble between visiting friends but sadly we only had one night to spare for it since we were cramming so much into two weeks.  I was still ecstatic and we picked a hike up to a La Cascade de l'Oursiere and Lacs Robert.

The trail was a bit rough around the edges in some places and it was quite steep in others but it was never a problem and the hike was very enjoyable and beautiful.

Trail to Lacs Robert

A few small waterfalls were a bit of a tease on our way up to the main event and kept making us think we had arrived in great time.

Trail to Lacs Robert

 This one was my absolute favorite with so many ferns and lovely plants making it look so lush and green. The mountain peaks in the background also don't hurt the scenery.

Gorgeous small falls along the trail to Lac Robert

The views got better and better as you climbed and the forested areas shrunk. Literally the trees became shorter and shorter with higher elevation and the city grew smaller in the distance.

Trail to Lac Robert

View of the city getting further and further below us

We made it to the La Cascade de l'Oursiere before sunset and decided to climb to the top of it before camping for the night.  We had planned to hike all the way to the top of the mountain and camp here on our way down. Guess we had been a bit slower than expected.

La Cascade de l'Oursiere

La Cascade de l'Oursiere

 Despite not making it to the absolute top of the mountain as we had planned I was absolutely stunned and thrilled to be sleeping on top of the waterfall. We had stopped in an alpine meadow above the falls for sunset. Although this didn't have the full views of the landscape that we would have had at the top, we had a gorgeous meadow of wildflowers, a firepit already set up and some privacy in the short trees of the creek valley.

River on way to Lacs Robert

River meadow on way to Lacs Robert

For dinner we had a typical French picnic of sausisson, bread, cheese and of course wine to go with it all.  The night was clear with bright shooting stars in the sky.

 

I was instantly in love with the meadow and despite the darkness I still took photos that night. Flora in the French Alps looks strikingly similar yet strikingly different to what I am familiar with. I don't know for sure exactly what all of these are since I don't have any field guides for the area but here are some guesses. This website also has a few alpine plants identified but not a lot of what I saw: https://frenchmoments.eu/flora-of-the-french-alps/

Perennial Coneflower- Centauree des montagnes - Centaurea montana

Perennial Coneflower- Centauree des montagnes - Centaurea montana

Digitalis lutea is a very tall striking plant that is hard to miss on the hike we were on since it was in frequent patches in along some of the creek valley meadows.  There was also Greater Yellow Gentian (Gentian lutea), but this wasn't blooming at the time I visited.

Great Yellow Gentian – Gentiane jaune – Gentiana lutea

...Copyright © French Moments Ltd unless otherwise stated. Read more at https://frenchmoments.eu/flora-of-the-french-alps/ .

Digitalis lutea

Gentians are also quite distinct and look similar in most places around the world. Unfortunately that doesn't help me figure out what species this one is. It was growing very low to the ground but only had one stalk. It was found quite high in elevation above the creek meadow.

Some species of alpine Gentian

 Helleborine orchid is a species that is recently introduced to Canada but is one of the only species that might have actually been introduced naturally since it's spore can be carried on the wind currents.  Finding this was a treat because it was recognizable.

Epipactis helleborine

I really don't know what this is and I apparently didn't take very good photos to figure it out later.  But it was quite pretty and scattered throughout the meadow. If you recognize it please leave a comment!

Many times I wish I had taken more photos or gotten a better look at the plants characteristics since I don't have much to identify based on and this was my first visit to the French Alps so I am really not familiar with what they have there.

Scrophulaceae or Laminaceae

Scroph sp.?

Allium sp.

Higher up there were some gorgeous views. Less vegetation was growing but the rocks occasionally had thick mats of low growing vegetation. There were also sooooooo many blueberries and it was in season!

Blueberry picking in the French Alps

In the morning we decided to finish our hike off with a trip up to Lacs Robert. On the hike up I was amazed to find a lizard crawling around on a dead tree. I was so excited to find it I would have been jumping up and down if I hadn't been quite vertical on the trail at the time.

Lizard in the French Alps

View down into the meadow

 We hiked up to another plateau in the mountain where there was less trees and meadow but the vegetation was growing in low shrubs or thick low mats. It was incredibly different than it had been lower down by the stream.

Allium sp. growing on trail above the plateau

View on trail to Lacs Roberts

View on trail to Lacs Roberts

Despite the  spectacular views it was a bit challenging to spot birds. There was so much open space  with very few scattered tree and the birds were very well camouflaged or very far away. The large number of people on the trails didn't help much either.

View on trail to Lacs Roberts

I feel like I could have sat in one spot all day and just watched everything.  I did manage to see a few species well enough to ID, including:

Sombre Tit
Black Redstart
Mistle Thrush
Linnet

Black Redstart

Mistle Thrush juvenile (left) being fed by adult (right)

Closer to Lac Robert the vegetation changed again with only sparse low growing vegetation.

Mountain Houseleek - joubarbe des montagnes- Sempervivum montanum

This white flower had a flower much larger than the small sprig of a plant that it came from.

Lacs Robert was bustling compared to the empty secluded lake I was expecting and we decided not to swim there but jumped in the very shallow cold waters of the stream above the falls on our way down. It was very chilly but with the hot weather it refreshed us for the hike down. Not to mention cleaned off a bit of the hiking smell.

First view of Lacs Robert

I wish I had longer in this stunning area and would definitely go back in a heartbeat. Or more likely the millions it took to hike up there but you get my meaning. A tough hike but very worth it even for the brief visit.  If someone started very early in the day they might even be able to make it up and down before dark but I don't think I would enjoy rushing it as much as taking the time to enjoy it.